Zak's Diner in the ByWard Market is using video and the power of social media to catch customers dining and dashing.

The popular restaurant posted a video to Facebook Friday morning claiming to show two women rushing out of the establishment without paying their $30 bill. The video, captured on Tuesday evening, has received more than 60 thousand views since it was posted. 

The diner's general manager Amy O'Keefe said the move was done as a last resort to combat a problem restaurants have faced for years. O’Keefe said she didn’t want to shame the two people who skipped out on paying the bill, but the restaurant is fed up with people “stealing.”

"It was just a blatant dine and dash," she said. "It's not cool. That's just stealing. [They] are just stealing from us."

O'Keefe said the security cameras were installed a few months ago to protect the staff, but management quickly realized the cameras were also useful in gathering evidence against people dining and dashing. She said signs have been posted throughout the store, warning people the cameras are present and that the footage will be used as evidence to help prosecute people caught in the act. 

"I actually thought about it long and hard. I didn't want to do it, but at the same time, it wouldn't have happened if [they] hadn't stolen from us," she said. "[They] broke the law and we want our money back.

The two women who were captured on the video have come forward, and apologized to management. O'Keefe said they have pledged never to pull this stunt again and said they would come pay their bill.

"They are sorry, and obviously didn't think they were going to get caught," she said. 

There have been two dine and dash cases at the restaurant in the past month. O'Keefe said that number was much higher until the restaurant hired an evening security guard.

Dunn's Famous Deli on Dalhousie Street posted a similar video on Facebook in September of a group of diners that allegedly left the restaurant without paying a $77 bill. The group of five people came forward and paid their bill. The restaurant said the video has acted as a deterrent and that no such cases have been reported since that video was posted online.