All he wanted to do was finish his meal, but a Black Georgia man ended up getting kicked out of a Chinese restaurant and threatened with police involvement, according to an August 31 Instagram video.
Dino Garvey went to Lin’s Chinese Cuisine in the Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta for some spicy stir-fry, but the real heat came from the owner, not the kitchen. If only the customer service were as good as the food.
After placing his order, he went to his car and returned to eat inside the empty restaurant, where he sat at a table next to a male co-owner, who even gave him a free bottle of water.
An ‘Unnecessary’ Encounter
“Less than 10 minutes later, a woman whom I believe was the other owner came out aggressively and told me I had to leave,” he recounted in the caption of his video.
Garvey told the woman multiple times to back off. “I repeatedly asked her to stop walking toward me so aggressively and to calm down,” he said.
According to online reviews, the restaurant has been take-out only for a few years, despite having tables and chairs set up in a spacious dining room. But Garvey claims he never knew, and either way, it doesn’t explain what happened next.
“As I tried to put my food back into the containers and leave, she continued speaking to me in a hostile manner and threatened to call the police. I told her I would call them myself,” he said, describing the entire situation as “unnecessary.”
Garvey captured some of the heated showdown on his Meta glasses, where the woman scolded him for not reading the sign on the door and, at one point, turned on her husband: “You gave him a free bottle of water?”
Racist Reviews
Garvey didn’t say the confrontation was racially motivated, but a look at the restaurant’s review history suggests it wouldn’t be the first time.
Lin’s Chinese Cuisine has mostly positive feedback about the food, but complaints about racist customer service date back years.
In 2018, one Yelp reviewer claimed he was called a slur by the owner, and another described being routinely ignored in favor of white patrons. In 2022, a Black reviewer was told to go to “a homeless soup kitchen” after leaving a one-star review because of “racist and rude” service.
The female owner often posts fiery responses. In one, she wrote, “I am people of color. If you said I am racist, then you are a racist too, not me!” adding that all the repeat business shows she is “making Chinese food great again!”
In another response to a complaint of racism, she wrote: “I don’t feel sorry that you are being discriminated, you make yourself this way and no one can change you.”
After reading through the years of similar complaints, Garvey said his own experience with the restaurant suddenly made a lot more sense.
Lin’s Chinese Cuisine did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
