Customer Says She Was Told To Leave A Restaurant After Eating Her Burger With A Knife And Fork
She refused to leave the restaurant when the server asked her to leave.
@winta_zesu / TikTok Some restaurants enforce certain rules on their guests who dine with them. While some of those rules usually have to do with dress code, one restaurant's rule concerned the manner in which customers ate their food.
A TikTok video documents Winta Zesu dining out at a restaurant in NYC when a server approached her because of the way she was eating her food.
Zesu was told to leave the restaurant if she didn't use her hands to eat a burger instead of a knife and fork.
In Zesu's video, the 22-year-old had been filming herself eating a burger she had ordered with a knife and fork. However, while she was eating, a server quickly approached her table.
"You have to eat your burger with your hands, that's part of the rules here," you can hear a server informing Zesu. Confused, Zesu inquired what kind of restaurant would implement a rule that specific, and replied to the server that she would rather eat the burger with her utensils instead.
"That's just how our restaurant works," the server continued as Zesu continued to use her knife to cut the burger. Not perturbed by the intrusion while enjoying her meal, Zesu bluntly told the server that the restaurant's "rule" wasn't her problem, and she shouldn't have to be forced to follow it.
Zesu even apologized but explained to the server that when she eats burgers, it's usually with utensils. "I'm sorry, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave," the server promptly responded. "We can't accept this."
"Are you serious?" Zesu asked incredulously, clearly taken aback that she was being kicked out of a restaurant for not eating with her hands. When the server confirmed that she was being serious and that Zesu needed to leave, she accused the server of being "delusional" about the rule.
Photo: @winta_zesu / TikTok
When Zesu offered to speak to the restaurant's manager, the server agreed, walking off to get him. When she returned, she told Zesu that the manager was otherwise occupied, but agreed that if she couldn't follow the rules of eating the burger with her hands, then she needed to leave.
"Unfortunately, I'm not leaving," Zesu said, continuing to eat her burger. "If the manager's not here, then I guess I'm gonna stay because I've never heard of that rule before. You should have said that before I ordered."
The server then threatens to call security to escort Zesu out of the restaurant, though that warning doesn't scare her, and she even encourages the employee to do so.
In the comments section, people were shocked at the restaurant's ridiculous rule.
"Lots of people eat a burger with silverware. Don't let anyone tell you how you eat," one TikTok user wrote.
Another user added, "No way it's a real rule, and the fact [that] the manager didn't come over proves it [was]. Hell, at that point I would have insisted to speak with them."
"Me personally, I would’ve still sat there and ate my food and then just left without paying that’s just me," a third user remarked.
In the caption of her video, Zesu claimed that she was "tired" of restaurants in New York City having ridiculous rules for the guests, insinuating that she had run into this sort of issue before. It seems now that patrons may need to start asking if there are utensil rules before they sit down to eat at restaurants.
Nia Tipton is a Brooklyn-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.