For the second time in a week, a member of the Trump administration has been driven out of a restaurant. Kristjen Nielsen was driven from a Mexican restaurant by protestors in Washington, D.C. earlier this week, and last night, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her family were asked to leave a Lexington, Virginia restaurant by the owners.
Newsweek says that Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her family, a party of eight, were asked to leave The Red Hen, reportedly by the owner. Jaike Foley-Schultz posted on Facebook that he had started serving Sanders when she and her party were asked to leave.
“I just served Sarah Huckabee Sanders for a total of 2 minutes before my owner kicked her out along with 7 of her other family members.”
But after that, the story was shared by others on social media, including Brennan Gilmore, the executive director of Clean Virginia who added his own comments.
“@PressSec got kicked out of the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Va tonight. Apparently, the owner didn’t want to serve her and her party out of moral conviction.”
This set off a posting fest on Facebook and Yelp, with posters picking sides leaving good and bad reviews for the restaurant.
Waiter claims Sarah Huckabee Sanders was kicked out of Virginia restaurant https://t.co/M566EobZah pic.twitter.com/QIhXzKTnll
— The Hill (@thehill) June 23, 2018
The Yelp reviews ranged from ones to fives with some criticizing the decision while others praising the owners for taking a stand. This morning, Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed that the incident did occur, leaving her dismayed.
“Last night I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA to leave because I work for @POTUS and I politely left. Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so.”
The Yelp page of the farm to table restaurant exploded with comments and an “ask the community” forum that included questions like whether Christians and Republicans are welcome to dine there. The restaurant was rated five stars consistently until yesterday when it dropped to two and a half.
Many of the reviews now come from people who live in places other than the east coast who want to talk about not being welcome to dine there if they support Donald Trump.
“Apparently due to recent current events this joint was found to be run by politically incorrect dunderheads who refuse to serve people who do not share their warped leftist ideology.”
The poster continued saying that “liberal zombies.”
Another man from Washington state left a scathing review last night.
“Owner spit in my food. I called the health department. Look for this place to closed down here soon. Want food poisoning – eat here.”
But some were able to put aside political differences to say that they enjoyed the food.
“Very delicious and large serving. A little on the pricey side. Not a fan of their politics but good food is good food!”
This story is still developing.