A man who tried to "dine and dash" from an Adelaide restaurant – only to be restrained by staff members – has been reported for theft.

Footage of the incident shows three staff members trying to restrain a man in a yellow hooded jumper on the footpath of Gouger Street in Adelaide's CBD.

Police said they were called about 9:30pm on Wednesday after reports that a man had attempted to leave a restaurant without paying for his meal.

The man was found a short time later on nearby Moonta Street.

The 33-year-old man from Salisbury, in Adelaide's northern suburbs, was reported for theft and summonsed to appear in court at a later date.

Australian Hotels Association South Australia general manager Ian Horne said the so-called "dine and dash" was a "pretty rare" occurrence.

"It happens from time to time, but I'd say no more than it ever has," he said.

Gouger Street is one of Adelaide's most prominent and busiest food districts and the precinct also includes Chinatown and the Adelaide Central Market.

Gouger Street Traders Association president Wayne Chao said the situation was "quite unfortunate".

Mr Chao had not heard of any other similar incidents, but said there had been "a lot of other instances" of glass doors being broken at venues across Gouger Street in the past couple of weeks.

"It is disappointing to see that people are making this trouble on the street," he said.

Mr Chao said, on a positive note, the usually busy strip had begun returning to a normal level after a tough couple of years during the pandemic.

"The confidence of the businesses are picking up and the customer traffic is picking up at least," he said.