To leave this restaurant?

[Whatsthepickle]

We are currently on holiday and today went to a beautiful tourist spot. We decided to have lunch and picked a restaurant right on the seafront. There were countless others in the vicinity but we liked the location of this one.

The place wasnt busy. We asked for a table and the waiter showed us to our place but had the most serious expression on his face. He didn't speak. 'OK, he isnt in a good mood-maybe something is on his mind' I thought.

DH took our (well behaved) son to the bathroom. I sat with our baby on my knee and asked for a high chair (in a pleasant tone using good manners). He looked at me like I was really taking the mick, then stomped off silently. He returned and put the high chair at the side of the table without looking at me and ignored me when I said thank you. I started feeling really uncomfortable and a little intimidated actually. This man was around 60 and struck me as being the owner or manager as he seemed quite gruff with a young waiter.

My husband came back from the bathroom and said there were loads of seats inside and maybe we should move as the sun seemed to be in the baby's eyes. I instantly knew this would be a problem, but as the waiter walked past, I said 'excuse me, can we move inside please?'.

He looked absolutely furious and without speaking and picked up the high chair (I'd lifted baby out) to move it back inside. My husband said 'thank you' and he completely ignored him and stomped inside.

I said to my husband, 'we aren't eating here. His attitude is terrible'. We all just left and walked off to a restaurant down the seafront where the waiters were lovely and the food was good.

I know I can leave a restaurant for any reason, and I hadn't ordered anything or owed money, but it felt like I'd broken some kind of protocol. The guy didn't actually say anything to us (at all actually) but he was so unsmiling and grumpy that I felt very tense. Should I have said something? Would this have bothered any of you or am I over sensitive? I just felt that i work hard for my money and would rather not spend it in a restaurant where I'm being scowled at.

There's always one 🤦‍♀️

The OP explained very clearly that this was why she thought he might be the manager /most senior person there, which is presumably why she didn't bother asking to speak to the manager and complain there and then...

Two reasons. To show he wasn't a surly teen and should know better and as part of the reasoning behind why I thought he was the owner (I think I'm right going by the reviews). It's also just part of setting the scene, especially as he seemed so domineering towards a young waiter working there. I thought it was relevant.

Not really! Owners can be any age. You could have just said you thought he was the owner without adding his age.

My DP and I walked out of a hotel dining room down on the UK Lizard recently.

We never even got as far as ordering because the service was slow/stop, disjointed and there didn’t seem to be anyone in command or control. It’s was ridiculous given the restaurant was nearly empty. Staff were running around like headless chickens, busy doing nothing.

We quickly went elsewhere and had ordered and were served our delicious food in a packed venue, within minutes. Fab !

I did send feedback to the hotel manager & his side kick catering manager. Never got a reply. Says it all eh?

NO, we didn’t feel bad about walking out and neither should you OP. It’s the “hospitality industry” so if staff can’t be hospitable they should get out of it.

OK, I thought he was the owner. I was just putting as much detail in as possible.

I honestly don't see the problem with adding ages to descriptions!! It sets the scene & OP wasn't being disrespectful in any way, quite the opposite. It could become very boring if we can't add any description to anything but hey.
OP you were definitely not BU & I'm very glad you walked out!

We had similar vibes in Poole.

Was going to say the same. Briefly went in a pizza place in Menton about 25 years ago. Owner and staff were the rudest bunch of bastards I've ever come across. We left without ordering, when it became apparent that hell would freeze over before anyone would take our order, let alone bring any food 😬

YANBU I've done this once in Ireland. Restaurant on the seafront, food understood to be overpriced but compensated by beautiful views over the sea. We went early into a completely empty restaurant and politely asked for a table upstairs with the view. The manager (only person there so also serving as waitress) brusquely said no, too much effort to serve us there, and seated us by a window with a bin lorry outside blocking the entire view, whilst commenting "it's been there for hours".

Took a couple of minutes to process, but as soon as I collected my wits, I got up and left. DH was embarrassed. I wasn't. Went to a nice friendly place nearby and had a lovely time.

The OP was just giving context. She could also have left out his gender - are you annoyed that she mentioned that as well? Giving someone's approximate age really isn't ageist, which of course is what you're angling for.

We walked out of a restaurant once as it was clear they thought we were riff raff.

We walked out of a pub we were supposed to be staying the night in in Scotland as after we had put our bags in the room we went down to the bar and the bar staff were bitching about ‘English c**t tourists’. Nice! We went and got our bags and left.

Yes and honestly I find it really tedious. He was around 60, that isn't a lie and I chose to include it as I felt it was relevant to his position. I'm not going to start second guessing every word I include in posts in order not to offend someone, or I'll just end up with greige, vague puffs of nothingness. I could understand if I'd mentioned the colour of his skin or if he was bald or not, but I did feel like the inclusion of his age served a purpose. Thanks for agreeing @Allschoolsareartschools @Ladyprehensile @IglesiasPiggl

If I was brave enough I would have said 'you know what? I don't like your attitude so we are leaving'. Absolutely you did the right thing!

Oh my gosh!!! What!

I wish I did. However I did find him quite threatening and just wanted to get out of there. My instincts were telling me to go, go, go!

You did the right thing, we walked out of a restaurant that positioned everyone upstairs with a good view, when it came to us, the man asked if we were visiting from London, we said no as we don’t live in London, it was small talk but with disdain and then he placed us on a table in a dark corner next to the loo; I asked if we could have a table upstairs with the view and but he refused and gave some rubbish reason about staff distribution. I think he was lying so we got up and left when he went to seat the next family upstairs!!

Had a similar thing in the Scottish Highlands @Skippythebutterfly. Went to a restaurant in a hotel in a beautiful setting. The owner was a bit odd but served us okay, and the food was nice. At the next table there was a local family who were laughing at the owner and said what has got into him, he wasn't usually that helpful. Someone said they were expecting a mystery guest to assess their star rating so he was being charming to all on the off chance. The next year we went back, the man sneered at us, looked unkempt but the worse of it, ordered our food and two idiot chefs came out of the kitchen and were clearly laughing at us with the owner. I suspect because we were English. McWankers. Don't @ me.