I do not expect attentive services and gorgeous views though, when it comes to ethnic dining. Sometimes sloppy services even strike me as part of the being authentic package deal. Servers in most Cantonese restaurants, for example, have such an attitude in that first, they do not bother learning proper English. We have encountered waitresses using sign languages to take our orders. Cantonese as a language also harbors a taste of harshness in its tone that words can come off impolite and curt. Second, they never make eye contacts with you when bringing food to the table, neither do they respond when you say “thank you.” Cantonese restaurants, especially dim sum places (Kirin as an exception), for some reason do not prefer single or couple diners. Animo and I once experienced some restaurant seat waiting courtesy fail when we visited Sun Sui Wah on Main, supposedly one of the best dim sum places in town. At least two large parties of people went ahead and got seated before us, and we had to wait another 15 minutes to get a table, because they only provide 5 out of 30 tables available for two-person dining. Go figure the small table turnover rate. After we got seated, our server asked me and Animo, a white boy, that if we needed an English menu or Chinese menu. Did she just assume that just because Animo is Caucasian, he does not know how to order Chinese food? Isn't that borderline racism, or at least discrimination of some sort?
That being said, I do have great appreciation for their inexpensive food and admirable efficiency. Now I have learned to order everything all together, including drinks, appetizer, entrée and dessert, in a Chinese or Vietnamese restaurant, as server would only appear by your table once. We should not expect to pay little and get pampered. I get it. However, if I go to a brunch café and get charged $10 for some food that is essentially eggs and bread, I do have some expectations on services, or at least I do not anticipate rude behaviors and insulting comments from a server. Animo and I recently visited Roundel Café on Hastings, and it was regrettably one of the worst dining experiences ever. At first this café looks like a hip, funky neighborhood gathering spot, with an easy-going atmosphere and warm, friendly staff. We ordered juice and iced tea for drinks, which were $2.5 each as told by our server. Food was passable, but service was not attentive – I had to get up to the counter and ask for some jam. When the bill came, it was written $3 for both drinks. We thought there might have been a mix-up, so we brought it to attention to our server, a lady in her 50s. We expressed our concerns over the bill, our server said, “Oh I don’t know, I am not the owner.” She then left and a younger waitress came to our table, and confirmed, “Drinks are $3, not $2.5.” “But we were old that they are supposed to be $2.5.” Animo explained where our concerns came from. She became extremely defensive and condescending, raised her voice saying, “Look we are all humans and we all make mistakes. Are you saying you would not have gotten the drink if it is 50 cents more?” She clearly did not understand what we are trying to say. We as paid customers are simply pointing out their errors and a simple apology would solve all the matters. This lady did not apologize after making the rude comment, and left our table abruptly while Animo was still talking to her. At last, she turned around, shrugged sarcastically and blurted out "sorry" to us while rolling her eyes.
After witnessing such unbelievably rude and unprofessional service, it was almost laughable when I saw that their tip option on their Interac machine was 20%. Tips? Zilch.
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