A fat billfold is no guarantee of a good table at upscale Paris restaurants, which arrange customers based on two very specific categories: the attractive and the ugly.
Hostesses and waitresses at the chic restaurants Georges, on the rooftop of the Centre Pompidou, and Café Marly, overlooking the Louvre’s courtyard, have to observe strict seating arrangements based on looks, according to a French daily.
Tables near the entrance or on the terrace of Georges are kept for good-looking people, while those considered unattractive are quickly ushered to tables in the back or in the corners, Le Canard Enchainé newspaper revealed based on interviews with former wait staff.
At Café Marly, hostesses cannot promise reservations for tables on the terrace over the telephone, and must wait until guests arrive on premises to decide if they “deserve” their better tables.
One of the ex-waitresses quoted remembered being reprimanded: “What are you thinking? What are those “non-attractives” doing at that table!? The system is not that complicated… This is very bad for our image!”
The two high-end eateries belong to businessman Gilbert Costes, who the waitresses said sometimes showed up to the restaurants himself to instruct employees on how to sort the two kinds of customers.
However, exceptions are made for celebrities, who are always seated at the most prominent tables, regardless of looks, the report said.