Sat 9 Oct 2010
Nirvana Grille Not to the Level of Nirvana
Posted by cindy under Mental States , Recreation at 8:34 pm[12] Comments
I’m not sure, but I *think* we got some discriminatory treatment at a restaurant tonight.
I had read a few things on a “neighborhood gem” restaurant called Nirvana Grille, and had been wanting to try it. Thursday on the way home after work, hubby asked for restaurant suggestions, so I told him about this place and he was game. We got there about 5:30p. The host greeted us at the door and asked if we had reservations. We said we didn’t, and he asked for a last name to put in the system. Mr. W gave his, and we were promptly seated. The restaurant was fairly empty, with only 3 or 4 other tables taken up, so we were given our choice of booth or table. We had a fine meal, spent good money, and hubby joked with the waitress that we’ll be back on Saturday (today) to try other things on the menu. She said that’s great, she’ll be working on Saturday so she’ll see us then. This location is only open for dinner and Sunday brunches, by the way.
Tonight, we got there a few minutes before 6pm. The restaurant was maybe 25% full. A male host (can’t remember if it’s the same one, but probably not) greeted us at the door and asked if we had a reservation. We said we did not. He said, “Oh, I don’t know if I can seat you tonight. We’re really busy…” He looked down and studied the seating table chart for 2, maybe 3 seconds. “No…I won’t be able to seat you at all tonight. I’m sorry, we’re just crazy busy tonight.” So we thanked him and left. It felt like we were in some exclusive trendy LA restaurant that celebrities go to so that reservations had to be made months in advance if you’re lucky, except, like I’d already mentioned, this restaurant was 75% empty at the moment.
I thought it was weird, considering how open the restaurant was, that they were going to get THAT full within minutes of our being there that they can’t seat us. It was 5:57pm (I thought they opened at 5:30p) when we got back in the car. I said that people usually book reservations by half-hour increments, so unless we see a flood of people cramming into the restaurant in the next minute, they probably didn’t have a ton of 6pm reservations. And usually, when a restaurant was anticipated to be full, don’t they tell you, “I’m sorry, if you don’t have reservations, there will be a one-hour wait, would you like to wait?” They don’t just say they can’t seat you for the ENTIRE NIGHT. As it’s not a large restaurant to begin with, maybe they’d be full with a large-party reservation, but the tables were still pulled apart in 2-people and 4-people seats, not joined for a large group. “You’d think that if they’re normally so crazy-busy on a Saturday night, that the waitress on Thursday would’ve suggested we make reservations.” Hubby didn’t respond to me and was quiet for awhile.
Finally, he said, “I don’t like being turned away from a restaurant. It makes me feel like they’re discriminating against us, maybe for the way we look or the way we’re dressed or something. They could’ve served us and had us done and out of there before other people’s reservations. I’m not going back.”
So it wasn’t just me who left with the uncomfortable feeling that we had been lied to. The guy didn’t flip into the reservation book to look at how booked they were going to be in the next half hour. He only stared at the seating chart. Do people write reservations on the table seating charts so that it’d tell him that he wouldn’t be able to seat us the entire night?
We went to Selma’s Chicago Pizzeria instead and had fine food and great service. It took some time for the mood to dispel, however. When we got home at a few minutes past 8pm, I immediately checked Opentable.com to see if there were reservations/seating available for Nirvana Grille. It was too bad that I couldn’t check it immediately after being turned away, because Opentable won’t show me any information on “expired” (past) times. The earliest time I can check is 8:30pm onward, and yes, there were tables open both 8:30p and 9pm. So what the guy said about not being able to seat us at all tonight was a lie.
I feel like I want to sign up for a Yelp account solely to tell people about this restaurant experience.
I know it seems weird. I can only relate what happened to me when I went to Ronnie’s in Memphis once. We showed up early on a Friday night. The host told us that he could seat us, the place was full I asked about reservations, he said they didn’t take reservations, it was first come first serve, but we could wait if we liked. We waited fir over an hour watching party after party get seated. We were sitting right where the guy could see us. Eventually, we just left. I talked to somebody familiar with the situation later and he basically said that on the weekends, if you don’t know somebody, you don’t get a table. Do you think you were discrimated against because of your race? I mean even in the deep south, Asians aren’t really targets of bigotry. I’m guessing it was a weekend thing and you just didnt know the right people. At any rate, if you really feel slighted, just don’t go back. I know that’s hard to swallow, but if they don’t want your money, spend it someplace else.
I’m not really sure what the reason would’ve been. Interracial couple? We didn’t look old or rich enough? I wasn’t dressed to the nines? (The patrons seemed to be wealthy white people in their 50s+) When we WERE there on Thursday, one of the chefs came out and spoke for up to 10 minutes at almost all the other tables, very familiarly, talking about her toddler, asking for updates of themselves, responding to their questions about her life. And people coming in often greeted each other by name. You’d think we had accidentally stumbled into a house party. (No, the chef didn’t stop by our table, but then we didn’t know her.) But the host was a kid maybe in his early 20s, which made it even weirder. And we didn’t see your excuse of the place being packed; the place was more than empty enough to seat the 2 of us at the moment, if not the entire night.
Is it bothering you enough to go back to the restaurant and ask the manager for a more reasonable explanation, especially since you have PROOF they were not booked the entire evening? If they offered a dish you crave or something that is hard to get locally, I might pursue it.
Only you know how you were made to feel, and if you both felt discriminated against, you are probably not far off track. But in CA, I would not have expected discrimination against an interracial couple.
I am sorry this happened, and you were made to feel this way. Kudos to you for walking away, I cannot see myself staying so calm 🙂
It doesn’t bother me enough to go back, it bothers me enough to make sure people know about it so THEY don’t go back, either. I wrote a short description in the way of a complaint on their social networking page last nite, which so far they’d ignored. I wrote:
“Went in with the husband at 6pm tonight to a 75% empty restaurant (at the Mission Viejo location) and was told by the host that they were “crazy-busy” and couldn’t seat us at all tonight, didn’t give us the option to wait. Came home, checked OpenTable, and reservations were available every half hour. Not sure what happened, but feeling like we were lied to. Host also didn’t look at the reservation book when he turned us away, just looked at the seating table chart for a few seconds. Are the entire evening’s reservations written on that seating chart?”
OH, btw, I talked to Mr. W’s daughter about this last nite. She used to be a hostess at a large restaurant. She said what the guy did was total BS. They don’t block off a whole restaurant to reservations, they only start holding a table for a reservation about 10 minutes prior to a reservation time if the restaurant starts looking full. She also said the walk-in customer is always offered a wait time if the restaurant is full (which this restaurant was not), and they do NOT turn away anyone, especially not for an entire night. Also, she says the seating chart doesn’t record the reservations, only where people are currently seated or if certain tables are moved to seat large parties (so that they’re not available).
I went to their website and looked at the menu. YUMMMM!!!!!
At least if you put your experience on their social network site, and others are treated the same way forming a pattern, something WILL change.
Oh, I have no complaints about the menu or food quality. We went there Thursday and promptly went back. We would’ve liked to try other delicious looking items on their new Fall menu, but weren’t given the opportunity.
Nirvana Grille is a restaurant that appreciates every guest that comes in, regardless of color, race, gender or appearance. I know this because I have dined with them numerous times. They were extremely busy during restaurant week and debuting their new fall menu, so it very well could have been a fully committed dining room. Their mission viejo location is rather small and can only accolade about 50 people in one sitting. Although you should have been offered a wait time, the host may have gotten the impression that you were not willing to wait and wanted to have dinner momentarily. This unfortunate happening should not stop you, nor anyone else that enjoys great food and friendly service from experiencing Nirvana Grille. Reservations are always recommended and are made available in many ways, including calling in or going online. I hope your blog isn’t giving people the wrong impression of this restaurant, it is a great husband and wife operation. I love it!
Michelle,
I do see it your way; there was nothing wrong with the restaurant itself, it was just not being offered a wait time in a restaurant that appeared to have seating open, and seeing later that there WERE reservations still available later that evening contrary to what the host said, that made the experience bad. (Plus, the host didn’t say he couldn’t seat us this hour, he said he couldn’t seat us at all that night.)
The chef herself went out of her way and responded to what I’d written on their social networking site a few days later:
“Cindy, I was sorry to hear about your encounter this past Saturday night. We have been offering our 50% New Menu discount and we have had a full house it seems everynight, especially on weekends. That evening we had the majority of people arriviing between 6-8pm in total of 59 people in addition to the 25 or so that were seated at the time that you had come in to check if you could dine with us. We NEVER like turning guests away, but at the same time, we are known for being conscientious that when a reservation is booked, we can honor that guest at that time. I apologize that a waiting time was not given, the host did not feel at that time we could accommodate the dining room reservations coming in with the tables in which were currently dining, as well as any other guests that may walk in within that hour. Nonetheless, we do want you to be able to come in as expected to try the new menu and to be able to see what we strive to provide to our guests. If you would be willing to accept the invitation for to extend our 50% Off Menu offer or come in to enjoy appetizers, we would be pleased to welcome you back. You may reach me directly at [#]. Again my sincere apologies that we were so busy and unable to accommodate you and your husband. Chef Lindsay Smith-Rosales”
I responded, “Thank you for taking the time to look into this and for the very thorough explanation. Also, thank you for the generous offer. I will read your response to my husband and I expect he’ll feel better about the whole thing, too.”
The husband remembers that at the time we went in, there were two tables of 4 seated, and a table of 2 seated. Two more came in behind us, so that makes 12 people. But it wasn’t like Chef Lindsay was out there at the time, it looks like she pieced together the evening from reviewing the reservation or dining records, and spoke to the host. I didn’t expect her to go so above and beyond, and respect her business ethics for this.
Sooooo….are you going to go back soon?
I won’t be going back to this local “jem”. Went there last night, arrived at 4:50pm. Entered and there were no diners present. The host asked if we had a reservation – no- he checked his book and said “follow me”. He passed the booths and brought us to a table (2×2). I asked for a booth and he said they were booked. Funny how you feel when you are the only diners in a restaurant and you are given a crappy table and they tell you they are booked. I should have said we would come back when they weren’t sooooo busy. I didn’t and I stewed while a few other diners came in. Well, guess what. A couple comes in and the host shows him the available tables. The diner tells the host he is not happy with the choices. The host gives him one of the ‘reserved” booths that I was denied. Makes for a lousy evening knowing you were lied to and you are sitting at a crappy table and spending $100 bucks for an ok meal.
kc – that sounds similar to our experience. it’s just not comfortable when someone tells you they’re so busy and you look around at all the open tables available. you wonder if you’re on the “outside” of an exclusive dining club where they know the rules and get a different treatment.
I did think the food was better than “ok,” though, but if you’re not having a happy dining experience, it’s hard to enjoy flavors.