THUNDER BAY-Readers Ledger – On Friday August 2, 2013 I had a very unfortunate experience at Wasabi Japanese Restaurant. I have an allergy to peanuts and nuts and am unable to eat there. Friends of mine chose to visit this restaurant, and I didn’t have an issue with that because I had already eaten. I was just going to socialize with friends and order green tea. My friends chose to have the all you can eat sushi ($16 per person). I was told that I would also have to pay $16 on top of my $3 tea, even though I was not eating because they can’t watch everybody and they can’t believe your word.
I told them “but this is totally different because I actually CANNOT eat anything so I WILL NOT eat anything”. But no, rules are rules and I was forced to pay the fee for eating absolutely nothing. Thankfully my friends chose to split the cost of “my” all you can eat meal making theirs about $18 per person. They chose to do this rather than going to a different sushi place that would still turn out to be more expensive for them. For the entire time we were there I felt bad because they were paying for me, when they shouldn’t have to pay this extra cost. Wasabi Japanese Restaurant is not accommodating at all for people with allergies, and this was NOT right. When I returned home, I told my mother and she was furious. She called the restaurant and spoke to the manager.
She explained the situation and the manager still insisted that rules are rules, and they cannot watch everyone as they eat. My mother asked them if they had ever had a situation like this because an allergy is totally different than someone saying “I’m not hungry, so I promise I wont eat anything”.
I physically could not eat it, but they would still not believe me. I shouldn’t have to prove my allergy to anyone. My mother even told them so. The manager said, “Anyone could lie about allergies to not pay, and then sneak food,” and my mom replied, “Do you really think I would call and complain like this if my daughter were lying to you? Its not about the money, its about your policy”.
She continued to tell them how unaccommodating they are, and how it is very wrong to make us pay for something I didn’t have.
She asked to speak to someone higher up in the business, and they refused her.
She told them they would be hearing about this in the paper and other media, and they hung up the phone on her!
They were ruder to my mother, in my opinion, and this was not professional at all. I would like to add that the waitress however was very polite, felt bad for me and apologized. So thank you for that. The management are the ones enforcing these rules. Terrible experience, and I am sharing this with the hopes that they change their policy for future customers.
Samantha Sutch
