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Owners of this Hawaiian café don't want you eating there if you voted for Trump
Image source: Fox News

Owners of this Hawaiian café don't want you eating there if you voted for Trump

Those who filled in the box next to President-elect Donald Trump's name on Election Day should just keep on walking, one Hawaiian restaurant is telling its patrons.

Café 8 ½ in Honolulu, which normally gets high marks on Yelp for its "Italian stir fry" and "Radiatore Verde," is now getting knocked on the restaurant reviewing network after it posted a handmade sign on its front door, reading, "If you voted for Trump you cannot eat here! No Nazis."

The café's sign, of course, has received mixed reviews, according to Fox News:

“The next time you're in Honolulu, eat lunch here, not only are they on the right side of things, the food is delicious and reasonable,” Facebook user Ariel Agor wrote next to the photo.

Others aren’t so charmed.

Honolulu resident and Donald Trump voter Susan Roberts told FoxNews.com she found the sign in “extreme poor taste.”

“It's childish and very unprofessional,” she said in an email. “… The restaurant owner doesn't have to worry ... I will not be stepping foot in that establishment.”

Willes Lee, who is of Japanese descent, is the former chairman of the Hawaii Republican Party and now leads the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, and he told Fox that the restaurant's move reminds him of the "racist and hate-filled" days before Hawaii achieved statehood.

"Remember when Filipinos couldn't go in certain places, or Japanese wouldn't be allowed [in] many homes? And, it didn't matter who they voted for," Lee said.

Café 8 ½ was founded by former Seattle restauranteur Robert Warner, an ex-stylist for Vidal Sassoon, and his wife Jali, who assured Fox that, if someone comes in wearing a pro-Trump T-shirt, "we don’t put anything different [in] your food."

"Robert just wants to express how much he doesn’t like Trump," she continued. "If people take it personally or it hurts them, we cannot help. That’s why we say they have [a] choice if they want to come or not come. We don’t force them."

Despite putting up a sign that is guaranteed to stir up controversy, Jali said she has no desire to "create trouble" because "there is enough trouble in the world."

"The [restaurant] owners might want to make a better sign," Lee said, "since Trump will undoubtedly be in office for eight years."

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