Indiana woman goes to local café. Then she asks her server if it’s run by Muslims: ‘You were the problem’

A Noblesville, Indiana café has recently become a focal point for controversy. According to restaurant manager Alex Bevins, a customer asked an employee whether the restaurant was “run by Muslims.” When Bevins' host replied that it wasn't, the customer reportedly told the host she was glad it wasn't because she was afraid of them.

Bevins told 13News that the customer was referring to a 15-year-old employee who worked at the restaurant, who was wearing a hijab. Later, after the customer paid for her meal and was heading out the door, Bevins let her know she was not welcome back at the establishment. In response, the customer posted a video on Facebook, which was criticized online until it was subsequently deleted.

TikToker Matthew Gray (@matthewgray100) posted one video with criticism, which captured a section of the customer's now deleted response. As of this writing, Gray's post about the situation has more than 1.9 million views.

The situation

In the customer's now deleted video, she described how she asked the host about who owned the restaurant.

The customer said, “ So I asked one of the girls; she was young … ‘Is it run by Muslims?' And she said, ‘No.' I'm like, ‘Okay, good. Just wondered.'”  

The host reportedly told coworkers and fellow employees about the interaction. After the woman paid and was getting ready to leave, the customer said Bevins herself confronted her.

Bevins told 13News that she told the woman she was thankful for her past and present business, but she wasn't welcome back at Uptown Café in the near future.

Gray's response

Gray, who captured some of the woman's original Facebook post, said that the customer was in the wrong for her response.

“ It … doesn't matter who owns it. If they were Muslim, Christian, atheist, if they were white, Black … Chinese, it doesn't matter. You went in there to [patronize] them. You've been there before. That restaurant has been a staple in this community for years,” he said.

He added that the customer posted the video in a Noblesville Facebook group, which was seen by many community members.

“ You took it down because you were getting roasted,” he said. “Somebody took a video of it and then reposted it because you tried to delete it. What's really sad, what's really sad is being that hateful, that hateful and that disgusting because you don't like the way that somebody else looks.”

@matthewgray100 This happened at one of our restaurants here in Noblesville, Indiana and this is not tolerated. A woman went in and had a Muslim server… she went to her car and made a video and posted it in one of our Facebook groups and it did not go the way she thought it would go. Please go and patron uptown café as soon as you can in Noblesville, Indiana. it shouldn't matter the way you dress the way you believe the way you love everybody is welcome here. What is not welcome is sheer hate and bigotry that was so open. ##noblesvilleindiana##noblesville##uptowncafe ♬ original sound – Matthew

The customer seeks a protective order

After the situation went viral, the customer accused Bevins, the restaurant manager, of “stalking and repeated harassment,” via a protective order. She described her perspective in the protective order she filed.

The customer reiterated some of her statements in the protective order, which many have said are Islamophobic and racist. “I asked a young woman who cleaned my table off for me because it was dirty if the establishment was owned by Muslims,” she wrote in her filing. “She said no. I said ‘ok good, I'm afraid of them.'”

The customer then wrote that Bevins told her she was racist during their initial exchange. She paid the bill and left, later posting a video to her Facebook page about the experience.

“[The video was posted] around 1 [p.m.]. By 5 [p.m.] I had 9k views on my video and 100 negative harassing comments. Some threatening. A couple of comments were from Alex, who is the manager. She perpetuated the harassment,” the customer said.

A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 1, 2026, according to 13News.

The customer responds online

Despite the immense amount of backlash the customer received for her comments, the customer doubled down on Facebook.

“Stoning people in Dearborn MI is just one recent incident of why I was afraid of Muslims,” she said in one post. “You can all see the hate speech [I'm] getting from people who are or seem to support Muslims.  I didn't say anything hateful!!!! [I'm] getting hate from others.”

The event that she refers to is an alleged stoning of far-right extremist Jake Lang. On Aug. 18, 2026, Lang led a “Christian Crusade” in Dearborn. Lang said that he was stoned while speaking to Dearborn Police Chief Issa Shanin, as per Straight Arrow News. However, no independent reporting has corroborated that rocks were thrown at Lang during his crusade or in Dearborn.

By contrast, Lang's protest did lead to fear in the Dearborn community, as reported by Detroit News. In a public statement, Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said that some business owners chose not to open their doors during Lang's “Christian Crusade.” Hammoud himself said a child asked him whether “crusaders” were coming to kill him.

Commenters urge the customer to stop posting

Facebook users responded to the customer's post. Commenters ranged from mildly concerned about her mental soundness to completely irate.

“Here's a thought. Stop publicly posting on social media. It also doesn't help when you share misinformation,” one viewer said.

Another commenter said, “Please seek out a trauma therapist.”

“Say you have zero self-awareness without saying you have no self-awareness,” another commenter said. “The fact that you don't see what you said as clearly racist and a problem means you're absolutely not gonna say anything wrong with what you did. As a Christian myself, I really pray you see how hateful … this actually is.”

Buzz News reached out to Uptown Café via Instagram direct message, the customer via Facebook direct message, and to Gray via TikTok direct message for comment.