The Marlowe Restaurant on York Boulevard in Richmond Hill, Ontario is at the centre of an ugly incident.
Apparently some people who work there think a turban is like a baseball cap:
I hope this email finds you well. I am writing this email to you both to share a story with you about a recent experience I had with your establishment. Please allow me to first let you both know that I am an employee of multi-national bank, which conducts regular business with your restaurant in Richmond Hill. In fact, I was the first person at our organization to suggest we use your venue as a place to celebrate business events. Just for the record, I have negotiated a payment of more than $5,000 in one evening with your establishment, on behalf of my employer, which I recommended.
I visited your establishment on the evening of Saturday, April 28, 2007 to help celebrate a birthday of a friend, and stood in line for approximately one hour. Although this may be something your clients complain about, I actually did not mind as I understood you were quite busy. However, what occurred afterwards was something I have never experienced in my 25 years in North America.
As I was close to the entry point of your establishment, one of your employees (doorman) approached me and stated that customers with headwear were not allowed into the restaurant. Your employee was referring to my turban, which is a required article of faith for my religion; I am a proud turban-wearing Sikh.
Now Gaurav Singh was not immediately offended, he writes, but tried to explain the importance of the turban. When that didn't work, he asked to speak to the manager:
However, your owner/manager eventually stated that this was his "sandbox" and he could do what he pleased.
Another witness to the events writes:
I was in line that night and UTTERLY disgusted by what happened. The manager who spoke to the man who was wearing the turban made a disgusting comment about not letting the club turn into a "Indian" club.
But while some people are making plans to picket and demonstrate, one person made a common-sense statement:
just wondering if you've heard back from Marlowe's yet. I believe what happened was the ignorance of one man, and one man only (the manager). I look forward to the response from the owners.
Fair enough. So I decided to check my favourite restaurant review site, Restaurantica, and what I saw makes me think one person could not be responsible for this:
Comments: The food was awful with no taste.The only taste I could feel was the smelly salmon.You can tell when something is not fresh.The manager was rude and had no costumer service.The servers are inexperienced and should not be in this business.You can tell they have day jobs and they are in it just for the money.Very,very,very BAD.
Comments: Some friends and I decided to join a another group of friends at Marlowe for a drink (Hwy 7 location). When we arrived at around 11ish, there was a line-up of about 25 people outside. We waited over 40 mins (in the cold), only to get to the front and be denied entry because one of my friends was wearing runners. When my friend argued, the bouncer replied flippantly "look, there's a sign that says no runners" and then turned around and acted like we weren't even there. First off, there was no sign. Second, a couple of our friends who were already inside were wearing runners. The place is totally pretentious and the staff are complete snobs. They obviously think that they're posh and important (They even have their own valet service now and charge a $10 cover).Their fake line to make themselves seem busy (my friends inside said that the place was half empty) and their stuck up attitude guarantees that I'll never return. Someone should remind them that they are in Richmond Hill, not on Richmond Street.
Comments: As someone mentioned here already, we had made a reservation but then they said we never did. Was not a problem as it was not packed. Our server was pretty good except when the food got to the table, it was only lukewarm but overall very yummy. The atmosphere inside is nice, they had a dancefloor playing retro (my kinda music) but no one was dancing. The portions were pretty good sizes and I would go back again.
Comments: The food was awful.We sent the soup back because it was sour.Our steaks were way overcooked and the salmon had a salty taste from soy marinade.We were going to send everything back but our server deserted us.awful,awful,awful.
Comments: good food.. but service was awful
Comments: The food is good, based on what we order but the SERVICE is disgraceful. They denied our reservation and suggested we never had one in the first place. The managers were not very accomadating and they charged members of our party cover charge even though they were having dinner with us... ridculous.
That's every comment. No cherry-picking. Even the person who gave high grades complained about the service.
Mr Singh plans to contact the Ontario Human Rights Commission on May 4 if this isn't resolved. Just a local story, really, but surprising to me.
And for Mr Singh, this is not just about Sikhs or making special cases for his turban:
I'd like to thank everyone for their support. However, this isn't just about Sikhs and turbans. Regardless of faith, background, or colour, we all have gone through something like this. My example is just that - another example. At the same time, the majority of people are good in Canada. Let's not allow ourselves to become jaded. Instead, let's stay positive and spread goodness.
Hear, hear!
The management at Marlowe will have an opportunity to explain the actions of the staff, of course.
