When a goanna made a surprise appearance at a South Coast restaurant one peaceful afternoon, a French waitress quickly took control of the situation.

On Sunday, Samia Lila was serving at the packed Mimosa Winery restaurant at Murrah, near Bega, when a customer grabbed her hand and pointed at the scaly visitor that was crawling across the floor.

"I looked at it and thought it was a dog at first!" Ms Lila said.

"But then I realised it was a goanna."

At about 180 centimetres long, it went under one of the tables and the customers sitting there started to scream.

"Everyone was screaming, so I started screaming too," Ms Lila said.

The 25-year-old put a chair in its path to try to buy time while she figured out how to stop it from reaching customers.

Running out of options, the best she could think of was grabbing it by its tail and dragging it outside across the veranda and away from everyone - including past a woman who had by then jumped on her chair.

"I was just like a kid; I thought 'I want to do it, I want to do it, I know it's bad, but it was getting close to customers,' " Ms Lila said.

"I wasn't scared, I like reptiles so was a bit excited."

She has been in Australia since November and it was only the second time she had seen a goanna, after scaring one away from the winery's vines last week.

A video of Ms Lila's actions was posted on the restaurant's Facebook page on Sunday and by Tuesday morning it had been shared more than 2300 times and had 212,000 views.

The Normandy resident said she did not expect the video to go viral at all. Due to her actions, she has now been labelled the "Goanna Girl".

She will be working at Mimosa Winery - and protecting it from goannas - under her Working Holiday Visa until June or July before she continues her travels.

Bega District News

The NSW Office of Environment & Heritage has guidelines for dealing with native animals.