Restaurant owner backs decision not to serve Russell Crowe and his girlfriend
A Melbourne restaurant owner has spoken out after denying actors Russell Crowe and Britney Theriot entry over their outfits.
On Friday (17 February), the Les Misérables actor and girlfriend Britney Theriot popped by Japanese fusion restaurant Mr Miyagi on Chapel Street, Windsor, Victoria for a bite to eat after having worked up an appetite during a game of tennis.
However, upon showing up to the restaurant, the couple were denied entry, with the restaurant citing its strict dress-code regulations.
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The restaurant owner Kristian Klein told Page 13 of the Herald Sun: "We treat everyone the same. It doesn’t matter who you are or if you are Russell Crowe.
"We’ve got a dress code that we that we push across every level. So whoever it is, it stays the same.
"We’re consistent with it and I don’t feel like it’s unreasonable."
The restaurant owner noted Mr Miyagi isn't 'trying to teach people how to dress'.
However, Klein continued: "But I know personally if I’m in my thongs and my boardies, I’m not going to try and go to a nice restaurant, because I wouldn’t be dressed appropriately.
"[...] We put so much effort in what we do. And we expect everyone to sort of respect us like we respect the guests."
After the couple were turned away, Crowe's manager Grant Vandenberg described to the Daily Mail Australia exactly what the actors had been wearing when he tried to visit the restaurant.
He said: "He [Crowe] went there wearing a brand new Ralph Lauren polo having just played a game of tennis and was turned away."
On its website, the restaurant describes itself as a 'casual but fancy restaurant,' however, clearly Crowe and Theriot's attire was too far towards the former and didn't quite meet the 'smart casual dress code'.
Klein told The Sydney Morning Herald the staff members who turned away the actor and his partner hadn't realised who they were.
However, as he's since stated: "It doesn’t matter who you are or if you are Russell Crowe."
Crowe and Theriot can also take comfort in not being the only potential diners to be turned away from the establishment, the Herald Sun reporting radio producer Sacha French, alongside TV commentator Steve Price and his partner, have also previously been turned away.
Luckily, Crowe and Theriot are reported as having moved on and managed to find somewhere else to grab a spot of lunch after their morning sports activities.
Klein has also offered an olive branch to the Gladiator actor and his partner after the awkwardness of them being turned away.
The restaurant owner said: "We’d love for him to come to dinner, we’d love to have him back."
Topics: Australia, Celebrity, Food and Drink, Sport
Poppy Bilderbeck