Sadly, adding Ole Restaurant Group to our "nope" list

Truly heartbroken to see such hate on Fernando Martinez' facebook page. Earlier this week, Mr. Martinez reposted several vile memes, mocking the recent attacks on Nancy Pelosi's husband. Absolutely vile and nasty, with laughing face and hammer emojis added in for emphasis. He must have gotten a hell of a lot of feedback, because this afternoon, he made his FB page private. Trust me, many screenshots have been taken and we all know, the internet has a long memory.

I could not care what your political affiliation is, but any person who revels in and mocks the attempted murder of an 82 year old man is beyond redemption. Absolutely disgusting!

[Robin Garr]

I saw something about that on social media and was, let’s say, disappointed but not surprised. It’s not the first time.

Saw something about this on one of my colleague's Facebook feed. I'm guessing we'll get an apology along the lines of "It's not who I am." Sorry to see this; I met his wife when Mussel and Burger first opened and thought she was very nice.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_ ... tid=znoya5

Disgusting, sad to see from him

Laughing at violnce against an 80+ year old man and vile homophobic posts. How is that any different from the communistic regime he says he abhors? I guess, like some, he deems it OK as long as it isn't happening to him.
Adding him to my NOPE list as well. And he will be staying there.

Thank you for letting the truth be known. There is no excuse for this vile hatred. My Air BnB is just around the corner from Luchador, I’ll be sure to steer my guests elsewhere.

As Ricky Ricardo would say--somebody has some "splainin" to do.

This is very unfortunate and sad to see an immigrant success story veer into such unnecessary territory. Why share these foolish views with the vast public? My gosh.

As Ricky Ricardo would say--somebody has some "splainin" to do.

This is very unfortunate and sad to see an immigrant success story veer into such unnecessary territory. Why share these foolish views with the vast public? My gosh.

Don't think this can be explained.

I read the explaination he posted and I'm even more disgusted now. Sorry but the "Hey my son is gay!" or "I've got gay employees!" is not a "get out of jail card free" excuse. It just means you'd pull any of them in front of you to stop a bullet. I guess even jerks can escape an opressive regime without learning anything about human decency.

[Robin Garr]

WAVE-3 has pretty good coverage of the whole uproar, including Fernando's response and some community comments.

https://www.wave3.com/2022/11/05/restau ... os-online/

The roughly 50% price increases over the last few years (several tacos used to be below $4, now nothing below $5 with a petite fish taco now $6.25) were already likely to keep me away, this should seal it.

Brands that tie themselves to politics are usually out for me. While not as blatant as Penzey or Pillow, he surely knows that as a prominent person, any such post on social media is going to be amplified and tied to his brand. His full statement wasn't Kyrie-level bad, but if he's going to claim not to be homophobic, then he has to explain why he posted something that is also posted many openly intolerant people, how his interpretation was somehow different, and he didn't/couldn't do that.

[Robin Garr]

Silvio, no quibbles with your second paragraph. Good thoughts! But as for pricing, I'm not sure I can ding him for that. Don't you find prices rising - or else portions decreasing - just about everywhere these days as a reasonable reaction to rising food prices? I know our grocery bills are looking crazy these days, and if I were cooking it and selling finished dishes, I'd sure have raised my prices by now. Or do you think his increases go above and beyond?

I don't blame him specifically for the prices, but the increase seems higher than other places. And (a bit of a tangent here....), I more I read about the economy and the record profits that some companies are earning, the more I think that as long as we keep buying things at the same rate, the more likely it is that prices will stay high or get higher. In a capitalist system, if businesses and/or suppliers can charge more, they will. And whether it is oil companies or big businesses that supply restaurants, I think that is taking place.

Case in point: Chipotle menu price increases in 2022: +15% Profits compared to this quarter last year: +26%. I can't square the circle on that one.

Unfortunately, I think that some small/midsized business will have to go under for any change to take place. (end tangent )

[Robin Garr]

Thanks, Silvio. Your math adds up, sadly.

Guaca Mole charges $29 for the burrito al carbon — who pays that much for a burrito? Much less one sold by a QAnon freak?