I dined with 7 friends of mine the night of Sept. 19 2009 at Monica's Restaurant in the North End. After a dinner with extremely poor service (grant it it was a busy night) we decided that the ""20% auto-grat"" on the bill was a little ridiculous. We paid the bill for the food and drinks in full and did not pay $10 of the $80 or so tip. I received a phone call half an hour later (they had my number from the reservation) that we had shorted them $20 on the bill and if they could charge that amount on a credit card. I told the caller that I would come back to the restaurant to explain (I was just around the corner). When I reached the restaurant the extremely rude hostess presented me with the bill saying we had shorted them $20 not $10 as we originally had. I explained to the hostess that the service we received that night was horrible and that we felt that the included 20% tip was excessive. She said we had no choice and we needed to pay it. A minute later a man appeared from the back and started verbally harrasing and threatening myself and my friend who had accompanied me back to the restaurant. He started swearing and telling us to ""F*ck Ourselves"". He said we must pay for what the bill stated. I calmly tried to explain that the service was not worth the 20%, simple as that. He began yelling in our faces and quite frankly scared me. I asked him who he was (as I figured I would call the restaurant and talk to the owner about this completely absurd, innapropriate and unprofessional encounter- I thought they needed to know this happened). The man looked at me and said he WAS the owner- I was in disbelief. I told him I had been coming to the restaurant for years (which is true) and that if that was true, that he was the owner and was treating me the customer this way, I would never ever return. He said he didnt care and that he didn't want ""to see us there ever again"". He repeated his offensive language and was yelling and getting all red in the face during this encounter. I honestly was completely taken back and just paid the $20 to get out of there, I was afraid he would do something awful. He had already grabbed my friends arm during all of this. His behavior is unacceptable and I will NEVER dine there again or the trattoria on Prince Street- he's awful! Now that I read other reviews I am finding im not the only one who has dealt with him, tooo bad, the food was good, but there are many other places...
Pros: Nothing
Cons: The owner and staff
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