Strangers offer to pick up $269 bill of couple who dined-and-dashed at Korean restaurant in Serangoon Garden

Seeing how restaurants have been struggling with poor businesses during this pandemic, there are still those who want to dine for free.

Take this couple for example, they allegedly left a restaurant without paying their bill but probably didn't count on the establishment posting a video of the incident. 

Last Friday (March 18), Pa Bul Lo Korean BBQ restaurant posted a nine-minute video on Facebook showing a male customer and his female partner leaving the Serangoon Garden restaurant separately without paying, after incurring a $269 bill.

The restaurant managed to track them down but both initially refused to pay. 

However, after the restaurant threatened to sue, the woman paid her half of the bill but the man still refused to. 

After reading about this restaurant's experience, two separate groups of strangers called the restaurant offering to foot this couple's bill, much to the surprise of the restaurant's owner Karen Ho. 

She told AsiaOne that she was very grateful for the offers but said it was not needed, adding: "I take this as a charity case".

She told the strangers that "I hope all this publicity through the different social media platforms will teach him (the man who refused to pay) a lesson".

Ho said she felt frustrated over the dine-and-dash incident as "it's very hard for our small shop" seeing how they are grappling with the pandemic. 

She said this was the first time this has ever happened to her in her 20 years of being in the F&B business.

The incident took place on March 15 at about 8:30pm and a person claiming to be the child of the restaurant owners posted the story on Reddit, describing in detail the incident and the aftermath where the restaurant managed to track down the couple. 

The couple had ordered a set of wagyu beef, hot tea, soft drinks and rice wine that night, reported Shin Min Daily News. 

In the now-deleted Reddit post, the user lamented: "It's known that there isn't much to be done about this and the only way is to let it go."

When the restaurant first contacted the lady, she claimed that she was a victim of a dating scam and that the guy should pay.

The guy, when contacted, countered that she should pay as she made the reservation.

With no resolution in sight, the restaurant owners said they approached the police, small claims tribunal and the civil court for help but to no avail.

Ho told AsiaOne that they wish to put this incident behind them and move on. 

shanmugap@asiaone.com