Brian E.'s Profile

This used to be one of our favorite restaurants, but it's definitely gone downhill; a certain spark seems to have gone out of the food.  The tandoori chicken was predominantly salty; the lentil soup tasted canned and contained no discernable lentils; the vegetable curry and even the chutneys were bland and flavorless.  In addition, the service was indifferent at best.  Very disappointing, and we will likely not be back.  With so much excellent food in Sonoma County, such a mediocre meal comes as a shock; was there a change in management in the last year or so?

I am the friend's husband mentioned in Karen W.'s review ( http://www.yelp.com/bi... ). I've been to A'roma Roasters many, many times and enjoyed it. But NO MORE.

Karen, my spouse, and another friend had gathered there every week to hang out and knit. The other friend has a wheat allergy, so they always brought along something for her. Never had a problem.

But this week, it was Karen's 50th birthday. My spouse bought some very nice cupcakes from Sift to surprise her with, and wanted to have sparkly candles as well. She made the mistake of going to a server and asking very nicely if she could have the sparkly candles. A moment later, the owner (who I'd met before and hadn't had a problem with) was in her face, VERY RUDELY telling her "NO OUTSIDE FOOD!". No sympathy, no flexibility, no attempt to soften the news. Just a firm "no, you can't have it here".

And, when my spouse pointed out that they'd been doing this for some time with no problem, she said (again, rudely), "I've been here 21 years and I've never seen you before!" So, we cancelled our drink and lunch order and left. She's in tears, and I'm furious.

Now, here's where it gets good. Karen and the other friend were running late, so we spent about half an hour waiting in the parking lot for them. The owner actually came out at least twice to try to talk to us and justify herself. She even dug out paperwork from the health department to try to deflect the blame! (I understand if the health code says you can't have outside food, but that does NOT excuse her attitude--and let's not forget that they'd been looking the other way for weeks. And most places will show at least a little flexibility when it comes to allergies and such.)

Meanwhile, I'm trying to comfort my spouse, and also going in from time to time to see if our friends had arrived (since the place has two entrances). The fourth time I went in, this owner actually got in front of me and said, "Sir, this is about the tenth time you've come in here." Again, as rude as she could possibly be!

Well, shortly after that, Karen arrived, and you can read her review for the rest. But to sum up, I have NEVER seen a restaurant owner treat her customers with such rudeness and insensitivity as this woman showed us. After 21 years, you would think she would have learned by now that YOU DON'T TREAT CUSTOMERS THAT WAY. I'm actually rather gratified to see that so many other people have had the same horrible experience with her, because it shows that we're not the ones with the problem.

Anyway, we went from there to Chevy's, just down the street, and had Karen's birthday party there (and they had absolutely no problem with the cupcakes!). And WE WILL NEVER SET FOOT IN A'ROMA AGAIN. So, that's four regular customers that she has lost with her unbelievable attitude--along with several people we've told this story to who say they'll never go there again either.

Lady, if you're reading this: go look at all these complaints, think about your attitude, and GET SOME HELP. You need it.

Add my voice to the chorus of praise for Treehorn. Shortly after we moved to Santa Rosa, we found this store and fell head over heels in love. Ever since, we've made a point of visiting whenever we need to recharge our brains with a bookstore browse. True, it's packed full, and its organization isn't the greatest. But it more than makes up for those (small) shortcomings with the extremely diverse collection. I don't often find anything specific that I'm looking for, but I always find half a dozen other things that I want just as much. We've spent many a happy hour wandering through its stacks, and we're looking forward to many more!