‘Horrible experience’: woman says Japanese restaurant in North Carolina forced a $9 tip on her

A woman says a meal at a Japanese restaurant in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, ended with a disagreement over tipping after a staff member allegedly entered a tip on her group’s bill despite the group selecting no tip. The group later contacted the restaurant by phone. The woman says they made two calls before speaking with a manager, who allegedly called them “horrible customers” and told them they were banned from returning.

The customer, who posts on TikTok as Kel, described it as a “horrible experience don’t recommend eating here!” before laying out the full story in a TikTok video. She and her friends had eaten at Konnichiwa and were ready to pay when a waitress brought over the card machine. Since they’d planned to leave a cash tip, they selected “no tip” on the screen first.

That’s reportedly where things went sideways. Kel says the waitress took the payment machine back and entered a $9 tip. “She goes, no, you have to tip. We go, we’re gonna tip in cash,” Kel said. According to Kel, the group tried to select no tip again, only for the waitress to pull the machine back a second time and repeat that they had to tip. Kel said she told the waitress that entering a tip without permission was “kind of like fraud.” Konnichiwa has not publicly addressed Kel’s claims, and the restaurant’s side of the exchange has not been independently confirmed.

The group then tried to contact the restaurant

Frustrated, the group called the restaurant to reach a manager. Kel says the restaurant hung up during the first call, and a second attempt got someone who claimed not to know when a manager would be available or how to reach one before that call ended too. 

A manager reportedly called back a few minutes later and, according to Kel, spoke over the group before telling them, “No, y’all are horrible customers. You’re banned from here. Don’t come back.” Kel said the manager also insisted the group had been there before and caused problems, which she disputes, saying it was her first time at the restaurant. Kel’s account later caught the attention of another North Carolina creator, who visited the same restaurant to see for himself whether he would face the same alleged tipping pressure.

Reactions in the comments suggested others had their own complaints about the restaurant. One person wrote about a first date there that turned into a 25-minute wait with no service, claiming a manager told them, “maybe if y’all tipped better you will get better service.” 

Another argued, “that is literally ILLEGAL for her to put in her own tip,” while a third said tipping was the reason they stopped going altogether, describing staff who’d “literally stand there breath down you neck to see how much tip you leave on the card reader.”

Disputes over tips showing up on bills without clear consent aren’t unique to this restaurant, and Kel’s story is similar to a case out of Hawaii involving a Cheesecake Factory bill. Kel also said the food was “burnt to a crisp” and that their table went unchecked apart from one water refill, adding that the group had been willing to tip before the situation turned confrontational.