If a customer leaves a restaurant without paying can the restaurant deduct the cost of the meal from the waitress?

Yes. Part of the responsibility of being a waiter or waitress is paying attention to your tables. However, there are a few exceptions - If the table walks out due to their order being wrong, or a kitchen mistake, etc - the manager should be involved before the table just leaves. If that is the case, and it was not pure negligence on the server's part - the manager should void the order. Same thing if the restaurant is understaffed, and it is really busy and the server is unable to do their job properly due to managment's lack of planning - it should also not fall on the server's shoulders. Of course - this is not set in stone - most of it is a judgment call by the manager.

Actually the manager can not make you pay if a table walks out on their bill, they will try to get you to pay for it but it's illegal for them to force you to pay for it. I used to work at a restaurant and had a table walk out on me and i just told the manager i wasn't paying for it and i didn't. He tried many times to get me to but just stand your ground.