A Melbourne cafe has launched a public appeal after CCTV footage showed a woman shoving a plate into a waitress’s face and then slapping the plates onto the ground, leaving the employee with a chipped tooth in an incident that has sparked widespread outrage across the city.
La Vallee, a cafe in Essendon in Melbourne’s north, shared the footage on Tuesday alongside an appeal for help identifying the woman responsible. “We are beyond shocked at the behaviour of this grown woman,” the business wrote. “This incident led to one of our beautiful staff members chipping their tooth from the plate she pushed into her face.”
The CCTV footage shows the waitress walking around a corner carrying plates to serve to a table when a woman heading in the opposite direction nearly bumped into her. Rather than stepping aside, the woman hit the plate upward into the waitress’s face before slapping the remaining plates to the ground. The employee was left with a chipped tooth from the impact.
The clip spread rapidly across social media, accumulating thousands of views and drawing strong condemnation. “Hope your staff member is okay and hope the woman is caught,” one viewer wrote. Another called for greater public intervention in such situations: “Why did no one stop her? Enough just standing by and watching — citizen arrests need to happen more.”
Melbourne billionaire Adrian Portelli was among those who responded to the footage, writing: “This behaviour needs to be stamped out. It doesn’t belong here.”
The community response extended well beyond words. The owner of Healthy Smiles dental practice on Keilor Road in nearby Niddrie offered to repair the waitress’s chipped tooth free of charge. “This is a cowards act and your lovely waitress shouldn’t have to go through this,” they wrote. Local restaurant Sear Steakhouse added: “When Healthy Smiles gets her teeth sorted, bring her down the road for some steaks with her family on us. Keilor Road will stand together.”
La Vallee said it hoped the community would share the footage widely to help identify the woman and ensure she was held accountable. No charges have been laid over the incident.
