A couple was “caught in the act” in the middle of an Italian restaurant.
A man and woman were dining at San Marino restaurant in England’s North West last Saturday when they were seen on camera planting glass in their meal before refusing to pay.
The woman complained to the restaurant about a sharp object in her pasta, claiming that it “almost broke” her veneers.
They allegedly refused to pay the $139 bill, attempted to receive compensation, then left the restaurant, The Sun reported.
The family ordered a Penne San Marino pasta, a chargrilled lamb shish kebab, garlic bread, caesar salad, still water, sparkling water and a Coca-Cola.
“They had almost finished their food when the lady called one of the staff and said she found a piece of glass on her food that was in her mouth and almost broke her veneer teeth she had paid thousands of pounds for,” Miraz Yolcu, managing director of the restaurant, said.
CCTV footage revealed the whole fiasco was likely a scam, with staff claiming that the video showed the man pulling a clump of glass out of his pocket and handing it to the woman to place in her napkin.
The woman can be seen putting some of her food into the napkin with the glass before calling over a staff member.
“She just put it on the table on a piece of napkin and pretended it was in her mouth,” Yolcu claimed.
“Everybody was in shock. The staff were worried and they called the manager who came and asked what had happened. They said they won’t pay for this meal,” he explained. “The manager was saying, ‘Sorry it just doesn’t happen, it’s impossible to find glass in the food. This is not glass that we use in the kitchen.’”
Yolcu said that he was sent a picture of the glass in question and he knew “straight away” that it wasn’t the right type of glass. “Before I said that, they already didn’t pay.”
“These kinds of scams are damaging to small, hardworking businesses like ours,” San Marino shared to Facebook in the caption of the video.
Yolcu said that the incident has been reported to the Cheshire Police, who confirmed they’re investigating the situation.
“At 1 a.m. on Sunday, April 6 police received reports of a theft/deception at a restaurant in Widnes,” a Cheshire Police spokesperson said. “The caller reported that three customers had left the premises without paying for a meal after claiming to find a piece of broken glass in their meal.”
“After reviewing CCTV footage, the caller believes that the glass was placed in the meal by the customers. Inquiries in relation to the matter are in the early stages.”
Yolcu said that everything appeared to be fine when the food was initially delivered and the table started eating.
“It was shocking to see the CCTV footage. They were with their daughter, but they’re not ashamed. They weren’t booked and they just came and said they needed something to ea,t so we happily showed them a table,” Yolcu shared.
“They are experienced. She was looking at the cameras around,” he alleged. “They didn’t pay for the food, but there was no compensation. We got that on the CCTV so we won’t be paying them a penny.”
The first time something like this happened at the restaurant, Yolcu did research and got advice on what to do in these situations.
“It doesn’t happen so often, but it causes a lot of stress to staff. It’s a serious accusation that could involve police, environmental health and cause all sorts of problems to the business. It could be damaging to the restaurant’s reputation,” Yolcu said.
“You need to be really calm. Before any further action you should say ‘I’ve got to have a look at the camera and call the police.’ If they are serious they will check these things and if they’re not they will be shocked and if they made it up they would be really scared,” he added.
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