Jasmine Thai Restaurant, Palmdale — Restaurant in Palmdale

I've been coming to Jasmine's for over 5+ years. The food is good, portions on the small side tho. Service is adequate. However, their business practices are shady. They, now, automatically charge gratuity (tip) for parties of 5 which is your average sized family now. Never before have I had to pay gratuity as part of my bill at this restaurant for bringing my family to dinner here.

Now, I'm your average height person @ 5'4". I didn't notice the small print on the hanging sign that was over the "wait to be seated" floor sign. Granted, the restaurant wasn't busy so we were seated immediately and didn't have time to look around - per se. And, to be honest, I didn't really stop to examine my surroundings that much as I've been here many times (as I've mentioned before). The gratuity notice isn't a prominent sign, either. It's affixed to the hanging sign, printed out of a label maker.

I'm incredibly irked with these restaurants charging extra for an average-sized family to enjoy a night out. Jasmine's wait staff just missed out on a decent cash tip (20% - which is my norm since I appreciate their time) bc the management is greedy (or so that is what the wait staff lead me to believe siting management policy).

I like to get take-out from here often too; but, I'm probably not going to anymore. I actually drive about 20 minutes out of my way to support them as I try to support local businesses as often as possible. Now, I'm not so sure. It may be a year or more before I even consider returning here. Guess, I'm going to be patronizing Shandra's from...

To start off- I been a costumer of theirs since 2014 & their food is great. I would have given them a 4 but unfortunately the owner, Gail has such horrible service. And enough is enough. I've only written 2 reviews including this one. I've hold back multiple times because I want to give the owner a chance. The employees that work there are very kind & seem to be afraid of her. I place a order over the phone. When I get there, (make long story short) Gail kicked me out & told me to never come back. Only because I asked why there was a COVID-19 Fee charge & because I was getting charged more then what I was told over the phone. She started going bazurk & I said, this is ridiculous. I just wanted to know why I am getting charge when I've never heard of a fee like that where I go. I have a business as well & never charge fees like that. I am a regular customer. I've introduced my best friend, mother, co-workers there. I've eaten there with my family multiple times before COVID-19 started. And to be treated like that was a very huge disappointment. Her employee was apologizing. Too bad. They lost a customer forever. Gail needs to seriously change that attitude because it certainly hasn't been the first. A while back she got upset simply because I asked for the 10% off as it was...

Edit: have been coming to the establishment for 2 years. The owner and chef are amazing people! They have recently have had new servers come onto the team. We got food per usual. And when I tried my drink it tasted off, sour really, my boyfriend agreed. I always get it when I go there so I'm aware of how it usually tastes. I simply requested it to be taken off.

The server checked if others with the same drink were okay. This i understand. Our server came back and stated that everyone else said it was fine and they tried it and it was fine...which my boyfriend spit the drink back into my cup so I hope they didnt try my drink. She stated this like I shouldnt think anything was wrong. I felt kinda insulted, said that was fine and didnt want it because it didnt taste right to myself. The way she asked what I wanted her to do was rude. I just asked for water which took another 10 minutes to get after requesting it.

I love the place but that experience was really unsettling. I work in a much more stressful type of customer service and can understand certain things but jesus christ I dont even want to go there and interact with that kind...