A family-run restaurant has pleaded for a group of diners to come back and settle their £60 bill after they allegedly did a runner while staff were distracted.
The crafty family-of-four can be seen on CCTV footage apparently sneaking out of an Italian restaurant as staff prepared their deserts on Saturday night.
The unknown man and woman were first seen by checking for filming equipment before chowing down on a £60 dinner with their two kids.
But a CCTV camera caught them later making their escape from Vito’s in Sheffield, South Yorks., after they ordered deserts to distract the unsuspecting staff.
Chef Vito Ciaraolo, 59, who has owned the classic Italian restaurant for 32 years, said it was “frustrating” that they’d pulled off the nasty trick at his neighbourhood eatery.
And he said the couple had set a particularly bad example to the children, who had fled with the woman moments before the man headed out the door behind them.
He said: “It’s very frustrating. You can imagine what I would do if I would have caught them. But there was nothing I could do.
“The waitress made an order in the kitchen. She said they'd ordered three deserts but the kids and the woman had left, and it was just the man in the restaurant.
“I said to the waitress 'Go upstairs. I think they are going to do a runner.'
"I realised they were up to something. But by the time she went upstairs, one minute later, they had left.”
The family arrived at Vito’s restaurant at 6pm on Sunday (April 23) and ordered olives.
They then ordered three pizzas and an aubergine dish as main courses, a fruit juice and three soft drinks, racking up a bill of £60.95.
But when they finished their mains, CCTV footage shows the woman - dressed in black - standing up from her seat and leading the children from the table.
The man, in a blue t shirt, then orders deserts before making a dash while the waitress is distracted.
Vito said the staff didn't know the family, who had chosen to sit at a table close to the door before they began to make their orders.
He said: “They just walked in. They were new to us, and the staff said they had never seen them before.
"They were looking around to see if there were any cameras. But they didn’t see one of the cameras, which is very high up.
“They started with some appetizers, some olives, and then they had three pizzas and a Melanzane Parmigiana, they also had some soft drinks.”
Vito said he was shocked when he found out that the couple had legged it from his premises on foot without settling their bill.
But he now believes from the way they acted that they may have tried the same trick at other restaurants before.
