The owner of Rey's Restaurant Sports Bar at 2836 N. O'Connor Blvd in North Irving refused service to a disabled veteran (amputee) with a service dog. Rey's Restaurant Sports Bar is owned by Eduardo Calderon. The incident occurred on June 1st and according to multiple witnesses Calderon aggressively stood in the doorway taunting the victim to file a police report.
A witness said that the dog was properly identified as a Service Animal and the veteran is an above the knee amputee. In times where we honor the dedication and sacrifice veterans have made, it is appalling and inexcusable the way this veteran was treated.
The City of Irving rated Rey's Restaurant a "D" (31 to 40 demerits) in early 2016 and was upgraded to a "C" (Poor rating) on November 16th, 2016. Judging from these ratings, the restaurant does not seem to value high standards and this is also a reflection on the way they treated this veteran.
One facebook poster who witnessed the incident posted, "My husband and I have a friend who is a disabled veteran that came into your restaurant tonight to have a meal. You, the owner of the restaurant, refused to serve him because he had his service dog with him. I am sure that his black lab, with the vest and collar that identifies him as a a service dog must not have been obvious to you. What is obvious to me is that you have not read the rights of veterans with service dogs that was put in to place in 2014 in the great state of Texas. I will be sharing this post with all of my Facebook friends as well as with the veterans groups in Texas. There are fines that I pray you will have to pay. You sir, are a disgrace to what makes our nation great."
Another facebook poster put it this way, "you can't discriminate against people with service dogs. Sounds as if you have a big chip on your shoulder and are very territorial about your restaurant. Shame on you, refusing to serve a wounded veteran with his service dog. [...] I hope lots of people find out what you did today and make you feel as uncomfortable in your own community as you made this disabled veteran with his service dog feel in your establishment."
UPDATE 6/4/2017: Rey's Restaurant posted an apology through facebook, "As many of you may know there was an incident that took place Thursday, June 1st at our establishment regarding a misunderstanding between our restaurant owner and Mr. David Caras. Several attempts have been made to contact the individual in order to settle any kind of misunderstanding but unfortunately no one is willing to give information and Mr. Caras himself does not respond.
Today we would publicly like to apologize for this incident and would love if this courtesy letter could end up in the hands of Mr. Caras. We would love to settle the situation and for all threats and harassment from the public to stop." The courtesy letter referenced was posted on their facebook page also.
In the posted letter, Mr. Calderon explains, "I want to assure you we are doing everything to fix the problem you experienced and making sure it does not reoccur. I would like to reiterate that I did not refuse you service, I politely asked you if we could service you on our patio. We have numerous customers that sit on our patio with their dogs and I bring them complimentary bowls of water."
Paul Johnson, a veteran himself, posted the following insightful comment, "Mr. Calderon - if you are asking a disabled individual to sit on the patio since people with PETS sit there and not in a booth or other place of THEIR choice I'm sorry to say you did refuse service. Do you have a wheelchair only section outside? Of course not, that is discriminatory and refusal of normal service, or put a blind patron or severely visually impaired person - such as myself, facing a wall. I am sorry to say it, but it would seem apparent that whilst your apology may be sincere, you do not understand disability accommodations and I do not expect Mr Caras to accept your apology either."
Mr. Calderon responded to Mr. Johnson, "Our knowledge has been updated. We understand and take full responsibility of our actions. Service will remain equal towards everyone and we will remain keeping peace and love towards everyone at our establishment. We respect your commentary and hope you can also keep in mind that we are all human beings and make mistakes at times."
