Holiday warning as restaurant charges diners £17 just to cut a birthday cake in tourist hotspot

A FAMILY was horrified when a restaurant in a tourist hotspot charged her an extra £17 just to cut her birthday cake.

The restaurant in Palermo, Sicily, sparked outrage after announcing its new chop price.

2

The family had bought their own cake to take to the Italian restaurant before being hit with a surprise extortionate fee.

Partygoers were given their receipt after their party was over and found they were charged £17.26 for cutting their cake.

The cost was calculated at 86p per participant, although the group spent £103.49 on pizza, wine, beer and water.

The restaurant listed the fee as “20 X Servizio Torta,” which translates to “20 X cake service.”

But the cut fee is just the icing on the cake in a series of bizarre price hikes across Italy.

A bar next to the millionaires’ playground on Lake Como – Pace Bar – charged a customer £1.73 to cut his sandwich in half.

A disgruntled customer shared a photo of the Bar Pace receipt online as evidence of the confusing charge.

It’s clear from the printout that the establishment had charged them £1.70 for the privilege of cutting their chic sarnie in two.

Listed as “diviso da meta”, translated into English it means “divided in half”.

The bar’s owner, who is not named, countered in Italian media by saying that “additional requests will incur costs”.

They explained: “If a customer asks me to make two portions of toast, I have to use two saucers and two napkins and go to the table with two hands.”

“It’s true that the customer is always right, but it’s also true that additional desires come at a cost.”

Then another restaurant – the Osteria del Cavolo in Finale Ligure – charged £1.70 to serve an empty plate to a customer.

Owner Ida Germano, 76, explained: “We put the lady who gave the receipt at a table for three because there were two adults and a child.”

“They only ordered one plate of trofie with pesto and one with fried anchovies and asked for two saucers to share.

“So they had four saucers total, not one, and we only charged for one because we also pay for the dishwasher and dishwashing.”

2