Beverly Hills restaurant La Scala insists that “no harm was meant” after inviting customers to celebrate New Year’s Eve by violating coronavirus safety protocol.
On Friday, writer Alissa Walker shared a photo on Twitter of an invitation the popular celebrity eatery was tucking into takeout bags to invite guests to a “discreet” prohibition-themed indoor event despite L.A. County’s most recent stay-at-home order which bans both indoor and outdoor dining. The order was set to expire on December 28, but is expected to be extended by Governor Gavin Newsom today as Southern California continues to experience a coronavirus “surge on top of a surge.” The invitation written in florid script reads, “Welcome back to the 20’s Prohibition: Speak Easy — New Year’s Eve Dinner. We are considering taking reservations for New Year’s Eve Dinner. Inside. If this is something you’re interested in please let us know as soon as possible. If enough interest we’ll contact you back to secure a reservation. Please keep this discreet, but tell all your friends.”
After experiencing backlash for planning this risky, word-of-mouth affair, La Scala responded to the controversy with a lengthy post on Instagram. The restaurant began its statement by thanking customers for their continued support over the last almost 65 years and especially throughout the pandemic. They then went on to clarify that what the message was meant to convey is that “With the dining ban set to expire on Dec. 28 we are hopeful of resuming some sort of table service and we are considering taking reservations for New Year’s Eve. If this is something you would be interested in, please let us know. If allowed, and if there is enough interest, we’ll contact you to secure a reservation.”
They continued, “Unfortunately, the person that wrote it tried to add some levity and said inside instead of outside. It didn’t come out as intended, how we wanted to be represented, nor how we wanted to represent ourselves. that was the intention. If you can find fault in that, there is nothing more we can say. No harm was meant. We have consistently taken the most drastic steps to ensure guest and employee safety. The news sources keep focusing on ‘be discreet.’ How is putting a note in bags being secretive? How discreet is ‘tell your friends.’ We simply wanted to ensure that our loyal guests and their friends had an opportunity to book a reservation should we be able to serve.”
In their Instagram Story, La Scala went on to offer their “sincerest apologies” to “everyone that has lost a loved one to COVID-19, whether it is from the actual disease, suicide, alcohol, domestic violence, drug overdoses or cancer deaths due to lack of treatment. And to the generation of children not going to school to receive the benefit of social interaction, school lunches and the quality of education they deserve. We cannot forget all the people that are losing their businesses. If everyone would turn their hate to love and direct it to the people that need it instead of attacking small businesses trying to survive, that would be a much better use of their time.”
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