California’s oldest restaurant may also be the rudest in America, according to a scathing review from a San Francisco food critic who accused staff of calling diners “morons” and serving raw potatoes.
The Tadich Grill on California Street has been serving its renowned seafood since before the state joined the union and has long been one of the city’s iconic institutions.
But he has a “cultural problem,” according to MacKenzie Chung Fegan of the San Francisco Chronical, who accused him of treating customers with contempt.
“If it is common practice to speak rudely and disparagingly about guests in front of and to other guests, what do they say about us when we are out of earshot?” she demanded.
San Francisco’s Tadich Grill has been serving its famous seafood dishes since 1849, a year before California joined the union.
Former customers of the family restaurant include George HW Bush and Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and it was a hot spot in Hollywood’s heyday for stars such as Bob Hope, Lana Turner, Clark Gable and Cary Grant.
But restaurant critic MacKenzie Chung Fegan has made headlines after a scathing review that suggested he was cashing in on his reputation and treating customers with contempt.
Former customers of the family restaurant include George HW Bush and Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia.
And it was a meeting point in Hollywood’s heyday for stars like Bob Hope, Lana Turner, Clark Gable and Cary Grant.
But the liberal newspaper recently removed it from its list of San Francisco’s best classic restaurants, and Fagan doubled down after eavesdropping on a staff member referring to a customer as a “moron” who should “sit down and shut up.”
“The idiot in question, dressed in plaid and drunk, is propping up the end of the bar closest to the door, and he won’t shut up or sit down,” he told readers.
“At first I am surprised by the waiter’s biting language, but he is right. This guy sucks.’
But she became more concerned when a waiter leaned over to confide in her after a family of three got up to leave.
“The fat bum,” he says, showing me the less than 10 percent tip the customer left. “You come here, eat cioppino, and tip like this?” How can she sleep at night?
A special Ahi tuna lunch is one of the recommendations on the grill’s Instagram page.
The menu focuses on traditional seafood, stews and casseroles, but ‘Fridays call for oysters and martinis,’ they suggest.
It was founded by Croatian immigrants and opened as a coffee stand on the pier before moving to New World Market and eventually its current location on California Street in 1967.
Fegan agreed that a 10 percent tip was unacceptable before adding, “I don’t think that kind of pejorative language is acceptable either.”
“Not on a playground, not in a locker room, and definitely not in a restaurant where customers spend their hard-earned money.”
The famous grill, which celebrated its 175th anniversary last month, has been owned by the Buich family since they bought it from another Croatian family in 1928.
The restaurant has been in the Buich family for almost a century.
She made headlines in 2017 when the daughter of former owner Steve Buich revealed that her family had disowned her in 1983 after she began a relationship with Raiders offensive lineman Gene Upshaw because he was black.
“This is unacceptable,” she claimed he told her. “You change your name and leave.”
The story emerged after the restaurant opened a short-lived establishment in D.C., where Upshaw and her husband had moved, and led to a lawsuit from investors who claimed the scandal had forced its closure.
Fegan also complained that the restaurant had designated January 6 as ‘Dave Portnoy Day’ in honor of the controversial Barstool Sports founder after he made an investment.
“I can’t speak to the personal beliefs of the various members of the Buich family,” he admitted, and even if I could, there would be a larger discussion about whether those beliefs are relevant in a restaurant review.
The attack on what Fegan admits is a “sacred institution” has angered Tadich loyalists and sparked a backlash against the newspaper.
‘She’s a hipster. How about hiring a real food critic instead of a nepo blogger baby? one demanded.
‘NO! Not our Tadich Grill. Find another place to denigrate,” added another.
But Fegan suggested he was cashing in on past glories, claiming he had been served a raw potato and crab cakes that looked like “toasted English muffins in a sauce the color of melted Creamsicle.”
The attack on what Fegan admits is a “sacred institution” has angered Tadich loyalists and sparked a backlash against the newspaper.
“Let me assure you that I like nothing more than putting on some heels and ordering a martini and fries in a place where the walls are yellowed with cigarette smoke and a waiter will almost certainly confuse my spouse,” she wrote.
‘But that martini better arrive so cold my fingertips freeze (zero Tadich points) and those fries better be… well, cooked.
‘More importantly, I cannot in good conscience recommend a restaurant that treats its customers with blatant disregard.
‘Tadich is woven into the fabric of the city, and that’s why you love Tadich. But I don’t think I love you too.