In today's food news, a Boston restaurant is currently facing backlash online for its response to a customer's canceled reservation. Jen Royle, owner of Table, located in Boston's North End, became entangled in a heated exchange with a prospective customer, Trevor Chauvin-DeCaro, after he canceled his reservation on Jan. 6 because of an alleged hospitalization.
Over the past week, the story has garnered national attention, with creators on TikTok dissecting the exchange. One user, Nikki Mack (@nikki_mackk), has already created a multipart series on the interaction, which has received hundreds of thousands of views. Dave Cullinane (@playthehitslive) has also posted multiple videos about the heated exchange, including screenshots of now seemingly deleted tweets and story posts.
Thousands of commenters have weighed in on the situation, with one user commenting on Dave's video, "I am unreasonably invested in this mess."
On Resy, the app that Table uses to collect reservations, the restaurant mentions its policy of 72-hour notice for cancellations and state that same-day cancellations and no-shows are charged full price for the $125-per-person prix fixe meal.
Trevor proceeded to respond to Jen, stating that his decision to use his credit card's travel insurance was "not made lightly" or "to 'screw over'" the restaurant or staff but that he needed to cancel the reservation because he was in the ER.
According to Trevor, his husband allegedly tried to call the restaurant to explain the situation to the staff before disputing the fee, but Trevor said that he was told to "take it up" with his credit card if he was "so butt hurt."
In a statement to BuzzFeed, Table staff claimed never to have received a call from Trevor or his husband on Jan. 6 regarding their reservation, stating that the restaurant was not open at the time. According to Table's attorney, Michael Ford, Jen allegedly attempted to email Trevor when they were notified of the disputed charge approximately one month after the original reservation date, but she did not receive a response.
In subsequent messages to Trevor and through Instagram story posts, Jen seemingly doubled down on her frustration over the credit card dispute and continued to claim that neither she nor her staff received a call on the date in question.
Trevor denied her claim and reiterated that his husband had called and spoken to staff.
In their statement, Table also claimed that Trevor did not request reimbursement through his travel insurance but instead disputed the charges. Jen highlighted this in yet another message to Trevor, accusing him of insurance fraud.
Trevor responded that after following the standard procedure of contacting the restaurant first, to no avail, he made "a claim for the situation at hand, after which the credit card company handles the matter according to their policies." "My role in this process ends upon submission of the claim," he continued. "The actions taken by the credit card company thereafter, including any disputes, are conducted under their discretion and authority, not mine."
In one of the last few screenshots he shared, Trevor showed the most recent message he received from Table, in which they threatened to take legal action, citing the "amount of slander the business is receiving." He told the Globe that while his situation has mostly been met with "overwhelming support" from social media users, he has also received messages with death threats and anti-gay slurs.
The public attention from the exchange has resulted in criticism of Jen and her business, along with several seemingly fake reviews from customers who have not dined at Table but have come to Trevor's defense.
A deeper scroll through Yelp reveals that Trevor isn't the only customer (or potential customer) who has received pushback, as Jen appears to have directly responded to apparent patrons in the past. In scrolling through customer reviews from as far back as five years ago, we found at least 12 instances in which Jen reprimanded customers for their negative reviews, including the two examples below.
Jen's and Table's social media accounts have since been deactivated or made private, and a Table representative told BuzzFeed in an email that Jen has also been receiving "very scary threats." The restaurant was listed as "permanently closed" on Google for a few days after the exchange went viral but is now listed as open. According to Table, this came at Google's suggestion to "stop the bleeding" from the various negative reviews they were receiving. Opening the restaurant's Yelp page also prompts a pop-up stating that posting has been temporarily disabled due to "increased public attention."
