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CB Food and Beverages Review of Finger Licking Bukateria
Finger Licking Bukateria

Finger Licking Bukateria review: This restaurant is run without scruples or honesty! 9

Author of the review
12:00 am EST
Resolved
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.

My son and I tried to use a 50% discount coupon purchased from www.restaurant.com on Wednesday afternoon Dec 20th 2006 at:

Finger Licking Bukateria
9817 N Bissonnet St., Houston, TX, 77036
[protected]

This is a Nigerian restaurant serving West African cuisine. My son and I presented
the waiter with the coupon BEFORE ordering & immediately after being seated. He looked at it and said "okay".

My son and I ordered two exact same meals costing around $11.00. The food was not very edible, their "meat" for the beans and plantains platter consisted of a cow's foot, piece of stomach and a strange dark object plus the plantains and beans. The waiter was
not very attentive and never checked on us.
But, okay this is a different culture and to each their own right? No problem there. Thank heavens we are getting 50% off right?
Wrong!

Upon paying for the bill, I handed BOTH the coupon AND my credit card to the waiter. The waiter said something that we could not
understand, he did not speak English very well. He smiled and started to walk away leaving the coupon on the table. My son told him "don't you need to take the coupon to call it in?" He said "okay" again and walked
away and then came back with a credit card charge and receipt for the FULL AMOUNT and no discount.

When I questioned him about it. He was very confused and went and got another person, a male who explained that the waiter was new and misunderstood and to please come back again sometime and you can use the coupon then. So I steadfastly said "No! That is not fair! I presented the coupon to the waiter and he acknowledged it even before we ordered and then gave it to him again when handing him my credit card." And so I refused to sign for it.

The waiter and the new person (another waiter?) said that they cannot correct the charges at this time because they had rung up or had other customers pay their bill since then and it was not possible. I politely
told them that "this is nonsense, you call up the number for the company that you use, invalidate the mistaken tab or bill, tear it up in front of me, both copies and the receipt THEN I will let you scan my card again for the correct amount". They refused saying it was not possible.

So my son said "Why don't you simply pay us the difference in cash and then we will sign for the bill? That way we get our discount that we are supposed to received and you get paid and everybody is happy?"

Well they had to "go check with the owner". Well the owner said "No!" and would not even come to talk to us even though they were supposedly at the restaurant. The owner evidently became very angry at the "new"
waiter according to still another person who spoke perfect English and said that he would have to pay out of his own pocket. I politely explained that that was against state law to penalize an employee and make them pay.

The non-English speaking waiter came back really upset to the point of being in tears and with hands shaking gave me the difference back in cash (almost twelve dollars). The total tab was $25.61 I believe including tax.

I demanded to know where the money had come from and the man tried to walk away and he was very upset. I insisted that he stay and the woman who spoke English translated and it turned out that he borrowed the money from a cook or somebody in the back under the agreement that he would pay the man back.

I was very very angry at the owner, not the man. And told the woman to translate that "Your owner is a very evil woman to cheat her customers and her employees at Christmas time especially. This is wrong! I will never come here again! I will also tell people not to come here! But I am not mad or upset with
the waiter. So here is my tip to you" and gave him the full amount back to him by literally stuffing it in his pocket and said "Merry Christmas".

So I paid the FULL AMOUNT and did not get to use my coupon. They would not (the owner took it) give the coupon back. They ripped my son
and I off. They ruined what should have been a good experience (well the "meat" was ghastly but...)

I requested a full refund for what I paid for the coupon that we DID NOT USE and the unscrupulous owner kept to restaurants.com.

I am going to file a full complaint about this unscrupulous owner and restaurant everywhere possible on the Internet.

I am filing a charge back/dispute with my credit card company. And I am also filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and posting as well as posting my bad experience here.

This place is bad news and they are thieves! To try and steal from both a customer AND their own waiter and help staff like that! And lie and say that they cannot correct
a credit card mistake.

Very shameful! And at Christmas time yet!
The owner of this restaurant is not fit to be an American. They should pack it up and go back to Nigeria as they are corrupt. I am very open-mined which is why I was at this shameful place to begin with. They are a disgrace to good Nigerians everywhere!

Avoid this place like the plague. I have found really disgustingly awful reviews already posted on the Internet about them and
also about how they cheat people by charging more than the stated menu amount and saying
"These are old menus and the price has gone up since then!" only AFTER you have ordered and they bring you the inflated bill!

It obvious that this restaurant is run without scruples or honesty.

Merry Christmas!

Resolved

The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.

9 comments
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Frank Adusei
Sugar Land, US
Jul 07, 2012 7:45 pm EDT

Racism? Oh and what race are Nigerians Mr. [censored] above? Even black is not a race. Nigerians suck and are a nasty filthy people and that has absolutely nothing to do with race. It's a cultural thing.

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Noneyabiz
Houston, US
Aug 10, 2011 5:43 pm EDT

I am a Nigerian, and I can tell you the restaurant is ### and truly overrated. They should be closed down. But having said that however, I do have a problem with some of the commentators above who will judge a whole group of people because of a singular experience with a restaurant. I think this is veiled racism. Shed it.

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mizzpiggie26
Houston, US
Dec 06, 2010 2:56 am EST

i have been here before, and i must say that it is all true but because i love the stew, i go i never eat in, i order to go. ..now if your looking for a new place to try and dine, this is not it... if u want to try the stew and something new, order it to go and eat at home,

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Steven Weiss
Sugar Land, US
Oct 31, 2010 9:12 pm EDT

I recently purchased a discount coupon on Restaurants.com for this restaurant - Finger Licking Bukateria at 9817 N. Bissonnet St. 77036.

Unfortunately I didn't research this restaurant before buying the coupon. When I tried to use the coupon, pretty much the same thing happened to me. They didn't accept it and charged me the full price for my wife and I's meal. The manager would not come to the table to talk with me. The waiter acted very frightened and uncomfortable.

I paid the bill, left no tip and I will not ever be coming back again.

The restrooms, both the men's and the woman's were filthy too and the soap dispenser was empty in the men's.

Unbelievable!

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Red Rover
, US
Apr 13, 2010 12:07 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

It's EASY to judge people at a restaurant when they serve cow foot and unidentifiable meat (cat?) and other things are almost totally inedible. PLUS! The prices on the menu are LOWER than what they inevitably charge you and then they claim that "the menu is old and hasn't been updated" (that is known as STEALING by any other name and it's a CRIME). The place is filthy, they had no hot water (health-code violation, how are they washing and sterilizing dishes and things?) and the manager was there and she was INDIFFERENT to everything when a complaint was lodged. This place SUCKS! And only ignorant native Nigerians eat there and the whole point of telling people any of this is to keep it that way! - And let ONLY ignorant Nigerians continue to eat there! These people need to be the ones STAYING HOME - In BumPharck Africa!

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OLU FAWEHINMI
, US
Jun 17, 2009 4:25 pm EDT

HOW DO YOU USE A RESTAURANT TO JUDGE A PEOPLE?
AMERICAN ETHNOCENTRISM
AFRICAN COLONIAL MENTALITY
COOK YOUR DAMN FOOD AT HOME, YOU LAZY ###, OR OPEN YOUR OWN GOD DAMN FINGER LICKING RESTAURANTS

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Lucky78
Missouri City, US
Feb 01, 2009 11:10 pm EST

Um to the person above me, are you even Nigerian? Have you ever stepped foot in Nigeria?I am born of Nigerian parents but born in America and raised. Don't talk what you don't have no idea about. Yes, some of what you are saying is true, but don't base your biases or maybe few personal experience on ALL Nigerians. That is like me saying all americans are dumb and selfish people. America is not all glitz and glam.It is not shown of course;all you see is Hollywoood.There are dirty parts in America, there are cons in America.That is why America is in the position we are now with the econmony.CEO's of coparate companies played games.Am I going to say all American are cons.No.Yes, unfortuanatley there are Nigerians who act like this, but not all.My parents are two hard working individuals.They do complain about the hand full of Nigerians who choose to follow the corrupt route and the corruptness in Nigeria. My mother is one of the kindest and nicest people you'll meet.It is unfortunate you think like that, but I am just saying not all Nigerians are like that. And to inform you in your lack of knowlegde in hygiene, not all places in Nigeria are dirty.Just like there are ghettos and broken neighboorhoods in America, but not all is like that. I am sorry that the discovery channel shows you the bush and dirty parts of random places in Africa.If you go to the capital it looks like any city in America.If you are Nigerian, I feel sorry for you that you feel this strongly againest your own people.In America, no many different biases are put on people of foriegn land.If you are not Nigerian and just basing it on random experiences or what you see on TV, than you should open your mind and not talk about a place you truly know nothing about.

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Red Rover
, US
Jan 23, 2009 9:02 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

That restaurant is a sh-t hole and the attitudes by the owner, wait staff and general conditions are all very typical of Nigerians in general.

Nigerians grow up in a very corrupt society and their standards of health, hygiene and cleanliness are quite different than that in the United States in general.

Remember the famous "Nigerian Letter" which still circulates on the Internet? Well the latest twist on Nigerian scams involves honest folks trying to sell their cars, trucks and other items on Craig's Lists throughout our country and scam artists that use forged cashiers checks, lots of lying and conning which Nigerians are very good at, and Western Union.

And the IP addresses can be invariably traced to Lagos and other Nigerian cities, and Nigerian Internet Service Providers.

I would never eat at such a restaurant!

That particular one has had it's liquor license suspended and numerous complaints to the Houston Health Department.

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Jon Christiansen
,
Mar 23, 2007 9:17 pm EDT

My wife and I had the unfortunate experience of eating there while visiting from Austin. We thought that we would try something different. It was about the worst dining experience that we have ever had in our lives! They charged us extra for WATER! And the water was warm with no ice! I ordered a Nigerian beer and it was warm too! The silverware was dirty and it took us several attempts to request clean utensils to eat with. It was like nobody understood us. Then we couldn't eat the food that we had ordered. The meat was almost all fat. The beans were warm and the plantains a nasty consistency and just plain horrible.
To top it all off we were also overcharged. We were told that the menus were not updated and they actually charged us more than the state prices on the menus!

I really think that this place is run by a bunch of Nigerian crooks and they see Caucasian folks as sucker bait. There were plenty of African Americans or Nigerians in the place and they all seemed to get much better service and I felt a beer bottle from another table on the way to the restroom while the person sitting there had apparently also was using the restroom and it was cold! Now what should I think about this? I think that other cultures and peoples can be racists and bigots too! It isn't always us white folks that are the problem! I wonder now if they spit in our food?

When we left we had two people laughing and sneering at us on the way out. My wife and I felt totally uncomfortable and like sucker bait. This place should be shut down PERMANENTLY.

What a joke!

Go there for yourselves and see what happens if you don't believe it. You will be totally shocked, I practically guarantee you!

Jon
Austin Texas