A restaurant refused to serve a gay couple an ice cream sundae to share
An employee prepares ice cream creations made by using liquid nitrogen at the Nitrogenie ice cream store on August 4, 2016 in Paris. / AFP / BERTRAND GUAY (Photo credit should read BERTRAND GUAY/AFP/Getty Images)
A restaurant has refused to serve a gay couple an ice cream sundae with two spoons.
The couple, Ron Gage and Henry McKinnon, said they had enjoyed their romantic evening at the Prime Rib restaurant in Washington DC, until it got to dessert.
The couple said their server had refused to serve an ice cream sundae and two spoons.
They told the Washington Post: “When it came time for dessert, we asked for one sundae with two spoons.”
But the server, according to Gage, said it “wouldn’t look right with two gentlemen eating out of the same sundae. It doesn’t go with the ambiance of the restaurant.”
Gage added that they were “speechless” at the assertion that they couldn’t simply have two spoons.
Writing on Facebook and Yelp, McKinnon said: “It was so humiliating… It was unbelievable how it made us feel.”
The couple have said they are angry at the show of discrimination.
The restaurant manager said he had not been able to speak with the server and he was unclear what had happened.
James MacLeod, the manager, said that English is not the server’s first language in an attempt to defend the restaurant against criticisms.
“I am not sure if he got confused as to what he was saying, or how he was saying it,” MacLeod said.
Many took to Yelp to say they wouldn’t eat in the restaurant any more.
One wrote” “Me and my family will never eat here again. A homophobic restaurant in Washington, D.C., in 2017. SMH.”
Another added: “Never again will I set foot here.” and a third wrote: “Shame! Shame! Shame!”
Earlier this year a restaurant defended a policy restricting a ‘date night’ offer to opposite-sex couples.
The Lake Restaurant in Brakpan, South Africa advertises a special Thursday night offer exclusively for couples.
Another restaurant owner denied “threatening” trans people with a sign attacking “transgender bathrooms”.
The owners of a restaurant which was the subject of an online review saying there were “too many gay people” hit back at the customer in the best way.
