WATCH: Customers demand refund, then allegedly assault staff at Pocatello restaurant
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POCATELLO – A dispute over food quality that escalated into a physical fight has led to charges being filed against two customers who, restaurant staff said, made them feel unsafe.
On Thursday, around 8:45 p.m., Pocatello Police received a report of an incident where two customers of Mandarin House in Pocatello became disorderly and assaulted staff. This report prompted an investigation by police, who identified the customers as Terrance and Bianca Taylor, resulting in misdemeanor citations for both.
A video of the incident was posted to TikTok, and as of Friday afternoon at 4:30 p.m., it has been liked more than 3,800 times and reposted nearly 500 times. Laura Mandez-Flores, the employee who recorded the video, recounted the community support they’ve seen.
“We’ve had a lot of customers come in and talk to us about it. One even offered a hug (to an employee). We got a balloon, chocolate and we got two bottles of wine, chocolate, and then we also got a note on a fortune cookie paper, and it said, ‘I’m sorry that happened to you guys,'” Mandez-Flores said.
Additionally, Mandez-Flores said the restaurant had gained about 1,000 new likes on Facebook that day, pointing to a counter by the front desk displaying the total.
The video, posted by TikTok user Vianca Morales, shows a verbal dispute between the Taylors and the staff at Mandarin House before Terrence flips an item on the front counter, and Bianca reaches down and tries to grab what appears to be a bag of fortune cookies from an employee’s hands. This causes the bag to tear and fall apart, after which Bianca appears to throw what she had in her hands in the employee’s face.
@vi_m0rales The poor children they raise…. #pocatello #mandarinhouse #work ♬ original sound – Vianca Morales
“The fact that (they escalated) that much, we were very afraid. And when we didn’t know if they had a gun, acting like that, it’s just very scary. We were really scared and emotional at the same time,” Mandez-Flores said.
Mandez-Flores has been employed at Mandarin House for about three years. The restaurant has been open for more than 40 years. She was the employee who first served Terrence and Bianca when they came to the restaurant to place a to-go order.
After answering some questions about different menu items, the Taylors placed an order, paid $61 for their meal, and then left.
And then around 15 to 20 minutes later, Mandez-Flores said they called the restaurant and said, “Your food is garbage. Everything was soggy. We didn’t like it. We’re coming back. We want our money back.”
“We transferred the phone to my boss, and then he talked to them, and they didn’t let him speak. So they just came here and pulled up super hard in the driveway,” Mandez-Flores said.
Terrence and Bianca demanded a refund for their food, Mandez-Flores said. She said the Taylors were informed of the restaurant’s policy that wouldn’t allow a full refund, but they were offered a gift card and a partial refund.
“We’ve actually been to, like, all over Asia. We know what real Asian food is. This is not real,” Terrence says in the video.
“This is soggy,” Bianca adds.
Restaurant manager Kevin Cao, who wasn’t available for an interview, can be heard in the video saying, “I do offer her out of my pocket $30,” before a commotion occurs, but isn’t visible as the camera was facing the ceiling. Mandez-Flores said at this point, Terrence pushed over the whole box of food, “and (it) landed on my feet.”
At this point, Mandez-Flores grabs the phone and props it against the wall, facing the camera toward the incident. This is when Terrence and Bianca can be seen flipping an item and attempting to grab the fortune cookies.
After this, Terrence and Bianca turn to leave, and Terrence calls out, “That’s what happens when you get a bunch of Mexicans…” He continues to speak, but his words aren’t clearly audible.
“So it was very racist,” Mandez-Flores said, later adding, “My friend … she was crying because it was just so sad to see the racism. That’s the first thing that comes to their mind, and it has nothing to do with it – if you’re ordering Chinese food, you cannot be racist.”
Contact information for the couple could not be located Friday. If we are able to contact them, EastIdahoNews.com will update this article.
Pocatello Police Lt. Akilah Lacey said the Taylors had received misdemeanor charges for the incident. Terrence was cited for disorderly conduct, and Bianca was cited for one count of battery and two counts of assault.
Under Idaho law, all misdemeanor citations carry a maximum penalty of up to 6 months in county jail and a fine of up to $1,000.
In his interview with EastIdahoNews.com, Lacey said why the police investigated the incident and issued citations.
“Anybody should be able to feel safe in their own workplace, even if there is a disagreement on quality of food or quality of service. Nobody should ever be physically threatened or maliciously harassed, and so we take that seriously,” Lacey said.