Mirage Diner — Restaurant in New York

My friend was racially discriminated against at Mirage Diner, 717 Kings Highway, Brooklyn, NY 11223.

On Saturday 20 April, 2024 at approximately 9am, I visited the Mirage Diner for breakfast with a friend. We are both black.

The maitre d, an older white male, perhaps in his 50s-60s, seated me first because my friend went to move his vehicle to an open space in the Diner's carpark.

Upon his return, my friend assisted an older gentleman who was also white, through the first door to access the Diner. The gentleman's son or caretaker who is also white, in turn thanked my friend for his earlier assistance and opened the second door to allow his father and my friend to enter the waiting area at the diner. The maitre d's station is directly in front the second door.

As the three men gathered, my friend told the maitre d, that I was already seated inside. In response, the maitre d said to my friend, "You do not belong here!". Both gentlemen who came in with my friend, heard this exchange.

I motioned to my friend to let him know where I was seated. As he entered the booth, the maitre d came by and to him "I''m sorry, I was joking." Before my friend could tell me what occurred, the maitre d came by again and said "I was joking, I did not mean what I said." At this point, I knew something happened. My friend then told me about the encounter.

Coffee was served but we were not going to stay where we are not welcomed. My friend, left the diner and I went to the maitre d to pay for the coffee which was worth $4.68 and said to him, "my friend did not think what you said was funny." The maitre d then indicated that I did not need to pay for the coffee. I did not say anything further and left.

As we exited the car park in the vehicle, the maitre d came outside and clasped his hands like he was praying as if to apologise again. There was no further interaction and we left.

To the server, who brought us the coffee, Sir, please know that you did nothing wrong. We left quickly because we assessed that we were not safe or comfortable.

To the maitre d, you showed your true self on Saturday morning. You missed the point of the earlier interaction between my friend and the two gentlemen when they entered the diner. Being human, courteous, exhibiting mutual respect comes naturally for some people. Clearly, you did not receive that memo. There is no reason why we will accept the disrespectful behaviour you exhibited.

I will exercise my right not to patronise any establishment that endorses or exhibits racist attitudes.

My friend and I subsequently went to Parkview Diner, 2939 Cropsey Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11214. We were warmly welcomed, looked after by the serving staff and had amazing food - the California omelette and the gyro platter along with the international coffees...

I habitually order their "scampi", whether it be chicken scampi, shrimp scampi, etcetc etc. It comes over pasta, however I usually get it on a bed of yellow rice instead. The portion size of the chicken is hearty, large, usually 2 LARGE cutlets. The only negative thing is it used to be 3, and used to have considerably more rice or spaghetti, oh and it also comes with a side salad, and/or a mini soup and I usually go from matzo ball soup you get one humongous matzo ball and a little noodle around it. So it is a def full meal, a delicious one, it used to be enough for a full and leftovers, but not a huge deal. Also, the price has gone up steadily from $19 all the way to $25 now within the last 6 months. Add a tip on top of it and it's a $30 delivery for one person to eat dinner which is a bit much and follows the footsteps of Uber Eats who are wildly over priced in my opinion that is, but at least you know you are getting at the very least a large meal and possibly some leftovers. A delicious large meal minus Uber Eats taxes and fees which usually add $10 to anything you're ordering. So overall The Mirage Diner has been a staple in this neighborhood for atleast 30-40 years I believe, if not longer, and their food can be relied on always especially the main things like let's say a bacon cheeseburger deluxe you're going to get yourself a very very legitimate burger (Sizewise and better than any "patty") and french fries and that only cost around $13. Anyway in summary The Mirage is a solid place to eat and to order from they do their own delivery and they're always on time and like I said the food is good pricing has gone crazy recently everywhere so I don't fault them for that. Inflation is crazy but that's not thiwrnfaukt at least they make it worth your while by delivering a solid portion of good food. I don't leave reviews often so if I'm leaving one there's a legitimate reason and a good way that I'm...

I usually come here for dinner 4 times a month on the weekends. We love the lamb shank and the beef goulash on sundays. But today the wife said she wanted to eat out so came to our favorite place. I was extremely disappointed with the food this time. How can a restaurant name a pasta dish after its name sake and execute it so poorly. It consisted of pasta with sundried tomato chicken sausage and broccoli. The pasta was beyond over cooked, the sausage was breakfast sausage, the broccoli mushy , the chicken had no flavor at all not even salt and the sauce on it was disgusting. I'm not going to stop coming here but I will be weary of some of the things I order from now on. Like the pasta. Also the app we received were 2 stuffed clams and stuffed mushrooms who also had that gross sauce on top of them that was on my pasta. The clams were just shells with fulling but no clams. And the mushroom had a piece of chicken and a piece of ziti in the stuffing mix. Who ever is running the kitchen tonight on 2/26/19 should be reprimanded sending food out like that with no respect to his job or...