Kingstown Cafe & Wine Bar — Restaurant in New York

I recently had an incredibly disappointing experience at Kingtown Cafe in Brooklyn. As someone who lives in the area and has patronized this business several times, I was shocked by how rudely we were treated.

When my husband arrived, he sat at a two-top table and placed his backpack on the other seat. The cafe was nearly empty, but the owner immediately asked him to remove it. My husband let him know he was waiting for someone. It was an odd request. When I arrived, I was asked to discard the drink I brought in, which I did without any issue.

My husband ordered a coffee while I needed a moment before ordering one myself. I had been sitting there for 15 - 20 minutes with no plans to leave anytime soon. We just got started working and I knew I’d need a coffee soon. I had every intention of purchasing something, but the owner didn’t give me the chance. Instead, he became immediately rude and aggressive, loudly declaring that his cafe was not a coworking space and giving us 10 seconds to leave.

This kind of treatment was shocking, especially since we have always purchased food and drink here in the past. It’s disheartening to go out of your way to support a black-owned business only to be treated so poorly.

The owner was aggressive, standing over my husband and loudly insisting we leave. I felt extremely uncomfortable, as did the other patrons who witnessed this.

We won’t be returning to Kingtown Cafe. It’s unfortunate to see such unprofessional behavior from a business owner in our community.

EDIT: as you can see by the owner’s response to this feedback - the experience was horrible.

Not a full cup of matcha. I had it for over an hour. I was not shocked. This is an opinion and assumption. My husband looked at me and I responded “it’s watered down anyways” because I didn’t mind throwing it out. I showed up to the cafe with the intention to work for a few hours so I was going to get a coffee.

In the cafe he yelled several times I had been sitting there for 20 minutes and now he saying it was 1/2 hour. It’s not a restaurant. I was there to work so if I needed a beat before ordering and my husband has a cofffe in front of him. I’m not sure what the issue is. You could have KINDLY let me know that you’ll give me a few more minutes. That is the norm not immediately getting aggressive for someone not ordering.

A two person table is not a shared space. Unless the cafe was packed I doubt anyone was going to join him at that small table. There were only 3 other people in the cafe with plenty of seating. You did not say this kindly either. You walked over to him and told him “you can’t put that there”. This makes absolutely no sense and shows you were on one as soon as he arrived.

My husband was trying to talk to you because we’re both genuinely confused by the aggression. You then got accusatory and instead of diffusing the situation you stood over him while he was shutting down his laptop. I told him let’s go and he said “I paid for my coffee I’m not rushing”. You then jumped in “you can get your money back”. The whole interaction was strange and rude. You made it very clear we were not welcomed and that you “got money”

I never - not once - explicit used the word racist. I said “we look like you - so you think you can talk to us like this”. That’s not racism. Your response “right use the race the card.” Once again, unprofessional.

This interaction was as aggressive and emotional as the owners response with capital letters. It was not what he said to us. We’re reasonable folk. It’s HOW he spoke to us several times while we were there. It says so much about his character and business acumen. The fact that he doesn’t see that means he will do it again to someone else.

There are plenty of other cafe shops in the neighborhood to patronize with actual good food. So we won’t be missing sleep...

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