Moment male customer hits Nando’s waitress with a plate in ‘unprovoked’ attack as she serves food to his table where he was dining with woman and small child

A waitress at Nando’s was brutally attacked by a male customer who hit her in the face with a plate as she tried to serve him.

The ‘barbaric’ and ‘unprovoked’ attack took place in March at a branch in Stratford, London. Footage of the incident went viral overnight after being shared on X.

The photo shows the waitress walking to a table where a bearded man wearing a black hat and a dark hoodie is sitting with a woman and a baby.

As the Nando’s waiter places a plate of food on the table, the camera films the male villain hitting her in the face with a dinner plate.

The force of the blow sends the stunned waitress flying backwards, clutching her face. The other guests standing nearby turn around in shock and watch the drama.

The male suspect, pictured, was filmed punching the woman in the face before leaving the restaurant in Stratford, London. Police are now looking for him

The abused worker then leaves the scene, while her attacker gets up and walks away from the table with the woman and child, leaving a full plate of food behind.

It is not known what prompted the man’s violent outburst. Footage of the attack was uploaded on Wednesday evening.

A woman claiming to be the attacked waitress shared the clip on X. The video has been viewed more than 20 million times since last night.

“There is no way I have ever been on this app and seen myself being attacked,” she wrote.

The incident was reported to the Metropolitan Police, but the woman who shared the video was critical of the police response.

She wrote: ‘The police were there at the time, I reported it to them and they let him go without taking his details or checking the CCTV. I made a complaint against the officers and their supervisor contacted me and basically said “they are human and have made a mistake”.’

The Met Police said it was “aware” of the video footage and was investigating why officers “did not deal with the incident quickly enough”.

A spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘A report of assault was made to police at the time of the incident, but it appears that officers did not take prompt action. We are working to establish why this happened and accept that this is not the level of service Londoners should rightly expect from the Met.

The video footage shows the waitress placing a plate of food on the table seconds before she was attacked by the man

After being hit with the plate, the female waitress appears to stagger away from the table, as other customers turn to watch the drama

The male attacker and a woman and baby he was sitting with are then seen leaving the location

“We have now contacted the victim and a statement has been recorded. We will try to keep her informed of the progress of this investigation.

No one has been arrested yet and the man involved is still being investigated.

‘Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call 101 quoting ref CAD 1872/21 Aug.’

Viewers on social media expressed shock at the attack, calling the man’s actions “disgusting”, “criminal” and “barbaric”.

“This man is crazy! Seriously, why is he doing this? Is he sick? What a barbarian,” one person wrote.

Another user added: ‘Attack someone over food? That’s a one-way ticket to jail. It seems like even working in a restaurant doesn’t guarantee safety anymore. Sad.

A third person wrote: ‘Attack someone over food? That’s a one-way ticket to jail. It seems like even working in a restaurant doesn’t guarantee safety anymore. Sad.’

In a statement, a Nando’s spokeswoman said: “This was a shocking and unprovoked attack earlier this year. We immediately reported it to the police and have been supporting our colleague since.

‘We do not tolerate this type of behavior, the safety of our colleagues and customers comes first.’