We went to Riz as an alternative to other Thai restaurants we usually go to. We made reservations for 7:30 pm on a Saturday. Parking delayed us by less than 5 minutes and I had called to let the lady on the phone know that we would be right there. When we got to Riz, it was obvious that our table had been given away. They said it would be a few minutes…which turned into 25 minutes. Then when another table had cleared, the lady at the front was extremely abrupt and told us to be seated. I asked her why such a long wait as I expected this to be acknowledged on their end. I was shocked at her behaviour, I recognized her from Lemongrass which is owned by the same owner but I did not realize she was the owner…as her behaviour was way worse than “unprofessional”. She told me “This is how it is on a Saturday, if you don’t like it maybe you should not come here on the weekend.” Insulted, I told her that was unacceptable because we made the reservation. She interrupted to me and said flatly:
“You have a choice you can either take the table or not”! She basically was telling me to take it or leave and that she did not care if we left. At that point I asked to speak to her boss when she tapped me on the arm and smugly said “I am the owner” before walking off into the kitchen. Me and my party got up and left. The owner of Riz and LemonGrass is notorious for being extremely rude not only to customers when she tested, but also to her wait staff, as I had noticed this when I was at Lemon Grass in the past. Her arrogant attitude is basically one that does not value repeat business and she believes that the restaurant is so busy that they really don’t need to be nice and/or professional to customers. That is an unacceptable attitude. As popular as the place is I will never go to Riz or Lemon Grass gain because of the horrible attitude and service that we received from this “Thai Food Nazi”!