‘Are you a pedo?’: Horror dining experience at Karen’s Diner

A father and daughter were left stunned when a waiter made incest jokes and aimed a vulgar gesture at them at a controversial “Karen” diner.

A controversial interactive restaurant has been forced to apologise to a family after they were left shell-shocked following a “vulgar” dining experience in Brisbane’s north.

The Howard family from Shailer Park said they expected rude comments at Karen’s Diner, Westfield Chermside on Sunday but the dining experience quickly spiralled.

Stacey Howard and his family decided to visit the diner, which spruiks staff “manners are non existent”, during the restaurant’s child-friendly’ hours before 5pm.

Mr Howard said he was “disgusted” after a waiter made a wanking gesture towards his 14-year-old daughter.

He said he then comforted his daughter before he was referred to as a “paedophile” by the same waiter and told he was “keeping it in the family”.

Stacey Howard and his daughter Layla Eriksen-Howard were left shell-shocked after attending Karen’s Diner. Picture: Zak Simmonds

“My daughter was doing a Facebook live and this young guy came up and said ‘Are you on OnlyFans you tart? – Here’s some content for you’ and he pretended to wank himself off and jizz on the table,” he said.

“Layla just couldn’t believe it – her mouth hit the floor.

“She has obviously been taught sexual education at school but to have a waiter come up and make a gesture like that in front of us … was just uncalled for.

“My daughter sat on my lap because she was concerned and he said ‘what are you a pedo?’, ‘are you all having sex with each other?”

The house rules at Karen’s Diner state “no racism, no sexism, no homophobic comments, no body images comments, no ableist comments, do not touch our staff, no sexual remarks towards staff members.”

But Mr Howard said there seemed to be double-standards when it comes to making staff and customers “feel comfortable”.

“We just sat there and copped it – it wasn’t until we were driving home that my wife looked at me and said ‘that was so not right on so many levels’,” he said.

A staff member at Karen’s Diner at Chermside.

Mr Howard said he also observed a boy who looked about seven be called a c**t by the same waiter during their experience.

“The epitome of a Karen for us is someone who whinges but the amount of swearing and vulgarness on that Sunday was just crazy,” he said.

“We are a pretty out there family and don’t mind banter and a bit of a laugh but it got to the point that it was just vulgar.

“My daughter and my mother in law were just sitting there dumbfounded, it got that uncomfortable that we just stood up and left.”

Mr Howard said the family contacted the diner for an explanation or apology.

“No one will want to go there again after just one experience,” he said.

A Karen’s Diner spokeswoman said “this incident was raised to us directly and we are currently conducting a thorough investigation”.

“As a venue, we are all about offering a fun experience for all patrons,” she said.

The spokeswoman said “we look to hire staff mainly from acting backgrounds that are able to play the rude and sassy hospitality role”.

“We hold multiple rounds of interviews, role play and review real time scenarios and have realms of handbooks, guides and more that point staff in the do’s and don’ts when working at Karen’s Diner,

“We were really disappointed to learn of this incident that occurred on Sunday.

“We have a thorough vetting, training and audit program at Karen’s Diner.

“The actions of this particular staff member are inexcusable and are against everything we believe in as a brand.”

The spokeswoman said Karen’s Diner “wholeheartedly” apologised to the Howard family for their experience.

“We are putting tighter training protocols in place immediately to ensure something like this never happens again.”

What other customers have said

There are also a number of Google reviews for Karen’s Diner at Westfield Chermside that reference comments made by waiters about “body image”.

Sarah-Jane McCarthy

Food was good I knew the staff were going to be rude which is the theme but attacking someone’s appearance I feel is extremely inappropriate. I will not be back

Abbey Quick

… There’s a sign that says no body image comments and they did exactly that to my mum. As we were being seated my mum took her time observing the place which caused a server to scream across the shop ‘hurry up d***head’ multiple times. I understand they’re meant to be rude, but with the comments about looks and the anxiety of being screamed at we felt like the staff crossed a line … Mum was so anxious to leave she ended up literally jumping the back fence because she was too scared to walk back past all the staff.

Anon BH

Please don’t insult people with really short heights. A waitress there broke a rule and went too far with body image. Re-train your staff about House Rules at Karen’s Diner! Never going back as this brought back terrible childhood memories.

Originally published as ‘Are you a pedo?’: Horror dining experience at Karen’s Diner