One of New York City’s most romantic restaurants is under fire for allegedly discriminating against Asian diners.
A woman is calling out fine dining Greenwich Village landmark One if by Land, Two if by Sea on TikTok for its alleged discriminatory practices that include seating Asian diners on the second floor of its restaurant, separating them from other diners on the first floor. Other Yelp reviews from Asian diners also claim the restaurant treated them poorly, according to Foodbeast.
“Lets cut to the chase: One if by Land, Two if by Sea racially discriminates against nonwhite people, particularly Asians,” TikToker @rokug4n, who goes by Annie, claimed of the restaurant in a recent video. The establishment was voted among one of the most romantic restaurants in the world by Architectural Digest.
One if by Land, Two if by Sea did not immediately return a request for comment.
Annie, who is Asian, recalls being seated on the second floor — which she says has a lackluster ambiance compared to the mosaic-clad walls beaming with natural light on the first floor — on a recent evening with her boyfriend when she noticed she was among only Asian diners.
“I want to preface by saying, I have no issue dining with other Asian people. I don’t care. What I do care about, and have an issue with, is people of color being separated from white people by white people in higher-end establishments,” Annie says in the TikTok.
Annie then flashes a photo of the first floor of the carriage house dining room she pulled from Yelp showing what appears to be a primarily white crowd.
“Because so many foodies are Asian and so many people have been hyping up this restaurant on TikTok and social media and none of the reviews of people being racially discriminatory against are like being brought to light — so many Asian foodies are paying hundreds of dollars to this restaurant and getting racially discriminated against,” she said.
Then, she pulls up previous Yelp reviews spanning from 11 months ago to seven years ago that skewered the restaurant for similar allegations. One reviewer, Xu Z, detailed being made to wait for 40 minutes with a friend before being seated upstairs — despite reserving a table on the first floor.
Similarly, another citizen food journalist, Min Chieh L, wrote that during their experience last year that other patrons were prioritized, waiters ignored them and that the restaurant’s captain was “arrogant.”
And a Yelp reviewer named Michelle C. reported in 2017 she was seated in a section surrounded by Asian diners while white diners occupied another section.
“This restaurant has been doing this for seven years,” Annie stresses toward the end of her TikTok.
At the end of the TikTok, Annie pans to a video she took of the second floor at One if by Land, Two if by Sea on the evening she and her boyfriend dined there that showed a room of what appeared to be all Asian patrons to prove her point.