Dublin restaurant bans customers from Instagramming food

By Michael Freeman

Image: miwaramone via Flickr

09/01/13 29,563 Views 43 Comments

THERE YOU ARE, having a nice dinner, minding your own business.

And suddenly someone’s giving it all this #dinner #delicious #foodporn #myliferocks #hatersgonhate:

pizza

Instagram

And your appetite is gone, because your stomach is knotted tightly into one seething twist of fury.

A Dublin restaurant – the social-media-loving fish joint Bite, on Frederick Street – has taken the step of banning Instagram entirely (along with a number of other things).

The seafood restaurant which opened with fanfare last year is relaunching in a “more clubby” form on January 15th. (They say that their original incarnation was “‘a little more restaurant and a little less club’ than we imagined”.)

Pre-opening, they’ve published a list of rules:

bite ruless

via Bite Facebook

So either this is some kind of ur-hipster ironic double bluff in which EVERYONE will be expected to Instagram their dinners, or we may be treated to the sight of smartphone-toting diners being ejected from Bite sometime soon. Watch this space.

Also, sorry James Blunt. No fish for you.

More: Restaurant apologises for ‘a***hole’ tweet to customer>

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Comments (29 Comments)
Order: Popularity

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Sean Broderick 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
we went there in November with a group from work. About 12 of us. They gave us the set menu option only which was fine but we had 2 vegetarians in our midst who wanted a look at the a la carte. We asked the waiter who asked the chef, who said all set menu or all a la carte. Which basically meant, its a Tuesday, I couldn’t be bothered pleasing my customers so go f**k yourself. Pretentious wank

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  John O'Neill 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Their list of rules in itself is so pretentious…They’ve never heard of , ” He who pays the piper calls the tune obviously..” Now high on my list of “never visit” holes…
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aljala 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Are you at least ‘allowed’ to enjoy your meal?

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jackass ireland 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Bite… Went in for the first iteration of this place. Was essentially the opposite of the list of rules provided above. This tact obviously didn’t work. I don’t think you really want to start off your new effort at success with a list of rules for your customers. Just provide good food, good value, and good service and leave the customers to themselves. “Just be sound”. Yeah, you’ll hear the sound of crickets in Bite with that new tactic.

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Tony Stanley 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
I’m fortunate enough to have a disposable income at the mo…..I can assure you I won’t be spending it in this place…..no interest in having rules thrown at me when I’m willing to spend my hard earned cash and if someone asks me to leave before I’m ready,…good luck to them cos it’ll go viral!

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Gaius Gracchus 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
The palava surrounding food, restaurants and chefs here and in the UK is hilarious, you cook the food, I pay for it, shove your ‘house rules’ up your hole. Where, in ranked importance, would a chef be on a desert island after a ship-wreck, when everyone else can cook anyway, and I worked as a chef before just to note.

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  John O'Neill 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  You’ve actually said all I was trying to say in your first sentence Gaius. Well done!
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  Gaius Gracchus 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Thanks John, now I’m off to watch my Come Dine With Me boxset on Blu-Ray
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Philip Kenna 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Kate Moss!, that’s sooo 10 years ago!

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Barry 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
No harm, why can’t people just talk to people and eat instead of fecking around with their phones.

Stop logging every moment of your life and actually experience it!

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  Simon Blake 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  @ Barry. Have you any idea how ironic your post is?
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  Paul Furey 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Stack all mobiles in the middle of the table and the first one to use their phone – pays for all at the table.
  
  Tis evil – but it works :)
  
  And none of those baby sitter excuses!!!
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  Barry 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Simon, I’m commenting on a news story on the internet, its not any different to writing to the Irish Times commenting on a story they’ve published except its much faster.
  
  I’m not commenting on taking pictures of stuff I’m about to eat, which is just silly
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  Tom Keating 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  They only ban iPads so iPhones, PS Vita’s, Androids and Cameras are OK.
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  Jenni 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  They must have a vendetta against Apple??
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  David Linehan 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Anything other then an apple product isn’t good enough for a hipster :-)
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  Deirdre Bennett 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Paul, that’s a brilliant idea……put the phones in a phone bucket :)
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Brian MAGEE 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Think I’ll give it a miss sounds a bit pretentious,

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Paddy Murray 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
If they have to have a relaunch so soon they shouldn’t be advertising rules . It maybe tongue and cheek but still be careful what u wish for.

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  John Phelan 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Thought the same myself & along with the “when we want the table back (whether you’ve decided if you’re finished or not) we’ll drop you the bill” bit – it smacks of a place that’s just a little too cool for…. well…. customers!!!
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Janine Torell Galvin 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Really bad PR stunt. Sorry but do they even want customers? No Bite for me. I even hate the name of the place…

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Nivag Yeoh 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
stick yer rules up yer hule.

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Ruairí O'Mahony 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Absolutely right! F***ing hipsters! Grrr!

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  joe stodge 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  I think they are trying to be hip themselves.
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  The Viscount 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  #Lame publicity stunt:
  1. Say something about facebook/twitter/instagram
  2. Issue press release
  3. Count the cash from the punters that roll in
  Except its #lame. It comes across as cringy as a parent trying to be “cool” by rapping or hip-hop dancing.
  You wont see the Viscount in there anytime soon, but you might see the Sindo crowd there.
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1 Human Being 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
No foodtography here they will just have to do some toiletography instead.

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Con Kennedy 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
#TweetsNotEats

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GMonkey 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
post cool = nerds

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An avid reader 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Irony maybe? Sure the main clientele for this restaurant was hipsters!

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the lost lenore 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
This is marvellous. Less chance of being snapped when I scarper without paying.

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Seán O' Sullivan 10/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
They obviously think they’re being so hip putting this crap up as a warning. Absolute nonsense, they can’t afford to turn people away !

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Marc 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
I hate fish

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Paddy O'Reilly 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
What about Foodspotting?

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Gavin Linehan 10/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
It’s all a bit of a laugh, eh? Until you reach the passive aggressive, final point. As the waiter drops his bill on my table-any chance of a tip evaporates into this air.

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Claire Elizabeth Carroll 10/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Why Kate Moss? Why not always have a table for someone known for their love of food?

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Brian Kenny 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
It’s not throughly enforced :) http://spots.io/venue/14230523

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Alan Dowdall 10/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Great call, don’t care if its for publicity.

Absolutely despise people who spend their days taking picture of every meal, cocktail and activity they get up to on an hourly basis … This projects the image of a happy and content life with good company. Obviously not .. They are glued to their phone waiting to see who likes or comments and instantly respond .. These people are generally boring and shallow who need constant recognition, not to mention being terrible company.

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Del75 12/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Kate moss….. Says a lot about the gimps who made up this list…… If that’s the level of your imagination your right about 1 thing, she will always have a table, they will all be empty all the time. I’d start planning your next incarnation immediately you bunch of tits….. More restaurant less rules might be a theme

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Dwickedchicken 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Please tell me no one is actually taking the list seriously.
It’s obviously tongue in cheek. A bit of Craic for free publicity, and it worked.
‘Fare’ play to them.

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briain 10/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Everyone has an opinion on the rules, but at the end of the day they did it for attention… PR full stop. And looking at the views/number of comments, it worked.

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Andrew Telford 10/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Countrywide referendum on number 4. Please!!!!

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Paul Munsanje 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Brilliant free ad! Delicious food by the way!

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  howsaboutya 09/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Finally somebody take this for what it is.