( CNN ) -- Ever had your credit card turned down at a fancy restaurant ? President Obama can commiserate . Speaking to workers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in Washington on Friday , he recalled a moment last month when , at the end of a dinner out in New York City , his plastic was declined . `` I guess I do n't use it enough , so they thought there was some fraud going on , '' he said . `` Luckily , Michelle had hers . I was trying to explain to the waitress that I 've really been paying my bills . '' The President and first lady dined at Estela in downtown Manhattan during Obama 's stay in New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly session in September . Based on a photo of their kitchen order that the restaurant posted online , we know the Obamas dined on burrata with salsa verde and charred bread , and an endive salad with walnuts and anchovies . The restaurant is run by a former staffer at Blue Hill at Stone Barns , a farm-to-table mecca in the Hudson Valley where the Obama family attended the wedding of their personal chef this summer . Obama was at the financial agency Friday to sign an executive order bolstering security measures for government credit cards .
The President says his credit card was declined while he was out to dinner with the first lady . ` He also said that when he returned from dinner, a waitress told him she had been asked by her boss not to serve him. `` Luckily , Michelle had hers , '' he said , adding `` that I 've really been paying my bills '' He told the story to workers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Friday .