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Four days after harsh social media criticism by three patrons who felt mistreated, the owner of Blufin Sushi restaurant in Grosse Pointe Farms "spoke out Wednesday, denying claims of racism or unfair treatment," Stepahnie Steinberg writes at The Detroit News.
"There was no racism, there was no assault at the Blufin Sushi bar on Saturday night or anytime," said [Joel] Radu’s lawyer, David Draper. . . .
"They weren’t asked to leave, they were asked to relocate," Radu said.
Katherine Fiscelli (standing) asks the trio to leave their seats. She's the owner's 23-year-old niece and became general manager in November.
Radu says at a news conference that he "he didn’t want to comment on the incident until he reviewed the video footage from the restaurant’s 16 cameras, which he first saw Tuesday night because it took two days to get the footage off the DVR," Steinberg writes. (See three minutes of the video below.)
The News adds:
The roughly 30 minutes of footage shows all 10 tables full, with at least four customers waiting to be seated. Draper said more customers were waiting on the app Waitlist Me. The video also shows several African-Americans dining at the restaurant.
The footage disputes the women’s claims that there were open tables when they were allegedly asked to leave and that they were the only African-Americans in the establishment at the time. The video shows an African-American man and woman dining directly behind them.
The video also shows that the women cashed out around 8:30 p.m. — when general manager Katherine Fiscelli came over, and Radu said she asked them to move to a cocktail area. . . .
The guests claiming they were ejected are Grosse Pointe Park residents TaNisha Prater, 40; Kim Lloyd Hudson, 43; and Adrienne Savage, 45.
► See our earlier coverage.
From left: Grosse Pointe Park friends Adrienne Savage, TaNisha Prater and Kim Lloyd Hudson at Blufin Sushi..
Speaking to The News on Wednesday afternoon, Prater "affirmed they were asked to move to another area."
"Why as patrons currently patronizing the bar area, with no time limit at the bar, why would we leave to go to a holding area that’s meant to wait until tables become available?"she said. Draper said the women sat at the bar for over two hours.
A statement on the menu reads: "Due to limited space: We respectfully request you relinquish your table after one hour and forty-five minutes." . . .
"Our restaurant was full. Every space in there is a place for guests to eat. So we had guests waiting,” Radu says. “The area needs to be vacated if you’re done."
"Of the 60 people in the restaurant that night, besides these ladies, four other groups were African-American," Draper said. "They were not asked to leave because they were mid-meal, mid-drink."
The Mack Avenue restaurant was closed Wednesday evening as more than three dozen people picketed outside, Steinberg reports, "some chanting 'Hey hey, ho ho. GP racists have got to go” and 'No justice. No peace.' Others carried signs, some saying 'Take racism off the menu.' "
Asked after the news conference if Blufin will be open Thursday, Radu responded: "I hope so."
This three-minute excerpt from monitoring video released by the restaurant is reposted from The News:
