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‘One of them told us to calm down’: Umami Sushi customer says workers stood by while they were ‘racially harassed’

‘They said there was nothing they could do for us.’

Photo of Tiffanie Drayton

Tiffanie Drayton

Umami Sushi customer says workers stood by while they were ‘racially harassed’

One woman accused workers at Umami Sushi Bar of standing by while another party racially harassed her and her family.

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In a viral video with over 631,300 views and 116,700 likes as of this writing, TikToker Lorenzita (@Lorenzitasantos) described what purportedly happened during the encounter.

“My family and I were racially harassed, followed, and had objects thrown at us at Umami Sushi, and the management did nothing to stop this,” she began in the clip.

She said her family was seated in front of a party of six white people who immediately started to harass them.

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“As I was sitting down, one of them threw an ice cube at my hair,” she said.

The woman said she decided to ignore the behavior to avoid escalating anything. However, the harassment reportedly continued.

“One of the servers was bringing out food for their table, and they saw that they threw a used, wet napkin at us,” she said. “We complained to that server, and they said there was nothing they could do for us.”

The party allegedly continued to harass the woman and her family by trying to talk to them and even using a slur.

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“They also threw more ice cubes and a chopstick wrapper at us,” she said.

On top of this, she said four of the people from the abusive party followed her cousin when she got up to go to the restroom. They reportedly banged on the bathroom door and then began to say random Korean words to her, which Lorenzita called “blatantly racist.”

The TikToker said the encounter was so unsettling that another patron came up to her family to check in on them after witnessing what happened in the bathroom.

Still, the workers allegedly stood by and did nothing to reprimand the white party’s indecent behavior. Instead, the woman said one of the restaurant’s workers told them to “calm down.”

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Eventually, the woman and her party decided it would be best to just leave. However, she also said the restaurant workers insisted her family pay for the food they were unable to comfortably eat.

“They did not let us leave until we paid the $200, which had auto gratuity,” she said.

Before ending her video, she pleaded with viewers, “I’m begging you to please boycott Umami Sushi and any restaurant owned by Dragon Factories.”

@lorenzitasantos

Boycott Umami Sushi and all the Dragon Factory restaurants in Las Vegas including: Sakana, Mr. Shota, Neko Sushi, Neko Supremo, Neko Ramen, Hwaro, Hwaro 2, Captain 6, Nabe Hotpot, and Kogi.

♬ original sound – Lorenzita
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In the comments section, many agreed the restaurant should be boycotted.

“I was going to try umami but not anymore!!!” user Kim said.

“I’m not going Umami sushi ever!!” another viewer added.

Asian Americans say violence toward them is rising

Back in 2021, a Pew Research Center study reported that 8 in 10 Asian adults reported that they felt afraid or had experienced threats and attacks. Eighty-one percent said they believed violence against Asian people was increasing.

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The Daily Dot reached out to Dragon Factory via email, Umami Sushi & Bar by Instagram direct message, and Lorenzita by TikTok comment for more information.

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