Woman complains she was chased out of Paya Lebar cafe after 90-min dining time limit despite 'many empty seats'

A woman in Singapore claimed that she was "chased out" of a Paya Lebar cafe after she exceeded the dine-in time limit, even though the cafe had "many empty seats" at the time.

She further claimed that the 90-minute time limit was not mentioned to her or her dining companion beforehand.

In response, the cafe clarified that the dine-in time limit was enforced to allocate tables for reservations that were scheduled for later that day.

The cafe also explained that the woman was offered the option of moving to another table.

Dine-in time limit not mentioned beforehand: Customer

This complaint was aired in a TikTok video shared by user @bondnaked on Dec. 17.

@bondnakedIs this the norm now? The cafe is half empty tho 🥲♬ original sound - bondnaked

"We just got chased out of this place," the user said at the start of the video.

The user claimed that when she and her dining partner entered the cafe, they were not notified of the dine-in time limit of 90 minutes.

However, it was only mentioned to them later.

She added that she did not understand the cafe's rationale for enforcing the time limit on that particular day.

"You see, there are so many empty seats left also," she said as the video panned around the cafe.

In response to comments, the user clarified that she and her dining partner arrived at the Coexist Coffee Co. outlet at Paya Lebar at around 11:30am after a meeting with a client nearby.

So they decided to order coffee and do some work at the cafe before heading to their next appointment.

Spent S$90 at cafe in total: User

They subsequently ordered lunch at the cafe, spending about S$90 in total, the user said.

When asked to leave at about 2pm, they were "more confused than angry" as they did not expect to be chased out, the user said.

She indicated that she will not patronise the cafe again.

The video drew mixed reactions from other TikTok users.

Some opined that 90 minutes (or one and a half hours) was a fairly generous dine-in time limit, and that she should have respected it as "rules are rules".

In contrast, others felt that the store could have been more flexible when enforcing the time limit during off-peak hours, and could have "put a big sign on the door" so that customers are better informed.

Dine-in time limit enforced as there were reservations that day: Cafe

When contacted, a Coexist Coffee Co. spokesperson told Mothership that the cafe does not usually enforce the time limit on weekdays unless there are upcoming reservations, especially with larger groups, that require tables to be prepared in advance.

The spokesperson said that the cafe's approach is to reallocate tables to meet the needs of incoming reservations and that "chasing customers away" is not their intention.

"From our internal investigation, there were indeed several reservations scheduled for later that day. As a result, our staff informed a few tables, including the group shown in the video, about the dine-in period."

The spokesperson added that the cafe appeared empty in the video because some customers had already left after they were notified.

The spokesperson also apologised on behalf of the cafe:

"We acknowledge that we could have done better in this situation by informing customers of the dine-in time limit upfront when they entered the cafe. Moving forward, we will improve our communication and training to ensure greater clarity for our guests. We will also implement clear signage to inform customers of the dine-in restrictions."

We gave them option of moving to another table: Cafe

The spokesperson also noted that the TikTok user and her companion were seated at a table for four; they were offered the option of relocating to a smaller table.

This offer was acknowledged by the user after the cafe's response was made public.

She claimed in response to a comment that the "staff walked away immediately" after offering to move them to a small table.

Mothership has reached out to the TikTok user for comment.

Top image from bondnaked/TikTok