'Mortifying': Toronto woman says restaurant shamed her for ordering too much food
A Toronto woman says she was shamed for the size of her order at a sushi restaurant north of the city in a scathing review posted to social media that’s been viewed more than 1.4 million times.
In a TikTok video posted this week about the April 28 incident, Cassandra Mauro said she and a friend were famished after working out at the gym and went to get some sushi late last month.
- Download our app to get local alerts on your device
- Get the latest local updates right to your inbox
“No. Too much food. That’s it,” Mauro recalls the server telling the pair as they placed their order.
“Is it? Is it too much food?’ We didn’t order that much. We ordered three apps and two rolls and also we’re starving,” she said.
Mauro said after their order was placed, the server scoffed at them.
Then, according to Mauro, the manager of the a la carte King City restaurant came to their table and said, “Hungry?”
“She goes, ‘Yeah. You ordered too much food. It’s not going to fit on this table. Get up. Move to this table.’”Cassandra Mauro says she was shamed for the size of her order at a sushi restaurant in King City in a review posted to social media that’s gone viral. (TikTok/cassmauro)
The pair decided to stay and try and enjoy their meal, but said they could see the chef from their table laughing at them.
“We finished all of [the food]. We paid and we tipped. Now, I’m looking back on this whole interaction and I’m like, ‘That was mortifying,’” Mauro said.
Paper Crane Sushi, which Mauro identified as the business, did not respond to CTV News Toronto’s request for comment.
RESTAURANT APOLOGIZES
In response to the incident, the business owner issued a lengthy apology to Mauro and her friend, and said something during the interaction may have been lost in translation.
“We sincerely apologize for any comments that may have caused a negative experience … Many of our staff speak English as a second language, but we hope you know it was never the intention of staff to make you (or anyone) feel judged at our restaurant,” Paper Crane Sushi wrote in a post to Instagram.
The post went on to say the business owners have discussed the incident with their staff members and have “looked closely” at how they speak to customers.
“We’re also taking time to address language barriers and make sure our words have the appropriate meaning.”
Paper Crane Sushi, which the business said is Korean-owned, said the incident has triggered threats and racially-motivated harassment, and as such the owners have turned comments off on their social media pages.
Sushi file photo. (Source: Pexels)
Negative Google reviews of the establishment referencing the incident have also surfaced -- which Mauro said she does not condone -- but appear to have since been removed as they likely go against the platform’s deceptive content policies.
For her part, Mauro said in a follow up video it was not her intention to generate such a negative response to the business, and that she just wanted to share her experience, albeit to an admittedly much larger audience than she intended.
“I appreciate that they are taking the steps to re-educate their staff,” she told CTV News Toronto.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'I just can't believe that it took so long': Body found in wreckage 3 months after deadly fire
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
No proof man lied to brother about number of kittens born in litter, B.C. tribunal rules
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Quebec police hand out hundreds of tickets to Hells Angels and other bikers before 'first run' meeting
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Snakes almost on a plane: U.S. TSA discovers a bag with small snakes in passenger's pants
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
Britney Spears 'home and safe' after paramedics responded to an incident at the Chateau Marmont, source tells CNN
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
Explosion at train station leads to discovery of stolen car on Montreal's South Shore: police
Police are investigating after a BMW exploded in the St-Lambert Exo train station parking lot on Montreal's South Shore.