A restaurant in Xi’an has been temporarily shut down after a viral video showed a customer allowing her pet dog to sit on a dining table and lick food directly from restaurant plates.
The incident, which sparked widespread debate online over hygiene and food safety, reportedly took place at the “Taishishou” tea restaurant located inside the Daduhui shopping mall.
Footage circulating on social media showed a female diner holding her dog on the table while the animal licked leftover food from dishes used during the meal.
The video quickly triggered outrage among Chinese netizens, many questioning the restaurant’s hygiene standards and enforcement of pet policies.
Following the controversy, the Yanta District Market Supervision Administration launched an investigation and later confirmed that the incident had indeed occurred.
According to authorities, restaurant staff claimed customers had been informed that pets were not allowed on tables or chairs and could only remain on the floor while dining.
However, the restaurant admitted employees failed to notice and stop the customer’s behaviour in time.
Investigators later found that the dog had been served using separate pet-specific utensils and food packages provided by the restaurant.
Officials said the pet utensils were cleaned separately from regular customer tableware and were not mixed together.
Despite this, authorities stressed that allowing the dog onto dining tables still seriously violated restaurant hygiene regulations.
The restaurant was ordered to suspend operations at around 2pm on Wednesday while a full sanitisation and disinfection process was carried out across both the dining area and kitchen.
Authorities also instructed the restaurant to replace all customer tableware and arrange food safety training for staff members.
The incident is reportedly the third similar controversy in China in recent months involving customers dining with pets at restaurants.
Previous cases in Shenzhen and Chifeng also sparked online backlash after customers were seen feeding pets at hotpot and barbecue restaurants.
