Released hostage Daniella Gilboa claimed on Tuesday that she was mistreated while attempting to use the bathroom of Nina Cafe in Neve Tzedek, Tel Aviv.
The cafe’s owner allegedly told Gilboa, "Who cares if you were kidnapped? They tell you no, so it's no. Get out of here,” when she attempted to use the bathroom.
The cafe’s owner denied Gilboa’s account of the incident, and told N12 that "She asked to come in, I refused and directed her to a public restroom a hundred meters away. After fifteen minutes, she came back angrily and said that she was kidnapped and that this was taking her back there.”
The cafe owner said he told her, "It has nothing to do with you being kidnapped.”
"I don't understand what the problem is with what I did,” the owner told N12. “We don't let people who aren't restaurant customers into the bathroom. It's a tourist area, there's only one stall in the cafe, and we avoid letting all the Neve Tzedek tourists in there."
He insisted that only disabled non-customers were allowed to use the bathroom, as per Israeli law. He added that he had regularly attended hostage protests, demanding a deal that would release the remaining Israelis held in Hamas captivity.
Cafe reviews before the incident with Daniella Gilboa
N12 reported that following Gilboa’s claims, the cafe’s Google score rating dropped from 1.4 to 1.1 and had received approximately 2500 new reviews. On TripAdvisor, the cafe was given a rating of 2.3.
Some reviewers shared that they had had bad experiences at the cafe, while others admitted to having never visited.
One TripAdvisor user wrote in January 2024: “DO NOT go here, chef/owner (not sure as he claimed to be owner) was rudest most disgusting man I ever met, I wouldn’t speak to a dog the way he spoke to me. There were no waiters, I asked him politely if I could order and he rudely shouted at me ‘if I don’t have patience I should go,’ he then continued being rude and aggressive. No one should ever go here again, he should not be allowed to be in business.”
Another wrote in November 2023, “Appalling place and attitude!!!! It's not clear how they don't close this horrible place yet. The owner of the place shouts and kicks mothers with a stroller out of the place for no reason. We must close his place urgently!!!!!!!”
Another user wrote in October 2023, “Wow, we plowed through all the cafes in Tel Aviv and never received such a shocking treatment. We even asked if it was possible to see the menu to understand if it was relevant to us, the owner of the place, a horrible and disgruntled man who is not clear how of all the existing professions he chose the restaurant, shamelessly waved his hand and kicked us out. We are the warmest, most accepting country, and this man represents exactly the opposite. To summarize in one word: horror!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”