By: Neetzan Zimmerman (no relation)
Red Medicine, a top-shelf Vietnamese fusion eatery in Beverly Hills known for stirring shit up, is back to racking up gossip inches with its latest stunt: Naming and shaming customers who don't honor their reservations.
After losing a bunch of "prime tables" to no-shows on Saturday, owner/operator Noah Ellis took his frustration to Twitter, where he proceeded to tweet out the names of those who booked a table for rush hour, but never bothered to come or cancel.
"Invariably, the assholes who decide to no-show, or cancel 20 minutes before their reservation (because one of their friends made a reservation somewhere else) ruin restaurants (as a whole) for the people who make a reservation and do their best to honor it," Ellis told Eater LA.
He continued: "Either restaurants are forced to overbook and make the guests (that actually showed up) wait, or they do what we do, turn away guests for some prime-time slots because they're booked, and then have empty tables."
Ellis goes on to note the many different alternatives Red Medicine has tried or considered over the years — overbooking, asking for a credit card, ticketing systems, canceling reservations — all of which, it was determined, would hurt the business in the long-run.
As for shaming no-shows, Ellis doesn't say if he plans to make a habit of it, but figures those who got named "probably don't know, and if they know, they probably don't care."
