Do you enjoy bitchy tales of restaurant woe? Pour yourself a stiff glass of outrage: a group of women in Harlem believe it was their race and lack of condo ownership that caused a co-owner of Cedric, Cedric Lecendre, to ask them to relocate to a less desirable table—where they stayed for almost another three hours, drinking wine and ordering more food. Lecendre counters that he did no such thing, and that Manhattan's Deputy Beep threatened to use her influence to shut his restaurant down.
Lydia Carlston, one of the party of slighted diners, which included Manhattan Deputy Borough President Rosemonde Pierre-Louis, notes on Cedric's Facebook page that the members of the incoming party "were all Caucasian." Though they "continued to spend money" there, they were "still confused by our relocation since a few of us were still eating at the time." Nevermind that Cedric's majority owner notes that the Caucasian party had a 7:30 p.m. reservation, let's hear what really pissed these women off.
When we asked Cedric why we needed to move to a different table, he told us that the party of four had moved into the neighborhood, bought condos, and they were "regulars" and he knew them -- which is why he felt the need to accommodate them. When we reminded him about our long-standing support to his restaurant, and our overall support in Harlem, he responded "I do not care about long-time residents of Harlem, I am running a business", in a very loud and egregious tone. This all took place in front of other patrons and his staff.
Lecendre told DNAinfo that the women called Pierre-Louis back to the restaurant to harass him: "She told me many times, 'I'm going to shut you down, I'm going to destroy your business."
He also claims he was misquoted. “The answer I told [them] was, ‘I don’t care about Harlem, I don’t care about black or white, I don’t care about man or woman, I don’t care if you have money or not—when you come in that door, everyone is equal,” Lecendre told the Times. It's a sentiment the majority owner agrees with on the restaurant's Facebook page.
In our experience, when politely asked to change tables after a three-hour meal, most customers are too tipsy to care or take it as a subtle reminder that it may be time to leave. Pierre-Louis denies making threats, and Lecendre has written an apology letter to the women, but never forget the bullshit refrain: "the customer is always right."
