TikTok user @christiancooks99, who goes by Christian, regularly shares stories about dates that have not gone according to plan. In a recent video, he recounted a Hinge date that took an unexpected turn after his date ordered eight plates of mozzarella sticks at dinner. At the time of publication, the video had 46,600 views and 223 comments.
Christian said he and the woman had been talking for five days, spending 15 to 20 minutes each day getting to know each other. Eventually, he asked if she wanted to go out for dinner, and she agreed.
They planned to meet at a local restaurant at 7 p.m. Christian said he arrived at 7:03 p.m., while his date showed up at 7:15 p.m. According to him, she did not apologize for being late, which he considered the first red flag.
It took them another five minutes to get inside. By then, Christian said, he was already over the date but decided to stay because he was hungry. After sitting down and ordering drinks, he asked if she wanted to split nachos. She declined and opted for mozzarella sticks instead, which he was fine with.
The problem came when she ordered eight separate orders of them.
“Not eight individual mozzarella sticks. Eight orders of mozzarella sticks,” Christian explained in the video.
He then ordered his own food. By that point, he said, he had already decided he would not be covering the bill because he felt his date was taking advantage of him. Still, Christian admitted that the woman had several qualities he liked.
“And the worst part was, she was a pretty interesting girl,” he said. He added that he tends to find women who enjoy golf interesting because he considers the hobby relatively uncommon among his dating prospects.
She also enjoyed action movies and was looking forward to watching the Chicago Bears play that weekend. In other words, Christian said, she seemed to have many of the interests he had been hoping to find in a match.
The mozzarella sticks turned an already awkward Hinge date into a dispute
When the food arrived, Christian said he calculated that the eight orders of mozzarella sticks cost $212.
The two ate the first order together, and she ate most of the second. When she got to the third order, however, she called over the waiter to complain that the mozzarella sticks were cold.
“The waiter goes, ‘Well, they’ve been here for about 10 minutes. Like, they are going to cool as you leave them,’” Christian recalled.
According to him, the woman responded, “I didn’t pay for cold mozzarella sticks. I didn’t order cold mozzarella sticks. I expect everything on my table to come out hot.”
Rather than asking the restaurant to reheat them, she wanted the mozzarella sticks removed from the bill. Christian said that would have amounted to a $94 discount.
The waiter refused, and the woman became increasingly upset. Christian said he let the argument play out because he had already checked out of the date.
She eventually asked to speak with a manager. While the waiter went to get one, she turned to Christian and asked, “Can you believe this? They’re gonna make you pay for cold mozzarella sticks?”
Christian told her he was not going to pay for them.
“I’m not paying for eight orders of mozzarella sticks. You do realize that’s ridiculous, right?” he recalled telling her.
She responded that she had planned to take the leftovers home.
When the manager arrived, they offered the same solution as the waiter: The restaurant could reheat the mozzarella sticks. The woman again asked for them to be removed from the bill, prompting the manager to ask if she wanted the plates taken off the table.
She then asked for a to-go box, but Christian said the manager refused.
At that point, Christian decided to intervene. “And I finally stepped in. I stepped in. I go, ‘Sir, please, just take them. I’m so sorry. Just take them. Take them off the bill. Take them off the table. We’re good. We’re sorry to bother you,’” he said.
The server eventually brought over the bill, which Christian paid without checking it. In hindsight, he said, that was a mistake because all eight orders of mozzarella sticks were still on the bill.
Their burger and pizza were packed into to-go boxes, and Christian said he immediately started filling his box with as many mozzarella sticks as he could. His date did the same, and the two ended up fighting over who would get to take the leftovers. Then came the final exchange.
“She looks at me and goes, ‘I hope you know this is the worst date of my life.’ And I had to laugh because somehow this isn’t mine,” Christian said.
TikTok users question Christian’s dating choices after the mozzarella stick fiasco
Commenters had plenty to say about the bizarre dinner, but some also questioned Christian’s approach to dating.
“Maybe you’re focused on the wrong things when you match. You keep going after the same types,” one commenter wrote, suggesting that similar stories appeared frequently on his account.
Others argued that Christian could have prevented the situation from escalating by addressing the bill before the woman placed her order.
“You should have asked her if she was paying for the mozzarella sticks before putting in the order,” one person commented.
Another commenter said he should have requested separate checks as soon as the situation began to look questionable.
“When the waiter looked at you, that’s when you say, ‘That’s fine, but separate bills, please,’” they wrote.
The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the claims made in the video, which are based solely on Christian’s account shared on TikTok under the handle @christiancooks99.
