Restaurant charges diners $95 to slice up birthday cake
A restaurant in Italy has been slammed online after charging a group of diners a hefty cost to simply cut a birthday cake into slices.
A family attended the high-end restaurant in the southern area of Arezzo to celebrate their mother's birthday, after they had asked the restaurant in advance if they could bring in an outside cake.
After enjoying their meal, which came to a whopping €659 or $1,083 AUD, they were slapped with another fee of €58 or $95 to cut the cake and bring it to the table.
Local news outlet Corriere Fiorentino reported that the cost of slicing the cake was more than the cake itself.
Two of the dinner guests shared the story of the expensive fee on a local Facebook page, claiming the restaurant said it is the rule of their establishment and they were required to pay it.
The owner of the restaurant told the Italian media site, "We do not charge a cover charge and we mainly serve dishes of our own production, so we try to discourage those who bring things from outside."
"If we consider that in Arezzo the average cover charge is 2.5 euros per person, there is not such a big difference," they said as they explained the group of diners was 13 people.
"My restaurant has to pay for the waiter who serves at the table, the dishwasher and other related services. We have to recover them somehow."
However, the owner did admit, "I wasn't there that evening and my employees were perhaps too fussy in managing the situation that had arisen, perhaps cutting the usual price a little or even not charging anything for the cake."
"Better 50 euros less and people going home happy than this misunderstanding in which we are all damaged."
Image credits: Corriere Fiorentino / Shutterstock