Dine, dash, and deceive: Crafty customer feasts and flees without paying the bill at Pattaya eatery

A deceitful customer dined and dashed from a local Pattaya restaurant without paying after ordering an abundance of food and three bottles of beer. The man left behind a mobile phone and cigarette, claiming he needed to pick up a friend. It was later revealed that the phone was a decoy, and the same individual had previously impersonated an assistant to a Member of Parliament to commit a similar act.

The incident took place at a well-known local restaurant, Grandma’s Kitchen, situated within a side alley near the Chaiyapruek Post Office branch, Sukhumvit Road, Pattaya, Chon Buri. The restaurant, owned by 28 year old Naiyana Sawasdee, serves various dishes like noodles, a la carte food, rice with pork leg, papaya salad, fresh coffee, and other beverages.

A Thai man, aged 30 to 40 years, arrived on a motorcycle yesterday afternoon and ordered a variety of dishes including Tom Yum seafood, seafood salad, plain rice, cold Yen Ta Fo soup, fried garlic beef, ice, beer, and two glasses of cola. Despite dining alone, his order filled the entire table. After consuming three bottles of beer and spending an hour at the restaurant, his behaviour began to appear unusual.

Naiyana further reported that the customer claimed he was meeting a friend at the mouth of the alley and left his mobile phone and cigarettes at the table. However, after he left and did not return for about 15 minutes, Naiyana checked the phone and discovered it was merely an empty case. The cigarettes were also just an empty packet with one lighter.

At this point, Naiyana realised she had been duped and the customer had no intention of returning to pay the bill of 820 baht. She took to Facebook to express her frustration over the incident.

Upon further investigation, it was revealed the suspect had committed a similar crime on June 2 this year, where he had falsely claimed to be the assistant to an MP. This event occurred at a restaurant on Thepprasit Road, about 3-4 kilometres from Naiyana’s restaurant. The owner of that restaurant confirmed that the suspect bore a striking resemblance to the individual who had defrauded her.

Police have yet to update whether they are close to arresting the dine and dash man.

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