Two 22-year-old women say they were mistreated by the owner of Carolina Lowcountry Kitchen in East Grand Rapids, Michigan, alleging the owner snatched a drink from one of their hands, poured it into a purse, and damaged a phone after accusing one of the women of presenting a fake ID.
The women, one of whom identifies as Mexican and Cuban, and the other as Black and Caucasian, shared their account in a TikTok video posted by @analovesfood, which has since gone viral.
According to the women, only one of them ordered an alcoholic drink and was asked for identification. The other ordered a cucumber lemonade but acknowledged taking a sip of her friend’s drink to taste it. The women said the owner then came to their table, told them they were not allowed to share drinks, and accused one of them of presenting a fake ID.
The video begins when the owner returns to the table with the bill and tells the women they need to leave. The confrontation escalated quickly.
“We were harassed by the owner at Carolina Lowcountry Kitchen for no reason. Why is that? Because I don’t appreciate the attitude. What attitude? The ones that you just gave me. You just came over here. I’m asking you to either. If you would like to have your food. No, we would like to eat our food here, where we came and sat,” the video begins.
The exchange grew more heated as the owner insisted the women leave the restaurant.
“That nobody cares. No one cares. Actually, I do. So it’s time for you to go. So that means you can pay the bill. Make sure y’all don’t eat here, y’all. Because. And we’re gonna do a food review. Make sure I don’t eat here. No, we’ll. We’ll. We’ll. We’ll leave when we’re ready to leave. The f*ck no, you won’t. It’s time for you to go right now.”
The women refused to leave immediately, and the situation intensified further with mentions of calling police and allegations of physical contact.
“Oh, put me out. Put me out. Yes, you’re done. Look, and I see this. I’m calling him. Who said? I’m not paying for it. You said yes, I’m not paying for it. I ordered it. Give me. Call the police right now, girl, you’re done. You’re done. Get out. Girl, you make sure y’all don’t come here.”
The video ends with one of the women warning viewers away from the restaurant and accusing the business of racism.
“Um. Don’t put your hands on me. Make sure y’all don’t come here. You see this man put his hand on me? Make sure y’all don’t come here. Literally make sure y’all don’t come here. Cause they’re racist.”
@analovesfoods Karen poured water all over my second phone too and broke it 😂 #karensoftiktok #carolinalowcountrykitchen
♬ original sound – Analovesfoods
The women later posted a follow-up TikTok video explaining their side of the story. They opened by asking viewers not to harass the restaurant or its staff.
“Starting off with this video we want to say we don’t want you guys to harass these people leaving a bad review isn’t illegal but we don’t want you guys to do anything illegal like harass them call them or nothing we’re just don’t go there like yeah we’re just sharing our experience we went there and we got treated on our platform to do so we I feel like we got treated pretty bad like I’m black and white I’m black and white she’s Mexican like and Cuban so it’s just like I don’t know if she was intimidated by us or what but here’s what happened it was yeah I’ll insert a clip of what we’re talking about give me call the police right now girl you’re done you’re done.”
One of the women explained she had visited the restaurant before and had previously enjoyed her experiences there. She noted the restaurant was empty when they arrived.
“So this is about um this restaurant that we’ve I’ve gone to like multiple times like I actually like them like I thought they were pretty nice there for my first time guys so walking in the door there was nobody in there so I don’t know if this maybe gave her more of a space to feel comfortable to say something to us in case so we all sat outside cause we asked us outside we did end up moving cause the pond um it was really windy it was windy so the pond I was by us it was like spring spring water and they said they have no problem with it or nothing like we just move tables.”
The women then described placing their order, explaining that only one of them planned to drink alcohol because the other was recovering from an illness.
“Okay so basically server comes out she’s trying to take our drink order and stuff we’re having a conversation in front of her like I have I’m gonna get a drink she’s not gonna drink because she’s you know parasite stuff getting over that yeah I just had got the parasite so I was like kind of recovering and I wasn’t really ready to drink not like we were there to get wasted or anything like I just didn’t wanna drink and that was something that I said to her that the server overheard.”
They said the woman who ordered the alcoholic beverage presented a valid ID showing she was 22 years old, and that the sip in question came from simple curiosity about the drink.
“So I order my drink she gets a lemonade cucumber lemonade cucumber lemonade one of those a lot of people are confusing how we’re both drinking but she was just drinking and she’s 22 and she showed her a valid ID saying that she’s 22 real idea okay keep that in mind I let her try my drink because it’s a cucumber lemonade she never had cucumber lemonade before so I was like let me try mine and I’m not gonna lie I took a sip of her drink like no one told me I couldn’t I didn’t ask for a drink like nothing like I didn’t know I had to show my ID to take a sip of her drink like you know what I mean.”
According to the women, the owner confronted them almost immediately about sharing the drink and questioned the ID’s validity. They said they apologized and tried to explain.
“So immediately she comes outside and she’s like you guys can’t be sharing drinks and I’m pretty sure you showed me a fake ID and we’re just trying to explain to her like oh like we’re like okay sorry like we won’t we won’t share each other’s drinks we won’t try each other’s drinks but my ID is real but her ID was real and valid and I’m 22 years old like so I know like and it’s not it’s not I’m here like like a sip is gonna get me tips turn like turn and turn up like you know.”
The woman said the owner returned to their table minutes later with the bill, which is when the recording began.
“Okay so she goes back inside and then we’re you know chit chatting at the table whatever like two minutes later she comes back out guys and this time she comes out with her Bill and she’s like do you want us to wrap it up or take the food off and then you guys can just pay for the drinks and then we’re conversing this is where the video starts this is where I start recording and I’m like it’s just so crazy how you’re trying to kick us out right now and I’m asking her why and she’s like your attitude and let’s be honest like that’s not a valid reason to snatch anybody’s drink.”
One of the women described the moment she says the owner poured the drink into her purse, destroying a phone inside.
“She poured our purses were sitting on a chair next to us and my second phone was sitting inside my purse so oh when she poured her drink she filled my purse up with the drink and I didn’t know that’s why I didn’t take my phone out right away but when I go to take my phone out my phone’s blacked out cash drenched nine hundred dollar phone gone.”
She also described an encounter with a man identified as Mike, who she says demanded that she hand over a drink as they were getting up to leave.
“So at this point we’re like pretty pissed off like you know so we get up I had a drink in my hand the guy Mike that was in the video comes like charging at me and he’s like give me the drink give me the drink and I like go to put it on the table it falls I didn’t throw it or nothing like I go put on the table it fell and broke like at the end of the day like how we reacted was pretty good I feel like we could have done a lot more we could have done as soon as she snatched her hand and on my wrist.”
The women said they attempted to pursue the matter through law enforcement but felt their complaint was dismissed.
“We did press charges and um pretty much they didn’t take him serious like they said that us posting a video is harass or not harassment us posting a video is legal but if anybody does anything that’s harassment so just don’t go there y’all don’t harass the lady it seems like she’s on a power trip maybe but we’re we don’t wanna you know cause her any harm we just don’t wanna support racism discrimination and then also damage of property.”
They closed the video by explaining why they chose to share their story on social media instead.
“We just like our situation didn’t get taken seriously by the police so we put put it on TikTok and you know let TikTok handle it cause you know we’re young we’re 22 that’s how we handle our problems these days obviously but yeah we just wanted to tell y’all about pretty much what happened clear some things up um I don’t wanna argue with anybody in the comments like I said what I said everybody have a good day.”
@analovesfoods Replying to @Chloe Universe ⭐️♿️🎨🌈
♬ original sound – Analovesfoods
The restaurant owner has not publicly responded to the allegations.
