FOOD FIGHT

A JUDGE has sided with a Spanish restaurant after it charged three diners €510 for failing to turn up to their dinner reservation.

The clients had been staying at the Hotel Villa Favorita, in San Sebastian, where the Amelia restaurant is located. While they had changed the reservation date for the hotel stay they had forgotten to do so for the dinner. When the group arrived for their meal, they were told that the restaurant was full and the reservation had been for the night before.

They were offered the chance to rebook a few weeks later, but opted not to, leading to the restaurant charging the amount to the man’s credit card account.

“We host a maximum of 20 people,” manager Xabier de la Maza explained.

“So if the client has any problem, we always charge for the reserved menus. But we usually arrange a voucher so that they can come at any time for the rest of the year or give it away as a gift.”

In this case the client was so angry he filed charges arguing the cancelation policy was not clear when the reservation was made.

He added the amount charged was ‘disproportionate’, both arguments being rejected by the judge.