"Soul Patch:For years my family has made it a tradition to visit Manny’s on our first day of vacation. A tradition that has lasted for at least 2 decades. We love the restaurant, and it wouldn’t be a Florida trip without stopping by. Today’s experience has soured that.There was an employee hosting today (we call him “Soul Patch” since that is his most defining feature) who either lacks manners or is completely clueless to social cues. First of all we were sat at a table that had no room on one side, so per HIS instructions we scooted it over so our family could fit. When we moved the booth bench on the free space side, we partially blocked a walkway between sections. Soul Patch and the waitresses were walking through the space, so we assumed it was fine. While waiting for our food (our actual server was great, as most Manny’s employees are), Soul Patch approached us from the space because a gentleman with a wheelchair needed through. Us sitting on the bench tried to scoot it forward from where we were, but Soul Patch said, “That’s cute, but you’re actually going to have to get up.” I was in the middle of getting up and froze. I couldn’t believe he just said that to me. The audacity. After we got up we didn’t say a word because we were all too stunned to speak, and he moved the bench for the gentleman and said to him, “Sorry about that, they blocked you off here!” Like it wasn’t his idea for us to scoot back into the isle in the first place. At this point a few of us were fuming. He left walking his lanky, lame walk and the table next to us left so we were able to scoot our bench back out of the isle.The whole dinner, we were on edge. This place that used to bring us comfort became a hostile and anxiety causing environment. Again, our waitress couldn’t have been any nicer, she did an amazing job and was very attentive. We ended up getting our receipts, and in the past we used to bring our receipts to a register to pay so we got up looking for the register. Soul Patch at the host stand said, “7 exits in this place, can I help you find one?” We told him about how we were looking for the register and he told us how our server did that for us now, and called her over. He said “You can go back to your table, or you can stay and hang out with me, I don’t bite.” I responded, “We’d rather not,” and we went back to our table. My mother and her sister stayed to pay while the rest of us went outside, we did not want to be in his presence any longer.Never in my life have I ever been eager to leave Manny’s, this was a foreign experience for us. I hate to give this restaurant we love a one star rating, but as long as Soul Patch works there, it is a one star restaurant."
