- Report: #1533879
Complaint Review: Applebee's - San Jose California
-
Author Not Confirmed
Why?
Applebee's
555 Saratoga Avenue San Jose, 95129 California, United States
Phone:
(408) 446-8370
Web:
https://restaurants.applebees.com/en-us/ca/san-jose/555-saratoga-ave.-95095?utm_source=google&utm_me
Categories:
Business Rating:
(1)
Tell us has your experience with this business or person been good?
Applebee's San Jose CA Saratoga Ave A Disturbing Incident San Jose California
This incident occurred at 555 Saratoga Ave., San Jose, CA 95129 on August 19, 2024, at approx.10:00 PM.
I recently dined at this Applebee's with my friend. Upon entry, I went directly to the restroom.
In the meantime, my friend was seated by the hostess. My friend is a dark-skinned Filipina. We always sit at a booth and so upon returning I found it strange to see her sitting at an elevated table near the bar. (By the way, there were many empty booths at the time of arrival.) However, I did not say anything to her about this.
We both ordered the endless shrimp and ribs. The chairs at this elevated table were rather uncomfortable because of the bare wood at the back of the chair. The restaurant was quite cold and this was exacerbated by a ceiling vent that was blowing cold air on us. My friend repeatedly complained of the cold and told our waiter about this as well.
We ordered 2 endless ribs and shrimp dinners. When our dinners arrived, the waiter brought us just one plate and told us to share. We thought that was quite strange, because the night before we also ate at this same restaurant and were seated in a booth, and we were given two dinner plates for our endless ribs and shrimp order! Around 20 minutes later my friend got freezing cold, and she was still hungry and thought about leaving.
We then ordered shrimp from another waitress because our waiter just disappeared and asked if we could have it packaged "to go"? We were told that was not possible. After 15-20 more minutes we saw a new family come in and they got seated at a booth! At that point, my friend got extremely upset and very mad and told me how she was rudely refused a booth by the hostess ostensibly because the booth section was closed after 10:00 PM.
We still did not get our shrimp. We both got really angry and left the restaurant and placed an amount of money on the table as to what we calculated the check would be. We did not want to wait another 15 - 20 minutes for the check. We do not plan on coming back
The next day (August 20, 2024) my friend got sick, likely from the cold air on her.
We also believe she was discriminated against because she is a "brown-skinned minority" who was refused to be seated in a booth while we witnessed a white family who later got seated at a booth. This could be a violation of California's Unruh Act.
We may pursue legal action here but would be willing to discuss an amicable solution with Applebee's. We also believe that Applebee's employees require updated remedial training to prevent this from ever happening again. By the way, we have dined for many years at your competitor, Denny's, and we have never had any problem with our table requests.
And if we requested a booth and they were all occupied, then the hostess would tell us that we would have to wait for one to open up. No problem with Denny's!
