Omega House

Omega House is Busy… Disabilities Don’t Matter



On July 4th my dad and I went to the Omega House Restaurant in Winston Salem on Peters Creek Parkway. My father entered the restaurant proudly wearing his Vietnam Veteran baseball cap guiding himself with his cane. My father is blind. The restaurant was busy but, all the tables were not full. Omega has an additional dinning space to the right of the front door that had only a few patrons filling a couple of the many tables in the room. A friendly waitress asked us where we would like to sit. We said a booth would be nice but, we would take a table. She looked around the room and said she would get us into the less populated dining room. She told the owner of the restaurant that she was going to seat us there. The owner said, no, seat them in the back. We had to walk to the other side of the restaurant through an obstacle course around poles, chairs and an empty baby seat in the aisles that had fallen over in the floor. My biggest regret was that we went through the maze and had breakfast. Our waitress apologized profusely.

Dad and I went to the register to pay the bill. The owner came to take our money. We told her that we had been coming to this establishment for seven years and we would not be back because of her. She asked why and we told her! We told her we requested to be in an area of the restaurant that was more accessible for my father. I wonder what would happen if an individual in a wheel chair or walker entered the restaurant. The aisles are so narrow there is no way they could fit. The only accessible part of the restaurant was the ramp built by the previous owners

I told her that I knew she remembered us from eating breakfast in her restaurant almost every day that week. It had been our routine since my mother’s stay at the hospital. She responded by saying she wasn’t honestly thinking. “We are just so busy right now.” Then she asked for our money. I promised her that I would tell anyone that would listen. My dad and I not only wanted to advocate for him but for any individual that may enter Omega House with a disability. So, in conclusion, if Omega is Busy, individuals with disabilities don’t matter!