Onlookers called paramedics when the man fell to the ground suffering an apparent seizure while enjoying dumplings with his friend at Shifu Dumpling Express in Acland St, St Kilda, at about 4.30pm today.

As the man was being loaded into the ambulance and his friend was climbing in to join him, a waiter came and handed the friend the bill.

Bella, who did not want her surname used, said she was disgusted at the restaurant's actions.

"I was so incredulous that it had happened,'' she said.

"It wasn't the most expensive restaurant in town, it's a dumpling house and their bill would not have been more than $30.

"It was just so inappropriate, I will never go there again.''

"My opinion is that they ate in our restaurant, they have to pay,'' he said.

An Ambulance Victoria spokesman confirmed a man in his 30s was taken to the Alfred Hospital in a stable condition.

UPDATE AND ONLINE DEBATE:

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/st-kilda-chinese-restaurant-food-bill-handed-to-man-in-ambulance/story-fn7x8me2-1226045177925