Thai Tanic

Review: On Thursday, May 30, 2013 at approximately 9:45 p.m., three friends and I visited Thai Tanic Restaurant in Washington, DC (the [redacted] location). What we originally thought would be an incredible experience of fun, laughter, and sushi, quickly became one of the most humiliating and embarrassing experiences of my life.

Within seconds of being seated, a server and a visibly intoxicated customer walked past our table. I was still dressed in my business suit since I had not been off work for too long. As I look down, I see something - that looked like food - on my white shirt. Immediately thinking it was food, I was frustrated but understood that in restaurants, accidents like spilled food happen. Then, as I felt another spray that went to my phone, my hands, the top of my shirt, and the restaurant's table, I feared the worse. My friend - who was facing the restroom - noticed a man covering his mouth because he was actually throwing up. Never did I think I would patron a restaurant where a man is walking around vomiting on other customers, and even on the restaurant's table. Unfortunately, this was not the worst part of the night. The worst treatment, quite frankly, was the nonchalant attitude of the staff at Thai Tanic, and of the customer.

When I noticed the man vomiting, I jumped up to go to the restroom to clean myself. Only one staff member attempted to help me by getting me some paper towels, but she was the only one who appeared remotely helpful; everyone else simply looked around in a daze, not even attempting to help resolve the traumatic situation. In fact, some looked and walked in the other direction. As my friend went to his vehicle to find another shirt for me to wear, I sat in the restroom for approximately five to ten minutes since I did not have a t-shirt. As my friend re-entered the restaurant, we noticed the visibly intoxicated customer sitting back down, received a glass of water from his friend (or the server), and waited for his "to go" order. I was humiliated after being vomited on publicly while people sat around staring, but to add insult to injury the restaurant allowed the customer to order his dinner to go, as me and my friends sat there shocked and appalled by the lack of respect from the customer and what seemed to be incompetency of the restaurant's staff. To make matters worse, when we went to the manager he blatantly refused to do anything about it until we practically forced it - not even remove him from the establishment.

Not only did the customer not appear remorseful, the restaurant's staff did not seem to care. They decided to call the police to "see what to do." However, by the time the police came to the premises, the customer already left the restaurant. Furthermore, as the customer was leaving the premises, I was standing outside with my friends. My friend asked the man was he going to give me an apology, the customer said "if your friend wants an apology, then he should come to me." Understanding that the restaurant's staff could not control the pompous attitude of the customer, I, at a minimum, hoped the restaurant would attempt to listen to me, then resolve the problem - quite the contrary, unfortunately. Instead, the restaurant attempted to rush us off without fully comprehending why we were upset. The restaurant was simply worried about whether we would sit down and spend money on food as opposed to truly understanding the problem, and how they were at the root of some of it.

Furthermore, we mentioned to the restaurant's staff over five times that there were chunks of vomit on its table; the staff took no action until right before we left - approximately 30 minutes into the incident, which makes me question the health and sanitation of Thai Tanic. Then after I attempted to resolve the situation the next day (so I could professionally handle it), it was implied told that "I have something to gain," as if most people would be perfectly fine with feeling mistreated after they were vomited on. The owner's husband - [redacted] - has been e-mailing me because of "language barriers," but, in my opinion, he is making things much worse, especially after inferring that I must have a lapse of memory since he believes my story contradicts - a fact to which I disagree. To directly quote him, "[m]emories formed during moments of excitement are not always clear, and we are all susceptible to the imperfections of being human. " [redacted] even went so far as to say that "we can consider this water under the bridge" as if I should simply let it go even though they have not fully addressed Thai Tanic's mishandling and mistreating of this unexpected situation. This, to me, proves the callous nature of [redacted] and the nonchalant attitude of the staff.

Honestly, all I asked for was an apology and a full recognition of wrongdoing; however, Thai Tanic has not even done that without constantly mentioning "but" and pointing fingers at me for accepting an "apology" that was only give after one of my friends forced it that evening. The fact that [redacted] has drew an inference that I have something to lose and gain - as opposed to his staff - is insulting, patronizing, and condescending.

I heard many amazing things about Thai Tanic, which is why my friends and I attempted to patron the business. However, after a humiliating experience of being vomited on and the restaurant's staff not even attempting to resolve the situation, I cannot agree. The treatment my friends and I received was beyond unacceptable, and I hope no one else experiences this treatment after simply attempting to have an enjoyable evening.Desired Settlement: I want an apology without excuses, but I also desire the full recognition of mishandling and mistreatment. I want acknowledgment that the restaurant - though not initially at fault - could have ameliorated the situation and should have taken accountability.

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. However, I do urge that this complaint is placed online. It is obvious that this company simply does not care and it appears that I will take additional courses of action.

Regards,