Canadian restaurant apologizes after shaming diner for ordering too much (VIDEOS)
A sushi restaurant in Ontario has apologized after a customer says they shamed her for ordering too much food.
Cassandra Mauro shared what she called a “mortifying” interaction she experienced at Paper Crane Sushi Bar and Bistro in King City, Ontario.
In a TikTok posted last week, Mauro says she and her friend went to the sushi restaurant because they were “starving” after having worked out at the gym.
They ordered chicken fried rice, shrimp tempura, noodles, and three rolls of sushi, which they planned to share.
Before Mauro’s friend was able to order the third roll, she says the server looked at them and said “No, no, no, too much food. That’s it.”
Her friend then tried to order the last roll of sushi, but Mauro says the server reacted with a scoff.
“We’re like so confused because we came to your restaurant to eat, like, what do you… what are you doing?” Mauro said in the TikTok.
Just when they thought it couldn’t get worse, the manager approached them after the server left with their orders.
“She looks me and Catherine up and down, and she goes ‘Hungry?'” Mauro recounted, mimicking the manager’s reaction. “Like mad, ‘Hungry?'”
The TikToker says the manager then goes on to tell them that they ordered too much food, so it wasn’t going to fit at their table and forced them to move.
“Me and Catherine look at each other… we’re like, ‘What is what is going on?’ Hungry? Like no, I came to your restaurant full,” said Mauro.
Even though Mauro and her friend obliged, she says that while they were eating they could see the chef in the kitchen laughing at them.
“At a restaurant where you come to order food, you get mocked for ordering food!” she exclaimed.
And to top that off, she says the waiter asked them if they still needed the side of rice that came with one of their orders.
“What do mean? Now you’re taking away food that we’re actually paying for,” said Mauro.
The TikToker said they ended up finishing all of the food and tipped the restaurant.
“I’m looking back on this whole interaction and I’m like, that was mortifying,” she ended the video.
@cassmauro Im laughing about this but Paper crane you lost me girly, seriously why were we getting shamed tho #restaurants #kingcity #sushiroll #vaughan ā¬ original sound – Cassandra Mauro
A day after Mauro posted the TikTok, Paper Crane responded in a long Instagram post, seeming to validate her retelling of the incident.
They apologized to Mauro for her negative experience at the restaurant.
“Many of our staff speak English as a second language, but we hope you know it was never the intention of our staff to make you (or anyone) feel judged at our restaurant and we are embarrassed any comments may have come across in this way,” reads the note.
The restaurant added that they have discussed the incident with all of their staff by examining how they speak to customers and addressing language barriers to “make sure our words have the appropriate meaning.”
Management at Paper Crane says they’ve reached out to Mauro and invited her and her friend to speak with them personally about their experience.
“We appreciate your patronage and feel so embarrassed by the incident that occurred at our restaurant,” reads the post. “We hope you will accept our sincerest apologies.”
The note goes on to explain how the restaurant is a small Korean-owned and operated family business that has experienced a lot of challenges, including a fire that forced it to shutter for a year, and of course, COVID-19.
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Unfortunately, Paper Crane ended the note saying that they’ve received “threats and racially motivated harassment,” so they’ve decided to turn off comments on all of their social media accounts.
“We are not intending to hide from our customer service obligations, but our focus will be protecting our family through this difficult time,” they stated.
In a follow-up video on TikTok, Mauro condemned the hate and threats people have been sending the restaurant.
@cassmauro Replying to @Kate Stout ā¬ original sound – Cassandra Mauro
“I didn’t want you to go fill their comment sections with hate or call the restaurant or send them threats or lower their Google reviews,” she said. “I know they have families and I don’t want to ruin their restaurant.”
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