Restaurant Kronborg — Restaurant in Copenhagen Municipality

9.21.19 - IN RESPONSE TO CLAES PETERSON (owner)

Hi Claes, thanks for responding to my belated review. In many ways, Google Maps is a diary of my travels.

The date of my experience was on Friday, December 8th, 2017 very close to 12 PM. I don't care if you discover the culprit, but the gentlemen was/is 40+ years old and probably closer to 50+; bald on top with a shallow shelf of silver/white hair along the sides; caucasian; approximately 5'11-6'1 (180cm - 184cm) tall. The bigger picture is to address the restaurant staff as a whole. I understand you want to preserve the reputation of the restaurant, which was implied by the fact that there is a 15 month lead time for reservations for weekend lunch. I recall the incident clearly because Immediately afterwards, we went to Schonnemann who greeted us with kindness even though it was packed and our pictures of their food are time stamped. My reviews for that place are on Google Maps as well if you want to confirm.

The incident was extraordinary for us. My partner asked about bar seating because she thought she saw a small bar deeper inside the restaurant, not the bar immediately to the left of the entrance. If she was wrong, we apologize, but our attention was fully on your staff. The manner in which your staff spoke to my spouse was unacceptable because he stepped uncomfortably close to her as if to grab her to say "what about what I just told you did you not understand?" My partner's response was his rudeness was not necessary, which he responded while glaring at her with "don't waste my time". My comment about how I spared his dignity was because my spouse was 7 months pregnant at the time and I refrained from physically protecting my spouse from danger. One does not forget why his family is perceived to be in imminent danger. Fortunately for him I remembered we were guests in a foreign country despite the danger I saw.

In reality, that staff shames the restaurant.

I could substitute my use of the word racism with extreme prejudice, but I'm confident in my assessment. We have traveled to over 65 countries, eating food sitting from dirt floors; street hawker stalls; Buddhist temples; multiple Michelin star restaurants (including Noma) and everything else in between. We grew up in the face of racism and prejudice and we know when it's being shown. Your staff clearly showed his personal feelings that afternoon. Although you run a business that reflects the diversity of our planet, it does not mean your restaurant or this planet is free of racism or prejudice.

Your response would have made a difference if the priority was to to emphasize to the staff that it should not have happened regardless if anyone was able to recall it or not. It's not practical to think your staff would admit an incident that's 2yrs old. As a guest of your country, I saw danger approach my spouse and that is absolutely unforgettable and unforgivable. I was very emotional after the incident and there was no rush to write a review. I was far more focused on the remainder of our travels through Copenhagen, Norway, Finland, and Denmark.

To answer your questions in another way. Yes, I stepped back and took a long breath for two years before writing my review.

12.8.2017 - We walked in during lunch time and it was relatively full, but clearly some people were waiting outside. When we walked in we kindly asked if the was a wait for 2 people and we were abruptly told all tables were occupied. We asked if the bar was available since we were only two and we only wanted a light lunch with a beer and to get off our feet, and the host aggressively said, "What don't you understand about being full?"

Sadly, we walked out sparing him any humiliation, but I would say he was borderline racist as he was overtly kind to anyone who was not of any color, but after waiting outside to cool off we saw a few other Scandinavian-like families walk out of the restaurant looking flustered as well.

Well, I guess the food is better than the service, but...

I don’t often post reviews unless the experience is beyond expectations or extremely disappointing. Unfortunately, in this case it was the latter. We were a party of 2, and ordered 3 smørrebrød to which our waiter asked who would eat the 3rd order. My partner responded “that’s okay, because we will be sharing”. The waiter reminded us that the 3 orders would come in 3 separate plates, condescendingly continued to explain what that meant and went on to make a snarky remark saying “this is a restaurant, food comes on a plate”.

It took us a moment to even realise what he had said because we don’t often come across such rudeness, especially when we go out to dine at places rated at 4.5 with over 1.5k reviews. This wasn’t the only contribution to the bad experience.

At some point we realised that every table around us was explained about the aquavits and each table had a bread basket. We were never asked if we wanted either and we felt a bit embarrassed to even ask after being met with condescension, such as “this is a restaurant”.

When our drinks were almost empty, my partner was asked if he wanted another one while I was ignored - I don’t know if it was because I’m a woman or a woman of colour or plainly both. I requested one a minute later.

Above all and most importantly the food was mediocre at best, the desserts were terrible (apple cake tasted mass produced and the chocolate cake was extremely dry and dense). I was not able to finish the chocolate cake and did share with the waiter that it was “just okay”, while my partner responded “all is good” because he is just too polite.

Having lived in 7 countries, travelled to over 30, working in the food sector and especially as someone who loves to dine - I know a thing or two about good food and hospitality. Unfortunately, at this restaurant neither criteria qualify for more than 2 stars. I recently moved into the neighbourhood and was looking to find a home style Danish restaurant to frequent, but sadly will not be...

First of all, I would like to mention that this was our (my wife and I) first time dining here and it will most certainly will be our last. Before placing my reservation I read some of the mostly positive and a few negative Google reviews and decided to believe the positive ones because they outnumbered negatives ones by a ratio of 10:1

Here is my honest opinion and I'm pretty sure I'm going to get a response from the restaurant management slandering me just like how they did to numerous other tourists who gave a negative review instead of demonstrating good customer service values and apologize sincerely and make them feel invited!

The service of the restaurant workers starting from the maitre d to the table servers was indeed cold, unwelcoming and uncomfortable and please do believe the negative reviews that mention that the restaurant "doesn't like tourists or like to cater to them" because I certainly felt that. As a person of color, I felt the crudeness and ignorance in attitude by the maitre d when she seated us at a table which wasn't to our liking and we requested other tables in that section which were all empty when we arrived. We were told that those tables were reserved by "regulars" (see where I'm going with this) and I wasn't given an option on chosing a table when I made the reservation. The food was good 7/10, no contesting that... but the service is a -10/10 As foreigners we dine at these family owned restaurants whenever we travel to get a feel for local cuisines and culture. We've traveled to 22 different countries in Europe and this was the first time I was treated this way and felt like an outcast by a fully white danish staff which evidently lacks any diversity and an attitude of inclusiveness. Thank you!

I'm staying at the square hotel until Monday May 15th and my name is Nafees Salam so if you want to make this right and do something nice you have a...