Karen’s Diner has taken the UK by storm since its introduction a couple of years ago, but there have been several instances of both staff and customers going too far that kind of goes against the whole ethos/vibe of the establishment.
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The latest one of these concerns the Karen’s Diner venue in the jewel of the UK, none other than the city of Birmingham. Apparently the venue there dropped its star rating recently and this came with a directive not to offer any allergy assurances leading to many diners being turned away at the door.
Normally that would be a pretty bad look but I suppose it sort of fits with the Karen’s Diner vibe of being insulted and called a pxssy for whatever reason? Sadly though, some customers didn’t enjoy the experience whatsoever with James Ellingford saying the following:
Don’t bother going if you have any kind of allergy or intolerance.
As someone with a peanut allergy, I am used to restaurants warning that their food cannot be confirmed as 100% allergen-free.
But, I have never been turned away on the door, immediately on arrival.
Apparently, I couldn’t even sit and have a drink while my friends eat, according to their policy, I couldn’t even sit in and consume nothing.
This policy is archaic and downright insane.
To deny service to anyone with an allergy is excluding such a large group of people.
Another guy called Jamie Watson had a similar experience:
Unfortunately, our booking was changed due to a health emergency of two of my guests and we were charged a no-show fee as per the Ts&Cs… fair enough
However, then we were turned away due to one of our party having an allergy. We left very hungrily with limited options left.
Whilst we understood what Karen would say on the subject and maybe this is part of the theme, we didn’t expect that to play out in real life and didn’t find it so funny.
We, therefore, expect a refunded no-show charge and some form of compensation for a less-than-optimal evening.
I dunno call me cynical but that sort of adds another dimension to the whole Karen’s Diner experience because it’s kind of funny to me that if your body has any deficiency then you’re simply banned from eating at the restaurant. Major dick move perfectly in keeping with the gimmick of the place no?
Although obviously it’s a bit annoying if you travelled all the way there and didn’t even get to get insulted whilst eating your food, just at the entrance and then sent on your way. Kinda like going to Berghain or something.
Anyway, Karen’s Diner actually had a fairly reasonable response when these comments were put online, saying the following:
This resulted in a directive not to offer any allergy assurances.
All customers that were pre-booked were informed of this restriction, and obviously all customers were informed of this on entry.
The removal of the instruction depends on a random inspection by Environmental Health which unfortunately did not take place until 27 March.
They were in fact invited to inspect weeks prior to this visiting date.
After inspection, Birmingham was immediately granted a five-star rating which in turn allows them to function fully.
The restaurant, over the last six months has served over 50,000 people and their Open Table rating review is above standard 4.4 stars.
Yeah I know wasn’t affected myself by this but it does seem like kind of a weird complaint for people to make about the place. Seems like Karen’s made people aware of the lack of allergy assurance ahead of time and it was probably on their website etc so maybe James and Jamie should just let it be instead of moaning everywhere like little allergy bxtches. It’s not really in keeping with the spirit of the restaurant experience there anyway. Losers.
For more of the same, check out when this boy and his parents got kicked out of Karen’s Diner for calling a waitress a fat slag. Unlucky pal but body shaming isn’t allowed.
