I went to the counter to order. I was asked by one of the waitresses if we were going to order food, I said no, we wanted to have cakes, coffee and juice. They had 3 or 4 different types of cakes on display and...a variety of fruit juices and coffees.
She replied that they are not able to sit us down, unless we order food as well, as it is lunch hour and they are very busy. It was 2:20pm.
I had no choice but to change my order to take away, although what we really wanted was to sit down. I ordered 2 coffees, a slice of cake and one of their natural juices.
On my way out, I noticed that there were plenty of available tables. They also have a rooftop terrace with seating and that was empty at the time.
I approached the waitress and asked her what the reason was as to why we were refused a table. She was not able to give me an answer and became slightly argumentative. When I referred to the venue as a “coffee shop”, she corrected me twice, by saying: “It’s not a coffee shop, it’s a restaurant!”.
I asked to speak to a manager. Her reply was that they don’t have a manager. I then asked to speak to the owner. She told me the owner is inside, but refused to take me to her. After asking one more staff member, I managed to locate the lady who presented herself as the owner.
My intention was to find out why we were refused a table, given that there were tables available. They seem to have a practice to force customers to order food, in order to be able to sit down at one of their tables. I looked at their one star online reviews and it looks like this is something they are doing on a regular basis.
My guess is that this sort of practice is infringing on customer rights and is illegal.
Furthermore, I found the owner to be condescending and rude, lacking the most basic sense of respect and courtesy towards me.
When I approached her, she said with a grin: “So, what’s the matter sweetheart? You’re upset because you couldn’t have your cake?”. I am an adult who doesn’t like to be ridiculed or infantilized in any circumstance, let alone when I am paying for a service.
She had no interest in what I had to say, she kept interrupting me and talking over me, raising her voice. When I told her that I am going to write up a formal complaint, she asked derisively: “So, who are you going to complain with?”.
Let aside the level of rudeness and inconsideration towards customers, the owner of this restaurant is engaging, in my opinion, in an abusive and coercive practice, which needs to be addressed and stopped.
To answer the owner’s last question to me, I did write a complaint today through the Deco Proteste website, the largest consumer organization in Portugal, which I will follow up with.More