After Alchemist, Now Kilimanjaro Restaurant Rocked by Racism Allegations

After the Alchemist Bar racism allegations blew up online, a Facebook user named Gladly Nelly also went online to accuse a renown City restaurant of subjecting her to racial discrimination at the restaurant.

Kilimanjaro Restaurant, one of the most visited restaurants in the CBD, suddenly became the flashpoint of racism allegations after the Kimathi-Street outlet was accused of treating an Arab family with racial preference over a black woman.

Gladly Nelly went on the Facebook group Wanderlust Diaries to narrate her ordeal at the restaurant claiming that, on the 29th of May, 2022, waiters at the restaurant forcibly removed her from her seat - at the balcony - and assigned the same seat to an Arab family that had just walked in.

Nelly claimed that, even though she had already sat and made an order, a different waiter walked over to her asking her to seat elsewhere as a man of Arab descent had expressed interest in her seat.

The table was Number 69 - strategically placed at the balcony, overlooking the street below and with fresh air breezing in.

After a little protest, Nelly proceeded to leave the seat as the Arab man, with his four-year old in tow, sat instead.

After her post went viral, attracting thousands of virulent comments, Kilimanjaro put out a statement of their own accusing Nelly of taking too much time at the same restaurant the previous day (May 28th) and also claimed that the table had actually been reserved for the Arab man and his family.

"Gladly Nelly came back (the following day) and of all the tables that were available she moved to the one clearly marked 'RESERVED' and pushed the tag to the far end of the table. On this particular day, the table was reserved to a family of four (of Arab descent) who had called for reservation in advance and had the table booked for them. Noting this, our waiter politely asked 'Gladly Nelly' to move to the nearest table..." part of the statement went.

"Noticing the Arab family, she walked out protesting and saying that she was racially discriminated against... We reached out to her via a phone call and apologized if she felt that was the case and even offered her an apology meal of her choice," they added.

Even with the lengthy statement, Gladly Nelly still took to Facebook to downplay the explanations and maintain her word.

Exasperated, a Kilimanjaro staffer texted Gladly Nelly," Do you have any slightest idea what that has caused us? Everything stated in our statement is backed by proof from our CCTV footage... We have already settled the matter and any other further tantrums in regards to this will be addressed by our legal team. "

Speaking to Citizen Digital, Glady Nelly claimed that all the Kilimanjaro restaurants have a tag that says 'reserved' for at least a family of three or more and that, according to her, the Arab family was simply interested in the particular table - given its convenience - and that they had not necessarily booked it in advance.

 "The Arab man simply wanted the balcony table. All the seats have that 'reserved' and it's hard to tell which is exactly reserved. They claimed that I wasted time and space at their restaurant the previous day yet I had long meeting with friends who took two hours before arriving and we ended up spending over five thousand shillings there. I did not cause a scene, I simply walked out and left. There is a particular waiter who was very rude and abusive to me and I suspect he just received a call from his favourite Arab customer and proceeded to lift me from my seat even though I had already made an order through a different waiter. Efforts by my waiter to calm their colleague and let me continue sitting were futile. I simply left. Also, I didn't see a family of four, I only saw an Arab man with a young child, that's all I saw. 

"Now, they are saying they are going to sue me for stating the truth and if that's the case, then so be it, we will have to fight it out in court, " she said.

After Citizen Digital contacted Kilimanjaro restaurant, Simon Ogutu, who is the social media manager,  maintained that Gladly Nelly was actually not discriminated against and that their offer for a reconciliatory meal still stood.

"We wanted to make peace with her since she's our customer and that's why we offered an apology meal of her choice to her as a way of clearing the air and settling the matter. I can confirm that the Arab family had been at the restaurant the previous day and had booked the seat for the following day. There is no way our staff acted racially and her allegations really hurt our image as people were calling from all ends calling us a racist restaurant.

"That is totally not the case and we are still open to hosting Gladly Nelly again and our offer for a free meal still stands. I cannot confirm or deny that almost all the tables have a reserved sign, you'd have to speak to the management about that," he said.

The saga has split both Facebook and Twitter with many on Facebook standing by Gladly Nelly and the rest on Twitter standing by the restaurant and praising their 'royal' services. 

Even after they released CCTV footage of the activities leading to Nelly's walkout, things still remain hazy.