"bad experience twice . first time , waitress came up to me and told me she doesn 't agree with this but her manager told her to come tell me that a customer complained about the way I was slouched on my laptop because of how I was dressed and to sit more upright (I am a female attorney and stopped in after being in court; my guess is the more conservative customers across from my table didn 't like that wasn 't wearing a pant suit . Why did the restaurant disrespect me because of disrespectful customers who have trouble minding their own business? I decided to give it a shot again a few years later (last month , and when I came in in the morning asked them if it was okay that I had my laptop and I 'd be there for a couple hours, ordering coffee/tea to start and lunch in an hour and a half or so (I also ended up ordering dinner for my whole family to go . I made sure that was okay before I sat down because I live far, had to stay in the area for a few hours , and had my laptop and can 't keep moving around. Another bad experience an hour ten minutes in or so, despite having ordered an appetizer and tea, a female manager came up to me asking me if I was going to order more food (to which I responded yes and then telling me I needed to move to the other side of the restaurant because someone wanted my table. I kid you not, the restaurant was 70 80 percent empty, only a few other customers . I told her I was surprised because I was transparent about what I needed when I first came in since I lived far away and wanted to have lunch here. She said she had 'no choice ' but to ask me to move because 'someone ' told her to tell me. I asked for the check if they didn 't really want me there ; the really kind waitress I originally had came back and apologized and asked me to please stay and that I could just stay on my table and order my lunch. she said she doesn 't understand why they 're doing this. I asked if the manager was around; the waitress told me the person who came to me was the manager I was shocked because the 'manager ' kept acting like it wasn 't in her hands and kept referring to someone who made her come to me. the waitress was so sweet though and brought me more tea. I ate my lunch, ordered dinner to go for my family, and tipped the waitress well. I am in Bridgeview during work hours every week on Thursdays and often frequent the restaurants in the area on those days (with both an appetite and my laptop because I like supporting these smaller businesses. I 've gone to the Em Karam (formerly Oozie multiple times , the Nile, Baba Saaj (spelling? , and some other more sit down restaurants and have never been treated this way; I 'm always treated with kindness . The staff at Em Karam are actually happy to see me whenever I come in on Thursdays, and the food is phenomenal. The difference in how the staff are is surreal. I don 't want to assume the management at Al bawadi just treat me a certain way because I am a woman (I look much younger than I am despite approaching 40 , but when a grown woman is being told she needs to sit a certain way, what am I supposed to think? When management lies to their customers for no reason, it 's just reflective of the culture of the restaurant. There are plenty of Arab and Palestinian restaurants in the area who are more respectful to the women who come into their restaurants, so I 'll be taking my business elsewhere."
