A woman claims that wait staff at a restaurant may have intentionally put staples in her and her family’s food during a recent trip to Latino Bar & Grill in Akron, Ohio.
Ava (@avaa_hoops) adds that her mother may have been racially discriminated against for being white, as employees at the restaurant called her a “white ass” after she complained that customers who were behind her in line were seated before her and her table.
The TikToker posted about her experience in a viral clip where she delineates that employees at the restaurant didn’t appear to take the situation seriously. She claims the workers were “laughing” about the incident after they brought up the fact there were multiple staples placed in their meal.
@avaa_hoops Just wow🤨 and the fact that the hostesses thought this whole thing was funny ##badservice##cincodemayo##badfoodexperience##badrestaurant##badrestaurantservice###dobetter##fyp##foryou##abcxyz##blowthisup##restaurant##restauranthorrorstories##restaurantreview ♬ Love You So – The King Khan & BBQ Show
The viral video begins with Ava holding up a small brick of staples in her hand.
“There’s staples in our coleslaw…there’s staples in our food,” a woman’s voice can be heard saying off camera as they show several other clips of staples resting at the bottom of a ramekin covered in mayonnaise and slaw.
“Imagine if someone would’ve cut their mouth on this?” the woman exclaims again, showing the office supplies on camera.
The clip then transitions to Ava speaking directly into the camera.
“This all started when my mom walked in she walked in first and then two guys walked in behind her,” she says. “The lady went to serve the two guys behind her before my mom, and my mom said something about it, and she pretty much just ignored my mom for a little bit. And then finally my mom got the attention of someone else, and we were able to get a table. As my mom was walking away, she also called her a ‘white ass.’ So apparently this Mexican place doesn’t like white people.”
Avan says that upon being seated, it appeared like her table was finally getting some decent service. They were immediately brought some chips, salsa, and coleslaw to their table. However, she said that it took about 20 minutes before a server finally came to ask them for their order.
“We finally got a server and were like, ‘OK, whatever like, they’re busy. It’s Cinco de Mayo.’”
While they were waiting and began eating the food brought out to them, that’s when their table noticed there were staples in their slaw.
“But then as we’re eating, the coleslaw we go, like we get to to the bottom, and there’s literally like four big chunks of staples in the food,” she says. “So when we brought it up to our server like the girls in the back were laughing or whatever which I thought was ridiculous. Our server wasn’t [laughing], but the other girls were. That’s not funny. Imagine that could cut into someone’s stomach, like, that’s just, that drew the line.”
Ava was shocked by the response the restaurant staff had to the scraps of metal in their food, adding that the manager attempted to downplay the situation by stating that the servers were new. She was also unhappy with how the situation was handled, stating that the restaurant didn’t compensate their entire meal, only offering around 40% off.
She capped off her video by giving a mediocre review of the restaurant’s fare, stating that it was nothing to write home about.
“The food wasn’t that bad, I mean it wasn’t amazing but it wasn’t that bad. I’m not gonna lie the food wasn’t that bad,” she says. “I have never experienced service like that. Between them literally skipping my mom in line, and then the server. We didn’t even have a server for like fifteen, twenty minutes, and then there’s staples in our food? And then you won’t even comp the meal which, OK, whatever. And then you won’t bring us our check, like, I, this place, this is a no go, don’t go here.”
She then ends her video with a screenshot of what appears to be a Google search of the restaurant delineating its location, along with pictures of the restaurant’s exterior.
The Daily Dot has attempted to call Latino Bar & Grill, however, the number, as of this writing, appears to be disconnected. The Daily Dot has reached out to Ava via TikTok comment for further information.
One commenter who saw the post said that after scrolling through years of Google reviews for the business, it appears similar things have happened to other customers. They speculated that the wait staff has been doing this on purpose to patrons. “Read their reviews on google. They been doing this type of stuff to people. Even from like 4 years ago,” they wrote.
Another couldn’t believe that Ava and her family would continue to dine there even after finding staples in their food. “I would have just left without paying once the staples were found that’s crazy,” they shared.
Many others suggested that they contact the local health department and other business-watchdog entities to tell them about their experience. “Since the management really wasn’t concerned, I’d get ahold of the health department or B.B.B…..,” one commenter argued.
Some noted that they came in on a notoriously busy day: Cinco de Mayo. However, several commenters were baffled by the egregious mistake, regardless of the rush of customers.
“I used to be a server and when it was cinco de mayo it was so crazy that I would be running around the entire time but how did they not see that?” someone asked.
