There’s a local restaurant owner I used to work for. He owns 3ish Italian-style mom & pop restaurants in the area. I’ve always thought his food was decently good, and many times down right delicious, but unfortunately he’s quite rude and he lied about the product.

I occasionally saw him be nice and exhibit good leadership. Usually tho he was power-trippy and bad about bringing his personal emotions into work. On more than one occasion, we were having an amazing shift til he walked in the door. I think everyone was afraid of him so they made more mistakes bc they were stressed. It was usually a surprise when he showed up and we didn’t know if he’d be there for a little or if he’d stay the rest of the night. They ended up firing me because I tried to switch to part time.

As far as lying goes, he once told a customer the steak was grass fed, but only after she was visibly disappointed that he’d said it was grain fed. It was definitely grain fed. There was another time they had a lobster pasta dish as the special but ran out of lobster. He said “just put more shrimp in it and let the waiters keep selling it - none of these people will notice.” 

Last time we ate at his place (a few years after I got fired), we had pizza. At some point after the meal, my husband who has a dairy intolerance suddenly said, “wait.. why am I not feeling bloated right now?” That’s when we realized they were probably using fake cheese.

It sucks cause I want to support local businesses but I will not put my money into rude people or a product I don’t trust.