FamLe Sippin — Restaurant in Kent

Let me start off by saying that I'm sorry that parking in your area sucks. Genuinely.

However the way you handled everything says all that I need to know about your business.

If the person making the food has a bad attitude, the food really can't be good.

My husband and I were there Saturday morning to clean the kitchen for the next door restaurant. An employee of ours parked in 1/4 EMPTY parking spots that say for Musashi / FamLe Sippin retail parking. There were 3 other empty parking spaces mind you.

In hindsight, we were in the wrong. We had thought since it said the name of the restaurant we were cleaning, we could park there. Sorry, we didn't know and made a mistake.

At 9:30am we saw a tow truck come and try to back up to tow the car. We let them know that we will move the car and luckily didn't get it taken.

I went into FamLe Sippin to ask if they had called the towing company. I was not rude about it. Just asking because we are cleaning next door.

At this point, she (the owner) could have said "yes I did call. Those are our parking and we need those spots for our customers. I didn't know that car was yours. If you could make sure to not park there next time, I would appreciate it" or something along the lines.

I would have been like " oh I'm so sorry. I'll make sure this doesn't happen again." I wouldn't have gotten mad. We caught the tow truck on time. No harm no foul.

This was NOT how the conversation went. She was confrontation from the get go. She was hella rude in her tone and the words she used. No empathy for human mistakes. As owners of small business and as women, I would have hoped there would be some kindness. There was absolutely nothing like that.

Now once again, I'm sure she has to deal with the parking issues again and again so she may be tired of it all. So I understand why she may have called the tow company. I'm not mad about that. I'm here spending my time writing about this because of her piss poor sour attitude.

Then I thought...maybe just MAYBE she's having a bad day. Maybe this is a one off thing. So I came to read some reviews just like whoever is reading this to see if this place is worth spending your hard earned money. And what did I find in those reviews? a few nice ones. And some really bad ones. Some about parking and towing issues that she seems to be a frequent caller. And some about her terrible customer service and attitude.

Not only does her reviews about her place reflect her attitude, her comments back to the customers who left those as well. She's just as confrontation and uses sarcasm and backhanded insults. I'm not sure if she realizes but the world we live in as business owners is rough, especially on the internet. Even if you don't quite agree, you as a business owner, smile though your gritted teeth and explain in the nicest voice you can muster. Otherwise you get blasted on the internet. Where people from across the world can see and hear about you.

From reading other reviews, you are blaming the parking issue and saying those 4 spaces are the reason you are barely staying afloat with your business.

I suggest you take a hard look at yourself and think maybe the parking is less of an issue and more how you and your employees treat people.

You are in an apartment complex. If people like you and you make good food, they can walk. They don't need the parking.

I know I didn't cuss at you nor raise my voice or anything else you complain about so go ahead and post up videos about our conversation if you dare.

After cleaning, I was going to buy our employees some drinks and food to support small business but I guess this review will have to do.

Thanks a lot. I hope you learn some things and your...

tl;dr FamLe Sippin will tow your car because they’re struggling.

Damn, and I was really trying to try this place too! Unfortunately, this business gave me a bad taste in my mouth after they towed my vehicle within 5 min of me parking in “their spot.”

Now granted if a parking spot says, for example, FamLe Sippin Parking only, I’m not gonna park there especially if I’m not going to the business. That’s hella rude! However, the sign actually said Retail Parking Spots Only. Absolutely nothing about it being FamLe Sippin Parking exclusively.

Now mind you, I parked here at 6:40am to attend a 50 minute Pilates class in the same plaza. I wasn’t trying to park overnight, I’m not a resident, I was just trying to get my Pilates on and maybe get some coffee afterward you know? I come out of my class at 7:50 to see that my car gone and I’m like damn, what happened? I walk into this business seeing that they were open while it happened and ask if they saw my car getting stolen or towed all. The girl said she didn’t see anything but said cars in the area get towed a lot and gave me the number to call and find my car. I call the number and the tow truck company said it was actually FamLe Sippin that called the tow in and they did so at 6:45am.

I asked to talk to the same girl (who is actually the owner) who said she didn’t see anything, and that’s what really sealed the deal for me in how she handled this. She first said she was busy on a meeting and would talk to me in 30 minutes so I waited. She then approached me and I told her the towing company said you actually called the tow in.

She defended her decision saying she calls tows in at 7am regardless of how long they’ve been there because they need the 4 spots for their business to survive. Mind you, at 7am this business was entirely empty and at 8am this business was also completely empty. When I brought up that the signs didn’t say “FamLe Sippin Parking Only” she said the Ethos Leasing Office wouldn’t give them business only signage for parking and it’s been a problem she’s been dealing with for a long time. Then she backtracked and said she actually shares these spots with Musashi’s but since their business doesn’t open till 11:30am, it’s her spots and she has the right to call (but she’s sure to not call when Musashi’s opens.) She then blamed Club Pilates for “sending over their clients” when they should stay on “their side” of the plaza.

At the end of the day, it’s not about securing 4 empty spots for your empty business at 6:45am on a Thursday, it’s about the energy and scarcity you bring to situations like this that makes or breaks your business. Seeing a women-of-color owned boba spot is far and few between and I was really looking forward to supporting the business and trying their drinks, but they way they handled this situation combined with the lying and blaming has turned me off. You didn’t have to call a tow in at 6:45am for your...

My girlfriend lives in the apartments here and I had coffee here once before which was fairly good and the service was quick. Today I parked in one of the retail parking spots as parking in these apartments is terrible just to walk into the Ethos lounge area for a minute and grab something when I noticed one of the employees already posting a tow away sign not 30 seconds after walking away from my car. After confronting the employee which is pictured in one of the reviews, and stating I had only parked there for a minute, instead of giving any sort of explanation, she was incredibly unprofessional, disgruntled and cussed me out while walking back to the coffee shop. Policing parking spots, really? Is this the image you want to portray of your business? The residents here are your primary customers. You lost mine, I'm not spending another dollar here. This place and the apartments need to figure out a better parking solution because the residents pay insane rent here and the current solution sucks especially if the building next door (Kairos) is going to open multiple retail businesses in their...