all-you-can-eat restaurant wanted customer to eat the rice too

[Liberal_in_LA]

A Studio City sushi restaurant is taken to court by an all-you-can-eat customer.
By David Lazarus

February 17, 2011, 8:29 p.m.

David Martin was in the mood for raw fish, and he liked the deal offered by a Studio City sushi restaurant: all you can eat for $28.

He took a seat at the counter and started ordering. But it turned out that Martin didn't really want sushi, which includes rice; he wanted all-you-can-eat sashimi, which is just fish. He began picking the seafood off the top and leaving the rice.

Restaurant owner Jay Oh told Martin that if he wanted the all-you-can-eat price, he'd have to eat the rice too and not just fill up on fish. Martin replied that he has diabetes and that he can't eat rice.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus-20110218,0,1228883.column

[RagAss]

1. Now these are the issues we really need to be talking about.

[Kurovski]

2. Homer Simpson would agree.

And: "you eat more vegtabull!"

[Initech]

7. "That man ate all our shrimp and two plastic lobsters!!"

:rofl:

[Kurovski]

16. And him in the window, eating for the settlement

"He's hideous!" :rofl:

[lumberjack_jeff]

21. Yarr, tis a remorsless eatin' machine. n/t

[lonestarnot]

74. Snort!

ROFLMAO :rofl:

[JVS]

50. Homer would have eaten the rice.

[eleny]

15. +1

[Dorian Gray]

45. Well, it's a fun diversion

to argue about stuff like this!

Having said that, the suit is a waste of time and the courts should throw it out. $4000 for humiliation? BS.

I have some dietary restrictions, and I order accordingly. I would never ever order sushi in a Japanese restaurant if I couldn't eat the rice. In my opinion, this guy was being an ass.

[Dorian Gray]

46. And furthermore

All you can eat sushi? YUCK!

(I love sushi... but it's not the type of food I would get at bargain prices. I'm not a snob about most things, but sushi has to be super fresh. All you can eat, bargain sushi? Bleargh!)

[AsahinaKimi]

3. Its good to know the difference between Sushi and Sashimi

Ahead of time. one is: すし。and the other is: さしみ。

[Brilliantrocket]

4. This issue is actually really important to me.

There's an all you can eat sushi place by my house that makes nigiri with too much rice . I'd love to be able win a claim for all the sashimi I didn't get to eat.

[msongs]

5. if u take the food you have to eat it. then get more. the restaurant can set the terms nt

[cynatnite]

6. The customer eats what he or she wants. The restaurant has no right to dictate that. n/t

[Statistical]

8. Of course they can.

There restaurant, their rules. Hell they could make you drink a gallon of water between courses too.

Don't like the rules, don't eat there.

[cynatnite]

9. I'll have to remember that the next time I get served crap food from places like IHOP. n/t

[former9thward]

18. If they are serving crap food why are you going there?

[cynatnite]

27. Most people aren't aware it's crap until it's served to them...

That's what I should have said instead.

[ohheckyeah]

10. Maybe they should also

require you to stand on your head for 10 minutes while farting to the tune of Dixie.

[Statistical]

12. They certainly "could" do that.

Of course customers could certainly chose to never come back.

A business which drives away business tends not to be in business for long.

[cynatnite]

14. And no business will stay in business long by dictating to customers...

Word gets out.

If customers don't want to eat what's on their plate, they don't have to. Period.

If a restaurant has issues with that, then maybe they shouldn't have a rule that says "you have to eat whatever we serve you" which this one does not. They just got pissed that a customer exercised his right to eat or not eat whatever the hell he liked.

[Democat]

52. Of course they have a right, and most all you can eat restaurants have such rules!

Otherwise you could just walk in and take food and throw in in the trash all day long.

[Jamastiene]

43. I would certainly never go back if they had someone do that.

:P

[MattBaggins]

66. No they could not

The sign says "all you can eat for $$$". Unless all your silly little extra rules are printed on the sign, you are incorrect.

[Dokkie]

35. +10000

I can remember wishing that a buffet manager would come and give me a warning during my buffet binging days. Sometimes its for the customers own ggood

[fishwax]

19. they can eat what they want, but what they want may not qualify for the all you can eat price

I don't think it's an unreasonable approach for an all-you-can eat promotion, just as it wouldn't be if a customer at an all-you-can-eat pasta place expected to get plate after plate of shrimp scampi while eating only the shrimp and leaving the pasta, or at a pizza buffet picked off the italian sausage and left the cheese, sauce, and dough and then expected to be served endless additional slices.

[cynatnite]

26. Restaurants should inform customers of limitations beforehand...

The option should have been available to substitute the rice for something that the customer is able to eat. It would have avoided this entire thing from the beginning. A lot of restaurants are willing to substitute side dishes like this. Giving customers more options gives them reason to return.

[fishwax]

31. I have no idea what the restaurant tells the customer and how or when, but it's ironic that

he's complaining about being shortchanged on an all-you-can-eat sushi deal when, in fact, he claims he can't eat the sushi (rice) at all.

[cynatnite]

33. My brain's operating on half-capacity tonight. Good point. n/t

[fishwax]

34. i can relate to that :)

:hi:

[Dorian Gray]

47. Sushi

on top of Quinoa!

Genius!

[eShirl]

58. and the restaurant sets the prices and decide what is on special and what isn't.

the customer has no right to dictate that

[MattBaggins]

68. That would be incorrect

If they have a sign that says "all you can eat", they have to honor that.

[Statistical]

70. All you can eat SUSHI. Not SASHIMI. sushi = fish + rice.

He didn't eat the Sushi thus they didn't serve him more.

Another example. All you can eat pizza place. Should a customer be able to pick off the peporoni and throw rest of pizza away. Likely could eat 5-10 whole "pizzas" that way.

[Lucky Luciano]

72. No - this is common in all you can eat sushi restaurants.

Not eating the rice would make them lose a ton of money as people fill up on expensive fish. I remember seeing an all you can eat sushi restaurant (when I was in grad school and could only afford sushi like this) where they specifically said you would be charged by the piece for a sashimi order for not eating the rice.

I don't blame them.

Now, I would never eat at an all you can eat sushi place, though I will say that the one place I used to go to while in grad school was not bad for the price.

If anyone is ever in NYC, I STRONGLY recommend the omakase and a few of the appetizers at Soto in the West Village. It is truly amazing there.

[kenny blankenship]

11. Tell 'em Wilford Brimley sent ya

[cynatnite]

13. That pic just freaked the hell out of me. LOL. n/t

[Dorian Gray]

48. I like to call it

LIVEabeetus!

(Stupid Manshow/Karl Malone reference)

[eShirl]

59. that NEVER gets old

:rofl:

[struggle4progress]

17. That happened only 2523 miles from my house! And without the internet

I wouldn't have known anything about it!

Isn't it great? Now I can know whenever a customer on the other side of the country is unhappy about his lunch! And not only that -- I can also hear opinions from lots of other people about who I should support in the dispute! We're gonna become a nation of well-informed geniuses!

[Buns_of_Fire]

73. I figure that, if nothing else, I now know the difference between "sushi" and "sashimi"

There may come a time in my life when I'll have to know that to survive (or win a game show, whichever comes first).:)

[Manifestor_of_Light]

20. I can't stand people who tell me to eat more.

One of my hot buttons since I was a kid and got yelled at for "eating like a bird".

That was before I got fat.

Dead thyroid, dead adrenals, before you ask.

[Raine]

44. When I was in about 2nd or 3rd grade the teacher who was acting as cafeteria

monitor refused to let me get up till I had ate everything on my tray! :wtf: That was the last time I ever ate in the cafeteria. After that I took a sack lunch that my mother made. No one is telling me I have to eat stuff I don't want to. :mad:

Though I admit I can see the restaurant's side in this too. When someone keeps leaving the cheap stuff to give their stomach room for all it can eat of the expensive items. "All you can eat" seems like it would imply that you're eating it all, IMO.

[npk]

22. He can't eat rice because he is diabetic

What? My mother has diabetes and is insulin dependent. To my knowledge she has never told me that she couldn't eat rice. I suppose there must be a reason behind this, but I have never heard of it.

[cynatnite]

28. Rice is rich in carbs...a big no no for diabetics. n/t

[Obamanaut]

55. If a person cannot eat food A (in this case rice), one should not order

an item whose prime ingredient is food A (in this case rice)

[GoCubsGo]

56. Actually, they can eat rice and other carbs in moderation

Here are the recommendations for a Type 1 diabetic diet:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002440.htm

I think this guy is lying about the diabetes, as he could just as easily cause himself major problems by overloading himself with protein. Either that, or he isn't serious about managing his disease.

[cynatnite]

65. White rice has 37g of carbs per serving which is awfully high...

Diabetics who care about their health won't touch the stuff. We're only allowed a certain amount of carbs per day and this takes a huge portion of that. Not only that, many diabetics' blood sugar will skyrocket eating rice...mine included. I can't touch it.

There is a lawsuit over this so I doubt he could get away with lying.

It's a silly lawsuit, IMO, and I don't think it'll get far.

[DontTreadOnMe]

23. This is a common rule for all-you-can-eat sushi

I have seen numerous places with this type of rule, it is only fair.

You can easily eat more than $28 worth of sashimi. Of course the rice is part of the rule, to fill you up.

I have also seen a rule where you can only order two pieces at a time after you first big order, preventing all-you-can-eaters from ordering
a huge second amount that they never eat. So you order two pieces more at a time until you fall off your chair with your stomach engorged...

even with these rules I usually crush the restaurant and eat about $100 worth of sushi!

[Phentex]

62. I didn't know this...

I've never eaten at an all you can eat sushi place. At first glance of the article, it sounds like the restaurant was being harsh. But after reading your explanation, it makes more sense.

[petronius]

24. The restaurant has a fair point: if you can't eat X, you shouldn't order all-you-can-eat X

I've never read the fine print, but it seems reasonable that all-you-can-eat means you're served an order, you finish it, and you're served another. When you can't finish the current serving, you're done.

It would be one thing if they were serving it on a giant bed of lettuce and requiring him to eat that, but rice is a pretty integral part of sushi. Just because it's easily separable doesn't make it reasonable to discard half the dish and declare yourself done...

[Blue-Jay]

25. Both involved parties are assholes.

Asshole #1: Pays to eat all-he-can-eat, but throws away most of it. Asshole.
Asshole #2: Offers all-you-can-eat, but makes a ass of himself when someone doesn't eat the way he wants him to eat. Asshole.

I say we call it a draw in lieu of looking like greedy idiots.

[distantearlywarning]

37. +1 to this comment.

[Bonobo]

29. Self-edit. Dupe.

[Bonobo]

30. Typical nonsense.

One of the things that fucks up America is that people really don't like to play fair.

A $28 all you can eat sushi is based on the restauranteur's calculations as to how they can satisfy their customers, yes, but they also have to MAKE money since they are a business.

Trying to fill up on just the expensive fish by not eating the rice is unfair and manipulative.

Just play by the rules and be reasonable. Be a human being and not a jerk out for yourself and 99% of the time there will be no problems.

This guy, diabetic or not, was manipulating the situation in and violating the spirit of the agreement.

I hate jerks that refuse to see anything beyond their own selfish noses.

[cynatnite]

nevermind n/t

[DU GrovelBot]

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[tammywammy]

36. Well it was all-you-can-eat sushi not sashimi. n/t

[pinniped]

38. Article doesn't say if the asshole restaurant owner has a sign listing the....

criteria for the all you can eat price. If he made up this rule on the fly, he's an asshole and should pay up. If there's a clearly posted sign, then the sushi eater has no legitimate beef.

Anyways, it all balances out. Not everyone eats raw fish. I like cooked eel, soft shell crab, and California rolls at the all you can eat sushi joint in Davis, CA. Some other patron could eat the raw fish I won't order. They don't have any silly eat-all-the-rice rules like that. And, you can order sashimi, which doesn't have rice on the bottom.

And in this pic on the LAtimes site, I find it hard to believe that he puts that much salmon on that piece of fish. It looks like a staged photo.

[tammywammy]

39. The sign said sushi, not sashimi

Sushi means fish with rice.

[pipoman]

40. All you can eat

is a 'sticky wicket'. I manage a buffet restaurant. I see people load up on proteins and no carbs (proteins are expensive), I can't say anything. I can look around the restaurant and find an old lady who is eating $3 in food...she makes up for the protein eater. An all you can eat menu doesn't guarantee a profit or against loss on any one customer, the idea is at the end of the day your food cost is 1/3 of your receipts. The guy should have shut up and served the customer, then if he felt the need, published a requirement to eat the rice after the customer left..lesson learned and no lawsuit or unhappy customer.

[Confusious]

42. sushi is rice and fish

sashimi is fish

it's pretty clear. This guy thought he would get an exensive meal for cheap.

[pipoman]

63. That is certainly a good argument

I try not to argue with my customers, the policy could be posted 5 minutes after the guy left. Some of people who patronize all you can eat restaurants are trying to beat the system...it is just comes with the offering. I don't think the customer will prevail in his law suit, at least not the 4k he is looking for, but it could have been avoided. And again, anyone running an all you can eat have to disregard individuals and look at the food cost vs. receipts at the end of the day, week or month. If the food costs are exceeding around 33% of the receipts, on the average, the menu price isn't high enough, if the cost is 33% or less, I really don't care what or how they eat.

[Confusious]

41. The restaurant offered all you can sushi

which is rice and fish.

The guy though he would change the order to all you can eat sashimi, and use his disease as an excuse to try and fuck them over.

the guy is the asshole here. I hope the restaurant wins. I've had enough of assholes trying to make their own rules.

[aikoaiko]

49. When all you can eat sushi places opened in the 80s in NYC it was common to have this rule posted

but as time passed it became common knowledge and some places stopped posting the rule on signs and menus.

The restaurant did call it all you can eat sushi which implies the rice too.

The owner is perfectly within his rights to set the rules for his menu.

Heck, I even got gut off from an all you can eat sushi place even after eating all the rice.

[Democat]

51. It's all you can "eat" not all you can "throw away".

Easy to put someone out of business by going to an all you can eat and throwing the food in the trash.

[JVS]

53. We once had a thread about a buffet that threw a family out because they wasted too much.

[JVS]

54. Ah, here it is. And ironically the thread was started by The Sushi Bandit

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x208502

[Occulus]

57. Take a bow.

What a great find.

[Dorian Gray]

61. Awesome!

[eShirl]

60. that's like getting all-you-can-eat pizza and only eating the pepperoni

then complaining they wouldn't let you pick the pepperoni off as many pizzas as you could until you were full

[MineralMan]

64. I can't believe I read the whole thing!

If you don't remember the ad that alludes to, you're too damned young, you whippersnapper!

[underpants]

67. You go now!! You here FOUR HOUR!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdwuiyO7hOU

[treestar]

69. Why is he taking them to court over a $28 contract?

As for the restaurant, how much money are they losing? Them's the breaks for "all you can eat" for $28.

Don't make the offer if you don't want to live up to it.

[Statistical]

71. They did live up to it.

The deal was all you can eat SUSHI. Not all you can eat plain fish. Sushi = fish + rice.

He didn't eat it thus they didn't serve him more. No different than any other "all you can eat place".

An all you can eat pizza place wouldn't allow you to eat only the peperoni and throw rest of pizza away and continually order more pizza.
An all you can eat chicken place wouldn't allow you to eat just the skin, throw rest of chicken away and continually order more chicken.

[treestar]

75. that would have been easy enough for them to control, then

Unless they were serving all you can eat plain fish to others. Whether it was included or not should have been clear in their offer, with all customers treated the same.

[Statistical]

76. All customers are included and it is very clear. Sushi = fish + rice.

So all you can eat sushi indicates the complete item (fish + rice). Sashimi is raw fish with no rice. The restaurant had no all you can eat sashimi special.