Man who does runner on date called out by cafe owner on Facebook

Owner of Milky Lane in Bondi Christian Avant said the man did a runner, and left his date to foot the bill. Photo / Facebook

If you thought your last date was bad, spare a thought for this Sydney woman who was left "distraught" after being ditched mid-meal at a Bondi cafe.

Christian Avant, the owner of burger cafe Milky Lane, took to Facebook to vent about an "unfortunate situation" where a customer did a runner on his date, blocked her number, and then left her to pay the bill.

"If you think your Sunday's bad, a couple just came into ML [Milky Lane] Bondi on a first date, ate and drunk heaps, he said he was going outside to get some cash out then did the runner, leaving her with the whole bill," the post read. "What a piece of sh*t."

Christian Avant, who owns Milky Lane, a burger bar at Bondi Beach in Sydney, said he was tempted to post the man's photo after hearing about what happened.

Avant said he wanted to post the man's face from CCTV footage, but chose not to. Instead, his cafe copped the whole bill for the upset woman.

Speaking to Sydney radio station The Edge 96.1, Avant said the date didn't look to be going well from the get-go.

When he hadn't returned after 20 minutes, Avant said it was pretty obvious the man wasn't coming back — which left his date close to tears.

"At this point, one of my staff went over to console her, and took a couple of shots of tequila over and had a chat," he said.

"She was pretty distraught about it, so we decided that we weren't going to charge her for the bill," he said, adding that they also gifted her a $150 voucher for her to come back and "bring a real man" with her.

"She was so upset, the poor thing, that was the least we could do to try and save her in this situation."

Avant said the fact that he left — even if there was no connection between the pair — was a low blow.

Some of the fare you can order at Milky Lane. Photo / Instagram

"It's just polite to pay your way, then go your separate ways and say thanks for the date," he said.

The cafe's kind gesture was met with praise, with social media users applauding Avant for his "classy move".

"Wow what a first date! What sort of scum does that," one person wrote.

"Disgusting behaviour, who raised these excuses for men!," another added.

"Thank god you were the owner! I don't think anyone else would have done that," another wrote.