A Norwich sushi restaurant has backed a campaign urging diners to cancel reservations they can’t attend after seeing no-shows every day since reopening.
Ciscoe’s Pan Asian and Sushi restaurant, on Ber Street, said on Facebook it was joining the No More No Shows campaign, which has gained traction nationally in the last week after high-profile chefs reported diners not turning up for their bookings.
The restaurant said in the post they’d seen it daily since reopening, and asked people to call or send a message if they knew they couldn’t make it.
Storm Ashdown, from the restaurant, said: “Reopening on July 4 has been a learning curve and we have had to change. As a result of complying with the regulations we have had to reduce the number of tables in the restaurant.
“We are so grateful for all our customers, a huge amount have come and seen us or continued to have takeaways. But the couple who don’t call or don’t send a message have a huge impact because that table could have been given away.
MORE: ‘A small courtesy to ring’ - restaurants’ plea for empathy as no-show diners are criticised“We do have customers who ask for a particular time and we can’t do that because we’re trying to keep everyone safe, so it is quite frustrating.
“People not showing up is very disheartening - we want to give that table away but at 7.30pm on a Saturday night sometimes it’s too late.”
She said they had seen one to two tables not show up every night since reopening, and said they were only asking customers for a quick message to let them know.
“We are really happy we have a full restaurant 90pc of the time and we don’t mind if people can’t come - we would rather people are comfortable,” she said. “Just call or message us on social media, we are very active and we respond pretty quickly.”
She said they now encouraged customers to let them know if anything changed when they made a booking and said in the past people had hung up on them when they tried to call to see if they were still coming.
Currently, Ciscoe’s is open from Thursday to Sunday, but in August hopes to open on Mondays to take part in the government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme.
“We have bookings in for August and early September which is lovely, and we’d much rather people come when they feel comfortable,” she said.
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