Bosses at a tapas restaurant fear someone is trying to sabotage their business after 40 fake bookings in one night. Bosses at Lo Rapitenc Spanish Deli Shop and Tapas restaurant in Frome say the Saturday night incident resulted in a huge loss of earnings.
By the time they realised the bookings were not real, it was too late, with only 14 genuine reservations arriving for dinner. Owners have described the bookings at best as a "cruel joke" and at worst an attempt to sabotage the business, reports Somerset Live.
In a post on its social media pages, the owners said: “We’ve been the victims of, at best a cruel joke, at worst an attempt at sabotage tonight with fake numbers booking tables for tonight. 40 covers booked, 14 came for dinner. "The rest was too late to realise their numbers weren’t real.
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“We work extremely hard, and try to do so with a strong sense of social justice and morality. Tonight has been horrible, food wasted and a big loss of expected earnings. Loss of earnings which will have an impact on our livelihood, our staff and our young family .
"It hurts so much but I won't give up. So next week expect to see a better booking system.”
The restaurant and shop on Cheap Street has a five-star rating on TripAdvisor. The deli and restaurant serves home-cooked Spanish food, imported Spanish wines, beers and sherry It also offers a wide variety of imported products including rice, oil, cheese and meat.
One reviewer said: "We had the most delicious time dining this weekend. The staff were amazing and always on hand to help us with anything we needed. The selection of dishes were insane! Only to be described as an explosion of flavour. We decided to let the chef surprise us with a mix of different dishes. I really recommend doing this if you find it hard to pick a particular choice of tapas. We also had a vegetarian dining with us and found a perfect variety of different dishes to choose from. I cannot wait to come back again soon! 5 stars for sure."
Another wrote: "Lovely and authentic Catalan food served by friendly staff in comfortable surroundings".
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