NYC’s ‘most romantic’ restaurant accused of having segregated ‘Asian corner’
ByJeanette Settembre
November 8, 2022 7:24pm
A TikTok reviewer is slamming the restaurant One if by Land, Two if by Sea for allegedly discriminating against Asian diners.TikTok / rokug4n
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A disappointing date night at romantic Greenwich Village restaurant One if by Land, Two if by Sea left one foodie steaming mad — now, she’s accusing one of New York’s most historic hideaways of discriminating against Asian diners.
TikToker Annie, who goes by @rokug4n, scored more than 100,000 views on a video from the night of her visit that shows a poorly-lit second level packed with other Asian couples sitting on less-than-luxurious chairs that might as well have been on loan from a suburban wedding hall.
The cramped space is a far cry from the gorgeous ground floor that has won the restaurant, carved out of a 1700s carriage house once owned by Aaron Burr, so many accolades over the years.
“Let’s cut to the chase: One if by Land, Two if by Sea racially discriminates against nonwhite people, particularly Asians,” said Annie.
She contrasted the second-floor space with a Yelp photo of the appealing, well-lit main dining room that might as well have been another restaurant — one, she says, that didn’t seem to want Asian diners.
A representative for the Barrow Street boîte insisted there was “no basis of truth” in Annie’s allegations.
“One If By Land, Two If By Sea has been in business almost fifty years and we pride ourselves on our service to our customers, regardless of their color or nationality. I have worked at the restaurant for 30 years and the reason it has stayed so popular is because of the warmth each guest receives as they walk through the door,” Lisa Gardner, One if by Land, Two if by Sea’s Director of Special Events, told The Post in a statement.
TikToker @rokug4n, who goes by Annie and dined at One if by Land, Two if by Sea recently, was allegedly seated with an Asian-only crowd in a dining room upstairs, while the first floor was a white crowd.TikTok / rokug4n“We have received over 60,000 reviews on Open Table, the reservation platform we use and not one has mentioned any type of discriminatory behavior on our part,” Gardner said.
Annie begged to differ — and so do scores of other angry reviewers on Yelp and Google.
One Yelp reviewer, Xu Z., detailed being made to wait for 40 minutes with a friend before being seated upstairs — despite reserving a table on the first floor.
Similarly, another citizen food journalist, Min Chieh L., wrote that during their experience last year that other patrons were prioritized, waiters ignored them and that the restaurant’s captain was “arrogant.”
The TikToker pulled photos of the upstairs of the restaurant compared to the first floor, pictured here, to detail the stark contrast between white and non-white diners allegedly separated in fine dining restaurant.TikTok / rokug4nAnd a Yelp reviewer named Michelle C. reported in 2017 she was seated in a section surrounded by Asian diners while white diners occupied another section.
Diner Angie C. noticed the same thing, years earlier.
“There were six tables of Asians packed in a corner in the balcony area (my table included) which my boyfriend and I joked about. We said, ‘what is this, the Asian corner?’ and laughed it off. But then when we went downstairs to the main area … not a single Asian there. It was something we couldn’t help but notice,” she wrote in 2012.
After her dining experience, Annie pulled up reviews of the restaurant on Yelp where other diners complained of similar alleged discrimination.TikTok / rokug4n
Jesi Zhang, who dined at the restaurant ten months ago, left a blistering Google review, detailing a similar seating scenario.
“When we got seated on the second floor, it [was] like an Asian community,” she said.
One if by Land, Two if by Sea’s Yelp page has been bombarded with one-star reviews since Annie’s video first went viral, leading the site to temporarily disable the review feature, a common move when restaurants receive less-than-positive media attention.
“I have no issue dining with other Asian people,” Annie clarified. “What I do care about, and have an issue with, is people of color being separated from white people by white people in higher-end establishments. So many Asian foodies are paying hundreds of dollars to this restaurant and getting racially discriminated against.”
Another Asian diner left the restaurant a one-star review, claiming they were ignored by staff.TikTok / rokug4n
The classic date night spot isn’t the only New York institution to earn the ire of Asian diners, who have been peppering classic steakhouse Peter Luger with wildly negative reviews for years, with dozens of examples on Yelp alone.
“All the Asians and people of color were sat by the door, the restroom, and the wall,” she said. “I can’t believe this is still happening in America.”
“Peter Luger is proud to have had the patronage and support of the Asian American community and Asian communities globally for decades. We welcome all cultures through our doors, and feel the great diversity of our customers strengthens us,” a representative told The Post.
Source:https://nypost.com/2022/11/08/diners-accuse-nycs-most-romantic-restaurant-of-discrimination/
