Customers brutally attack Chicago waitress in dispute over bill after complaint about taste of food

    CHICAGO (WBBM) -- A brutal attack at a Chicago restaurant was caught on camera, as two customers assaulted an employee, allegedly over the taste of their food.

We've all likely had food we didn't like before, but how often does it lead to punches? That's what played out over the weekend in the Pilsen neighborhood, forcing a waitress to take cover.

The grill stays hot at El Taco Azteca, and the food keeps Matthew Montequin coming back for what he said are "some of the best tacos in the neighborhood."

But customers were fuming to hear about an employee getting attacked over the weekend by two customers apparently unhappy with the taste of their tacos.

"It was a shame that it happened to the worker; just caught off guard by something like that," Montequin said.

Owner Martha Garcia said two women wanted a full refund after they ordered food to go, and nearly finished it.

"Maybe 15 mins later, she come back. She say, 'I need my money back, because I not like your food.' But the food, almost, she was finished," Garcia said.

Once the waitress told them she couldn't refund them the food, the women became belligerent.

Surveillance video shows one woman coming around the bar, and tossing the waitress' cell phone into a pitcher of liquid. The women then try to destroy the restaurant's decorations.

That's when waitress confronted them, and the two customers attacked the waitress. The cook from the back tried to intervene. That's when Garcia walked into the business during the assault.

"I tell the ladies, 'What the heck? You need to wait. What happened?' And she was so rude," Garcia said.

Rude is one way to describe it, but customers believe it was criminal.

"That's escalating to a point that it's silly over something like a restaurant bill," Montequin said.

Garcia said her employee had bruises all over her.

"Her head, her arms," Garcia said. "And her other finger was broken."

After about four minutes, workers finally did separate the customers from the waitress. Garcia walked the customers out, but she's hoping police find them before they walk into another business.

"I'm concerned. It's terrible, the situation," she said.

Garcia did file a police report. The customers originally called 911 when they were denied a refund, but they were long gone by the time police responded. The worker is taking time off before she thinks about returning to work.