An Msida restaurant owner has been stuck with a €100 bill after a group of youths dined and dashed from the establishment on Friday afternoon.
The owners of the Italian restaurant Pasta and Co. told Times of Malta that the five youths, whom they estimated to be around 17 years old, sat down and ordered a full meal, with coffee, at around 3pm.
However, once the meal was winding down, one by one, they got up with the excuse of needing to go outside for a smoke and made a run for it once they were all outdoors.
Photo: Pasta & Co
Photo: Pasta & Co
Photo: Pasta & Co
Photo: Pasta & Co
Giacomo Giacalone, the Sicilian co-owner of the eatery, recognised the youths as fellow Sicilians and said they spoke in an Italian dialect typical of Catania.
He expressed disappointment over the incident, saying it flew in the face of the hard work they put into the restaurant.
“We work very hard, day and night to make ends meet. We produce fresh artisan pasta with great love and passion. I am a proud Italian, these people do not represent our nation,” Giacalone said.
The restaurant's co-owner Bertrand said it was worrying to see such behaviour from such young patrons, particularly as he had personally never experienced a dine-and-dash incident throughout his career.
“This doesn’t happen often and it's worrying to see, given that these people were so young,” he said.
“If they think that acts like these don’t matter and that they can get away with it, it's certainly not good," he said.
The owners urged anyone who may have any information about the five individuals to contact the Msida police station.
A police spokesperson confirmed with Times of Malta that a police report has been filed over the incident and that an investigation into the matter is ongoing.
The incident comes hot on the heels of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni ordering the Italian Embassy in Albania to cover the bill for a group of Italian tourists who had walked out on the bill in a restaurant in Berat.
Meloni was left red-faced after her Albanian counterpart Prime Minister Edi Rama complained about the incident to her during a visit to the country with her family.
NB: unpixellated copies of the photographs have been sent unaltered to the police.