2 CenLA Restaurants Busted Not Serving Police

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The first incident was reported at the Taco Bell in the Kingsville section of Pineville on Thursday night around 10:30. The second was reported at Johnny Carino's restaurant on MacArthur Drive in Alexandria on Saturday.

The Taco Bell incident spread after being posted early Friday morning to Facebook by Shane Lopez. Later, a man who identified himself as the Pineville Police Department officer involved in the incident — Greg Credeur — posted about it on Facebook.

"When I got inside there was a Pineville City Police Officer that was standing in line. He flagged me to order ahead of him and I could hear commotion in the back. The guy running the register (Jason) took my order, took my cash, and asked my name for the receipt," reads Lopez's post. "When then the officer stepped back up, I then noticed he was visibly agitated and annoyed. He said 'I don't think I'm wanna eat here tonight. I'll go someplace else', and left. Respectful. Professional.

"Confused, I leaned over, past the cashier, to look into the back and could see the commotion was over a stuffed plush pig that several employees were playing with and making squealing noises."

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The Johnny Carino incident happened sometime on Saturday when staff allegedly refused to serve two officers from an unidentified department who already were seated at a table, according to another post made by Jeff Sanders.

Sander's post came from another by an officer identified as Brandon Waggoner, who said he and the other officer were never given a reason for not being served.

"They just would not come to our table," reads the post. "Instead several of the wait staff just bunched up and were snickering until we finally realized we were not going to be served."

Sanders' post said Waggoner spoke to the hostess as they left about his suspicion that they weren't being served because they were police officers. The woman confirmed that, he claims, and he also says four other people who overheard the conversation left the restaurant at the same time they did.

Waggoner said that he was furious, but felt sorry for the hostess.

Carino's posted an apology on their Facebook page later on Saturday, calling it "an unfortunate misunderstanding."

The statement says the officers were not in uniform, and that they were not greeted "in an acceptable amount of time.

"This was our fault and not our standard of service. Unfortunately, the officers chose to leave without notifying a manager,' it continues. "Since this time, our manager has spoken with one of the officers, apologized for the lapse of service and invited them back. The recent implications that Johnny Carino's refuses service to police officers are completely untrue. Not only do we happily accept ALL police and law enforcement officers, we have always offered a discount to such guests. We are deeply sorry for the miscommunication, and the resulting implications, but it is important to all of us at Johnny Carino's that the communities we serve know where we stand. Thank you."

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