Friday night, shortly after 10:00PM.
My friend and I had just had diner elsewhere, so we sat in one of the sidewalk tables of UNIVERSE CAFE ON HOLLYWOOD BLVD to talk, AND ORDERED TWO CAPPUCCINOS. We were the only ones there, while the coffee next door was jammed because they featured live music, which we did not care for.
Coffees arrived, barely warm and tasteless, together with the check, as if the place were about to close. We did not press our time. However, AS SOON AS WE FINISHED OUR COFFEES, THE WAITER HURRIED TO TAKE AWAY BOTH OUR CUPS AND THE YET UNPAID CHECK for $15.00 and cents from the table. We thought this to be an involuntary mistake and waited for him to return with the check in order to pay it. He came minutes later with a NEW check, this time for TWICE THE PRICE!!! When we claimed that our original check had been tampered with, the waiter went inside and asked the owner himself to come: indeed, who claimed to be the owner came to our table, and rudely told us to pay the "new" price because we had been listening to the music in the cafe next door (???!!!), insisting we had to "pay and leave" or he would "call the police". We asked him to please do so, because we wanted to file a report before paying. He turned around and went inside while we stayed at the table and waited. The Police arrived, and who seemed to be the officer in charge went directly inside to talk with the owner, then back to our table demanding that we paid "or go to jail". He refused us the right to report anything saying the check had to be paid because it was the Law. The owner was suspiciously smiling a few feet away, and he made sure our waiter never came back to our table. He also kept the second check with him. With no options we had to reluctantly accept UNIVERSE CAFE's ABUSE. SOMETHING IS SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH THIS PLACE: I WOULD NOT RECOMMENDED TO ANYONE EVER!!!
Pros: location
Cons: everything but
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