Mouse in a restaurant - what's your move?

[OverTheBorder]

Out in a restaurant last night, chain restaurant but not mega chain, a hand full of UK sites so not an independent but not Pizza Express.

Ordered starters and mains. Just ending starters and mouse runs accross our feet. Doesn't go to a corner. Literally sits and stairs at us for a while. The Mrs, being an animal lover and non complainer, discreetly points out to manager. Manager confirms he has noticed and he is trying to deal with it. Wife returns mains arrive, completely uncomfortable, mouse is now under table next to us who are blissfully unaware and is quite literally dancing round our table. Actually spotted so easily wonder if it's one or perhaps two or three.

Rush through mains. Ask for bill to get the feck out. Bill comes, nothing off or no thank you for discreetly dealing with it.

I got out thinking what the hell should I have done? If it is was a rat I walk, and don't expect to pay a dime. With a mouse, I couldn't work out if I should have been bothered or not. It certainly made my dining experience a bit shit! Views?

[George2Loose]

Leave a very stern trip adviser review.

Write to them get a free meal or just don't go back

[Woodsey]

You should go to the grand place square in Brussels. There are mice everywhere running around the bars and restaurants, they can't control them and in fact have given up and are more of an amusement to tourists. They don't come out when it's busy, but start poking their noses out and running around when less people are around.

About your spot, wouldn't bother me really, would just laugh about it.

[Marky147]

I'd have thrown it a crust

[AndrewT]

Should have tipped for the extra free foot massage provided by mouse.

Very poor form.

[celtic]

Just get Alison to start screaming once the bill turns up.

[OverTheBorder]

Ha ha I did still tip. Not the servers fault.

I also dropped a sweet potato fry, although by accident!

I think other people screaming was what had me on edge. I kept worrying about someone flipping a table or going mental and I couldn't focus on the rest of my meal. I thought the manager could have comped a round or something, as we could have been utter dicks about it!

[Jon MW]

To be honest you should report it to the environmental health people.

A mouse in the restaurant 'could' be indicative of poor hygiene in the kitchen. If it's just unfortunate and they're not doing anything wrong then they won't get into trouble from being inspected - but if it's caused by their habits then it's something they should be coerced into fixing.

[Woodsey]

To be honest you should report it to the environmental health people.

A mouse in the restaurant 'could' be indicative of poor hygiene in the kitchen. If it's just unfortunate and they're not doing anything wrong then they won't get into trouble from being inspected - but if it's caused by their habits then it's something they should be coerced into fixing.

Seems a bit excessive, a mouse could randomly pop up anywhere anytime. Don't understand anyone would want to cause problems for someone for such a small thing.

[OverTheBorder]

To be honest you should report it to the environmental health people.

A mouse in the restaurant 'could' be indicative of poor hygiene in the kitchen. If it's just unfortunate and they're not doing anything wrong then they won't get into trouble from being inspected - but if it's caused by their habits then it's something they should be coerced into fixing.

Seems a bit excessive, a mouse could randomly pop up anywhere anytime. Don't understand anyone would want to cause problems for someone for such a small thing.

That was my view. However didn't really want to pay £70 for a meal, half of which I spent staring at the floor. Although reminds me of many a first date

[4KSuited]

It's a tricky one, as illustrated by the various responses on the thread so far.

Personally, I'd ask for the bill & leave at the first sighting of the mouse. There's nothing the staff can do, really: if they try to "tackle the situation" they only draw attention to the mouse, and lots of people will freak out. The alternative is doing nothing, but just hoping that the mouse picks up a treat and disappears back through the hole it came in by. Thus, there's 75% chance that the whole experience is mouse-blighted.

As far as action against the establishment is concerned, I'd be inclined to have a quiet word with the manager - saying something like "I understand that this can be a random mouse, so on this occasion I'm just bringing it to your attention. I plan to come back, coz I like your restaurant and the food, but if there's still a mouse problem next time I will have to consider notifying the relevant Health & Environment authority".

[exstream]

Could have left and went to a different place

[bobAlike]

Could have left and went to a different place

The mouse?

[booder]

Great subject matter for a sitcom, surprised it hasn't been done before.

[bunnydas8888]

Have run restaurant/pubs for about 5 or 6 years, if this happend in one of my pubs I would be mortified and comp some of the bill or free drinks etc.  Depends on the type of person who notices/number of people etc.

If it was a random 1 off mouse then I wouldn't do too much about it other than report to my pest controllers for them to come do a check up.  If was an ongoing thing/had Seend multiple mice in the space of a few hours I would close my restaurant for that day and get the pest people in asap to get some proofing/more bait boxes etc.

Sure if you rang them up and speak to the manager and explain what happend and how it was dealt with and how it made you feel then you'll probably get a free meal/money off next bill.