Newport Restaurant Blasts and Bans Customer for Repeated Reservations and No-Shows

Newport Restaurant Blasts and Bans Customer for Repeated Reservations and No-Shows

A restaurant in Newport blasted a customer — publicly — for repeatedly making reservations and not showing up.

And, they have banned him, too.

Currently, restaurants in the state are allowed outdoor dining with restrictions, and no more than 66% capacity indoors.

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TSK Thames Street Kitchen co-owner Anna Jenkins told GoLocal that while “95% of customers have been great,” that she has no regrets calling out the “bad ones.” 

“Hey Joe — you suck. Forgot to tell you that last night,” wrote TSK on Facebook on July 4. “I’m throwing this on the feed as a PSA for others."

"What Joe doesn’t understand is that we are working at 66% capacity right now. Most restaurants our size cannot even get to 66% capacity with the table restrictions mandated by the governor," the restaurant continued. "Add spotty rain into the mix like last night and you’ve lost your outdoor seating.”

“Add jerks like this guy and you’ve lost your damn mind!" they added.

The restaurant provided screen grabs of the interaction with “Joe Doucette” letting him know that as he “no-showed” for the 3rd time, any future reservations would be automatically canceled. 

“Ever. Just FYI,” wrote TSK. “You will no longer be allowed to dine with us.”

“See ya tomorrow,” Doucette wrote back. 

“Perhaps your inability to communicate on the phone also includes text,” wrote TSK. “To be clear, again. You are no longer afforded the privilege of dining with us at Thames Street Kitchen. Have a great holiday!”

Dealing with Dining Restrictions — and Diners

“I wasn’t looking for this to be some big thing,” Jenkins told GoLocal. “But so many people could understand the frustrations.”

Jenkins noted that the restaurant requires credit cards for reservations and charges a $25 cancellation fee.

“Somehow he snuck through though,” said Jenkins. “Look, there are times people call, apologizing profusely they can’t make their reservation, and we understand. But this — this left us seeing red.”

The cancellation fees, added Jenkins, are not enough to cover what would have been the bill for the table.

“We joke we should charge a $150 cancellation fee, but what can you do,” she said. 

“We’re always 100% grateful to our customers who are great, and who understand they can’t stay now for hours over a bottle of wine,” said Jenkins. 

"A lot of people don’t understand the blood, sweat and tears,” she said following the interaction with “Joe.” “I could have gone home earlier that night and spent time with my kids."

“I think the Governor’s done a great job keeping [the virus] at bay,” said Jenkins. “But 66% capacity — usually if we don’t hit 75-80%, we don’t hit our numbers. We’re just breaking even. We’re hoping we can get up to 100% capacity as soon as we can.”