The next time you choose to make a reservation and not show up, you may want to think about the consequences at one Beverly Hills restaurant.
Red Medicine, a Vietnamese fusion restaurant off Wilshire Boulevard, used Twitter Saturday to shame at least seven customers who didn't show up for their reservations.
Chef and owner Noah Ellis started off by posting: "All the nice guests who wonder why restaurants overbook and they sometimes have to wait for their res(ervations) should thank people like those below."
Below that post, the names of those who did not honor their reservations appear.
"I hope you enjoyed your gf's(girlfriend’s) bday and the flowers that you didn't bring when you no-showed for your 8:15 res. Thanks."
Red Medicine's revenge tactic received mixed reviews. One Twitter user, @Justin_Ot, responded by supporting Ellis' actions.
"If more restaurants did this, people might be more respectful. It's like reverse Yelp."
One of the called-out customers responded to the public shaming, telling Grub Street Los Angeles that “unfortunately, about 20 minutes after making the reservation, I got a call from my mom saying my uncle had passed away…It was the last thing on my mind to call and cancel the reservation.”
This isn't the first time the restaurant has been in the news. According to a December 2010 LA Times report, Ellis unmasked the paper's long time restaurant critic, S. Irene Virbila during a visit to Red Medicine. Virbila was visiting Red Medicine when Ellis approached her, took her picture without permission, refused service and ordered her party to leave, the LA Times reported.
Ellis then published her picture on Red Medicine's Tumblr site, saying the restaurant critic was not welcome at the local eatery. Virbila contacted Ellis after the incident, upset and humiliated she no longer had her anonymity as a restaurant critic, according to the Times.
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Virbila would often make reservations under a false name and never used her own phone number.
