By Laurie Perez

    California (KCAL, KCBS) -- The tagline on Benihana's website is "it's more than a meal, it's an experience," and diners on Monday got a portion of both at the restaurant's Torrance location.

A now viral video shows a worker launching a plate at a security guard after a manager asked the employee to leave. The guard, some customers and employees tackled the disgruntled employee as other diners scattered out of the way.

"I think a part of that video that really struck me the most was hearing that kid crying in the background," customer Drew Banks said. "How unnecessary is that? It was a Monday night dinner. Families are having dinner, and that has to happen?"

The Torrance Police Department said they received calls about the fight just before 8:30 p.m. but the suspect left before they arrived.

"I'm sorry, no, you get fired for a job for whatever reason, cause or no cause, you don't get to come back and start throwing plates at people and cause a whole scene, making people cry, no, zero sympathy," Banks said. "I think they did the right thing on firing this guy."

The incident prompted some to rethink their plans, including Dave Sims, who had considered celebrating his granddaughter's birthday at Benihana on Tuesday.

"You know my granddaughter is having her eighth birthday here, she gets to pick the restaurant so she picked Benihana's," Sims said. "But we were thinking, wonder if we wanna go there. We don't want someone to come back and you know retaliate."

However, the incident didn't appear to affect other customers, as diners continued to fill the parking lot of the Torrance location.

Benihana did not respond to CBS News Los Angeles' request for comment.

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