FIG & OLIVE | Houston — Restaurant in Houston

Couple of weeks ago I visited the restaurant with my friends and had the worst dining experience at FIG and OLIVE at Galleria. I was humiliated by Mr. Magdiel Martinez (General Manager) at Lunch today (August 26th - ~1PM CT) in front of a full restaurant and I feel it is a case of direct and racial discrimination. I am writing to request the management to please preserve the recording for lunch time in case my legal counsel wants to reach out for additional information.

Below is a description of my experience. A friend, my wife and I were at FIG & OLIVE for Lunch today. Because of my weekend, my wife and I were still in our tracks and my friend was dressed in business casual (important for context). My wife ordered a sandwich and requested the Parmesan fries to be replaced with Truffle Fries. The waitress said yes but she still got served the Parmesan fries. However, to save time, she decided not to send the dish back. My friend ordered a Tuna sandwich and specifically requested to remove Pork from it. He was served a sandwich with Pork on it and the waitress insisted that there is no pork on it. He requested for her to confirm with the Chef – on which she came back and apologized for the mistake and informed that she was going to place a new order. My friend decided to change his order to steak and eggs with the steak to be cooked medium. This time he got a steak which was still rare. He ate everything on the plate except for the Beef. He showed the waitress the undercooked meat, she apologized again and suggested placing a new order. We were already late by then, my friend had to get to the airport, so he said I am fine and want to place the order for desserts. The waitress said she is going to not charge us for the dessert to which we specifically said – it is fine, we will pay for the dessert. While, we were waiting for our desserts, we requested to see Mr. Martinez and shared our experience until then. My friend specifically told him that he was at FIG and OLIVE for lunch yesterday and liked it so much, that decided to take both of us to the restaurant for lunch. However, the service today and the quality of food had been below par. Mr Magdiel acknowledged and walked away. 5 minutes later, while we were still waiting for our desserts, Mr. Martinez showed up with our check even though we had not asked for it. He handed us the check, accused us of returning five dishes (to our surprise), and implied his generosity by saying that despite returning five dishes, he had taken the steak and the fries off our check. Objecting to the accusation, we called the waitress and she confirmed that we had not returned five dishes. She also told Mr. Martinez, that because of the mistake, she had offered us to serve the dessert for free. On this, Mr. Martinez changed his statement and said I am not charging you for the dessert as well. To us, his actions and demeanor felt as if he believed that were trying to get our check amount reduced and Mr. Martinez was doing us a favor by doing that. My hypothesis – given the way Mr. Martinez looked at us; is it was only because either we are brown or were not dressed like others in the restaurant. If (and I say if) that was the case, I would have preferred not being allowed in the restaurant than getting humiliated and embarrassed in front of a...

I went here for HRW. My friend made a reservation for 7:30 pm... In New York... They were awesome about getting us a table as soon as possible even after our mistake! They provided us complimentary rosee to accommodate our 30 minute wait. They were so sweet to us!!

We ordered a bottle of wine, the Pinot grigio. Best deal for 3 people.

For my first course I ordered the salmon crudo. It had hints of grapefruit and Oliver oil flavors, which was refreshing! 3/5. It was okay. It needed more freshness like lemon?!

My friends and I got 3 different courses to share. We did family style! We got the short rib, salmon, and chicken. The braised short rib was cooked perfectly. It fell apart using a fork. The flavors were a little Bland. I loved the polenta sticks! 4/5. It needed some salt or spice to kick up the flavors.

The salmon was my favorite. The sides paired perfectly with the salmon, and it was cooked perfectly! Not dry at all! I recommend getting this meal over the other two!! 5/5

The chicken was my least favorite. They did provide the biggest portion but it was sad to say, it was dry and unflavorful. I was not impressed. I was so sad. 2/5. The couscous that came with it was good, but I've had better.

Desserts. We got all 3!

My fav was the pot de la creme. Nice creamy and chocolately. I don't know how to explain the richness that melted in my mouth. It was delicious!

The sorbet was good! Very refreshing!

The tart was tasty and great texture! I would get this if you love crust.

4/5 for all desserts.

The service was great at the entrance, but the server really wanted us to order and leave, well that's how it felt like. I come to restaurants for great experience at the door, through the door, and when I leave. Everything was great aside from our server. Sad to say, but they need to train them to be...

Though I am a conservative black male with multicultural children, 2 of which are adults, it is clear when a room full of people are treated & gandered at with side eyes & jealousy toward our dress, success, natural strength & forthcoming nature's as North Americans. No matter where someone is from, they make you feel like brothers when it's all love & appreciation but you can feel the gossipy sneers & antipathy from those who come to get our money but who fly the flags of where their actual allegiance lies. How about 30 years of never having the problem I just had at a restaurant in The Galleria. Not only did the gm make up a reason to find a problem with me, which I could predict from how many positive looks I got & compliments after being there for some time (normal jealousy from those who don't own but wish they did), in said establishment... But, he even got worse after he knew I was recording the interaction. I told him, I've never experienced such unprofessionalism at Fig & Olive WeHo but this location & it's standards are definitely a world apart. I told him we pay for experience, not food & to refund my burger $ but to let the server keep the tip, though she was only polite & not actually nice. I don't go to other people's country's expecting them to act like me so they should come here to enjoy learning from & with the people they travelled to live around instead of constantly creating animosity that costs businesses money, creates unhealthy divides & puts a stain on the window of opportunity for all of the Latino/as who don't carry that cultural & or racial bias. Just like anyone else or myself in a foreign land. PS I wanted to leave & my $ back but he chose to pull the "angry black man card" & call security, though I was much calmer & amicable than he. 🙈🥴🇺🇸🫡...