BENGALURU: An ‘any dish for Rs 30′ offer spiralled into chaos outside a prominent Hebbal pub celebrating its third anniversary.Heavily promoted across social media platforms, the offer drew a turnout far exceeding expectations Wednesday. With a seating capacity of around 300, the venue saw nearly 1,000 customers gathering at the spot, leaving the staff struggling to manage the crowd.Unable to control the situation, the management shut the outlet before 4pm. Several people told TOI that poor planning and lack of crowd management led to confusion and frustration among the waiting customers. The sudden rush also resulted in traffic congestion on the adjoining roads, including Esteem Mall Road and Hebbal Flyover during peak hours. Finally, police had to intervene to disperse the crowd and restore order.A 35-year-old, who planned an outing at the pub with her family of seven, said, “There were no timings mentioned for the offer, so we planned to go for dinner and left Basaveshwaranagar at 6.30pm. By 6.45pm, we reached the flyover, and heavy traffic delayed us. After reaching close to Esteem Mall, we were told the offer had closed at 4pm. It was ridiculous… We finally reached the venue around 7.30pm and were turned away, leaving the kids hungry and upset.”A 27-year-old, who went to the venue with three friends, said, “We reached the pub at 11.30am, though it was scheduled to open at noon, and found two queues already — one inside and the other spilling onto the road. The first batch was let in only by 12.30pm, after which we were moved to the inner queue and made to wait till 2.30pm. Despite announcements around 1pm that the offer was closed, people continued to arrive. After protests, entry was allowed in batches of 10, but the situation turned chaotic. We finally got a table at 3pm, placed our order half an hour later, and left at 5.45pm. It was terrible.”The staff at the pub claimed the overwhelming response was not anticipated and safety concerns prompted the early closure. “Originally, the plan was to run the offer the whole day, but the crowd turned out to be more than 1,000,” said a staffer.A senior police officer told TOI that they received multiple complaints around 8.30pm, saying a huge crowd was blocking traffic on Kempapura Main Road. A Hoysala patrol team was dispatched to the spot. Also, a posse of police from the Amrutahalli police station also rushed to the spot.“The crowd swelled to the extent that most of them stood on the road, blocking the traffic. The situation seemed to worsen as the crowd refused to leave the venue and started shouting slogans against the pub management. Meanwhile, the traffic was getting more affected, and we told the pub management to pull down the shutters till the crowd vanished. Then, we dispersed the crowd,” he said.