A group of twenty-five people held an event in celebration of one woman’s thirtieth birthday. However, the restaurant called the police on the group of diners after refusing to split up the guests’ $2,200 bill into separate checks. A TikTok video from a woman named Key shined a light on mistreatment at the Georgia establishment. She was there to celebrate the birthday of her sister, Quandresha Brinkley, which was why the large group had gathered at the Louisiana Bistreaux Seafood Kitchen in East Point, Georgia, on March 10.
Key later told Daily Mail that Brinkley had organized the dinner and called the restaurant to make sure they would be able to accommodate the large group. During that discussion, Brinkley made it clear to the restaurant that individual people would need to be able to make their own payments.
“She said to have less credit cards but make sure people have cash,” Key reported that the restaurant manager told Brinkley.
Video from the event show police loitering nearby as the restaurant manager tries to remedy the situation. She explains that she was able to remove drinks from the final bill but was not able to split the bill into individual ones for each member of the party.
In the clip, Key shows images of the receipts that total up to a bill of $2,204.30. In the background, one police officer can be heard laughing as the manager tries to explain her inability to break the check into smaller groups.
Key also shared some complaints about the venue for her sister’s birthday party. Although Brinkley had told the restaurant to expect the twenty-five guests, the restaurant did a poor job accommodating the number of people. Although dinner was scheduled for six, the restaurant was not able to bring the food out until closer to 8 pm.
“Most people were complaining,” Key, a nail technician, said. “Nobody had food.”
Key also explained that more people came to the party than were originally scheduled to come. However, these late additions were seated at a different part of the restaurant and paid for their food on a separate bill. She also explained that servers brought out “two or three plates” that did not belong to anyone at the birthday party. Instead, the guests had to speak to the staff several times to make sure the check accurately reflected the items that they had purchased.
“A lot of people felt like they were getting ripped off,” Key added.
Although the restaurant wanted the guests to pay with cash, they did not have an ATM available. This meant that guests had to travel to a nearby hotel to get cash. Because of all the frustration, some people left before paying. This meant that Key had to cover for them.
“The bill did get paid,” Key said. “Her [Brinkley’s] friends brought other friends, and they were the ones that ran. My sister paid money out of her pocket. She did make a reservation, and she did talk about splitting the bill beforehand.”
The restaurant called 911 before they had even presented the party with the correct bill. Police officers advised Key to post the video to social media to expose the restaurant.
“He said, ‘Go on social media about it and tell them about the restaurant. Go to social media about how they treated y’all,’” Key recalled.
What do you think about this incident at the Georgia eatery?