A woman who went to eat on Valentine’s day at a well-known Oregon eatery is suing the restaurant for a cool $100,000, claiming the staff were rude and “upset her.”
When small-business owner Kathleen Hampton arrived for her 7 p.m. reservation at Enzo’s Caffe Italiano on Valentine’s Day to eat with her husband, she claims other people who arrived after her were seated before her. She waited for her husband to arrive, but he failed to show up.
When she was finally seated, Hampton claims the staff at Enzo’s were rude to her, ignored her and failed to give her proper service. When she told a server she was ready to order food, she was allegedly asked to leave the restaurant and give her pre-booked table up .
By this point, the unamused patron was starving and decided to cut her losses and order a take-out from the eatery to munch at home. She was told the restaurant don’t offer take out. “That was the final straw,” Hampton said in the lawsuit. “I’ve never heard of a food place not having to-go.”
The owner of the establishment, Enzo Lanzadoro, said he remembers the night quite differently from Hampton, telling reporters the following.
“She made reservation for two and when she got there, said ‘oh just by myself. We offered for her to sit at the bar with other single diners since Valentine’s Day is very busy and all we know is she got up [from the table] and left without paying after she drank two glasses of wine.”
Despite that version of event, Hampton is suing Enzo’s for $100,000 and a public apology to be made “both in person and in local media, to make sure all business owners on N.E. Alberta know we are serious about our community.”
The lawsuit was filed at the Multnomah County Circuit Court and, for now, Hampton will be representing herself.
