Buffet restaurant posts photo of customers’ massive pile of leftovers, pleads with guests to be more considerate

An eat-all-you-can restaurant in Pampanga has pleaded with customers to finish their food or pay their leftover fees after posting photos of a massive amount of leftovers a group of customers left on their table — striking a chord with people online amid high food prices.

“Bumalik po kayo para bayaran yung left over po ninyo. Marami ang nagugutom. Magkano lang po ang kita namin, hangad po namin na mabusog ang bawat isa pero sana naman po kahit konting disiplina man lang (Please come back to pay for your leftovers. So many people are going hungry. We’re just earning little from this, our aim is to make everyone full but we are hoping for a little discipline),” Bariotik Eat-All-You-Can wrote on Facebook.

The restaurant charges PHP499 (US$10) for each diner.

The restaurant added that the customers responsible for the leftovers claimed that they did not know leftovers were not allowed in the restaurant (a staple rule at many buffet restaurants) but argued that this was not an excuse to waste food.

Many people online sided with the restaurant.

“I hope they just took what they can handle. It’s called ‘eat all you can,’ not ‘take all you can and throw the rest.’ What a waste of food,” one commenter said.

“Why not give the rest to friendly stray dogs and cats around the area. Last time I went there were many of them just waiting to be given food,” another suggested.

Meanwhile, others said that leftover food was inevitable in a buffet restaurant.

“I’m not against the restaurant but sometimes in a buffet the food is good, sometimes it isn’t. Not everything is perfect… That’s why we can’t avoid leftovers,” one wrote.

“Sometimes when the food isn’t good at a buffet I can’t consume it all. I usually get a plastic bag for our dogs. But not to this point, this looks like it was done on purpose,” another said.