A table for ten, including children, to celebrate a birthday. Then, when it was time to pay, there were all sorts of excuses and a "flight" through a side exit.

A bitter August 15th eve for the Maddalena Ristorante Pizzeria in Capoterra.

"Yesterday, a table of 10 people from the heart of Cagliari," they wrote in a Facebook post, " didn't pay their bill, and they lingered shadily in front of the restaurant for almost an hour, waiting for who knows what, until they disappeared when the Carabinieri from the Via Nuoro station arrived after midnight, and we thank them."

The group had booked to celebrate a birthday, the owner explains. And they even insisted on celebrating right there. Then, after eating and drinking "an innumerable amount of beers," they stood up and the "scene" began at the register, in front of the children, no less. One excuse after another for not paying the dues and then they left the scene.

It's not the first time this has happened: "They come to us knowing that there are no controls."

"At night," social media continues, "we're a border town in this country that presumptuously claims to be a (tourist) city and doesn't have a single municipal police patrol to deploy or intervene promptly. However, the traffic police have been on the avenue since 8:30 today, issuing or attempting to issue fines for reasons bordering on common sense."

The pizzeria will file a complaint in the next few days.

(Unioneonline/D)