Mama Tequila warns others of ‘dine-and-dashers’

LEXINGTON, Ky. (ABC36 NEWS NOW) – A popular restaurant in downtown Lexington is warning others to be on the lookout for ‘dine-and-dashers.

It was a regular Wednesday night at Mama Tequila, when a party of 7 came in, ate dinner and left without paying.

“Last night after they were done eating, they went over and told the server that they had a birthday for one of their friends,” said Alex Prado, a manager at the restaurant. “So while we were prepping everything they slipped out the door. When we came back they were completely gone.”

Prado says they were very confused, until they checked the cameras to see what had happened.

Then early Thursday afternoon the unexpected happened.

“We just now got a little note. The owner was standing up front, somebody walked in with a ski mask and gave a little saying ‘from the dine and dashers.’ they apologized and even gave a little bit of cash, with a little note saying they didn’t realize we were going to be back to sing happy birthday,” said Prado.

“We do appreciate that little notion that they showed, but at the end of the day we’re still trying to figure out how we can all get better from this.”

Prado says now they are trying to be more vigilant.

“We had to tell the servers ‘you have to be more vigilant with your tables. If people get up you have to be watching what they’re doing, because there’s many doors here for them to slip out. There’s that door over there, there’s a patio and there’s these doors, so be vigilant.”

The staff at Mama Tequila want to thank everyone that has reached out and supported them through this. They say it has been tremendous and overwhelming.