Ep 8. Singles Night

In Mystery Diners season 2 episode 8, titled "Singles Night," Charles Stiles and his team head to San Diego, CA to help The Lamplighter, a bar and restaurant, who has been struggling to attract customers to their singles night events. The owner, Jim, suspects that his staff might be turning away customers, which is causing a lack of interest in the events.

Charles sends in Patrick and Samantha, two Mystery Diners posing as singles, to attend the next singles night event at The Lamplighter. The bar staff is immediately friendly and welcoming, but Patrick and Samantha notice that the bartender is not serving full glasses of beer and the wait staff is slow to take orders and deliver food. The Mystery Diners also notice that a group of regulars are getting too cozy with each other and potentially scaring away new singles.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Mystery Diners team sets up surveillance in the kitchen to see if any of the kitchen staff is involved in the poor customer service. They discover that the cook is not properly cooking the food to order, and instead, pre-cooking the dishes and letting them sit under a heat lamp.

Charles and his team also set up a fake "back room" for singles to meet and mingle. They invite two actors to play singles looking for love, but they quickly discover that the regulars have taken over the room and are not allowing any new people in.

After collecting enough evidence, Charles confronts Jim and the staff about their behaviors. Jim is shocked to hear about the regulars hogging the back room and the poor service from his kitchen staff. He immediately fires the cook and hires a new one and also puts new policies in place to prevent the regulars from dominating the back room.

In the end, The Lamplighter's next singles night is a success, with several new customers attending and many compliments on the food and service. Jim is grateful for the help of the Mystery Diners and looks forward to the future success of his restaurant and bar.