A waiter at a New York City pizzeria has returned a cashier's check worth nearly $424,000 to a retired social worker who lost it - even after she didn't tip him for her meal.

Armando Markaj found the bank envelope while cleaning off a table last Saturday at Patsy's restaurant in East Harlem.

Markaj said he ran outside with it as soon as he found it, but the customer was already gone. When he opened the envelope and got a shock.

'Normally we just put things left behind in the lost and found box in the back,' he said to the New York Daily News. 'But I wasn't going to do that with almost half a million dollars.'

Armando Markaj (center) found the bank envelope while cleaning off a table last Saturday at Patsy's restaurant in East Harlem

A 'relieved' Karen Vinacour was reunited with her check on Wednesday. She first discovered that it was missing on Sunday night and went to her Citibank at Union Square to try to cancel the check

After an unsuccessful search, the restaurant's owner - 63-year-old Frank Brija - called the New York Daily News for help.

'We thought for sure it was a billionaire or something who came in here, because who walks around with a check like that?' said Brija.

A 'relieved' Karen Vinacour was reunited with her check on Wednesday. She first discovered that it was missing on Sunday night and went to her Citibank at Union Square to try to cancel the check.

'They said they couldn't immediately cancel it because it was a cashier's check. I would have to wait at least three months before they could even start the process,' she said.

'My world just collapsed.'

Vinacour had been at the eatery with her daughter for lunch after shopping for a condo. The money from the cashier's check - which she got from selling her apartment - was to be the down payment for the condo.

Armando Markaj found a bank envelope while cleaning off a table last Saturday at Patsy's restaurant in East Harlem

She and her daughter had even called another Patsy's, hoping to find the check and not realizing that they had called the wrong one.

Vinacour had not tipped the waiter after her meal because she wasn't happy with a response he gave her when she asked why there weren't photos of women on the walls.

Vinacour had not tipped the waiter after her meal because she wasn't happy with a response he gave her when she asked why there weren't photos of women on the walls

'Maybe women don't eat a lot of pizza?'' Markaj is said to have said.

'Well, my daughter's kind of feisty and she didn't like that,' Vinacour retorted when the pair were reunited. 'So we didn't tip him.'

She tried to rectify that but he graciously declined.

Markaj, who's working his way through school, did accept Vinacour's apology and gratitude.

'I'm happy for her, really. Saturdays are pretty busy and I was very close to taking everything left on the table and throwing it out when I saw an envelope,' Markaj, 27, added. 'I just pulled up the flap and I saw 'Citibank' and thought it was important, so I ran out to the street to look for her, but she was gone.'

As far as his initial reaction, he did share that he was shocked that a tip wasn't left behind.

'I guess I figured that it was just karma for them,' he said.

Vinacour retorted: 'I believe in karma too. I guess that's what helped get me back to you.'