Could Leopold’s Really Be That Bad?
In his weekly chats for the last four weeks, Tom Sietsema has been hinting at having one of the worst service experiences ever at a local restaurant. Readers of the Sunday Post Magazine finally read about the experience in full when Sietsema reviewed Leopold’s Kafe & Konditorei this past Sunday. From the “clueless mannequin on duty” to “[t]he human peacocks supposedly hired to supervise,” this review was rough — though the food was good enough to pull the restaurant to one star. In last Thursday’s City Paper Todd Kliman came to the same conclusions about Leopold’s, and Sietsema and Kliman aren’t alone. We haven’t been to Leopold’s, but the deafening cry of “don’t expect good service!” is enough to make us want to take a pass– and the Kafe’s Craigslist ad doesn’t help much. The caps give us a headache.

Rolling Your Eyes at the Diner
You know, it’s interesting how one or two restaurants always emerge as the proverbial whipping boys on Sietsema’s chats. Komi, the Black’s chain, and Ray’s the Steaks have all be put through the ringer — and this week it was Charlie Palmer Steak getting the treatment. This time around Sietsema took opinions from the peanut gallery, and from the looks of it opinions were about 75% in favor of how the restaurant treated the offended customer, who among many other complaints (undercooked steak, slow service) had to deal with a manager that “rolled her eyes at us.” The offended diner went as far as to leave no tip and complained to the executive manager. Now, sources tell us the eye-rolling manager was new (which is no excuse for her behavior) and that Charlie Palmer does have a confusing service system — but here’s a case where we think both parties are wrong. Refusing to tip penalizes everyone from the lowly bussers to the waiter, but probably not the manager. But rolling your eyes? Next time, try that handy trick where you give the customer the finger behind your back.