The owner of a top Los Angeles restaurant has defended her staff's decision not to seat soul star Diana Ross when she arrived for lunch last week (begs31Dec12).

The I'm Coming Out hitmaker showed up for lunch at La Scala in Beverly Hills on Thursday (03Jan13), and asked to be seated by the hostess while she waited for her daughter to arrive.

The staffer refused because the venue has a strict policy of not seating incomplete parties unless they have a reservation.

Angry Ross ignored the hostess and seated herself, only to be told by the manager that she would not be served if she remained. The singer then stormed out.

Now owner Gigi Leon has spoken out to explain the incident, telling the the New York Post, "I'm sorry that Miss Ross had a problem with that and she feels that the rules didn't apply to her.

"Our policy is that we don't sit incomplete parties. If people jump the line, our policy is we don't serve them, and she was told that. We treat everyone the same whether you're famous or not. We love having her as a customer. We'd be happy to have her back."