The Harvest Vine on East Madison is an authentic Basque restaurant that some say serves the best food in Seattle. The ingredients, according to the restaurant’s Web site, are either imported directly from the Basque country or grown according to owner-chef Joseba Jiménez de Jiménez’s specific instructions.
In keeping with the European vibe, the portions are smaller and the service can be a bit languid. But some patrons have claimed that the restaurant’s service is downright crummy. And on Saturday, March 1, one woman says, the deplorable service only ended after the cops came.
That evening, Aydan Keresteci and her husband, Ercenk, showed up at the Harvest Vine and were told they would have to wait about 45 minutes to be seated. The manager, Fernando Moreno Castillo, said he would call them on their cell phone when their table was ready. Keresteci says she and her husband then strolled to a nearby French bistro for some predinner drinks, where, amidst the bustle, they missed Moreno’s phone call. Keresteci says her husband tried immediately to return the call (thrice), but got only an answering machine. Nevertheless, they walked back to the Harvest Vine. And when they did, “Fernando was not happy to see us,” Keresteci wrote in a letter addressed to Jiménez.
“Where have you been?” Moreno allegedly demanded. “I tried to call you a half hour ago, twice.” Keresteci begged to differ, claiming the call came 10 minutes ago and presenting her call log to prove it.
“Are you calling me a liar?” Moreno allegedly countered.
The heat subsided momentarily, says Keresteci, and Moreno eventually agreed to give them a table—then changed his mind. She adds that her husband then went to the bathroom, and when he returned, Moreno demanded that they leave. To enforce his decision, Moreno called the police. Keresteci and her husband then left.
The restaurant’s recollection of the events is different: Jiménez says that when Keresteci and her husband returned, Moreno says Ercenk grew abrasive when the manager told him a table wouldn’t be ready for another five minutes. “That’s not good enough,” Ercenk allegedly told Moreno.
Tempers flared, and Ercenk puffed up to Moreno, brushing past the manager on the way to the bathroom. When Ercenk returned, Moreno tried to quell the situation, Jiménez says, but the Kerestecis weren’t having it. Recognizing that the dispute was past salvation, Moreno asked them to leave. Moreno says that they did, but returned and demanded that Moreno call the cops, which he did. The Kerestecis say that Moreno was the one who wanted to call the cops, not them.
Jiménez, who wasn’t there, says Moreno’s version of events has been corroborated by one customer, one cook, and two waiters. “We’ve been here for nine years,” Jiménez says. “Never have we had to call the police on a customer.”
Keresteci had been to the restaurant on two prior occasions and loved it—but not this time. “It was humiliating. It was the worst experience I have ever had in a restaurant,” she wrote in her letter to Jiménez.
For the Harvest Vine’s owner-chef, the feeling is mutual. “I feel so offended right now, with this lady,” he says. “I work very hard. When she says she tried to fix it, that’s bullshit. She’s calling the newspaper.”
Jiménez said he had planned to respond to Keresteci’s letter until he found out she’d forwarded a copy to the Weekly. (In fact, Jiménez says that the Weekly received her letter before he did.) “This morning, I was going to call and apologize to her,” he says. “But this changes everything.”
