‘Sit down and shut up’: my lunchtime ordeal at Karen’s Diner

The Australian chain with deliberately rude staff has arrived in the UK – but is bad service funny?

Masochism as entertainment has long been the 21st century’s stock-in-trade: Gordon Ramsay shouting at aspiring chefs; catty old Kevin McCloud comparing someone’s multimillion-pound Grand Design with a car showroom. Even in this #BeKind age, we remain hungry for ritual humiliation.

It was only a matter of time, then, before someone came up with the idea of a restaurant experience that aims to be as unpleasant as possible. Blame the Australians for Karen’s Diner, new to the UK, which advertises itself with the slogan: “We hate good service.”