Clarissa McNeill-Collaso

Review of Shogun's of Fayetteville

I had the opportunity to dine this evening at this...

I had the opportunity to dine this evening at this establishment with 5 young black men that all attend Fayetteville State University. Throughout the entire meal these young men proceeded to fellowship and laugh and enjoy each other's company. They never once got loud and boisterous, used profanity or acted "ghetto" as people like to say. So at the end of the meal one of the young men noticed that the gratuity was added to all of their tickets and he asked the waitress about it and she told him that she was not sure because gratuity was only added if it was a party of six or more. The waitress gets the manager to explain why gratuity was added to the tickets and the manager comes to the table and makes up an excuse that it had recently changed and gratuity is now added to parties of five or more. However, she could not show them where this new policy was listed anywhere in the restaurant she stated what she had to say and proceeded to walk away from the table. Nevermind the current menu clearly says "Gratuity will be added on parties of 6 or more." So I decided to pay for the young man's bill, having been a college student myself I understand the struggles of being in college, he assured me that I did not have to do this and was very appreciative of the offer. I explained to him that it was okay I didn't feel like they were being treated fairly and I would like to take care of his meal this evening. After returning with all of the cards and the tickets for the young men, the waitress informs all of us that the manager told her that she (the manager) felt like they would not tip her so she intentionally added gratuity to their tickets. After expressing to the waitress that this was a very sad situation and that we eat at this establishment a lot and I will no longer return because these young men were being racially profiled, she was very apologetic to all of us and expressed her concern as well. Keep in mind that these young men still never stepped out of character even after being told what was done to them. It amazes me that even today people can still be so judgemental and racist. I stand firm behind my decision I will never return to this restaurant and I suggest that the manager issues a formal apology to these young men and that other people see what happened tonight for exactly what it was...racial profiling and think twice before supporting this type of behavior.