One e-complainer said the waiter would not come near the table after dropping off the check — which included a 20 percent tip for service. That might be a pretty succinct definition of “chutzpah.” A bit of background: Nello Balan is one of the more — what is a nice way to put this? — colorful characters in Manhattan’s dining business. A native of Romania with an exotic accent, he says he is a descendent of Vlad the Impaler, the inspiration for Count Dracula. He has bleached blond hair, the body of a bouncer and a strange gift for regularly turning up in the news media.

For a few years, that gift might have had something to do with money. In 2007, Richard Johnson, then the Page Six gossip columnist for The New York Post, apologized in print for accepting a $1,000 “gift” from Mr. Balan. Some cynics wondered at the time if this largess explained the many favorable mentions of the restaurant in the column.

Oh, and there was a lawsuit in 2009, brought by former waiters who said that Mr. Balan had “diverted” more than $100,000 a year from their tips. A lawyer for the employees e-mailed the Haggler to say “the case was resolved” but did not elaborate.

Last week, the Haggler called the restaurant, and a manager asked that any questions be sent by e-mail. No problem. An hour later, Mr. Balan wrote back.

“Thank you for addressing the problem directly to me,” the e-mail began. He went on to caution against accepting Mr. Tall’s version of his conversation with Nello’s staff, because one person’s account could easily be distorted. But he quickly added that the waiter might have been “confrontational” and that the restaurant required servers to disclose the price of specials.

“I will clarify my policy, which is in place since we opened,” he wrote.

Maybe a neon sign would be a good idea, because it sure seems that a lot of those waiters are falling down on this particular job. But this entire issue, it seems, was new to Mr. Balan, who contended that the first time he had heard about the $275 truffle special was when he received Mr. Tall’s complaint.