Karen H.
Yelp
I was in Dallas visiting from out of state, my friend wanted to take me somewhere nice before I left. Unfortunately, our dining experience proved that Toulouse either has grossly inadequate training/management, and/or is downright racist from the top down.
Our visit was on Thursday, January 5th 2023, around 7:00 PM, we were a table of 4 - all Asians (Chinese). As our waitress went around the table pouring water, the glass bottle somehow slipped out of her hands. She caught it, hence thankfully the bottle didn't fall on me. But she was standing right next to me and water splashed on my face, clothes, shoes and feet. Guess what she did next? No apology, no explanation - instead she murmured "let me get a new one" and strutted towards the bar as if nothing happened.
We sat in shock. No one came over to check in on us. I was watching our waitress chatting and laughing with her colleagues at the bar. When she came back with a new bottle of water, I said straight to her face "You spilt water on my face and my clothes and shoes, but you didn't even apologize, you just walked away as if nothing happened". She said "Oh I didn't know that, I was focused on going to get a new bottle of water. Is there anything I can get you right now?" Note that she still did NOT apologize.
I went over to the hostess and asked to see the manager. I saw the manager making rounds prior to the incident. And I believe the incident was seen by other employees. I honestly couldn't believe that no one else saw the incident. If they did, did they choose to ignore it on purpose?
I told the manager "My intention is not to have the waitress reprimanded. I just wanted to provide feedback to you, because such service is clearly unacceptable, especially at a restaurant of your stature". The first thing he said was "It was an accident". And I thought to myself "How odd?" I mean... I clearly didn't say she did it on purpose? And then he said "yes she should have apologized, I apologize on her behalf, she's new and blah blah blah" (I forgot what he said afterwards***)
Just to be clear - if, immediately after the incident, the waitress sincerely apologized, maybe explained that she's new, admitted that she made a mistake - I would not have asked to see the manager, I would not have requested to change servers, I would not be posting this review. I would have told her that it's okay, mistakes happen, I would ask her to take her time and don't worry about it.
The manager checked in once or twice after our conversation, but that was it. No other gestures to compensate for the awful experience. No discount, no item(s) taken off our check, just a big fat nothing. The food was mediocre to say the least, the soufflé tasted like sugar mixed sloppily with cheap chocolate. Despite never intending to return, we still left a 20% tip because, well, manners.
***I am writing this review 10 days after the incident - initially I thought that since I am never going back there again, why bother? But friends whom I spoke with were appalled. They said I should most definitely write a review to caution others, and also encourage others with similar experience to speak up.
Note that I blocked out the server's name next to "Dining", because we were assigned a new server and his name is the one printed.
To those who have had a similar experience - please please please consider sharing your experience. Please do not think that it doesn't matter or it wouldn't make a difference - that's what these people count on! That's how these people and this establishment get away with being racist! So many people look to Google, Yelp, and the likes for reviews - I know that Google does a great job moderating, and on Yelp, businesses cannot pay to alter or remove reviews. What you choose to say (or not say) matters! Share your truthful experience, you are doing others a huge favor, you are helping someone else not go through a degrading and insulting experience!