An incident at Lucky Ginger over the weekend has been handed over to the Milwaukee Police Department, according to restaurant co-owner Lae Souk Sayavongsa, who says that all three women involved have now been contacted by the MPD.
The following video, spliced from security footage at Lucky Ginger and posted to Facebook by co-owner Lae Souk Sayavongsa, clearly shows a woman putting what is allegedly a glass marble in her companion’s glass of wine.
The message accompanying the video reads:
"So last night was an interesting night here at Lucky Ginger. Crazy busy, people waiting for 30-45 mins for a table and didn't mind. 😊 that was the fun part.
Here's the sad part, three 3 not so nice ladies decide to blame us for finding glass marbles at the bottom of their wine and supposedly almost choked on them in the process of enjoying it. Me being a nice peaceful person offered to take 50% off their bill. But it bothered me all night on where and how the glass marbles got into their glass. Thanks to all the cameras around the restaurant, I see you!! This lady either needs some new friends who aren't trying to kill her, or this team of scam artist need to lawyer up and explain this to the cops.
Messing with the wrong people ladies, you just got, GOT. Please share this video if you know friends or family that own a business, I don't want this happening to anyone else..."
When we caught up with Sayavongsa for comment, he indicated that he’s followed up on the matter on his end, but that he "really just wanted to get the video out there so it doesn’t happen to other establishments, cause it’s a really sad situation."
On Sunday, after this report initially appeared, we were contacted by one of the women from the video, Stephanie, who declined to use her last name, and indicated that, although she received a discount on her drink, she was not part of the aforementioned scam.
"I was at the restaurant with 2 friends I have known since kindergarten but have not seen for years," she wrote to us in a Facebook message. "We keep in contact via FB casually and decided to meet up for drinks. My boyfriend met up with us (that is who I turn to greet in the video) and we were going to head to another venue. After I finished my glass of wine, i noticed there were chunks in the bottom of my glass. I brought it to the attention of the bartender because I didn't know what it was or if something had gone wrong with the bottle during the manufacturing process. I bartended for years and if something like this had happened in my shift, I would have wanted to know. She apologized and said she would talk to her manager. She came back and said he offered 50% off my tab of $15 so the discount was $7.50. I thanked her and she again apologized, I told her not to feel bad it wasn't her fault. I paid my tab along with my boyfriends (which was full price for the record) and we left.
"What you see in the video sickens me. I am not a scammer, or a lier. Unfortunately I made a bad choice of meeting up with people I thought were my friends and got burned in the process.
"The other friend we were out with alerted me to the video yesterday and I immediately reached out to Mr. Sayavongsa as I was horrified that my friend had done that and offered to make things right. I have been violently ill since early Saturday morning. As I said, I'm now in the hospital. We have also contacted MPD."
More recently, we were contacted by Katie, one of the other women in the video, who also declined to give her last name, indicated that she sent an adapted version of the following letter to the general manager of Lucky Ginger.
"I am the woman shown in the video that put something in her friend's drink," she wrote. "I need to come clean about that, but I would first also like to explain a few things. The first is that I was extremely intoxicated, should not have been continuing to drink and have absolutely no memory of this incident. I mean, absolutely none, which terrifies me. Second is that in my immature drunken brain, I am sure that I was trying to pull a prank on Stephanie (the girl who this happened to), and that was my only intention. I am known to be very childish when I've been drinking and in this case, had a horrible impact.
"Most importantly though, I want you to sincerely know that I by no means was trying to scam your restaurant. I literally did not even remember I did that to her wine, so when she brought it to your attention, I didn't stop her and say "hey that was me" because I seriously had no recollection of doing so. I am not a scammer, I have never done anything remotely like this in my life and that never would have been even something that would cross my mind. I had a great time at your restaurant and I thought your bartender was fabulous. I received my bill in full and left her a nice tip because I felt sorry for her that she had to deal with the wine incident. I promise you, I was not trying to pull anything off and the publicity this has gotten has had a very negative impact on my life. I suppose I deserve that to an extent, but please understand I had no malicious intent, I was trying to mess with my friend, was too drunk to remember 10 minutes later that it had even happened, and I caused all of this to turn into a big mess.
"I would like to offer to pay the remainder of Stephanie's bill because I need to make this right. Please accept my sincerest apologies. "
As a passionate champion of the local dining scene, Lori has reimagined the restaurant critic's role into that of a trusted dining concierge, guiding food lovers to delightful culinary discoveries and memorable experiences.
Lori is an avid cook whose accrual of condiments and spices is rivaled only by her cookbook collection. Her passion for the culinary industry was birthed while balancing A&W root beer mugs as a teenage carhop, fed by insatiable curiosity and fueled by the people whose stories entwine with every dish. Lori is the author of two books: the "Wisconsin Field to Fork" cookbook and "Milwaukee Food". Her work has garnered journalism awards from entities including the Milwaukee Press Club. In 2024, Lori was honored with a "Top 20 Women in Hospitality to Watch" award by the Wisconsin Restaurant Association.
When she’s not eating, photographing food, writing or planning for TV and radio spots, you’ll find Lori seeking out adventures with her husband Paul, traveling, cooking, reading, learning, snuggling with her cats and looking for ways to make a difference.
