Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Smorgasbord etiquette fight: Restaurant owner confronts man taking too much black bean stir fry meat

Hawkes Bay Today
4 Jul, 2019 10:40 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Amelia Georgina Harrison and Bradley Guildy claim they were shouted at by a Rice Canteen staff member for taking too much meat. Photo / Supplied

Amelia Georgina Harrison and Bradley Guildy claim they were shouted at by a Rice Canteen staff member for taking too much meat. Photo / Supplied

A confrontation with a Napier restaurant owner over smorgasbord etiquette has left a bad taste in the mouth of two of its customers.

Amelia Georgina Harrison's partner Brad Guildy had been having a somewhat stressful Thursday after his dog disappeared overnight, so the pair decided to head to Rice Canteen in Marewa to de-stress over lunch.

"We came in just after 1pm on Thursday and there wasn't a lot left over from the rush hour," Harrison told Hawke's Bay Today.

"We both selected from the smorgasbord option and my partner got the $15 option and selected rice and sweet and sour pork and a few other things," she said.

A couple claim they were shouted at by a Rice Canteen staff member after one of them only selected meat for their smorgasbord order. Photo / Paul Taylor
A couple claim they were shouted at by a Rice Canteen staff member after one of them only selected meat for their smorgasbord order. Photo / Paul Taylor
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

But it all went wrong at the black bean stir fry, as Guildy avoided the large "hard" chunks of broccoli, only picking the meat while a staff member "watched him like a hawk".

"He has false teeth, so he's not actually able to have hard foods, so a majority of the food he was selecting was soft.

"The woman began to raise her voice, saying 'no more meat! You have to have the veges too!'

"My partner explained he couldn't eat the broccoli because of his teeth, but she wouldn't hear of it. She said if he just wanted meat he'd have to order 'just meat' off the menu."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Harrison said the woman began banging the spoon on the tray, ordering Guildy to add more vegetables to his selection.

Shocked by the service, Guildy changed his mind and asked for a refund, which he was given.

Rice Canteen Marewa owner Tina Lou said Guildy was taking only meat and no vegetables.

"It was a mixed order, but he took just meat, which means it would have been a different charge.

"Meat is expensive, but if you have meat and vegetables together it would work under that order. Meat just on its own comes under a different charge.

"The man just picked the meat, another customer might have wanted the meat and vegetables together.

"I told the man not just to take the meat because another customer would want to order it."

Restaurant Association general manager Nicola Waldren said it appeared the restaurant could have better communicated with the customer to let them know there was a meat only option.

"I can see that at $15 the buffet option profit margin would have been very marginal, so the owner would have been mindful of needing to manage that.

"People don't always realise what slim profit margins hospitality businesses have, there is a lot of pressure, particularly with increasing food costs and other compliance costs," she said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I would imagine that the owner was also mindful about needing to manage expectations for all of her customers – the next customer is going to have an expectation that both vegetables and meat will be in the dish."

Reaction to the confrontation on social media was mixed.

Some members of the public jumped to the defence of Rice Canteen:

One woman said: "If someone picked out just the meat I would charge them extra or tell them to order a meat only dish. If the broccoli is too big ... well then chop it up when you get home."

Smorgasbord rules: Is it okay to only take the meat out of the stirfry and leave the veges behind? Photo / File
Smorgasbord rules: Is it okay to only take the meat out of the stirfry and leave the veges behind? Photo / File

Another said: "I think it's actually really rude of your partner to pick out only the meat from one dish. This leaves less meat in that dish for others. I'm with the aggressive lady taking the spoon off him. It's basic manners not to pick at dishes"

But others pointed out one of the more well-known rules of hospitality - that the customer is always right.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"That's rude considering you bloody pay," one woman said.

"You pay to eat what you want at smorgasbord, too bad if he was allergic to anything that she was trying to force him to grab."

Harrison said the pair's day had ended on a high, as they arrived home to find Guildy's missing dog had returned home, soaking wet, but thrilled to see his owner.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Watch: Deer's ill-fated dash to airport - 'I've hit the darn thing'

09 May 02:44 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

'Absolutely stunning': New $825m highway nears completion

09 May 01:12 AM
Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

58m wall, no 'fatal flaws': New details about dam for Heretaunga revealed

09 May 12:34 AM

One tiny baby’s fight to survive

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Watch: Deer's ill-fated dash to airport - 'I've hit the darn thing'

Watch: Deer's ill-fated dash to airport - 'I've hit the darn thing'

09 May 02:44 AM

It ran across suburban streets and the runway – then authorities intervened.

'Absolutely stunning': New $825m highway nears completion

'Absolutely stunning': New $825m highway nears completion

09 May 01:12 AM
Premium
58m wall, no 'fatal flaws': New details about dam for Heretaunga revealed

58m wall, no 'fatal flaws': New details about dam for Heretaunga revealed

09 May 12:34 AM
'The perfect excuse': Hastings trail lights up NZ Music Month

'The perfect excuse': Hastings trail lights up NZ Music Month

08 May 11:23 PM
Connected workers are safer workers 
sponsored

Connected workers are safer workers 

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP