A POPULAR Mexican restaurant says it is “extremely happy” after finding an envelope under its door from a group of customers who walked out on a $326 bill over the weekend.

Carlos Cantina in the Melbourne suburb of Croydon posted a photo of the unpaid bill to Facebook on Saturday night, urging the customers to do the right thing.

“To the table of six boys that walked out tonight,” the restaurant wrote. “You forgot to pay. Please come back.” The post was shared 200 times, with commenters describing the move as “disgusting”.

“That bill is worth three staff wages for the night,” wrote Kathleen Rodgers. “Go back and pay it guys.”

Janet Elsheikh added, “I am a businesses owner and I tell you we work hard for our money and after paying all our bills and overheads most businesses take so little home. And with that money we pay more bills and payments and try to feed and clothe our children, it’s so hard. Some people are so ignorant.”

On Sunday, Carlos Cantina shared a photo of an envelope with the “Sorry we forgot to pay” written on the front.

“We came into work today and found an envelope with full payment under our door,” the restaurant wrote. “We are extremely happy. Thank you very much boys. We hope you had a good night.”

Business owner Charles Tey later told the Maroondah Leader he was going to ask neighbours for the CCTV footage when he found the envelope.

“Judging from the prompt payment, it seems like they made an honest mistake and they gave us a note apologising,” he said. “It was still 50 cents short, but I’ll forget about that. I felt really appreciated that they took the time and came back.”

He said he was “amazed” at the response. “It was the most shares I’ve ever got on any Facebook post, it shows how many good people are out there,” he said.

Commenters on Facebook were split on whether it was a genuine mistake, or the group only paid up after being shamed on social media.

“I call bulls*** on forgetting to pay, they could have at the very least handed the money over in person, $300+ is a lot of money to flippantly put under your door BUT they have paid so that’s a good thing,” wrote Gerri Cheyne.

But Jools de Loryn said it was disheartening that people “instantly assume the worst”. “And we wonder why our kids are growing up bullying and judgmental and doing the same,” she wrote.

“I’ve done this before with a group of friends and it was a total mistake, we totally forgot because we were having such a good time. Surely every single one of you have made a mistake in your life which was stupid. Geez, give them a break.”

frank.chung@news.com.au