This story has been updated.
They have many names: man’s best friend, loyal companion, and faithful friend.
Dogs have come to not only serve as company and companionship—they also do jobs. From herding animals to sniffing out explosives, canines have been performing services for their loving handlers for centuries.
They have even become common go-tos for medical monitoring and can be trained to do a range of tasks.
For those with serious medical conditions, a service dog can be a true lifesaver and typically must be present at all times.
However, they’re not a person. Unless you’re at a restaurant—or one restaurant in particular, or so this customer thought.
In a video that has drawn hundreds of comments on TikTok, user Queen Lonzz (@queenlonzz) claims that she went out to eat recently at Maui Pho in Bakersfield, Ca., where her party was charged an additional service for having a party of six instead of five.
The problem, she believed, was that the member they were charged an additional service fee for was a service animal.
“This restaurant changed [our] party size from 5 to 6 because of babes registered service animal then charged us an additional service charge for having a party of 6 or more,” a text overlay on the video reads. “This feels illegal…”
However, a representative from Maui Pho clarified in an email to the Daily Dot that the additional service charge was the server’s simple error when inputting the party number into the POS system.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Lonzz via TikTok direct message.
Is a service dog a person?
According to the federal government, under the Americans with Disabilities Act, a service dog does not count as a person. Because they’re dogs.
But they are also not regular pets. Under the ADA, service dogs are defined as animals trained to do a medical task.
Can restaurants charge fees for service animals?
This is also a no. Per the ADA, hotels, restaurants, landlords, and essentially anyone who might be able to charge for their services cannot legally charge fees for allowing a customer to bring their service animal with them.
The law does allow a caveat: service animals can be excluded if admitting them would fundamentally alter the nature of a service or program.
A server’s mistake
However, as Maui Pho’s representative said, Queen Lonzz’s extra service charge was not the result of her party’s service dog.
“The guest made a reservation for a party of 5 on yelp and called to see if we allow service dogs- which we do,” the representative told the Daily Dot via email. “There has never been any issue with us allowing service animals, and we would never charge a guest to make this accommodation. The charge the guest is referring to is a 15% gratuity for parties of 6 or more persons that our POS system adds to the bill when the server first enter in the guest count on the order.”
The representative said a server accidentally marked the group size as six instead of five, leading to the automatic additional charge. If the customer raised the issue to the restaurant, the representative said that they would have removed the charge and comped the meal due to the honest mistake. Maui Pho learned of the issue from TikTok and has since received numerous bad reviews from people who have seen the video.
“It was by no means intentional or inclusive of their service animal,” they wrote. “The guest assumed that we included their dog and then posted the video.”
“We are a family business of 17 years, and we have service animals in our family as well,” they concluded. “We have always tried to be as accommodating as possible to our guests with disabilities, so it’s disheartening to see the community turn on us like this when there is so much misinformation surrounding this incident.”
‘It’s medical equipment.’
Several viewers equated the work done by a service dog to that of a medical device and found the idea that a restaurant would charge a service fee for one odd.
“A service animal is akin to an insulin pump, it’s medical equipment,” one commenter wrote. “Imagine them charging wheelchair users a few bc they brought their own seat…”
“Lmfao it’s different if it was a baby but them counting the dog as a person for their policy is crazy work,” another said.
“Um yeah as someone who worked in a restaurant they shouldn’t be doing that. is the dog sitting at the table?” a commenter wrote. “Ordering? does it need a chair? no. the dog does not count as part of the party.”
@forgottenabortion8 Y’all need to chill out with that flower knows makeup fr be out here looking like a new member of black pink whole time ur a Taylor swift backup dancer
♬ кисс май глак –
Others were certain that the situation described counts as discrimination under the ADA.
“It is illegal bc a service animal isn’t a person so can’t be apart of your party,” one commenter wrote. “They don’t want you to come back with it, which is discrimination. You can report them, up to you but I would.”
“They’re trying to discourage you from returning because they don’t like you having a service animal,” another commenter wrote. “That behavior is illegal on a couple of counts.”
“Google coming in hot: No, under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), restaurants cannot charge extra fees or deposits for customers with service animals,” a commenter said.
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