Maple & Motor — Restaurant in Dallas

Before I share the experience I had today, I’d like to point out a pattern I’ve noticed with all the bad reviews about this place. They all mention how unwelcoming the owner is, how he's a bully, and how condescending he can be. If you look at all the bad reviews, you can see his replies; the tone of them is just very snarky and unpleasant. Interestingly, he won’t reply to the reviews about his restaurant being prejudiced towards kids, which is very strange. One of the reviews mentioned how some kids were asked not to stand in the booths by the owner—not even that they were already standing in them, just that he told them not to out of nowhere. He replied to this review by saying, “Keep your children’s dirty feet out of the booth,” calling kids dirty. What a guy. You can find the review, and the rest of it is just him being snarky again.

Now for my experience today. I came with my younger cousin and uncle. While we were sitting and waiting for our food, a man walked in and just asked to use the restroom. The guy wasn’t doing anything wrong—he wasn’t being loud or disruptive. From another review I read, they’ve had bad experiences with non-customers using the restroom, but that customer was drunk. The man that asked to use the restroom today was not drunk; he was just hot and needed to use the restroom. One of the employees said the bathrooms are for customers only. I just want to say that I’ve been here plenty of times and have used the restroom before even ordering, so I just thought it was strange. This interaction caught my uncle’s attention. When the owner was running the man off back outside, it was at least 95° outside. My uncle said to the employee, “He’s not a threat; he means no harm.” One of the employees asked my uncle, “What’s wrong? How can I help you? I work here.” My uncle repeated, “He’s no harm.”

My uncle sat down, and our food came out. The owner and some other employees came to our table serving us our food. Before all the other employees could even put any of our food down, the owner said, “So what’s the issue?” My uncle said, “He meant no harm.” The owner replied, “He was a homeless guy and was trying to hang out in here. We don’t do that.” He ended up telling us, “If you don’t like it, we can just give you your money back and you can leave.”

The owner just isn’t a people person. The man wasn’t trying to hang out; he was trying to use the restroom. The very least you could have done was allow him to use the restroom and then ask him to leave. I’ve been here plenty of times, and the service is usually great. How is it that one of the times I come and the owner is here, this is my experience? I guess the bad reviews are right about him. What I thought was really funny is when he came up to our table and was being a jerk, all the other people carrying our food looked at him like they were thinking, “Is he serious?”

Here’s what I can say: when someone needs help, you help them. All that guy was asking to do was use the restroom. It was hot, and he wasn’t making any kind of disturbance. He could’ve used the restroom...

I’ve recommended this place to several people despite the higher-than-average burger prices. I won’t do so again. My girlfriend and I took my brother there for the first time. We were excited to dine in until we had the pleasure of interacting with who I assume is the manager: an older, rotund, balding gentleman. When we first came in, this fellow smugly told my girlfriend to get back in line before taking a seat. (I had asked her to grab an open booth while we ordered our food, which didn’t seem ridiculous since that’s fairly common for other restaurants with similar dining layouts.)

To be fair to this bloke, the establishment does have signs that ask clientele to abstain from sitting down before ordering. However, there’s so much décor that it becomes easy to miss or ignore the signage, and he definitely could have been nicer, more courteous than he was in directing us to move back in line. We were fine after a bit, but it threw us off that the sign itself seemed condescending, saying, “DON’T GET UPSET if we catch you poaching seats” (I paraphrase only slightly). The wording presumes paying customers are bad actors with ill Intentions. We made it through our meal without incident. I originally tried to give the benefit of the doubt to this guy who greeted us, but I then witnessed him interact with a delivery driver who was picking up food.

In short: the food was not ready, and the driver wanted to wait outside for it. (He said he would be right back in.) The employee who I assume is the manager then raised his voice at the gentleman, telling him to “wait right here” until the food was ready. He said it twice (more forcefully the second time) to the delivery driver as if the “manager” had any authority over where this man was allowed to stand. The delivery driver calmly said, “No, it’s okay,” and walked outside. The “manager” reacted by rolling his eyes and shaking his head. At that point, we decided it was definitely time to leave.

We refilled our cups before leaving and tried to clean up a bit, but the “manager” inserted himself (an unpleasant experience). My brother, never having been to this restaurant, thought we had to pick up after ourselves and throw our own trash away. (He was trying to be helpful!) But the “manager” did not like that, raising his voice at him and telling him to leave the trash on the table. Again, he said this twice as if my brother is hard of hearing or an idiot.

Overall, it was not a good experience. After the initial encounter with this man, we felt uneasy, like we were being monitored, scared to make the wrong move and risk being kicked out. That is not hospitality. It’s a microcosmic dictatorship, and this rotund gentleman is Mussolini. The end-of-meal interactions cemented our fate: we will not be returning. The rest of the staff seemed fine and much more reasonable. This one person is ruining the reputation of this establishment. It seems he needs to be reminded there’s another sign hanging in the dining area, appropriately placed above the sign about seating, that reads: “Be...

We visited this restaurant for a small breakfast meeting with my colleagues, and unfortunately, the experience was disappointing. The owner was incredibly rude, which left a sour impression on all of us.

We waited for our cheeseburgers for over 20 minutes, and when we tried to ask about the delay, the owner outright refused to address our concerns. It's baffling how someone in the service industry can have such an unprofessional attitude. His body language was rude towards all customers, making him come across more like a mafia boss than a restaurant owner.

On a positive note, the food itself was good, and the servers were polite and accommodating. However, the poor management overshadowed these positives. My friend even apologized for bringing me to this restaurant, mentioning that the owner's behavior is consistently like this—especially towards customers inquiring about delayed orders.

The owner has also been described as unwelcoming, condescending, and snarky in interactions with customers and responses to negative reviews. Many reviews highlight his prejudice against kids and dismissive attitude toward guests, often responding rudely to criticism online. Checking Google and Yelp reviews, you’ll see that most complaints focus on the owner, not the food or the servers.

Be prepared to wait 45-50 minutes for your food, and when you eat, avoid making eye contact with the owner. If you're on a tight schedule or looking for a welcoming environment, this place is not for you. Honestly, it’s surprising this restaurant is still in business given how poorly the owner...