A restaurant in Edinburgh just refused to let a friend of mine take a few snaps of food she's paying for and was enjoying. She's not a blogger, just a regular patron, not that that should matter. There's also a food critic in there right now - wonder if they'll let her have pictures?
I've only been refused pictures on one occasion - at Nobu, where they actually justified it as an attempt to prevent amateur paparazzi and I had some sympathy.
But seriously: if you're a restaurant, I don't care how innovative you think you are, get over yourself and relax about people snapping their food (and if you expect them to pay for it, it is their food, not yours anymore). It's a hobby, its prevalent, and it's usually a mark of respect. Not allowing it is as stuck up as those places in the '80s that would refuse you condiments when requested.
Let people take a snap (or 7 if it's a tasting menu!) At least as long as they behave with respect for other diners - I, for example, never use a flash, never shoot other patrons, and rarely shoot the decor or staff (if I do it's generally a kitchen shot and I ask first).
Check out a sensible post on the matter here.
Such a bummer when this happens. I've yet to experience it in a restaurant but I recently had a vendor at an outdoor market in Barcelona throw a newspaper at me because I was trying to take a pic of an old stack of French textbooks he had out on his table. ??? I suppose in his defense, I had only purchased one of the three books I was photographing.
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