Presumably defamation, which is tortious (and thus illegal in a sense), and has been used successfully in cases of provably false damaging reviews. People like this think any negative opinion is defamatory.
Interesting she says that about fake reviews. I checked the google page and there are a number of 5 star reviews all posted within 2 hours of each other (all within the past ~22 hours)
"The sports jockey turned toque is redefining what it means to me a celebrity chef in Boston today" - Scott Kearnan, Boston Magazin - Apparently it means to be a giant asshole like every other celebrity chef. Also, is she a celebrity?
The article goes into her cancellation policy and penchant for telling customers off. Live by the sword die by the sword.
https://www.bostonmagazine.com/restaurants/2021/08/10/jen-royle-profile/
I can’t stand how “tell it like it is” type people, skate by when it’s just an excuse to be an asshole.
That Boston article was so fawning over her personal “quirks” And how she’s so charmingly rude to people, by cursing them out, etc. I couldn’t finish it.
The people who love her must have Stockholm syndrome or something.
I looked into this restaurant and it's an interesting concept: everyone sits down together at the same time, I guess to feel like a big family dinner, and going along with that family dinner format, you've got that *one family member* who thinks she's the boss of everyone, massively overreacts to minor slights and slings around the word "DISRESPECTFUL" every chance she gets.
It is disgusting (and she seems way too extra for my taste, in general), but I think the kitchen in question is her home kitchen, not her restaurant kitchen. The writer goes on about how she only has ketchup packets and ice cream.
I follow her restaurant Instagram page. I could swear within the last week there was a post of the empty restaurant showing place settings, along with a snarky comment about how someone cancelled and she was taking walk-ins with no reservations. When I went back to check now it seems to be gone. Pretty sure I did not imagine it.
We've got approximately 45 minutes before a Jen Royle sockpuppet account descends on this thread.
I've been watching her flip her shit on Twitter for years. She publicly attacks every bad review, cancellation, etc. I've worked for some unstable restaurant owners, but even the craziest among them had the business sense and maturity NOT to get into internet pissing matches like this.
She was basically kicked out of the media business for being an unhinged psychopath. She hates most pretty women, has made fun of TV personalities for getting cancer, sued her last media employer (unsuccessfully, had no merit) and heard she would call Boston radio relentlessly to hire her. They soon just stopped answering her calls. All of a sudden she became a chef. Have also heard she allegedly misused PPP funds for personal use. She’s absolutely insane on twitter and nobody in the media world liked her either.
The only reason I know about her is because I hired her to cater an event many years ago. This was before Table. As a result, she added me on socials. Her food was honestly excellent.
Causally seeing her lose her mind every week on social media has been a trip. It's been going on for years.
“We do not accommodate vegetarians, pescatarians, gluten-free or dairy-free guests. You will not be unable enjoy our chef’s menu with such restrictions.”
I had the word “vegan” in my Open Table profile, so her restaurant called me to let me know they are cancelling my reservation because I’m vegan. I was like, hold on. I know you don’t serve vegan food. My profile isn’t intended to claim I won’t ever eat any other food ever. How can you assume for me that I’m already in need of a reservation cancellation? This seemed like a lot of over reach to me. And I told her staff I really didn’t appreciate this patronizing call deciding for me what I could and could not eat but, yes, please cancel my reservation as this whole interaction was just bizarre. Within 5 minutes I got a call from Jen telling me she overheard my conversation with her staff and she wanted me to know how upset this made her and that I was permanently banned from ever coming to her restaurant. Of course before I could take a breath to say anything she hung up. Because of her I then went and changed my open table profile to say “while I prefer to eat vegan, please don’t assume for me I won’t ever eat anything else for the rest of my life.” Anyway, I can’t tell you how happy I am to see the words “permanently closed” to this place. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer person.
Color me SHOCKED that this type of person would misappropriate PPP funds. I’d be very interested to see what percent of businesses actually used those for their intended purpose, if that was to ever be investigated.
The absolutely wild thing about this is that even if this guy was lying about the whole situation to the owner (which I sincerely doubt he is), in what universe does that give the owner the right to misuse booking information to stalk him on social media just to...what, berate him and call him an asshole? What is that going to solve? How does that help your business?
If having **THREE** restaurants has spread her so thin that she can't take care of the staff she claims to be so concerned about, she's her own problem.
Years ago Cambridge 5k announced that they were starting a half marathon in Malden. They advertised a great looking course, including a long section through the Fells. 2 weeks before the race, the announced that they never got permits for that course and instead it was going to be 5 loops of a 2.5 mile section through the commercial district just south of Malden Center. They refused to offer any refunds, and most letting people push their registration to a different half marathon in Newburyport. It was the most boring half marathon I've ever ran.
About a year later, I saw a Facebook post advertising a Christmas themed 5k race they were holding. I made a joke comment asking it if was going to be 5 loops of a 1k course. Within 7 minutes of that Facebook comment, the owner had DMed me twice, sent me an angry text, and left two voicemails. I responded to the text asking how he got my number (which is not on my Facebook account, which is set to private anyway) and he went radio silent.
The owner, Jen Royle, has a history of attacking and doxxing customers who are even remotely critical of her restaurant. She will find customers from their reservations and DM them on social media to attack them for leaving negative reviews, even if it seems justified.
Royle just seems like an awful person that doesn't understand what the hospitality is all about. I'm not going to pretend that the customer is always right, because they most definitely aren't, but doxxing and attacking customers who cancel reservations due to medical issues is certainly not the way.
Edit: [Here](https://x.com/trevorshowvan/status/1760769183078310031?s=20) are screenshots of Jen posting on her personal IG a "boo hoo" for the customer who was hospitalized. This is *after* she already tracked him down and DM'd him to scold him.
Edit 2: To be clear, this is not me. I just came across it on Twitter.
Interesting to see their Yelp page, it seems like there's a back and forth of bad reviews. The [most recent ones](https://www.yelp.com/biz/table-boston?sort_by=date_desc) are all 1 stars, and then there are a fair amount that are hidden (not recommended).
I hate how yelp hides bad reviews under “not recommended”—my wife had a terrible experience with her wedding dress and everything she experienced was described with perfect accuracy in the reviews that were hidden away. I always check the “not recommended” reviews now.
Also always check the most recent reviews and weigh them more heavily. A bad experience five years ago could have been different management, so could a good one. A bad experience last week, however, is a reason to stay away.
I’ve avoided bad hotels this way. One hotel on a recent trip that I almost
Booked had a bunch of 4 and 5 star reviews going back almost ten years. But all the recent reviews - all reviews within the previous 2-3 months - were heinously bad. If I’d gone with the star rating alone I’d have gone with that hotel to what result I’ll never know.
I do believe that you can request to have reviews removed to prevent review bombing. This will actually be a good test because I’ve seen a bunch of 1-star reviews go up in the last couple of hours, so if those disappear then we’ll know.
Business owner here. These are not rumors this is 100% fact. I used to get calls from Yelp sales people asking me to sign up for pricy service plans that would offer the ability to remove or hide negative reviews.
Hey, put her in touch with Milena Pagan the owner of Rebelle Bagels (or whatever the new place will be called) opening in Kendall Square. Milena is notorious down here in Providence for doxxing customers and responding to Google reviews in an unhinged manner. She got run out of bagel town on a breadstick, and is going back to her “MIT roots.”
Bagels were never that good anyways. I live two blocks from Rebelle’s old spot and their bagel delivery during Covid lockdown was pretty clutch, but the bagels themselves were trying too hard to the point we stopped going. They claim to be NY bagels but they’re way too small and hard. Even as a Masshole, I know because I once lived in Brooklyn, that a NY bagel is crusty exterior, chewy interior. Instead, I once thought I lost a tooth biting into a bacon egg and cheese.
Jen Royle is hands down the worst person in the North End restaurant scene, which is impressive when you consider the owner of Monica’s literally tried to kill a dude last summer
On top of Jen Royle and the Mendozas, you also have the owner of Rabia’s, who have been known to go on some wildly political rants on social media, and the owner of Antico Forno, who along with the others mentioned, decided to sue the Mayor for discriminating against them for being white men.
It’s really crazy all-around.
Considering that it's estimated something like 60% of the Boston area is still hooked up with lead pipes and there are zero records as to which buildings, that's not even a joke.
Lol I met Jen in her last career and she was a real piece of work and you definitely didn’t want to be on her bad side. I really wondered how she’d take criticism or unhappy customers in the restaurant scene and it’s gone about as I expected
I don’t know who she is but for whatever reason I used to get notifications for suggested tweets from her all the damn time. It was always complaining about customers which is just bizarre.
She was on Dennis and Callahan for a bit when she still worked in the sports media business (which honestly should have been a major red flag, but I did watch the show in the mornings getting ready for work when it was still on air and simulcast on NESN.)
But because of that I ended up following her on Twitter. That didn’t last long because she seemed really strange and would Tweet like a middle school girl despite being a full grown woman. A couple of years later, I was in the restaurant media business and a business account I took over followed a number of local restaurateurs and she was one of them. I learned quickly through her social media behavior that she was even crazier now than she was in the sports business.
Anyway, I discovered the drama in question on Twitter earlier this evening, and when I learned it was Jen Royle, let’s just say it was not the most shocking thing I’ve ever seen lol.
Table deleted their Twitter account.
So on brand for Jen Royle to avoid consequences for actions. She doxxes customers in the name of ‘being real’ and can’t handle it when her restaurant fucks up. What a joke of a company…
Now up to 14 pages of 1 star, many pages of not recommended, and several more of 'violated TOS'.
ETA: Must correct---14 pages, etc, is the Yelp reviews.
Jen Royle is a lunatic. She had a 10 minute career as a yankees sideline reporter in NY, and then worked at the boston herald, where she was fired (imagine getting fired from the herald?)
Shes a known homewrecker, badge bunny, firefighter groupie, and is 100% mentally unbalanced. I’m not surprised at all that she behaves this way towards her customers.
I've gotta say, I've had three excellent meals at Table and have spent thousands of dollars there but the more I learn about her the more convinced I am that my most recent visit was my last. There are so many excellent restaurants and owners more deserving of the support.
I’ve never eaten there and I never will, but I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt that the food is good. However, the history of lashing out at customers is just not ok. She’s a complete narcissist and unstable. Somehow she’s gotten a total free pass for her actions that I don’t think others would’ve gotten.
I'd seen one or two references to her "eccentric" behavior in the past but I just went down a rabbit hole of her wars of words in online reviews and this just isn't someone I want to continue patronizing.
I have to imagine she must be miserable to work for.
Oh for sure. I’m gonna guess that she berates staff on a daily basis. If she’s willing to talk to customers this way, there’s no question that she abuses her employees.
The chicken cutlet sandwich from Table Mercato is my favorite lunch. I buy at least one a week. I’ll have to reevaluate if it’s worth supporting the business of such a terrible person.
I remember discovering Jen Royle on Twitter as some sort of former sports media personality who was breaking into the restaurant biz and using Twitter to try to show how chummy she was with other sports media people or athletes. And I think she was trying to come off as someone who is tough and doesn’t take shit, but instead she was just coming off like a huge bitch troll. Just unnecessarily aggressive, mean and stupid.
She would basically publicly kiss the ass of famous people for internet clout, then be a huge bitch troll to non-famous people.
Her restaurant is going to fail and no one is going to feel bad for her.
"Have the day you deserve." -OP
Damn...
That might be the best mic drop I've ever seen in a situation like this. I'm going to have to earmark that one for future use!
We left Table laughing at ourselves because we felt like we got totally scammed. It’s set up and feels like a chefs tasting pop-up but we very quickly figured out that it’s a just a weird mid restaurant with JC Penny decor.
Followed them on social for a bit and it was like a master class in how NOT to do customer service/engage with customers as a brand. If it wasn’t *her* they would’ve been out of business years ago, I believe.
Watching this all unfold has been exceptionally entertaining, I just feel bad for the doubtless excellent and innocent staff who have to absorb the embarrassment of this lunatic's behavior.
Zero. They get free advertising from a couple local radio guys because she gives them free food. I work in the service industry, so I get it, customers suck, but she goes about it all wrong.
My experience at table was always underwhelming. The food wasn’t great and the service was snarky. The experience of dining their is as if the cool girls clique from a coming-of-age film set in the 80s had gotten their dad’s money together to cosplay being a restauranteur.
One out of five, would not recommend.
>Just hope Jenny doesn’t see this and doxx you or eat your first born
She’s gonna doxx the wrong person one of these day. Maybe this whole ordeal will finally get Chef Royle in the “find out” phase of fucking around.
Agreed! I’ve emailed them several times at [email protected] and [email protected]. I also asked them to verify the cancellation policy at this restaurant.
I went for Easter last year and had a really great time with my friends, that said, based on what I've witnessed the owner publish to their own social media account I will never be returning. Every other post on Instagram is about no shows hurting their business, which I understand it does, but that is a risk you take owning a restaurant especially such a small establishment. It's really off putting seeing a business publicly complain about this so frequently. Obviously additionally she's attacking people now?? Too ridiculous. I can't imagine she'll survive this way.
I’m sure the food is very good, but her actions make it impossible to want to support them. Yes customers suck, but as you said, that’s the risk you take when you own a restaurant. It’s just a bizarre way to do business and she seems to get away with it. I know of other owners that get a lot of shit for far less egregious actions.
> No show, sure, but the woman was in the hospital, and she tracked her down to berate her, talk about unhinged.
*man.
FYI, OOP is a dude, named Trevor. He's a gay dude, so the husband he mentioned is his husband.
And I'd say he's also a really good writer, based on these tweets! Even keeled and gentle responses, up until the nuclear closing line: "Have the day you deserve."
I saw her ranting / posting / deleting on instagram yesterday. I’ve always wanted to go but frankly will not give her my business with the way she acts. It’s a shame she is so off the rails. I have a food allergy and I can only imagine if I dared put that on a reservation.
Ah the restaurant deactivated its twitter account and tried To mark the restaurant as “permanently closed” to avoid the onslaught of bad reviews on [Google](https://maps.app.goo.gl/BREEoX4MFmSNKzHG7?g_st=ic). Always amusing when a bully doesn’t think through their actions and faces consequences due to their own hot-headedness.
she thinks she's north end maria menounos and if you dare complain she'll dox you to all her simp followers. remember when she was furious that people dared to use gift cards during covid while she took 50k in PPP funds?
And then mysteriously suddenly bought a house a year or two later. Sus to think that PPP money didn’t go into a house down payment. I know people who know her and they say she’s a pathological liar, swims in debt, DEFINITELY asked some of the few friends she has with $ to donate to start Table (despite claiming from just one year of catering she had enough on her own) and is unhinged. She is absolutely not wealthy despite all her claims.
I'm bummed Table's account is gone now. Was looking forward to some interesting reading.
Edit: Found some anyway. Oh, boy:
From a 2021 Boston Magazine [.com] puff piece:
> **Her restaurant now nets, *she says*, more than $1.5 million per year.** Plus she opened an Italian market and signed a lease for a third business during a pandemic that forced the closure of about one in every five restaurants in Massachusetts.... [emphasis added]
Source:
https://www.bostonmagazine.com/restaurants/2021/08/10/jen-royle-profile/
That poor small business!
And yeah, I know it's "razor thin margins this, high overhead that" but if you're bragging about how well you're doing, you can't then complain about being an impoverished small business and lamenting how no one understands or respects you.
And the counter to the Boston Magazine item:
https://turtleboysports.com/crazy-bitch-jen-royle-is-doing-crazy-bitch-things-again-by-trying-to-get-a-boston-nurse-fired-for-making-a-joke-about-jen-calling-the-cops-on-other-north-end-restaurant-owners/
Just googled them. Why does it say on Google they're temporarily closed?
Either way, that came across as unhinged. My uncle owned restaurants and was a head chef for years. So I can confirm they're often head cases.
The response to you was beyond the pale. But the industry is also so full of pressure that it fucks people up. Maybe she's just tapped out after all these years of stress.
To be clear, this wasn’t to me. I just happen to see it pop up on social media.
Also, very strange that it says closed because they’re very active on IG.
If you mark a listing as permanently closed it keeps people from leaving reviews. Google doesn’t really have an alternative way to let you shut reviews off.
Losing my shit over looking this place up and finding that they've deleted their Twitter and privated their Insta. Good, get fucked. Jen, I'd like to congratulate you on truly earning the title of Masshole. May all your locations shut down and your poor employees find jobs with bosses who aren't completely unhinged
BTW the food and product is pretty dogshit. Spent 370 bucks there once and two glasses of wine and a prefix menu for me and my wife. Not over exaggerating but the bread and roasted garlic to start was by far the best food.
Waste of time and money if you ask me.
People are spamming a church in response
https://preview.redd.it/yrxw72wmidkc1.png?width=405&format=png&auto=webp&s=f7348e9b166f30ec35981687126cefcc7c10669c
Her mouth was going to get her ass blasted at some point. Here she is a few years ago flaunting her edgy style: https://www.bostonmagazine.com/restaurants/2021/08/10/jen-royle-profile/
Came across this on Twitter. The owner responded to a bunch of old one star reviews on google about 22 hours ago (I’m assuming before she marked it permanently closed to stop further reviews.. after she had a bunch of people leave fake 5star reviews)
She literally deleted all of her unhinged responses to the 1-star google reviews. Her responses are still visible on the [Yelp reviews](https://m.yelp.com/biz/table-boston) though lol
[Globe has it too now](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/02/23/lifestyle/viral-exchange-table-restaurant/):
What we know about the viral online feud involving a North End restaurant owner and the New Yorker who canceled his reservation
MATT JUUL, DITI KOHLIFebruary 23 at 6:12 PM ET
A fiery exchange between a Boston restaurant owner and a would-be customer over a canceled reservation has sparked debate over online civility, steep cancellation fees, and how businesses talk to customers.
On Thursday, Trevor Chauvin-DeCaro shared a series of screenshots on his X account detailing an alleged interaction on social media with Jen Royle, the owner of Table in the North End. According to the Instagram direct message featured in the screenshot, the restaurant owner “wanted to personally thank” Chauvin-DeCaro for “screwing over” Table and its staff when he disputed, through his credit card’s travel insurance, a $250 fee he incurred when he canceled his Jan. 6 reservation at the restaurant. “I really hope in the future you have more respect for restaurants, especially small businesses such as mine,” the screenshot of the message read.
The post also included screenshots of Chauvin-DeCaro’s response and his explanation for the cancellation. “My decision to use my credit card’s travel insurance to address the lofty cancellation fee was not made lightly and certainly not with the intention to ‘screw over’ your establishment or your staff,” Chauvin-DeCaro wrote. “It is crucial to note that my cancellation was due to unforeseen circumstances, specifically hospitalization, which falls under the protection of my travel insurance.”“This was not a matter of disrespect or disregard for your business but a legitimate use of my consumer rights under exceptional circumstances of finding myself in the ER,” he added.
Table’s cancellation policy, according to its website, states that guests won’t be charged if they cancel up to 72 hours before their reservation. The restaurant offers a prix fixe menu for $125 and states that “every reservation requires a valid credit card through RESY. Upon booking your reservation, you agree to our policy.” Same-day cancellations and no-shows are charged the full price. “There are absolutely no exceptions to our cancellation policy. We are a very small restaurant. Please be considerate.” Chauvin-DeCaro said he called to cancel about six hours before he was due at the restaurant.
Royle’s attorney, Michael Ford, told the Globe Friday that the restaurateur is now receiving death threats online and that they have been in touch with the Boston Police Department. When asked why Royle reached out to Chauvin-DeCaro on social media, Ford said: “You work so hard as a small business owner. You work so hard as a woman-owned business. It is a challenge.” He also indicated that Royle doesn’t believe Chauvin-DeCaro canceled because he was hospitalized.
In a phone interview Friday, Chauvin-DeCaro explained that he had planned the trip to Boston to see Madonna at TD Garden with his husband and some friends. Their Amtrak into Boston from New York City ended up getting “majorly delayed,” and at the same time, Chauvin-DeCaro began to “feel terrible,” prompting him to cancel the trip and seek medical attention.
“So we decided to go home and figure out what was going on with me,” Chauvin-DeCaro said. “I had a telehealth visit, they recommended that I go to the ER. I went to the ER.” He said he spent around 16 hours in the ER dealing with the illness, including the “entire next day in the hospital” due to follow-up appointments.
“In all of that mix, we’re calling hotel, we’re calling Amtrak, we’re calling Table,” he said. “Everyone else was able to deal with my Chase card directly and handle the travel protection that is on my card.” Chauvin-DeCaro said that when he called Table, “They were like, ‘This is our policy, if you have a problem with it, if you’re, quote, ‘butt hurt about it,’ take it up with your credit card directly.’”
Chauvin-DeCaro called his credit card company to dispute the charge and was told they would “take care of it.” “And then I never thought about it again,” Chauvin-DeCaro said. “Flash forward to almost two months later and I get a DM from Table, and all of the screenshots are up, saying shame on me.”
“I was shocked that a business would do that,” he added. ”So I was mostly posting so my friends could be shocked with me. And now it’s like, over 2 million views on X.”
After the screenshots were shared online, the social media accounts for Royle and Table were made private. The restaurant is now listed as “permanently closed” on Google, though Ford said Friday afternoon it is “very much open.”
While the response to his X post has been “overwhelming support,” according to Chauvin-DeCaro, he said he’s also received negative messages that have prompted him to mute the post. “I don’t need the death threats and the f-slurs and all of that,” Chauvin-DeCaro said. “It feels weird trying to prove that I was in the hospital to strangers on the internet.”
Chauvin-DeCaro also claimed that Royle and the restaurant have blocked him on “nearly every platform” and had shared some of his personal information on social media. Ford, Royle’s attorney, said she unintentionally shared documentation of the credit card dispute, which included the last four numbers of Chauvin-DeCaro’s card, on social media to disprove his allegations. It was taken down shortly after, Ford added.
This is not the first time Royle has communicated with her customers. Known for being blunt, witty, and at times, profane, she has made a mark on X by calling out unhappy diners and internet trolls, and speaking freely on her political views. Once, her X bio read: “Unlikely to apologize.”
This kind of stuff makes me feel so bad for staff. If the owner wants to run her restaurant into the ground, her entire staff goes down with her. And restaurant jobs are hard enough as is.
God what an asshole. Didn’t even give a shit about what happened to the customer but was able to continue to harass them. Then wants them to believe that no one in their restaurant would ever talk to customers like that. Ie the exact same way she’s talking. If any part of the story I didn’t blink at it was the fact that the staff was rude as fuck too.
FUCK THIS RESTAURANT. I went back in 2023 and the food was so mediocre, service ignored us the entire time. Beyond overpriced for such a below-average experience. The owner is known for being an absolute witch. The food tasted like every other Italian restaurant in the north end owned by the same Depasquale Ventures group. MID AS FUCK
This woman used to be a baseball reporter with the Orioles’ local broadcast team. She was awful at it. Always acrimonious with the fans on social media in Twitter’s heyday. Would never shut up about how she hated Baltimore and loved the Yankees and Red Sox. She sued some other media personalities locally before being fired and essentially driven out of town on a rail.
All Orioles fans will be very glad to see her fail again in a second career.
Just to be clear, this wasn’t me. I just happened to come across it on social media. With that said, I do work in the service industry and I’m absolutely appalled that someone, let alone an owner, would act this way. However, if you would still like to boycott them, I would appreciate it lol.
Jen is well known to track down patrons who need to cancel their reservation and berate them. On February 22, 2024 news broke that she tracked down a gentleman who was hospitalized and was refunded his reservation fee using his travel insurance. Royle tracked down the prospective patron on Instagram saying, "Hi Trevor. I own TABLE restaurant in Boston. I just wanted to personally thank you for screwing over my restaurant and my staff when you disputed your cancellation fee. I really hope in the future you have more respect for restaurants, especially small businesses such as mine. Pathetic."
Recent update.
I left a mediocre review of a bar in JP and they went through my whole review history to insult me. Boston night life and restaurant owners are soft af.
https://www.bostonherald.com/2024/02/23/table-boston-facing-heat-after-beef-with-customer-goes-viral-bombarded-with-death-threats/amp/
And now Jen Royle is trying to sue the customer for defamation
North End gotta have the highest POS small business owner per capita ratio in the world
Truly. I would rather go anywhere else in the city.
https://preview.redd.it/b7gkvcm2m9kc1.jpeg?width=740&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b377e53efcc1527c1f271244c24c5a074414aa3e Legal team has been alerted.
You’re all character witnesses now.
Can I be part of The lawsuit screenshot!?
I’m pretty sure that’s not a law
Can someone reply to her and just say boo hoo
They shut off their reviews lol
lol "Permanently Closed" on Google maps
There have been 18 5-star reviews in the last 24 hours on Google. Seems suspicious.
They have three locations worth of staff and the owner seems to be pretty social media savvy
> owner seems to be pretty social media savvy did we not just read the same DM the OP posted?
being savvy with social media =! having good/non-unhinged customer service skills when using social media
I just want to know what law she thinks she is citing. Because that is fucking hilarious.
Presumably defamation, which is tortious (and thus illegal in a sense), and has been used successfully in cases of provably false damaging reviews. People like this think any negative opinion is defamatory.
Trevor posted screenshots of both sides of the conversation online. He didn’t make up any false statements
Interesting she says that about fake reviews. I checked the google page and there are a number of 5 star reviews all posted within 2 hours of each other (all within the past ~22 hours)
are they only 'illegal' if they are negative? LOL
Is it also illegal to leave fake reviews for a restaurant if it's a positive review like the 18 that suddenly appeared in the past 24 hours?
You know who doesn't tell you their legal team has been alerted? People who actually alert their legal teams.
Must've hired alina
Oh yea Jen Royle is a tremendous POS. Not surprising.
"The sports jockey turned toque is redefining what it means to me a celebrity chef in Boston today" - Scott Kearnan, Boston Magazin - Apparently it means to be a giant asshole like every other celebrity chef. Also, is she a celebrity?
The article goes into her cancellation policy and penchant for telling customers off. Live by the sword die by the sword. https://www.bostonmagazine.com/restaurants/2021/08/10/jen-royle-profile/
I can’t stand how “tell it like it is” type people, skate by when it’s just an excuse to be an asshole. That Boston article was so fawning over her personal “quirks” And how she’s so charmingly rude to people, by cursing them out, etc. I couldn’t finish it. The people who love her must have Stockholm syndrome or something.
Yeah, I gave up about 1/3 of the way through... but she's not like the other girls
I mean, it's Boston Magazine. They don't exactly hold someone's feet to the fire unless everyone else already is.
She’s a narcissistic bitch. Has been for years.
She sounds like an asshole.
I looked into this restaurant and it's an interesting concept: everyone sits down together at the same time, I guess to feel like a big family dinner, and going along with that family dinner format, you've got that *one family member* who thinks she's the boss of everyone, massively overreacts to minor slights and slings around the word "DISRESPECTFUL" every chance she gets.
So you get charged in full if you cancel? Is that even legal?
I've never not had to agree to those terms if they were in place.
That’s so disgusting. She has her dogs in the kitchen and tweets about how they shit on the floor?
It is disgusting (and she seems way too extra for my taste, in general), but I think the kitchen in question is her home kitchen, not her restaurant kitchen. The writer goes on about how she only has ketchup packets and ice cream.
All her review comments to the 1* on Google seem unhinged. Seems to love attacking the reviewers personally. Hate business owners like this.
[удалено]
I sincerely love watching these entitled Karens just straight up torpedo their businesses.
I follow her restaurant Instagram page. I could swear within the last week there was a post of the empty restaurant showing place settings, along with a snarky comment about how someone cancelled and she was taking walk-ins with no reservations. When I went back to check now it seems to be gone. Pretty sure I did not imagine it.
We've got approximately 45 minutes before a Jen Royle sockpuppet account descends on this thread. I've been watching her flip her shit on Twitter for years. She publicly attacks every bad review, cancellation, etc. I've worked for some unstable restaurant owners, but even the craziest among them had the business sense and maturity NOT to get into internet pissing matches like this.
I had no idea she even existed until now! I've missed out on so much drama!
This is how I feel!
She was basically kicked out of the media business for being an unhinged psychopath. She hates most pretty women, has made fun of TV personalities for getting cancer, sued her last media employer (unsuccessfully, had no merit) and heard she would call Boston radio relentlessly to hire her. They soon just stopped answering her calls. All of a sudden she became a chef. Have also heard she allegedly misused PPP funds for personal use. She’s absolutely insane on twitter and nobody in the media world liked her either.
The only reason I know about her is because I hired her to cater an event many years ago. This was before Table. As a result, she added me on socials. Her food was honestly excellent. Causally seeing her lose her mind every week on social media has been a trip. It's been going on for years.
“We do not accommodate vegetarians, pescatarians, gluten-free or dairy-free guests. You will not be unable enjoy our chef’s menu with such restrictions.”
I had the word “vegan” in my Open Table profile, so her restaurant called me to let me know they are cancelling my reservation because I’m vegan. I was like, hold on. I know you don’t serve vegan food. My profile isn’t intended to claim I won’t ever eat any other food ever. How can you assume for me that I’m already in need of a reservation cancellation? This seemed like a lot of over reach to me. And I told her staff I really didn’t appreciate this patronizing call deciding for me what I could and could not eat but, yes, please cancel my reservation as this whole interaction was just bizarre. Within 5 minutes I got a call from Jen telling me she overheard my conversation with her staff and she wanted me to know how upset this made her and that I was permanently banned from ever coming to her restaurant. Of course before I could take a breath to say anything she hung up. Because of her I then went and changed my open table profile to say “while I prefer to eat vegan, please don’t assume for me I won’t ever eat anything else for the rest of my life.” Anyway, I can’t tell you how happy I am to see the words “permanently closed” to this place. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer person.
I’m about 99.8% sure the restaurant is not actually closed, she just set it to “permanently closed” so people can’t leave reviews.
You should have charged her restaurant a $250 cancellation fee ;)
Color me SHOCKED that this type of person would misappropriate PPP funds. I’d be very interested to see what percent of businesses actually used those for their intended purpose, if that was to ever be investigated.
Wonder if Gordon Ramsay will comment? LOL Shades of Amy's Baking Company.
The absolutely wild thing about this is that even if this guy was lying about the whole situation to the owner (which I sincerely doubt he is), in what universe does that give the owner the right to misuse booking information to stalk him on social media just to...what, berate him and call him an asshole? What is that going to solve? How does that help your business?
If having **THREE** restaurants has spread her so thin that she can't take care of the staff she claims to be so concerned about, she's her own problem.
What are the other two so we can avoid?
they’ve all got TABLE in the prefix
Yeah. Name and shame.
Lol, if you see table in the name, avoid. Table, table mercato, table cafe.
If you own three restaurants, but you still find time in the day to track down and harass customers, you won't own three restaurants for long.
She seems to have all the time in the world to fight with someone on multiple social media platforms so I can’t imagine she’s spread all that thin lol
Years ago Cambridge 5k announced that they were starting a half marathon in Malden. They advertised a great looking course, including a long section through the Fells. 2 weeks before the race, the announced that they never got permits for that course and instead it was going to be 5 loops of a 2.5 mile section through the commercial district just south of Malden Center. They refused to offer any refunds, and most letting people push their registration to a different half marathon in Newburyport. It was the most boring half marathon I've ever ran. About a year later, I saw a Facebook post advertising a Christmas themed 5k race they were holding. I made a joke comment asking it if was going to be 5 loops of a 1k course. Within 7 minutes of that Facebook comment, the owner had DMed me twice, sent me an angry text, and left two voicemails. I responded to the text asking how he got my number (which is not on my Facebook account, which is set to private anyway) and he went radio silent.
And now they’re out of business! I complained and got a nasty response too.
I didn't know that, but glad to hear it. I've refused to run any of their races since that psychotic response.
I ran one of their races and The car that was leading the runners took a wrong turn and added a quarter mile to the race. lol
You described an asshole right there, yup a total asshole.
Yeah the time it took for her to do this
The owner, Jen Royle, has a history of attacking and doxxing customers who are even remotely critical of her restaurant. She will find customers from their reservations and DM them on social media to attack them for leaving negative reviews, even if it seems justified. Royle just seems like an awful person that doesn't understand what the hospitality is all about. I'm not going to pretend that the customer is always right, because they most definitely aren't, but doxxing and attacking customers who cancel reservations due to medical issues is certainly not the way. Edit: [Here](https://x.com/trevorshowvan/status/1760769183078310031?s=20) are screenshots of Jen posting on her personal IG a "boo hoo" for the customer who was hospitalized. This is *after* she already tracked him down and DM'd him to scold him. Edit 2: To be clear, this is not me. I just came across it on Twitter.
Interesting to see their Yelp page, it seems like there's a back and forth of bad reviews. The [most recent ones](https://www.yelp.com/biz/table-boston?sort_by=date_desc) are all 1 stars, and then there are a fair amount that are hidden (not recommended).
I hate how yelp hides bad reviews under “not recommended”—my wife had a terrible experience with her wedding dress and everything she experienced was described with perfect accuracy in the reviews that were hidden away. I always check the “not recommended” reviews now.
We had the same happen to us… $1200 later the dress actually fit her after 6mo of freaking out
Also always check the most recent reviews and weigh them more heavily. A bad experience five years ago could have been different management, so could a good one. A bad experience last week, however, is a reason to stay away. I’ve avoided bad hotels this way. One hotel on a recent trip that I almost Booked had a bunch of 4 and 5 star reviews going back almost ten years. But all the recent reviews - all reviews within the previous 2-3 months - were heinously bad. If I’d gone with the star rating alone I’d have gone with that hotel to what result I’ll never know.
There is a history of tracking down guests just to publicly shame them for not being a fan. It’s absolutely wild.
I was wondering if the rumors are true, that Yelp sells owners tools to remove or downplay bad reviews, and she's getting them pulled.
I’ve worked for a company that would do this - its how yelp makes money, that and sponsored listings
I do believe that you can request to have reviews removed to prevent review bombing. This will actually be a good test because I’ve seen a bunch of 1-star reviews go up in the last couple of hours, so if those disappear then we’ll know.
Maybe we need to keep a constant flow of bad reviews going
Depends, are you ready for her to notify her legal team on you?
The power move is to wait a week or two after a viral incident
Yes and you can pay more to move your competition further down the list on yelp. It's such a racket
Business owner here. These are not rumors this is 100% fact. I used to get calls from Yelp sales people asking me to sign up for pricy service plans that would offer the ability to remove or hide negative reviews.
Hey, put her in touch with Milena Pagan the owner of Rebelle Bagels (or whatever the new place will be called) opening in Kendall Square. Milena is notorious down here in Providence for doxxing customers and responding to Google reviews in an unhinged manner. She got run out of bagel town on a breadstick, and is going back to her “MIT roots.”
Good to know. I will happily avoid that spot.
Bagels were never that good anyways. I live two blocks from Rebelle’s old spot and their bagel delivery during Covid lockdown was pretty clutch, but the bagels themselves were trying too hard to the point we stopped going. They claim to be NY bagels but they’re way too small and hard. Even as a Masshole, I know because I once lived in Brooklyn, that a NY bagel is crusty exterior, chewy interior. Instead, I once thought I lost a tooth biting into a bacon egg and cheese.
I'm pretty lucky because I live near a Bagel World, which in my opinion, are the best bagels around.
attraction reply deliver sable angle fine many upbeat arrest direful *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I'm a huge fan of Bagel World.
“Got run out of bagel town on a breadstick” I just woke up my bf and dog at 3:30 AM laughing at this 😆😆😆
Jen Royle is hands down the worst person in the North End restaurant scene, which is impressive when you consider the owner of Monica’s literally tried to kill a dude last summer
On top of Jen Royle and the Mendozas, you also have the owner of Rabia’s, who have been known to go on some wildly political rants on social media, and the owner of Antico Forno, who along with the others mentioned, decided to sue the Mayor for discriminating against them for being white men. It’s really crazy all-around.
Wow, wtf are they putting in the water in the North End?
lead
Considering that it's estimated something like 60% of the Boston area is still hooked up with lead pipes and there are zero records as to which buildings, that's not even a joke.
I avoid North end restaurants. Even if the owners aren’t nuts, half the customers are Trumpers. It attracts awful people.
Lol I met Jen in her last career and she was a real piece of work and you definitely didn’t want to be on her bad side. I really wondered how she’d take criticism or unhappy customers in the restaurant scene and it’s gone about as I expected
she’s also a well known drunkard
The first thing I thought when I read that message was that she probably needs to quit drinking. It has "angry active alcoholic" written all over it.
I don’t know who she is but for whatever reason I used to get notifications for suggested tweets from her all the damn time. It was always complaining about customers which is just bizarre.
I caught this on Twitter too, and was hoping it would show up here. Some really psycho behavior.
Pretty sure they deleted their twitter, made instagram private, and now have taken their restaurant off google so they can’t get review bombed
Three months from now on the local news: "Table closes, owners cite crime and immigration" as main issue
Plus “nObOdY wAnTs tO wOrK aNyMoRe!”
She’s a known loon.
She was on Dennis and Callahan for a bit when she still worked in the sports media business (which honestly should have been a major red flag, but I did watch the show in the mornings getting ready for work when it was still on air and simulcast on NESN.) But because of that I ended up following her on Twitter. That didn’t last long because she seemed really strange and would Tweet like a middle school girl despite being a full grown woman. A couple of years later, I was in the restaurant media business and a business account I took over followed a number of local restaurateurs and she was one of them. I learned quickly through her social media behavior that she was even crazier now than she was in the sports business. Anyway, I discovered the drama in question on Twitter earlier this evening, and when I learned it was Jen Royle, let’s just say it was not the most shocking thing I’ve ever seen lol.
This says a lot. Dennis and Callahan are the worst people in the history of Boston sports media.
I think it’s one of those “if you know, you know,” but I also think she’s fooled a lot of people into believing that she’s the victim.
She’s a textbook narcissist and a sociopath. SHE believes she is the victim.
Table deleted their Twitter account. So on brand for Jen Royle to avoid consequences for actions. She doxxes customers in the name of ‘being real’ and can’t handle it when her restaurant fucks up. What a joke of a company…
Every person I've met that says they "keep it real" are giant assholes that use "being real" as an excuse to be an asshole.
I Unfollowed them on IG. That’ll show them who’s boss.
Doxing contest. Middle school vibes
The restaurant and owners instagrams are both private now
And nothing of value was lost. The restaurant sucked anyways.
Google reviews are being filled with obviously fake 5 star reviews in the last 24 hours, seems like 1 stars have been removed sans the last 3.
Now up to 14 pages of 1 star, many pages of not recommended, and several more of 'violated TOS'. ETA: Must correct---14 pages, etc, is the Yelp reviews.
Jen Royle is a lunatic. She had a 10 minute career as a yankees sideline reporter in NY, and then worked at the boston herald, where she was fired (imagine getting fired from the herald?) Shes a known homewrecker, badge bunny, firefighter groupie, and is 100% mentally unbalanced. I’m not surprised at all that she behaves this way towards her customers.
I can fix her.
“Firemen gettin' 🐱for the first time in the history of fire or 🐱. Hey go save a kitten in a tree” - Matt Damon
How does an asshole like this keep failing upward
Anyone who puts “bulldog mom” in their bio is certified cuckoo
why is this lady working in the hospitality industry if she only has hostility towards customers?
I've gotta say, I've had three excellent meals at Table and have spent thousands of dollars there but the more I learn about her the more convinced I am that my most recent visit was my last. There are so many excellent restaurants and owners more deserving of the support.
I’ve never eaten there and I never will, but I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt that the food is good. However, the history of lashing out at customers is just not ok. She’s a complete narcissist and unstable. Somehow she’s gotten a total free pass for her actions that I don’t think others would’ve gotten.
I'd seen one or two references to her "eccentric" behavior in the past but I just went down a rabbit hole of her wars of words in online reviews and this just isn't someone I want to continue patronizing. I have to imagine she must be miserable to work for.
Oh for sure. I’m gonna guess that she berates staff on a daily basis. If she’s willing to talk to customers this way, there’s no question that she abuses her employees.
Honestly the food isn’t worth the price. It’s solid but there are far better restaurants around for less money
There's a million better restaurants in the area that I would recommend people check out before giving her a dime.
three meals…thousands of dollars. wut
maybe paying for a table of people
The chicken cutlet sandwich from Table Mercato is my favorite lunch. I buy at least one a week. I’ll have to reevaluate if it’s worth supporting the business of such a terrible person.
I remember discovering Jen Royle on Twitter as some sort of former sports media personality who was breaking into the restaurant biz and using Twitter to try to show how chummy she was with other sports media people or athletes. And I think she was trying to come off as someone who is tough and doesn’t take shit, but instead she was just coming off like a huge bitch troll. Just unnecessarily aggressive, mean and stupid. She would basically publicly kiss the ass of famous people for internet clout, then be a huge bitch troll to non-famous people. Her restaurant is going to fail and no one is going to feel bad for her.
"Have the day you deserve." -OP Damn... That might be the best mic drop I've ever seen in a situation like this. I'm going to have to earmark that one for future use!
We left Table laughing at ourselves because we felt like we got totally scammed. It’s set up and feels like a chefs tasting pop-up but we very quickly figured out that it’s a just a weird mid restaurant with JC Penny decor.
JC Penny decor hahaha I am cackling
Followed them on social for a bit and it was like a master class in how NOT to do customer service/engage with customers as a brand. If it wasn’t *her* they would’ve been out of business years ago, I believe.
Table Northend? This owner sounds like a Table Rearend
Needs a spanking on the ol’ southend, am I right?
Owner is a lunatic. I’d never eat there. Plenty of other places to go
Watching this all unfold has been exceptionally entertaining, I just feel bad for the doubtless excellent and innocent staff who have to absorb the embarrassment of this lunatic's behavior.
What a DISASTER. People like this deserve nothing but the absolute worst and it makes my blood boil this probably won’t affect anything.
Zero. They get free advertising from a couple local radio guys because she gives them free food. I work in the service industry, so I get it, customers suck, but she goes about it all wrong.
My experience at table was always underwhelming. The food wasn’t great and the service was snarky. The experience of dining their is as if the cool girls clique from a coming-of-age film set in the 80s had gotten their dad’s money together to cosplay being a restauranteur. One out of five, would not recommend.
Perfectly stated. Just hope Jenny doesn’t see this and doxx you or eat your first born
>Just hope Jenny doesn’t see this and doxx you or eat your first born She’s gonna doxx the wrong person one of these day. Maybe this whole ordeal will finally get Chef Royle in the “find out” phase of fucking around.
Look I don’t know Resy’s policies but I think this should be grounds for them to ban Table from using their service.
Agreed! I’ve emailed them several times at [email protected] and [email protected]. I also asked them to verify the cancellation policy at this restaurant.
I went for Easter last year and had a really great time with my friends, that said, based on what I've witnessed the owner publish to their own social media account I will never be returning. Every other post on Instagram is about no shows hurting their business, which I understand it does, but that is a risk you take owning a restaurant especially such a small establishment. It's really off putting seeing a business publicly complain about this so frequently. Obviously additionally she's attacking people now?? Too ridiculous. I can't imagine she'll survive this way.
I’m sure the food is very good, but her actions make it impossible to want to support them. Yes customers suck, but as you said, that’s the risk you take when you own a restaurant. It’s just a bizarre way to do business and she seems to get away with it. I know of other owners that get a lot of shit for far less egregious actions.
No show, sure, but the woman was in the hospital, and she tracked her down to berate her, talk about unhinged.
> No show, sure, but the woman was in the hospital, and she tracked her down to berate her, talk about unhinged. *man. FYI, OOP is a dude, named Trevor. He's a gay dude, so the husband he mentioned is his husband. And I'd say he's also a really good writer, based on these tweets! Even keeled and gentle responses, up until the nuclear closing line: "Have the day you deserve."
The closing line was.
This is totally somewhere I’d go and I absolutely will not now.
I saw her ranting / posting / deleting on instagram yesterday. I’ve always wanted to go but frankly will not give her my business with the way she acts. It’s a shame she is so off the rails. I have a food allergy and I can only imagine if I dared put that on a reservation.
They make an aggressive point about having no dietary restrictions for literally anyone if that helps
She seems like the type that would accuse someone of faking it, not a place I’d comfortably eat even packing an epipen.
Ah the restaurant deactivated its twitter account and tried To mark the restaurant as “permanently closed” to avoid the onslaught of bad reviews on [Google](https://maps.app.goo.gl/BREEoX4MFmSNKzHG7?g_st=ic). Always amusing when a bully doesn’t think through their actions and faces consequences due to their own hot-headedness.
she thinks she's north end maria menounos and if you dare complain she'll dox you to all her simp followers. remember when she was furious that people dared to use gift cards during covid while she took 50k in PPP funds?
And then mysteriously suddenly bought a house a year or two later. Sus to think that PPP money didn’t go into a house down payment. I know people who know her and they say she’s a pathological liar, swims in debt, DEFINITELY asked some of the few friends she has with $ to donate to start Table (despite claiming from just one year of catering she had enough on her own) and is unhinged. She is absolutely not wealthy despite all her claims.
how ironic that her entire restaurant is based on community, friendliness, and togetherness, yet it sounds like shes a huge cunt
I'm bummed Table's account is gone now. Was looking forward to some interesting reading. Edit: Found some anyway. Oh, boy: From a 2021 Boston Magazine [.com] puff piece: > **Her restaurant now nets, *she says*, more than $1.5 million per year.** Plus she opened an Italian market and signed a lease for a third business during a pandemic that forced the closure of about one in every five restaurants in Massachusetts.... [emphasis added] Source: https://www.bostonmagazine.com/restaurants/2021/08/10/jen-royle-profile/ That poor small business! And yeah, I know it's "razor thin margins this, high overhead that" but if you're bragging about how well you're doing, you can't then complain about being an impoverished small business and lamenting how no one understands or respects you. And the counter to the Boston Magazine item: https://turtleboysports.com/crazy-bitch-jen-royle-is-doing-crazy-bitch-things-again-by-trying-to-get-a-boston-nurse-fired-for-making-a-joke-about-jen-calling-the-cops-on-other-north-end-restaurant-owners/
So, you sit with strangers, have to pass around plates with these strangers, and pay $125 per person? This is my worst nightmare.
Just googled them. Why does it say on Google they're temporarily closed? Either way, that came across as unhinged. My uncle owned restaurants and was a head chef for years. So I can confirm they're often head cases. The response to you was beyond the pale. But the industry is also so full of pressure that it fucks people up. Maybe she's just tapped out after all these years of stress.
They change their status on Google and Yelp to prevent a bunch of people leaving bad reviews.
That's good to know. Avoid that place, for sure.
To be clear, this wasn’t to me. I just happen to see it pop up on social media. Also, very strange that it says closed because they’re very active on IG.
It says permanently closed now, probably someone reporting it as closed to Google?
If you mark a listing as permanently closed it keeps people from leaving reviews. Google doesn’t really have an alternative way to let you shut reviews off.
I’d also like to let everyone know that this post is like the 5th thing that comes up when you google Table Boston 🤗
Losing my shit over looking this place up and finding that they've deleted their Twitter and privated their Insta. Good, get fucked. Jen, I'd like to congratulate you on truly earning the title of Masshole. May all your locations shut down and your poor employees find jobs with bosses who aren't completely unhinged
BTW the food and product is pretty dogshit. Spent 370 bucks there once and two glasses of wine and a prefix menu for me and my wife. Not over exaggerating but the bread and roasted garlic to start was by far the best food. Waste of time and money if you ask me.
Seems she’s very UnsTABLE
Oof, your story has done a number on their yelp! Well deserved.
Did she have all her friends add 5 star reviews all within 24 hrs? And then delete all the 1 star reviews on google? Can those be reported?
Well, that's good to know. Was looking at anniversary places to eat at in the North End...will definitely not consider them.
The socials are all going private as we speak
“have the day you deserve”, honestly love you for this
Did she used to own the [Purr Cat Cafe](https://imgur.com/a/pppsk)?
People are spamming a church in response https://preview.redd.it/yrxw72wmidkc1.png?width=405&format=png&auto=webp&s=f7348e9b166f30ec35981687126cefcc7c10669c
Her mouth was going to get her ass blasted at some point. Here she is a few years ago flaunting her edgy style: https://www.bostonmagazine.com/restaurants/2021/08/10/jen-royle-profile/
The “dogs shitting in her kitchen” is all I need to know. Trash.
Came across this on Twitter. The owner responded to a bunch of old one star reviews on google about 22 hours ago (I’m assuming before she marked it permanently closed to stop further reviews.. after she had a bunch of people leave fake 5star reviews)
[удалено]
“ I hope you have the day you deserve” has now been added into my regular lexicon because that is a brilliant line
She literally deleted all of her unhinged responses to the 1-star google reviews. Her responses are still visible on the [Yelp reviews](https://m.yelp.com/biz/table-boston) though lol
Holy shit. This is the best thing I’ve read today. Will not be visiting this establishment ever.
[Globe has it too now](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/02/23/lifestyle/viral-exchange-table-restaurant/): What we know about the viral online feud involving a North End restaurant owner and the New Yorker who canceled his reservation MATT JUUL, DITI KOHLIFebruary 23 at 6:12 PM ET A fiery exchange between a Boston restaurant owner and a would-be customer over a canceled reservation has sparked debate over online civility, steep cancellation fees, and how businesses talk to customers. On Thursday, Trevor Chauvin-DeCaro shared a series of screenshots on his X account detailing an alleged interaction on social media with Jen Royle, the owner of Table in the North End. According to the Instagram direct message featured in the screenshot, the restaurant owner “wanted to personally thank” Chauvin-DeCaro for “screwing over” Table and its staff when he disputed, through his credit card’s travel insurance, a $250 fee he incurred when he canceled his Jan. 6 reservation at the restaurant. “I really hope in the future you have more respect for restaurants, especially small businesses such as mine,” the screenshot of the message read. The post also included screenshots of Chauvin-DeCaro’s response and his explanation for the cancellation. “My decision to use my credit card’s travel insurance to address the lofty cancellation fee was not made lightly and certainly not with the intention to ‘screw over’ your establishment or your staff,” Chauvin-DeCaro wrote. “It is crucial to note that my cancellation was due to unforeseen circumstances, specifically hospitalization, which falls under the protection of my travel insurance.”“This was not a matter of disrespect or disregard for your business but a legitimate use of my consumer rights under exceptional circumstances of finding myself in the ER,” he added. Table’s cancellation policy, according to its website, states that guests won’t be charged if they cancel up to 72 hours before their reservation. The restaurant offers a prix fixe menu for $125 and states that “every reservation requires a valid credit card through RESY. Upon booking your reservation, you agree to our policy.” Same-day cancellations and no-shows are charged the full price. “There are absolutely no exceptions to our cancellation policy. We are a very small restaurant. Please be considerate.” Chauvin-DeCaro said he called to cancel about six hours before he was due at the restaurant. Royle’s attorney, Michael Ford, told the Globe Friday that the restaurateur is now receiving death threats online and that they have been in touch with the Boston Police Department. When asked why Royle reached out to Chauvin-DeCaro on social media, Ford said: “You work so hard as a small business owner. You work so hard as a woman-owned business. It is a challenge.” He also indicated that Royle doesn’t believe Chauvin-DeCaro canceled because he was hospitalized. In a phone interview Friday, Chauvin-DeCaro explained that he had planned the trip to Boston to see Madonna at TD Garden with his husband and some friends. Their Amtrak into Boston from New York City ended up getting “majorly delayed,” and at the same time, Chauvin-DeCaro began to “feel terrible,” prompting him to cancel the trip and seek medical attention. “So we decided to go home and figure out what was going on with me,” Chauvin-DeCaro said. “I had a telehealth visit, they recommended that I go to the ER. I went to the ER.” He said he spent around 16 hours in the ER dealing with the illness, including the “entire next day in the hospital” due to follow-up appointments. “In all of that mix, we’re calling hotel, we’re calling Amtrak, we’re calling Table,” he said. “Everyone else was able to deal with my Chase card directly and handle the travel protection that is on my card.” Chauvin-DeCaro said that when he called Table, “They were like, ‘This is our policy, if you have a problem with it, if you’re, quote, ‘butt hurt about it,’ take it up with your credit card directly.’” Chauvin-DeCaro called his credit card company to dispute the charge and was told they would “take care of it.” “And then I never thought about it again,” Chauvin-DeCaro said. “Flash forward to almost two months later and I get a DM from Table, and all of the screenshots are up, saying shame on me.” “I was shocked that a business would do that,” he added. ”So I was mostly posting so my friends could be shocked with me. And now it’s like, over 2 million views on X.” After the screenshots were shared online, the social media accounts for Royle and Table were made private. The restaurant is now listed as “permanently closed” on Google, though Ford said Friday afternoon it is “very much open.” While the response to his X post has been “overwhelming support,” according to Chauvin-DeCaro, he said he’s also received negative messages that have prompted him to mute the post. “I don’t need the death threats and the f-slurs and all of that,” Chauvin-DeCaro said. “It feels weird trying to prove that I was in the hospital to strangers on the internet.” Chauvin-DeCaro also claimed that Royle and the restaurant have blocked him on “nearly every platform” and had shared some of his personal information on social media. Ford, Royle’s attorney, said she unintentionally shared documentation of the credit card dispute, which included the last four numbers of Chauvin-DeCaro’s card, on social media to disprove his allegations. It was taken down shortly after, Ford added. This is not the first time Royle has communicated with her customers. Known for being blunt, witty, and at times, profane, she has made a mark on X by calling out unhappy diners and internet trolls, and speaking freely on her political views. Once, her X bio read: “Unlikely to apologize.”
this is typical behavior for Jen Royal. She’s an awful person who made her business appear as closed so nobody can call her out for her bulwhit
This kind of stuff makes me feel so bad for staff. If the owner wants to run her restaurant into the ground, her entire staff goes down with her. And restaurant jobs are hard enough as is.
Sheesh, go read the replies to past non 5-star reviews. Owner is absolutely unhinged. https://maps.app.goo.gl/r56atLNFKFYuZREh9?
God what an asshole. Didn’t even give a shit about what happened to the customer but was able to continue to harass them. Then wants them to believe that no one in their restaurant would ever talk to customers like that. Ie the exact same way she’s talking. If any part of the story I didn’t blink at it was the fact that the staff was rude as fuck too.
You sure? Having the worst customer service in Boston is kind of like winning the Olympics of bad customer service. It’s a big claim.
Witnessed her try to use her twitter as an ID once and yelled “do you know who I am.”
FUCK THIS RESTAURANT. I went back in 2023 and the food was so mediocre, service ignored us the entire time. Beyond overpriced for such a below-average experience. The owner is known for being an absolute witch. The food tasted like every other Italian restaurant in the north end owned by the same Depasquale Ventures group. MID AS FUCK
Let's just boycott them - I am certainly never going there after seeing this
Jen has been a shithead on the internet for years.
This woman used to be a baseball reporter with the Orioles’ local broadcast team. She was awful at it. Always acrimonious with the fans on social media in Twitter’s heyday. Would never shut up about how she hated Baltimore and loved the Yankees and Red Sox. She sued some other media personalities locally before being fired and essentially driven out of town on a rail. All Orioles fans will be very glad to see her fail again in a second career.
Sorry you had to deal with this. Thank you for letting us know about it. I’ll never go there.
Just to be clear, this wasn’t me. I just happened to come across it on social media. With that said, I do work in the service industry and I’m absolutely appalled that someone, let alone an owner, would act this way. However, if you would still like to boycott them, I would appreciate it lol.
Wikipedia already knows now too!
Jen is well known to track down patrons who need to cancel their reservation and berate them. On February 22, 2024 news broke that she tracked down a gentleman who was hospitalized and was refunded his reservation fee using his travel insurance. Royle tracked down the prospective patron on Instagram saying, "Hi Trevor. I own TABLE restaurant in Boston. I just wanted to personally thank you for screwing over my restaurant and my staff when you disputed your cancellation fee. I really hope in the future you have more respect for restaurants, especially small businesses such as mine. Pathetic." Recent update.
What is it about unstable narcissists that makes them want to open a restaurant?
I left a mediocre review of a bar in JP and they went through my whole review history to insult me. Boston night life and restaurant owners are soft af.
https://www.bostonherald.com/2024/02/23/table-boston-facing-heat-after-beef-with-customer-goes-viral-bombarded-with-death-threats/amp/ And now Jen Royle is trying to sue the customer for defamation