My Luka’s Rant: Oakland Restaurants, Please Care About Your Customers

This video stemmed from my Thursday late-night dinner at Luka’s at the corner of Grand Avenue and Broadway in Oakland. Luka’s is one of the few places in Oakland that serves food past 10 PM, and more often than not, it’s excellent. Thursday was no exception.

The only things that bothered me was the service. What I’m really tired of dealing with in Oakland, at some places, is the feeling that it’s my job to make the servers day and serve them.

In this case, I walked in and asked if they were still serving, because I’d not been back in a while. The folks standing by the kitchen said “yes,” so I walked over and sat down – and waited. And waited. And waited.

While I was waiting, the waitress (who I will not identify because that’s not what this is about) walked by me, looked at me, and then when I looked back, she looked away. That was weird.

So when she walked by again, I looked at her (remember, she was one of the people who was aware that I wanted to eat), and then she realized she’d not served me. She did apologize but I have to say that she also seemed like she was itching for a fight – not good. So I asked her if she was having a bad day, and she said “Yes. My dog died. I know it’s not important to some, but it is to me.”

So I said she should have taken the day off, but she said she had no choice. I figured the best remedy was to hug her, so I did. That seemed to work.

But then, I spotted the owner, Rick (I think that’s his name), and we’ve met before over the years – used to talk alot when he first opened Luka’s. Look, there’s no one around me save for three occupied tables out of something like 12 spots (the photo is stock, and not from last night). I am easy to see. You’d think Rick would come over and give a greeting?

Especially after this from Election Night..

Nope. Did not.

So, I can say the Steak Frites were great at Luka’s, but the service is terrible. It stems from Luka’s owner and it works its way down to the staff. They seem like good people, but they also seem to think it’s cool to act like they don’t care about you.

Well, it’s also cool to act like I don’t like being treated like shit at Luka’s.

Just saying.

Oh, a YouTube fan asked this on my video:

You left out some details, such as what was the ethnic/racial background of the waitress, her friend and the owner? That answer would illuminate the whole situation considerably.

Look man, you’re a nice guy. Well spoken, groomed and intelligent. You’re also African-American . I’ve noticed in many of your videos that you are very reluctant to use the race card and I respect that. But sometimes one has to confront the observable reality. I would chose a different restaurant next time.

The waitress was black – young. And her friend was also black and female – my guess is they may have been dating. But that’s fine – I just want great service.

I will say that some of “us” as black folks seem to save our worst behavior for other black folks. I do wish people like that would get therapy.