If your idea of a nice meal out on the town happens to include rude restaurant staff that’s actually paid to insult and ridicule you, booking a table at Karen’s Diner should be on your priorities list.
“Great Food, Terrible Service” is the motto of Karen’s Diner, a new and intriguing fast-food restaurant chain that is currently operating in Australia and the UK. In case you haven’t made the connection yet, the name plays on the popular American slang for an obnoxious and entitled middle-aged customer who is never satisfied and wants to talk to the manager about the most trivial issues. Well, some bright minds decided that this sort of attitude would be perfect for the staff of a restaurant in order to offer patrons a truly memorable experience.
Photo: Karen’s Diner/Facebook
The world’s first Karen Diner opened in Sydney, in October of last year, and a new location will open in Brisbane, in April. Plans for another eatery in Melbourne, as well as others in British cities like Sheffield and Manchester, are pretty advanced, with the Sheffield venue scheduled for inauguration this month. According to one member of the company’s management, 10 new Karen’s Diner locations are in the works for the next year, including eateries in Los Angeles and New York.
So what can one expect at a Karen’s Diner? Well, you can expect to have your orders mixed up and argue with the waiters about it, to get a laughingly small birthday cake if you’re brave enough to celebrate it here, and to unwillingly participate in a “worst dressed guest” contest. But more than anything, you should expect “rude waiters with non-existent manners.”
“At Karen’s you will be greeted and waited upon by rude waiters who in return are expecting you to give it full Karen,” the chain’s official website boasts. “A place where you can complain until the cows come home because we literally don’t care.”
Sally Quinn, who recently had lunch at the Sydney, told Australian newspaper The Age that the waiter screamed at them to sign in, threw their menus on the table and made fun of her daughter’s hair. He then walked away halfway through taking their orders, “accidentally” tipping over her bag, and swore or made rude gestures whenever diners asked a question.
“I’d hate to walk in there blind, like a tourist, not knowing what it was about, just thinking it was a cool ’50s-style burger joint,” Quinn said, adding that she knew what she was in for, thanks to her daughter, who has seen videos of it on TikTok.
Aden Levin, a director of Viral Ventures, the company behind Karen’s Diner, said that he wants the restaurant to be “a space where you can say anything, really, be yourself and enjoy a casual and fun dining experience.” And get chastised by a bunch of rude waiters who will then be expecting a tip for their service, of course.
While Karen’s Diner isn’t in the United States yet, if this kind of eating experience sounds intriguing, you can try Dick’s Last Resort, an American restaurant chain notorious for its rude service.
