A popular restaurant dismissed allegations that its branch in Quezon City is not safe for diners following a viral complaint alleging the bathrooms had peeping holes and discouraging others from going there.
A Twitter user previously shared video clips showing that one of its bathrooms has hidden peeping holes within its walls.
Romulo Cafe, a local fine-dining restaurant, said that local authorities and its personnel have already conducted an internal investigation regarding the complaint shared online.
They found no probable cause to file criminal or civil cases.
“As we greatly value the privacy of our customers, we immediately addressed the concern. We conducted an internal probe, tanod from Barangay Laging Handa and police officers from Station 10 along Mother Ignancia Street Quezon City were also called to investigate the matter,” its statement read on Facebook.
“No criminal and civil cases were filed,” it added.
Twitter user Dyann Cristina wrote on May 13 that she and her family went there to celebrate Mother’s Day.
She said they booked one of the VIP rooms at the second floor. She attached a rough sketch of the layout on her tweet.
Yesterday we ate at romulo cafe for mother’s day. The second floor has two VIP rooms one on the left and another on the right. Both rooms have their own bathroom. We were directed to the VIP room 1. pic.twitter.com/RCw6zhuJ0O
— dyann cristina (@dyanncristina02) May 13, 2019
Her father was the one who noticed something’s wrong when they were eating.
“In the middle of our meal, my dad noticed from the mirror that there was something moving behind him like a shadow. He went out of our room and saw around three to four waiters standing there as if they were waiting in line before rushing down the stairs,” she said and noted that the VIP room across is not in use.
They then inspected the restrooms in-between the two private dining areas and found that these rooms were only separated by a clear glass wall heavily decorated with leaves.
She placed the video clips of their search in the thread.
“If you look closely sa wallpaper, makikita mo talaga na there are very small peeping holes that they can use from both toilets,” she said.
A few moments later, we discovered that the comfort room between the two rooms are just separated by a clear glass na dinikitan lang ng leafy wallpaper. If you look closely sa wallpaper, makikita mo talaga na there are very small peeping holes that they can use from both toilets. pic.twitter.com/iP8jcvDuR7
— dyann cristina (@dyanncristina02) May 13, 2019
Moreover, the local authorities who came that night also found more than one peeping hole, she said.
She expressed her disappointment with the manager’s response when confronted about the situation.
“We confronted the manager and all he did was blame the entire situation on the spirits saying that meron daw malaking shadow na tumitira sa room kaya hindi daw nila pinapagamit yung room. This is totally unacceptable,” Cristina said.
“Their waiters have been serving the restaurant for 10 long years. They have their own staff toilet so there is no excuse for them to go to the VIP room 2,” she added.
The Twitter user said that she made this thread to warn the diners particularly women who use their bathrooms.
As of press time, there are no updates if her claims were true.
Mischaracterized the issue
For the restaurant’s part, Romulo Café stated that they are consulting with lawyers to seek possible remedies for the accusation.
“We appreciate and welcome feedback from our customers. Nevertheless, we are consulting our lawyers on possible avenues to correct the posts that we believe mischaracterized the issue,” they stated.
“The team behind Romulo Café continues to work hard to serve good old-fashioned Filipino food and provide the best dining experience,” they added.
Romulo Café is owned by the family of Carlos P. Romulo, a prominent diplomat and journalist of the country.
