Pecola's Tapas and Shisha Lounge — Restaurant in Hampton

In full transparency, the aesthetic is beautiful. This place has major potential and with it being relatively new there are obvious growing pains as with any operating establishment. However, on my most recent visit it was a total miss. Being busy , is not justification for subpar service nor lack of the simple necessities such as utensils. It took approximately 28 minutes to receive glasses for water, to which the server (who was very sweet by the way) brought out 3 for our party of four. It was made mention that they were extremely busy. The side where we were seated, due to not having a reservation, only had one other party at the time we arrived. The main seating area was not at capacity either. Once the server returned to our area with the fourth glass and water we asked for menus, to which she replied the owner/manager had to locate menus. 20 minutes later we were brought back two menus for our party of four. We didn’t make any complaints because we were ready to order as we had been sitting for an hour at this point . We placed our orders immediately and ordered 2 mimosa flights along with two single strawberry mimosas. One member of our party isn’t able to consume alcohol so she requested a pineapple juice. Never received the pineapple juice by the way. Another 20 minutes passed and we received the mimosa flights. The flights were lukewarm, so we requested ice. After the server returned we made mentioned we never received the 2 strawberry mimosas, she responded that she’d be back with them. After sitting at this point for about 1hr 45 minutes, we received our food. No silverware, no Strawberry mimosas nor pineapple juice. After bringing this matter to our servers attention again, she replied that she’d check to see if the Mimosas were ready and she’d bring back silverware. We received wrapped forks, and after we ate the food which again was ok, we finally received the Strawberry Mimosas, and yet still no pineapple juice. The two mimosas were also very warm. Again the establishment is beautiful, and from the previous reviews I’ve read the food nor service isn’t terrible. However please don’t use not having a reservation as a reason for a mediocre experience. Clearly from what I’ve read, having a reservation doesn’t even guarantee a 5 star experience. I’m not sure why that is even a factor for providing warm mimosas, food with no silverware and timely delivery of all items. I’m rooting for this place because it adds variety to the food scene here. However, the overall execution needs some...

TLDR: Very reasonable prices, delicious food, cute aesthetic, music was great and vibes were better but service was terrible, small portions, ran out of multiple menu items, we didn’t receive drinks/items we ordered and staff didn’t realize till the end, we were never checked on, we had to clean our own table, and leave our table to get our own drinks from the bar.

Longer version: We were here for a birthday celebration and really wanted to leave 3 stars because the food was so tasty and the vibe and decor is pretty and perfect for a girls brunch even though the service was absolutely terrible and they ran out of alot of items on the menu before we were even seated. The service was extremely slow. Never received drinks or items we ordered and eventually just canceled them. Never got our waters refilled. Never got our table cleared. We took one star because we had to finally go to the bar for our drinks…which took 15 minutes but unlike our server, the bartender was actually very apologetic and sweet so ofc we didn’t mind showing her grace..at the end when we were getting the check our server nonchalantly asked did yall ever get the drinks you ordered? No.

We asked someone else for water, 15 min later that same person just brought us a decanter so we could take care of it ourselves which is fine.. I appreciated not having to wait again for more when I was done. The food portions are on the smaller side but absolutely delicious…hats off to the chef they single handily saved this birthday experience. However they lost that last star because we sat with dirty dishes at our table for over an hour..the waitress walked by our table a couple times and avoided eye contact at all costs and we loved the music but ofc it was so loud we couldn’t exactly call her over.. when we asked for help clearing the table the waitress said “can you wait? I have all these other tables to take care of too.” And never came back to clear. We felt like our little party of 4 was asking for to much. We literally bussed our own table and took our dirty dishes to the bar just so we didn’t have to sit in them any longer. Very reasonable prices. We spent $240 which is about what we expected to spend but we were trying to atleast spend another $100 or so in drinks, dessert, hookah etc we just didn’t even get the opportunity. Left and ended up somewhere else for a...

I was beyond excited to try this new restaurant in the area. From the moment we walked in, we were greeted warmly, the space was beautifully decorated, and I was so impressed that I even asked about renting out the venue for a future event.

I ordered a drink, steak bites, broccolini, and onion rings. I specifically asked for the onion rings to come out first as an appetizer, but that didn’t happen. We waited a long time for our food, and when it finally arrived, it was cold. Then I noticed the broccolini this $6 side dish looked like part of it was missing the edible portion , There were literally two big stalks: one with leaves and one bare.

When I mentioned this to the server, she admitted she noticed it when she brought it out, apologized, and said she would make sure it was corrected. A couple of minutes later, another woman (possibly a manager) came out, phone in hand, and told me she reviewed the cameras because the chef denied sending it out in that condition. Then, in front of my guest, she accused me of eating part of the broccolini and even tried to show me the camera footage. The video kept glitching so nothing was clear, but the implication was obvious: she was calling me a liar over a six-dollar side dish.

What made it even worse is that my guest, who was sitting right there, told her point blank that I hadn’t eaten any broccolini and that the plate looked exactly like that when it arrived. Yet the woman still confronted me as though I was trying to scam them.

I was absolutely disgusted and embarrassed. Instead of simply checking how the plate left the kitchen, this woman chose to humiliate me in front of my guest over half a stalk of broccolini.

By the time they brought out a corrected plate of broccolini and steak bites, my appetite was completely gone. I couldn’t believe I was treated like this—especially at a Black-owned establishment where I walked in ready to support and even considered bringing future business.

Black establishments absolutely must do better about how they treat Black customers. This entire situation was humiliating, and it left a horrible taste in my mouth one that no corrected plate of food...