Not Luqa Good

Mark Stuertz recently chronicled the ills at Luqa, where drama's apparently the only thing left on the menu. See, an old college pal of Friend of Unfair Park's who made his bones as a kickin'-it sports writer was supposed to meet another old pal on the beat for dinner at the downtown eatery last night, only to find out ...

When we got there, the kitchen staff was sitting outside on a card table. “The place is closed.”

To which we replied: "Closed? But we have reservations at 8. You mean it’s closed for good?"

“Oh, they’ll probably try to re-open it. But there’s nobody in there to cook for you tonight. This is the whole kitchen staff. We haven’t been paid in five weeks, so we walked out tonight.”

I talked to the guys for a little while. They said they had attempted to work with management/owners, but that “they weren’t even trying to get us paid.” The manager there was on the phone attempting to arrange alternative reservations for customers who were showing up.

Here’s the thing: I know there are two sides to every story. But I can’t possibly see how this could have an explanation for not paying people, or how they could say this was some kind of misunderstanding. Workers in that situation know one thing: they have to hang in there as long as they can, hoping to get paid, because once they walk out, they know for a fact they’ve given up any chance of getting the money owed to them.

Anyway, maybe the owners/managers of this place deserve some negative PR. Disclosure: I always carry a chip on my shoulder when it comes to be people who don’t pay employees or don’t take care of their biz the right way.

Hope all’s well.