A Montreal restaurateur is warning fellow business owners to be on alert after a group of six diners allegedly left his restaurant without paying a bill of nearly $500 last week — a move he believes was carefully planned.
Benji Greenberg, owner of Yans Deli on Ferrier St., said the group arrived for lunch on July 6 and initially appeared friendly and enthusiastic about the restaurant’s menu.
The alleged dine-and-dash prompted Greenberg to post security footage and images of the group on social media, urging other restaurant owners to be aware of them. The post quickly gained traction online, with commenters expressing support and some suggesting that requesting a complicated bill split before leaving is a tactic used in similar incidents.
According to Greenberg, two men entered the restaurant first and asked whether the deli served European food. After discussing the menu, they decided to stay and said additional friends would be joining them.
Over the course of the meal, four more people arrived, bringing the group to six diners.
Greenberg said the customers ordered generously, requesting platters, soups, meats and sausages rather than selecting individual menu items.
But as the lunch progressed, their behaviour changed.
“They started to get really rude,” Greenberg said in an interview Friday.
One diner complained about his meal and requested chicken instead, while others became increasingly demanding, he said.
“They were yanking me by the shirt, pointing and saying, ‘More of this, more of that,’” Greenberg said.
The restaurant owner said he was working the dining room alone after a server called in sick that day.
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When it came time to pay, Greenberg said one member of the group requested that the nearly $500 bill be divided into six separate tabs, with each diner accounting for specific items consumed throughout the meal.
“I said, ‘Give me a minute, I need to write this down,’” he recalled.
While he was preparing the bills, packing Uber orders and serving other customers, the group disappeared.
“They kept coming and going throughout the meal, so at first I thought maybe they’d stepped outside for a smoke,” Greenberg said.
When he eventually went outside to check, he said, he realized they were gone.
Greenberg said security cameras captured the diners inside the restaurant. He later shared footage and images from the incident online in the hope of identifying them and warning other restaurateurs.
Benji Greenberg at Yans Deli on Friday, June 5, 2026. Allen McInnis / Montreal Gazette files
Greenberg opened Yans Deli in August 2025 after working in several of Montreal’s best-known kitchens, including Joe Beef. The restaurant was recently featured in a Gazette story about a new generation of restaurateurs reimagining Jewish deli cuisine in the city.
While the unpaid bill was frustrating, Greenberg said the financial loss was not what upset him most. “It’s that I spent time taking care of this group and trying to give them good hospitality.”
Greenberg said he believes the incident was deliberate.
“It was 100 per cent co-ordinated,” he said.
For now, Greenberg said his goal is to make other restaurant owners aware of what happened.
“If these men and lady come to your restaurant,” he wrote in his social media post, “be aware of intentions.”
I’m a reporting intern at the Montreal Gazette, covering breaking news and the issues affecting communities across Montreal. I believe some of the most interesting stories begin with an ordinary conversation.
amclaughlin@postmedia.com