According to a scathing lawsuit from five former employees, the chef and owner of Michelin-starred restaurant Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare served a tantalizing fusion of wage theft and virulent racism alongside its $225-a-plate prix-fixe meals.

The suit, brought by serial restaurant litigator Maimon Kirschenbaum on behalf of a former sous chef, prep cook, and group of servers, alleges that chef César Ramirez and proprietor Moe Issa kept for themselves the 20 percent service charge that restaurant uses instead of a tip, took disproportionately large cuts of additional tips left for waitstaff, and worked employees overtime without paying overtime rates, Eater reports.

And then there's the racism. According to Emi Howard, a former server who is Asian-American, Ramirez regularly referred to Asian customers as "shit people" and barred them from sitting near the area where he works. When Howard seated a group of Asian customers near Ramirez anyway, the suit claims, the chef subjected her to a "wild verbal tirade" and began seating customers himself so as to avoid proximity to so-called shit people.

Bafflingly, another claim alleges discrimination against "Upper West Siders," which—and I'm just guessing here—is maybe code for Jews? From the suit:

When a large piece of meat was cut into many pieces for the guests, Defendant Ramirez instructed Ms. Howard to give the worst pieces of meat to the "shit people," i.e., Asian people, and to "Upper West Siders."

Both Issa and Ramirez issued statements to deny the claims. Issa's:

At Brooklyn Fare, we pride ourselves on the diversity of our staff who hail from around the globe, and we welcome everyone who comes through our doors with open arms, be it a guest, vendor, or employee, regardless of their creed, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or nationality. We pay all of our staff fair wages for their hours worked as well as gratuity in accordance to the law.

And a portion of Ramirez's, which can be read in full at Eater:

I would like to request that those reading this understand that these are allegations and I deny them. This has been tremendously hurtful and damaging to myself and everyone who has contributed to building The Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare over the last five years. I acknowledge that these allegations can be hurtful and painful to those reading them as well and I want you to know that I sympathize with you as I personally understand how painful this is.

Yelp reviews, left before and after the allegations were made public, are decidedly mixed. Few dispute the quality of the food, but accusations of terrible service abound. One reviewer wrote that an Asian friend was berated, threatened, and told never to come back:

My friend (who happened to Asian) was pulled outside and cursed out for 15 minutes and told to never come back. Ramirez even threatened to report him to his bosses at a London based investment bank (who he claimed to know). Full disclosure, I wasn't with him this night, and he was drunk and loud and made conversation with other people at the table (which is a huge no-no). That said, he did apologized profusely.

The reviewer wrote that when he attended, he did not feel attacked, "which says a lot given that I am from the UWS *and* asian."

The consensus among reviewers seems to be that racist or no, Ramirez is a jackass. Wrote another reviewer, who is also Asian:

Arrogant? Yes! Awkward? Yes! A prick? Likely. Racist? Unlikely.

[Photo via Jessica and Lon Binder/Flickr]