I wouldn't have accepted that from the waiter. I know there are "proper" ways to use the number and one utensils but you just pay him to bring the food. NOT be lectured to.
I had a similar encounter with a Sunday sous chef at Park Hyatt Busan, where the fellow came out from the kitchen and told me that today's catch was today's catch, no substitutions and it's a prized Korean trout, blah blah (I dislike trout, A LOT). I just told him plainly that I wouldn't be paying if he didn't change it to something that I liked. We weren't told by his serving staff about what kind of fish was the catch of the day. In the end, he changed it.