A food influencer known as the 'dine-and-dash diva' has been arrested in Brooklyn, New York, after allegedly skipping out on bills at high-end restaurants. Pei Chung, 34, is said to have developed a habit of ordering extensively at fancy restaurants and then refusing to pay.
Chung has been banned from at least seven restaurants, according to the establishments. Police have arrested her multiple times for failing to pay restaurant bills. She allegedly skipped out on paying at Williamsburg restaurants at least six times, including twice at Michelin-starred brasserie Francie.
At one sitting in October, she reportedly ordered $15 foie gras, $32 carpaccio, $28 bucatini, $52 lamb and $19 hot chocolate mousse before leaving without paying. She also visited Peter Luger steakhouse, ordering nearly $150 worth of food, and allegedly offered kitchen scissors from her handbag when asked to pay.
On Friday, Chung was arrested at Mole restaurant in Brooklyn after ordering $149 in food and refusing to pay. She was arraigned on a theft of services charge and jailed on Rikers Island on $4,500 cash bail. She also faces eviction from her $3,350-per-month Williamsburg apartment, whose landlord is former New York governor Eliot Spitzer.
Chung's Instagram profile describes her as '99 lb No plastic surgery.' Her arrest highlights the growing reliance of restaurants on influencers to attract business, with a 2021 report finding that 36% of TikTok users visited a restaurant after seeing it in a video.
