A Los Angeles restaurant has come under fire after a viral video accused it of racially segregating Asian diners. Great White Melrose, a trendy all-day cafe known for its Australian-inspired cuisine, is facing backlash after footage appeared to show staff separating Asian diners in one corner of the venue.
Viral TikTok Clip Shows Segregated Seating
The controversy began with a video posted by TikTok user @juminjuice that quickly went viral. In the clip, the camera pans across the restaurant showing that all Asian diners are seated in one corner, while white patrons are spread across the main seating area.
Great White's Melrose Avenue branch, its third and largest in LA, offers an outdoor dining experience in its pastel-pink patio. At first, Jumin thought she was just imagining things, but as new Asian parties came, they were directed to the same corner where other Asian diners were.
@juminjuice No but fr tho.. #greatwhite #la #asians #asian #racism
♬ original sound - cassidy
Not an Isolated Incident
This video was noticed by Ed Choi, another content creator, whose own clip already garnered 1.9 million views. Choi claimed it was not an isolated case. In his video, he showed that another creator has experienced the same treatment when she dined at the Melrose location, with Asian diners also seated in a separate corner.
@etchaskej @cassidy Great White Melrose displaying that this is a Pattern of Behavior towards your Asian patrons so until this is addressed, Asian Americans will take our $1 TRILLION in buying power elsewhere. #greatwhite #samcooper #samtrude #losangeles #asiantiktok
♬ original sound - Ed
Great White currently holds a 3.8-star rating online. Reviewers commend the food and describe the staff as 'friendly' and 'attentive'. But a review from a year ago stands out, saying the place gave them 'racism vibes'.
The diner shared on their review, 'My friend and I were seated by another Asian couple's table, and we're also Asians by the way. This was totally fine until they put another Asian couple at our right table.' The same diner also noticed that the servers did not assist them immediately, compared to another white couple sitting two tables away from them who were helped by the servers right away.
Similar experiences and complaints come up in other reviews. One review revealed that 'bugs' were found in their salad. When they raised the issue, a staff member told them that their produce is sourced from an organic farmers' market, and it was fresh. The customer added that the staff didn't apologise or give them a refund.
Another review alleged that one server is racist towards Asian diners, where the Asian customer was forced to pay a gratuity. On the review, it stated, 'Everything seemed fine until it was time to pay. That's when our server decided to take it upon herself to "secretly" apply a 20% tip on our bill without telling us.' When the diner called this out, the server reportedly said that it's 'restaurant policy' to charge 'large parties', even though the group consisted of four people.
Social Media Backlash
As expected, the internet is not happy about it. Social media users called for a boycott of Great White, with some expressing disgust. One comment said, 'Their Yelp has been disabled [because] of an influx of posts citing discriminatory seating practices.'
Another claimed to have experienced the same treatment in a different branch, 'Omg this happened to us at the Larchmont Great White location! The server purposely avoided eye contact when I needed her attention multiple times.'
In his video, Choi said that this is a 'pattern of racial discrimination' against Asian people. In 2022, another restaurant called One If By Land Two If By Sea in New York also faced similar accusations.
