Pasta J is a restaurant selling a variety of Western food, from pastas and meats to desserts.

Their Facebook page has a flood of positive reviews, but they have recently received a 1-star review on Google with complaints of bad service.

Here is the review in full:

The service was very bad. 1. Waiter made a face when he realised that we were only having drinks and desserts but not mains. 2. We were a party of 4 and was shown to a larger than usual table at the back of the restaurant. Halfway through our drinks, we were told that we had to vacate our table and make way for other guests. We were not happy but obliged thinking that it was a bigger group...we were shocked that we had to give way to a party of 3! 3. We were asked to move to sit outdoors...but we were not told where. So we waited at the door for a good 5 mins before we were ushered outside. In the meantime we saw our original table being cleared with no intention of our drinks and desserts being moved to our table outside. 4. When our drinks were brought to the table, they looked like they had been fished out of the wash basin in the kitchen. Needless to say, we did not finish our drinks. This situation could have been avoided if we had been told from the start that should the need arise, we would have to shift outdoors. However the boss told us that if he had made known this earlier, we would have been angry too. So either way we would be angry...he also spoke in a rather condescending tone. Anyway, this will be my first and last visit here.

In summary:

- The waiter made a face when he realised that the group of four was only ordering drinks and dessert, and no mains.

- Halfway through, the customers were told to vacate their table for an outdoor seat in favour of a smaller party.

- They were not told where to sit, and no one attended to them for five minutes.

- Their original table was cleared but their drinks and desserts did not look like they were going to be brought over to the new table (but they eventually were).

Subsequently, the owner of the restaurant responded to the review on the establishment's Facebook page, telling his side of the story:

In summary:

- The group came during the peak hour (when restaurants are most crowded and earn the bulk of their businesses), ordering two teas , a soup, and two or three desserts.

- They took out their laptops and starting working.

- The group was moved because there were no other free tables. Customers prefer to sit inside because of the hot weather.

- He apologises for the delay in attending to them, as it was the peak hour and they were busy. He also thought the group wanted to leave.

He also provided the perspective of a restaurateur by explaining all the operations and logistics of running a restaurant. Here's are the two most pertinent points in relation to the incident above:

- Ordering too little or having non-eaters in the group

Restaurants are high cost businesses. Ordering too little (especially during peak hours) and sharing it among a group is detrimental to the business. The occasional group is okay, but it happens quite often.

He also added that owners put in a lot of resources to make it a good dining experience and "it hurts [them] when customers make use of [them] for meetings, to hang out, or just to socialise without being fair to [them]".

- Hogging tables

Restaurants need a faster customer turnover rate during peak periods, because that is when they make money to compensate for lull periods. 

You can read more of his personal experiences here.

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Top image adapted from Pasta J Facebook.