"We were a party of three, waiting in a line at the door with two groups ahead of us and two behind. Interestingly, there was another party of three behind us as well, yet we were seated last. After about ten minutes of waiting, we approached a busboy and the maitre d' in an attempt to get our waiter.
We had a 6-year-old with us who was really hungry, so I asked the waiter if he could bring out a basket of bread for her. He responded brusquely, "Yes, I’m bringing it all," as if it were an outrageous request. When the bread and coleslaw finally arrived, we still hadn’t received our drinks and our waiter was nowhere to be found. We had to flag him down again after another ten minutes to remind him about our drinks and also mentioned we wanted to place a takeout order. His response was dismissive: “Just give me a minute, honey,” as he walked away to attend to other tables.
Five minutes later, I spotted him comfortably seated at the counter, chatting with the owner, while we still waited for our drinks. Eventually, we received our drinks and placed our takeout order, but then the meals arrived. The broccoli served to our 6-year-old was spoiled. It wasn’t just overcooked or burnt, as the owner claimed, but genuinely bad. We flagged down the maitre d'—again, our waiter was absent—to ask him to smell the broccoli. He grimaced and admitted, “Oh yes, that went bad,” and rushed to find the owner.
Moments later, the waiter came back to say, “I hear you didn’t like your broccoli. Do you want something else?” This was their response to serving spoiled food—no apologies or explanations offered. As we tried to clarify the difference between spoiled and overcooked food, he smirked and asked if we were from the Korean church next door. That question was infuriating. What does my religion or affiliation have to do with the spoiled food you serve? We were outraged. How dare he ask that when we were trying to address the issue of potentially hazardous food served to our child!
The owner came by with the same dismissive attitude, offering us an alternative dish instead of acknowledging the seriousness of the situation. As I mentioned earlier, the individual service lapses could happen anywhere; restaurants get busy and waitstaff become overwhelmed. However, it becomes a significant issue when you start attributing our concerns to our race or religious affiliations due to our appearance.
When we attempted to explain why the waiter’s comment was inappropriate, he backtracked, claiming we misunderstood him. How else were we supposed to interpret it? You can draw your own conclusions about the dynamics that night. In an era where we should be more aware and sensitive, especially in a diverse place like New York, I was appalled by the behavior displayed at Blue Angel Diner, including that of the owner and the staff.
As we left the diner, we were compelled to pay for two dishes that did not meet acceptable standards. The maitre d’, who earlier admitted the broccoli was spoiled, quietly apologized to us after the owner and waiter walked away, clearly understanding that we had every right to be upset about what transpired."
Rice Pudding
