John G.
Yelp
TLDR: The man seating people was intentionally dismissive and rude perhaps because we were American and wearing t-shirts instead of button downs. We arrived on time for our reservation, he saw that we had a reservation, and then intentionally ignored us for the next 15 minutes while we stood waiting to be seated.
The Whole Story: Found Trat 4 Leoni on a food blog, and dragged my fiancé all the way from the Duomo to try it out. It was 8:00pm, and we had just climbed the dome. Great views - highly recommend - so by the time we arrived at 4 Leoni, we were famished. We asked if they could seat 2 people, and the head seating guy (5'9" 165 pounds, dark hair, short-trimmed beard) brought us to a table in the back of the restaurant next to the bathroom and directly in line of the kitchen.
It was so loud and cramped that we knew we would never enjoy the meal, so I politely asked if there was another table available, perhaps outside, where it would be less noisy. He shrugged and then looked at the papers in his hand as if he were doing string theory calculus and said it will be an hour. "No problem. We'll come back at 9:30."
So we strolled until 9:30 rolled around. We headed back to the restaurant and found the head seating guy. He located our reservation, swiped a line through it with his pencil, and walked away. Not to get menus. Not to clear a table. No no no. He spent the next 5 minutes filling water pitchers and then brought some bread to another table. "They must be really busy", I thought to myself. Then he disappeared outside and started seating people who had just walked up. Still, I waited politely. Maybe he's miffed because we wouldn't sit next to the bathroom? I don't know. We were polite and apologetic when we asked to move, but maybe that's not enough.
After another 7 minutes of standing awkwardly inside the door waiting for the guy to even say anything (he had walked by 6 times and never once even made eye contact), I realized that this was him being passive-aggressive. The next time he walked by, I politely asked, "Sir, have you secured a table for our reservation?" He looked at me like I had insulted him, held his hands out as if to tell me to calm down, and walked away.
Well, considering he seated at least 8 parties since we arrived for our reservation, I assumed that something about us was not up to his standards. But why not just tell us originally there were no more reservations if you didn't want our business? Instead, you take out petty frustrations about whatever stereotype makes you angry on polite, decent people who just didn't want to sit next to the bathroom? Shame on you.
So we left. We found another restaurant where people were friendly and treated us decently.
If you were considering eating here, PLEASE CONSIDER EATING ANYWHERE ELSE. I guarantee you can find great food on almost any corner. Don't reward bad behavior.
