The Orient — Restaurant in Vinings

Date: October 8, 2024 Restaurant: The Orient Review Title: Birthday Disaster: Soup Burns & Zero Accountability!

Let me set the scene for you. It’s my wife’s birthday, and we decided to try out “The Orient” for what we thought would be a nice dinner. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t. Instead of birthday cake, we got a side of urgent care after a waiter dumped scalding hot soup on my wife. And when I say hot, I mean "I need to go to the doctor" hot. Happy birthday, right?

Now, accidents happen. I get it. But what really takes the cake is how the restaurant handled it—or didn’t. Instead of owning up to the fact that they injured my wife, they pulled a fast one. The manager, Tim, thought that giving us a free meal meant they weren’t responsible for the burns. Yes, folks, you heard that right—according to “The Orient,” a comped dinner = not liable for sending someone to urgent care.

Let me break it down for you: under Georgia law, when you burn someone because your waiter is careless, you’re responsible for more than just the tab. It’s called negligence. Negligence is pretty simple. It’s when someone has a basic responsibility not to screw up—and they still manage to screw up. In the case of a restaurant, their job is to not burn you, spill boiling soup on you, or send you to urgent care. Sounds easy, right? But here’s the thing: when they fail at that basic level of competence, that’s negligence.

Picture this: a waiter with a bowl of hot soup. The restaurant is responsible for making sure that soup doesn’t end up on you. If it does, and you get burned? Bingo. That’s negligence. They had a duty to be careful, they weren’t, and you’re left with physical damage—and probably some anger issues too.

Now, let’s throw Georgia law into the mix. In Georgia, if a business messes up and causes you harm, they’re liable. It’s not complicated. My wife ended up with burns because some waiter was careless—so guess what? That makes the restaurant responsible for things like her medical bills, pain, suffering, and anything else tied to the injury. Just covering the meal doesn’t cut it, not when someone ends up in urgent care.

So, when Tim, the manager, tried to dodge the issue by saying, “Hey, it’s free food, no problem,” he missed the point entirely. Free meals don’t magically erase negligence. It’s like crashing into someone’s car and saying, “No worries, I’ll buy you a coffee.” Not quite how the law works.

In short: if you spill soup, burn someone, and send them to the doctor, you’re on the hook. That’s negligence. Pretty straightforward, right? If only “The Orient” understood that.

My wife is entitled to compensation for her medical bills, pain, suffering, and all the stress that came with spending her birthday at a clinic. So no, Tim, your free meal doesn’t cut it.

But here’s the kicker—Tim genuinely believed that not charging us for food (which, by the way, we couldn’t even eat after the whole “my-wife-has-burns” situation) was enough. Let me tell you, it wasn’t. What we got was a total lack of empathy and a stunning misunderstanding of how liability works in Georgia.

So, if you enjoy the thrill of possibly getting injured, feeling ignored, and dealing with managers who think free food fixes everything, by all means, visit The Orient. But if you value your skin, health, and sanity, steer clear. You might leave with more than just a bad meal—you might leave with burns and a side of medical bills.

Trust me, no one deserves to spend their birthday in urgent care because a restaurant couldn’t handle a bowl of soup. Consider yourself warned.

Afterall, the meal was not covered.

Now, I don’t know who Tim’s boss is, but I hope you’re reading. I really do. Because if this is the level of customer service you’re allowing to run the show, you’ve got a serious problem. Your manager thinks a free meal wipes away the fact that your staff injured a customer. Newsflash: it doesn’t. Tim might need a refresher course on empathy, and more importantly,...

I have now been to this place twice. It's fairly new, and it's already making a grand impact on us! The first time my husband and I were in the area and had lunch here. We were very happy with the food, service, and atmosphere. It's such a cute location and it looks really cool inside. You can dress casual, but it's so nice that it would be an awesome date night spot to get all dolled up. Because of how much we liked it, we decided to throw a surprise birthday party at The Orient for one of our friends. They have Chinese, Sushi, & Hibachi, so it was a great place for the birthday lady of the hour. One random day, I stopped by to inquire about private rooms and the host staff really helped locked in the plans to come back with our friends. They showed me both the small room and large room. I even got to see the patio which has a fireplace. (In warm weather the bar opens out to the patio. So I already know that we will be coming back often in the summer.) Taking time to give me the tour of the place really highlighted the great staff. When we got there last night for the birthday dinner, they were already taking care of us. Michelle was one of the hostess that helped me the day of my tour. She went above and beyond to help us the night of the party as well! All our guest and especially the birthday girl were lead right to the room, and she helped get the birthday friend to the room so we could say surprise. Or waiters, Victor and Addison, were also super sweet as they catered to our group. Victor took our photo and I'm pretty sure one of them caught the baby that tried to run away from our group. We found several drinks that we liked. We loved the food! The proportions were huge! Like seriously, you should see the pot stickers! The restaurant is all around awesome! We will be back to check out the Hibachi side for sure. If you keep this up, you will have forever fans. Thank you...

Wondering if they put laxatives in the food. I politely and humbly requested that a cocktail be replaced before my dish arrived one evening. Afterwards, I shared said dish with a child who was also seated at my table and now both of us have experienced (hours long) stomach cramping (amongst other symptoms) which no one else at the table has experienced.

The staff did not give any pushback regarding my cocktail replacement request and did not seem upset, but you never know what is going on in the minds of the Staff and Mgmt. Sometimes everyone is walking on Eggshells.

The food and the replacement cocktail were tasty... but these symptoms remind me of drinking a cup of "Smooth Moves" or Senna Tea. I hope they get it together. Perhaps they might offer counseling for their staff, bring in a customer service coach, and perhaps some type of sensitivity training.

Judging by body language alone... I observed that some of the waitstaff, although friendly looking, seemed to be under some sort of invisible pressure and/or as though they could be a bit bothered by the presence of customers while walking around the restaurant and waiting on other tables.

Picture the "Stepford wives" (or husbands) as waitstaff... Smiling only during face to face interaction with a customer they are serving & then snapping right back to a stern and distressed facial expression and depressing demeanor once they are no longer in view of that customer.

The person that waited on our table was seemingly patient and kind but looked as though he too could be under the same sort of stressors / pressure.

Sometimes this type of pressure in a work environment is created by unhealthy / unreal expectations set forth by Leadership. Praying...