Kerbey Lane's CEO speaks to FOX 7 about the incident over the weekend

A Muslim woman and her friend experienced what they describe as "Islamaphobia." Their story has since gone viral.

Leilah and Sirat were at Kerbey Lane on Sunday.

They were there for breakfast but instead, received anti-Muslim comments by another patron.

"Then he said, she should just go back to Saudi Arabia, where she came from," says Sirat Al-Nahi,
Iraqi-American.

The man reportedly continued, asking if they were hiding guns, and to shoot him already. The two young women are in disbelief that no one came to their defense.

"When people see things like this happening around them, to not just silently watch because that just makes the experience for the person being targeted by this bigotry, to feel even worse. You feel like you're alone," says Leilah Abdennabi, Palestinian-American.

The manager told them there was nothing they could do since the patron had already been seated.
We spoke with Kerbey Lane CEO Mason Ayer about what happened.

"Our staff was unaware of what was said, while it was being said. Many of them, in fact, after the investigation was conducted today, we found out that they learned about the incident when they came back on social media and saw what was said. That was their knowledge of what had actually been said to the young ladies," says Mason Ayer, Kerbey Lane Cafe, CEO.

Ayer has apologized to both women, along with issuing a statement on social media and their website.
It has received hundreds of comments, many criticizing how the situation was handled.

"They should not have tried to remove the person themselves because of the threat of violence and what we've seen historically. They should have called police and had police remove this person because this individual has absolutely no business being in our restaurants. He's not welcome back," says Ayer.

"I don't believe that the people who own Kerbey Lane and the people who work there are 'Islamaphobic' or condone these actions. I think in the future that Kerbey Lane, as well as other businesses, need to train their employees on how to deal with situations like this," says Abdennabi.

That is exactly what Ayer says he plans to do.