Frog Club in New York reveals 10 rules including no photos inside restaurant

The restaurant has released a list of things that are banned, including photography. Photo / Unsplash

Ever had a nice dinner out disrupted by influencers (or wanna-be influencers) snapping photos, or fellow diners getting drunk and unruly?

Well, you don’t have to worry about that at a new restaurant in New York, which has published a list of 10 rules all customers must follow.

Diners who break any of these rules will be “86′d” as a post on the restaurant’s Instagram profile states; a term that describes refusing to serve or kicking out a customer.

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Frog Club, in the West Village and was opened by Liz Johnson, an American chef who has gained celebrity status over the years after opening three well-known restaurants across the country with her now ex-husband Will Aghajanian.

Frog Club, however, is Johnson’s own endeavour and comes with strict rules for those who want to visit the 68-table eatery.

Most of the bans are reasonable and would likely be common but unspoken in fancy restaurants, such as the bans on stealing and vandalism, being rude or inappropriate to staff and becoming dangerously intoxicated.

Pretending it’s your birthday to get special treatment and not showing up to a reservation were also listed as ways to get kicked out and would likely see you removed from many upscale restaurants.

However, some rules appear to pointedly establish modern etiquette for eating out by banning “requesting a free meal”, which influencers typically offer in return for posting about a restaurant, while cancelling a reservation more than three times will get you blacklisted.

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Patrons are also prohibited from “touching the memorabilia, thinking about touching the memorabilia”, which suggests the restaurant’s interior has some pretty epic art and decor inside.

And if you try to kiss 33-year-old Johnson without her consent (rule 10), be prepared to pay $US1000 ($1600) - as this is a legitimate option on the menu.

According to one server, a diner has already paid up for the chance to kiss Johnson on the cheek, telling The New York Times “it was sweet”.

However, possibly the most counter-cultural rule is a complete and utter ban on any photography inside the restaurant.

On the list of things that will get you kicked out of Frog Club is “taking photos inside, this includes bathroom selfies”, something that seems unimaginable in a society obsessed with documentation and social media sharing. Nonetheless, Tony, the man guarding the entrance, places a sticker over the front and back of each diner’s phone before they enter the restaurant.

Even media companies, including the Times, were prohibited from taking photos during coverage of the opening, all but adding to the intrigue.

Once inside, diners can enjoy dishes such as bacon-wrapped filet mignon, lobster pierogies, frog legs, spinach souffle and ‘Frog Princess Cake’.

Once a power couple in the culinary world, Johnson and Aghajanian split in a messy and public dispute that involved accusations of animal abuse, restraining orders and court cases, which were settled in 2023.