‘So Humiliating’: Same-Sex Couple Told Sharing a Sundae ‘Doesn’t Go With the Ambiance’ at DC Restaurant

‘It Was So Humiliating…It Was Unbelievable How It Made Us Feel’

A same-sex couple dining in Washington, D.C. says they felt humiliated when they ordered a desert and two spoons, but were told they couldn’t share because it wouldn’t “go with the ambiance” of the restaurant. Prime Rib says they are among the five most romantic restaurants in America.

“Ron Gage, 55, and his partner, Henry McKinnon, 58, didn’t see it coming,” The Washington Post reports. “They were properly attired in blazers, which the restaurant requires, for their 8:30 reservation” at D.C.’s Prime Rib restaurant. “They had been joking around with their server Thursday evening, in what Gage said had been a nice evening until dessert.”

“When it came time for dessert, we asked for one sundae with two spoons,” Gage said. Their server “said he would bring it in two separate dishes. He said ‘It wouldn’t look right with two gentlemen eating out of the same sundae. It doesn’t go with the ambiance of the restaurant.’ ”

The couple says they were “speechless,” but didn’t complain to the restaurant’s manager. But they did mention it on Facebook and Yelp.

“I’m kind of embarrassed to say we didn’t say anything,” McKinnon told The Washington Post. “It just took us back to such a shameful place, in a way.”

Prime Rib’s general manager, James MacLeod, “said he was still trying to piece together the situation and hadn’t had a chance to speak to the server in depth yet.”

“The waiter in question is Bulgarian, and he does speak four different languages,” said MacLeod, noting that English is not the server’s first language. “I am not sure if he got confused as to what he was saying, or how he was saying it.”

He said he planned to reach out to Gage and McKinnon.

The couple says there’s nothing the restaurant can do to make amends and say they don’t think they’ll return.

“It was so humiliating,” McKinnon added. “It was unbelievable how it made us feel.” 

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Image by L.A. Foodie via Flickr and a CC license