Melbourne restaurant owner’s surprising message to teens after alleged $500 dine and dash

The owner of a Melbourne pizza restaurant has a surprising message for 12 boys who allegedly bailed on a $500 bill.

A Melbourne restaurant owner says he forgives a group of boys who allegedly ordered $500 worth of food and then bailed when it came time to pay – but an apology “would be nice”.

Old School Pizza & Stone Grill uploaded CCTV footage from its Coburg restaurant to its TikTok account of the alleged dine and dash, which has been viewed 4.4 million times in three days.

The footage was taken October 8 at around 8.30pm and the group of 12 was reported to police the following day, but restaurant co-owner Kamal Soueid doesn’t want to press charges.

Instead he had a surprising message to the alleged thieves.

“Gents, I just wanted to let you know, we forgive you here at Old School Pizza, but we just hope you’ve learnt your lesson,” he said on A Current Affair.

“You’re welcome back here, but an apology would be nice.”

The boys were accused of not paying for a $500 bill. Picture: TikTok / @oldschoolpizzaofficial

They arrived in a group of 12 and sat outside. Picture: TikTok / @oldschoolpizzaofficial

Since the interview, one of the boys reportedly visited the restaurant with his mother and apologised and offered to pay.

Mr Soueid accepted the apology but declined the money, instead hoping a lesson had been learnt.

In the security footage, the boys can be seen greeting one another and then taking a seat at one of two tables outside.

They order their food and after clearing their plates, the video shows them leaving the venue one by one before the last boy makes a run for it.

Mr Soueid claimed that not one of the 12 teens paid for their meals. He said in his seven years of running the restaurant he had never experienced anything like it.

“As a restaurant, we don’t charge customers until they finish their food. We make sure they are happy and satisfied,” he explained after the video went viral.

“They had come in and even though we were fully booked we made room for them. We served them and they ordered what they wanted.”

Originally published as Melbourne restaurant owner’s surprising message to teens after alleged $500 dine and dash