The Daily Populous Tuesday February 17th, 2026 morning edition
Authored by 7news.com.au and submitted by siterightaway

Hospitality venues have now been warned to remain vigilant after a family was allegedly spotted deliberately planting a hair on their own plate before refusing to pay a $600 bill.

The alleged incident occurred at Pony in The Rocks, Sydney, where staff say a family visiting from Ireland ordered some of the venue’s most expensive items.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Irish family accused of hair-planting restaurant scam

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow

CCTV reviewed by the restaurant appears to show a man reaching under his arm, pulling out a hair and placing it onto his plate after finishing his meal.

Neil Nolan, who has led the kitchen at the venue for two decades, said the alleged tactic was unlike anything he had encountered.

Irish family accused of hair-planting scam at Sydney restaurants Credit: 7NEWS

“I’ve never seen this ever before. Like, this was another level of trying to scam,” Nolan told 7NEWS.

According to the restaurant, the group ordered high-value dishes, including a 1.8 kg tomahawk steak, along with entrees and drinks.

Staff claim the issue was raised only once the family had finished eating.

Nolan said the man became increasingly agitated, raising his voice and refusing to settle any portion of the account.

Be the first to know: Add 7NEWS as your preferred news source on Google

“He just went nuts basically … getting louder and louder and refused to pay for any of the bill,” he said.

The situation escalated in the dining room, with the man’s wife allegedly breaking down in tears as other customers looked on.

Staff quickly questioned the origin of the hair. It was described as blonde, while the kitchen staff did not match that description.

“You can see my hair is not blonde, and you don’t see any blonde hair in the kitchen either,” Nolan said.

Concerned about the disturbance to other patrons, management chose to waive the entire bill in order to bring the confrontation to an end.

The incident occured at Sydney’s Pony restaurant in The Rocks. Credit: 7News

It was only afterwards, the restaurant claims, they learned of similar allegations involving what is believed to be the same family at another nearby venue.

Nolan said he reported the matter to police but was advised there was little immediate action that could be taken.

Frustrated, he later shared the CCTV footage publicly on social media to alert other operators and try to locate the family in question.

The contact details provided with the booking were allegedly false, and the family is believed to have since left the area.

ihaveadarkedge on February 16th, 2026 at 17:54 UTC »

Saw this last week on a news segment via YouTube. Apparently they've done it before at another restaurant but found "rocks" in their meal at that place. Scummy, imo.

paulinaiml on February 16th, 2026 at 16:54 UTC »

The article says it was a 600$ bill.

DEHUFFPODCAST on February 16th, 2026 at 14:53 UTC »

I had a lady that when I worked at Chipotle. Long blonde hair. Ate almost all of it. Demanded a new one and her money back. My staff by chance that day all had super short black hair. I didn't give her a refund after I explained that her math wasn't mathing. She didn't even argue after that, then left.