Mumbai: Why so ‘shellfish’? 4 men rack up Rs 5k bill at Dahanu shack, and scoot

CCTV images show the four men exiting the restaurant without paying the bill

A group of four men who gorged on Rs 5,000 meal of crab, fish and alcohol at Dahanu's famous seafood joint, Crazy Crab restaurant and bar, and then fled without paying the bill have left the eatery's management in a very crabby mood. The restaurant manager and the server who waited on the group chased after the quartet on a motorcycle, but the group drove off in their car.

The customers had visited the Dahanu beach-facing restaurant for the first time on Friday night. "I don't think we have seen them before at my restaurant," said owner Micky Irani. Irani told mid-day that Friday nights are usually very busy at the restaurant, as many visitors make an outing to Dahanu to enjoy the sun and sand, as well as the seafood over the weekend.

"All 35 tables were occupied with diners, and the waiters were busy taking orders from other customers. The four dine-and-dashers left the premises taking advantage of the dinner rush. They left in a car around 9.30 pm without paying the bill of Rs 4,950 even after we had kept it on their table," said Irani.

Crazy Crab restaurant and bar is famous with locals and tourists

"They came to the restaurant around 7 pm on Friday. The four men, in their 40s and early 50s, ordered fish and crab dishes worth Rs 3,350. They also ordered beer and whiskey worth Rs 1,600," said Irani, adding that the men sat and enjoyed their meal for more than two hours, but did not wait a second to pay the bill.

The manager, Rajesh Pandit said, "After they finished their meal, a bill was kept at their table by the waiter who was attending the table. The footfall is generally high during weekends. When the waiter went to the kitchen to place an order for another table, the four people stood up and left the premises."

"After the waiter returned, he checked whether the bill had been paid or not. That is when we realised that the four customers has dined and dashed," he added. Irani then asked the manager and waiter to look for the group outside in the parking area. By the time they got there though, the duo saw the group zooming away in their car.

"I have been in the hospitality business for the last 11 years. There are customers who discreetly leave the premises without paying the bill while our restaurant staff are occupied. We run the restaurant for profit, but such incidents make a dent in the business," rued the restaurateur. "If they were so drunk that they could not remember if they paid the bill or not, how did they drive off," wondered the restaurateur.

"If they did leave the premises by mistake, I assume that they will come back and pay up," he said, adding that he had circulated CCTV grabs of the four dine-and-dashers on WhatsApp groups with his friends and other restaurateurs of Dahanu, appealing to identify them. "I am not planning to approach the police for this matter but I have circulated the videos and CCTV grabs of these customers, assuming that they might have left the premises by mistake without paying the bill," said Irani.

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No of hours the men ate at the restaurant