Affiliate Marketing Secrets

My friends and I frequent a restaurant on my college campus. When we arrive, we drop all of our jackets and book-bags in some closets at the front of the restaurant before going in (at the request of the restaurant) so that we don’t have to put them on the floor under the tables and also, in part, to ensure that we are not bringing alcohol into the restaurant. We have always complied with this policy, because the restaurant asked us to. However, I recently found out from one of the restaurant’s former employees that the general manager would frequently ask restaurant staff to search through our bags while they were in those closets. I have never seen a sign posted in the restaurant indicating that this is policy.
I realize there are various moral and ethical implications at play, but is this legal? For what it’s worth, we are in the state of Connecticut, and the restaurant is an independent restaurant (not affiliated with our University).