Viral Customer Complaint Over Not Getting a Table Despite Reservation, Roti Romi Speaks Out

An online post by the TikTok account @Keongmas recounted that Roti Romi’s Menteng branch in Central Jakarta did not provide a table as scheduled for breaking the fast, despite a reservation made days earlier. The post said the reservation had a 17:30–19:30 time window, and the customer, along with many others, ended up waiting as iftar approached. They finally received a table around 18:50 WIB, after which food and drinks were not yet available, though takjil was provided. The restaurant’s owner, Lilysan Wijaya, said the branch faced overbooking with reservations exceeding capacity, driven by a sudden influx via WhatsApp messages. “At first we expected hundreds of chats, but thousands came in within a very short time,” Lily told Kompas.com on Thursday (5 March 2026). “This even caused one of our main WhatsApp numbers to be blocked temporarily, perhaps because it was mistaken for SPAM.” Management reported the blockage to WhatsApp to reactivate the number, but the process was not immediately approved. Consequently, for almost a day the management couldn’t access thousands of customer records stored on that number. “The blocking happened last-minute before the overbooking day, making coordination extremely difficult given how close it was to the reservation time,” Lily said. She acknowledged the restaurant failed to predict the surge in reservations at the Menteng branch.