Iconic San Francisco seafood joint that’s also California’s oldest eatery is slammed by critic who heard staff say horrible things about customers behind their backs
California’s oldest restaurant may be America’s rudest, according to a scathing review from a San Francisco food critic, who accused staff of calling diners “a**holes” and serving raw potatoes.
The Tadich Grill on California Street has been serving its famous seafood dishes since before the state joined the union and has long been one of the city’s premier institutions.
But it has a “culture problem,” according to MacKenzie Chung Fegan of the San Francisco Chronical, who accuses it of treating customers with contempt.
“If it is customary 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 asked.
San Francisco’s Tadich Grill has been serving its famous seafood dishes since 1849, a year before California joined the union
Former patrons of the family restaurant include George HW Bush and Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and it was a hot spot in its Hollywood heyday for stars like Bob Hope, Lana Turner, Clark Gable and Cary Grant
But restaurant critic MacKenzie Chung Fegan has set tongues wagging after a scathing review suggesting it traded on its reputation and treated customers with contempt.
Former patrons of the family restaurant include George HW Bush and Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia.
And in Hollywood’s heyday it was a hotspot for stars like Bob Hope, Lana Turner, Clark Gable and Cary Grant.
But the liberal newspaper recently dropped it from its list of the best classic restaurants in San Francisco, and Fagan doubled the price after overhearing an employee calling a customer a “son of a bitch” who “needs to sit down and shut up.”
“The hole in question, dressed in a plaid and drunk, leans on the end of the bar nearest the door, and he will not shut up or sit down,” she told readers.
‘At first I was surprised by the server’s sharp language, but he has a point. This man is worthless.’
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 slob,” he says, showing me the less than 10 percent tip the customer left. “He comes in here, eats cioppino and tips like this? How can he sleep at night?’
An Ahi Tuna lunch special is among 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 migrants and opened as a dockside coffee stand before moving to the New World Market and eventually to its current location on California Street in 1967.
Fegan agreed that a 10 per cent tip was unacceptable, before adding: ‘I don’t think this kind of pejorative language is acceptable either.
“Not on a playground, not in a locker room, and certainly 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 owned by the Buich family for almost a century
It made headlines in 2017 when the daughter of former owner Steve Buich revealed she was disowned by her family in 1983 after starting a relationship with Raiders offensive linesman Gene Upshaw because he was black.
“This is unacceptable,” she claimed he told her. “You change your name and you leave.”
The story emerged after the restaurant opened a short-lived outlet in D.C. where Upshaw and her husband had moved, and led to a lawsuit from investors who claimed the scandal forced its closure.
Fegan also complained that the restaurant declared Jan. 6 “Dave Portnoy Day” in honor of the controversial Barstool Sports founder after he made an investment.
“I cannot speak to the personal beliefs of the various members of the Buich family,” she admitted, and even if I could, there could be a broader 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 fake baby blogger?” one asked.
‘NO! Not our Tadich Grill. Find another place to denigrate,” another added.
But Fegan suggested it was trading on past glories, claiming she was served raw potato and crab cakes that resembled “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 there is nothing I love more than putting on heels and ordering a martini and fries in a place where the walls are yellowed from cigarette smoke and a bartender will almost certainly mistreat my husband,” she wrote.
“But that martini better arrive so cold that my fingertips freeze (zero points Tadich) and the fries better be – well, cooked.
‘More importantly, I cannot in good conscience recommend a restaurant that treats its customers with obvious contempt.
‘Tadich is woven into the fabric of the city, and that’s why you love Tadich. But I don’t think he loves you back.”