Police officer in Virginia denied service at Noodles & Company, department says

An Alexandria police officer was denied service Monday evening at a local Noodles & Company, according to the department.

Crystal Nosal, a spokeswoman for the department, said the female officer in uniform went into the Duke Street location of the chain restaurant for dinner and stood in line behind a family. A female cook came out from the back of the restaurant and told the cashier, “‘You better pull me off the line, because I’m not cooking for,” then gestured at the officer, according to Nosal.

Nosal said the cashier looked confused before spotting the officer and laughing. The officer then said, according to Nosal, “I guess you don’t want my money,” and left.

Police Chief Earl Cook went to the restaurant Tuesday and spoke to the management. They had not finished their internal investigation, yet, Cook said, but the manager apologized for what occurred. “I just wanted to have a conversation. . .and get back onto a normal business relationship,” Cook said.

Nothing like has happened in the city before to his knowledge.

“I’m extremely disappointed; you don’t want your officers treated in this manner,” he said. “We have a very supportive business community — that’s the last thing I would have expected to happen.”

He said that given recent anger directed toward police across the country, “we are all sensitized to being careful and being safe.” He said he thought the officer handled the situation perfectly by simply leaving the restaurant.

Alexandria police union representative Pete Feltham told Fox5 that the business has agreed to put a sign in its window supporting the pro-police “Blue Lives Matter” movement.

In a statement, Noodles & Company said the restaurant is “working with the appropriate authorities and local police association representatives to get to the bottom of, and resolve this matter as quickly as possible.”

The company is reaching out to the officer but has not spoken to her yet, according to the statement.