Woman accuses Bugis teppanyaki eatery staff of being rude, chef claims she threw a plate at his leg

A woman claimed she was spoken to and treated rudely by staff at Alley Wei Teppan-Yaki at Bugis Junction on Apr. 10.

What happened

The woman, identified as Annie in a social media post, claimed in her account that she was initially not told where to wait when she went to the restaurant with her friend that day at around 5:50pm.

She was then addressed rudely and showed where to sit down, she claimed.

Subsequently, while still dining, she claimed that another staff asked if she intended to continue with her meal.

Once done, Annie and her friend made a remark that the service was “bad”.

Staff allegedly retorted

Annie, who is Vietnamese, claimed that she then heard a staff make a remark in Vietnamese.

She confronted him about the insult and who it was directed at, but the staff apparently walked away.

Annie then asked for the manager.

She admitted to Stomp that she threw a spoon from the table to the ground where the staff was standing to get him to go back to speak with her, but she was apparently ignored.

Another staff member intervened.

Annie claimed that she did not touch the staff.

A staff then asked if Annie required a refund or apology, but she felt that the query was uncalled for.

Annie wrote in her post: "Do I look like I can’t afford to pay for my meal, or like I’m eating on credit here?"

Restaurant's side of story

In response to the woman's claims on Facebook, a comment signed off by the “Alley Wei Team” claimed that the customer threw a plate and used vulgarities on a staff, who then responded "in the heat of the moment":

Following our internal review, the customer used vulgarities directed at our staff’s mother, to which our staff responded in the heat of the moment.

The situation then escalated, and a plate was thrown at our staff. We take such behaviour seriously and will be pursuing legal action to protect our employees.

We also acknowledge that our cashier’s tone may have come across as rude during peak hours, and we apologise for this as we continue to improve our service standards.

In a response to Shin Min Daily News, the 24-year-old chef who was featured in Annie's post gave his side of the story.

He said Annie threw a plate, which contradicted her comment to Stomp that she had thrown a spoon.

After Annie complained in Vietnamese about the service and poor attitude of the staff, the chef said he understood her and responded in Vietnamese by saying: "Attitude? What attitude?"

He claimed he ignored her despite her allegedly continuing to insult him, and turned his back to her while serving other customers, but then Annie allegedly threw a plate that landed at his leg.

He continued to ignore her, he claimed.

It was at this juncture that the eatery's manager apologised and offered Annie a refund.

A video of the incident was previously circulated online after it appeared on Sgfollowall.

However, the restaurant requested the video to be removed as the incident is currently under investigation and may involve legal proceedings, Shin Min reported.

Top photos via Annie & Google Maps