I had the worst restaurant experience ever this weekend and I can't help but feeling that my husband and I may have been treated the way we were because we were Black. How can you tell?

Famished and tired on Saturday night, we decided to eat at the Gaslight Restaurant & Brewery in South Orange, NJ. I asked the waiter about several of the entrees and what he recommends.

He couldn't answer any questions about the menu and just said everything was good. He also couldn't tell me what mead was, though there's a mead and wine list on the table. It's actually a very good sweet wine. He then brings the mead out and spills it on the table, splashing on myself and my husband. He apologizes and brings out a glass of seltzer to wipe the stains but no napkins. We had to ask the man who was cleaning up the table and the floor. After a decent dinner, we get the bill with no comps.

He sends 3 other waiters to pick up the tab though we specifically ask to speak with him each time. When the manager comes over, he says dismissively, "You take care of your bill. We'll take care of the dry cleaning bill. I'll remember your face. "Excuse me? Was this burly, overweight, gray-haired, Santa Claus-looking guy implying that my husband and I were trying to get out of paying something? What happened to the customer always being right or doing whatever you can to keep the customer happy so they come back and tell their friends? He never once apologized. If the owner had maybe just comped my glass of mead and my husband's diet coke (which should have been a regular coke like he ordered), that would have taken care of the dry cleaning and any inconvenience. We would have left satisfied and maybe would have come back again. Bad waiters happen or maybe he was just having a bad night. But it got worse...

To add insult to injury, an employee laughs when my husband asks the manager to make a note of the dry cleaning on our bill and asks that they take a picture of the mead stains on my husband's clothes for verification. Granted, there were other people of color in the restaurant and, after some research, there are plenty of reviews on the Internet talking about the rude service. But, every person on the wait staff were White men. I was burning to tell the owner everything him and his staff did wrong in detail. Would we have come across as angry customers or "those niggers?" Instead of raising my voice, we've filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Is that enough?

Do you think this experience was racial discrimination?

Shanida Smith Carter is a television producer and writer in New York City. She also teaches college courses on the Latin American and Caribbean Diaspora. She lives in New Jersey with her husband. BBN looks forward to her coverage and perspective. .