By K

March 17, 2009 12:33 PM | Link to this

Only if the party is being unruly and disruptive. Otherwise, no.

By Noelle

March 18, 2009 5:37 PM | Link to this

In the case in the linked story? No way. Even if the customer had been informed of a 1.5-hour limit, she says they were seated after their reservation time, so they didn’t even get the alloted time. If reservation times are an issue, then it’s the restaurant’s duty to inform the customer at the time the reservation is made — or to offer a lot more for compensation than a teabag.

In general, I think it’s bad form for any restaurant to kick out a customer unless there’s a behavior problem (and an initial attempt to quash it doesn’t work). Most customers can tell if a restaurant is busy and will wrap things up in a timely matter. Clueless customers can usually be gently nudged if necessary, with dessert/coffee offers or the bill.

By marla

March 30, 2009 5:53 PM | Link to this

I think a restaurant has every right to ask a customer to leave if they are disruptive, i.e. loud and obnoxious kids, drunken loud inappropriate behaviour, etc.

By Mary

March 31, 2009 8:56 AM | Link to this

I believe a restaurant has the right to ask customers to leave if they have later reservations for those tables or if the crowd is becoming unruly. However the restaurant should not and most likely would not ask them to leave if they were behaving and not causing problems for anyone even if the restaurant needed the table.