AN ITALIAN restaurant has left a mum baffled after charging for empty plate – and the owner has given a stunning reason.
The posh eatery at Italy‘s picturesque Liguria sparked outrage after charging £1.70 for using a sharing saucer.
@selvaggia.lucarelli/CENThe restaurant had charged the customer £1.70 for an empty saucer[/caption]
Customer Selvaggia Lucarelli shared a photograph of the bill on social media as proof of the whooping charge.
The receipt shows that the restaurant had charged the customer £1.70 for an empty saucer.
The mother had asked the server for an empty plate so that she could share a pasta dish with her daughter.
But she was left outraged when she checked the bill only to see the establishment had slapped them £1.70 for using it.
Listed on top as “piattino condivisione” translated into English as “sharing saucer”.
The eatery is located in the exclusive destination of Gulf of Genoa northern Italy – where cover charges are quite common.
However, the customer alerted holidaymakers as the fee came on top of the cover charge.
The total charge came to £6.48 amounting the overall cost of the meal to £47.92.
Disgruntled Italian media slammed the restaurant for the cheeky price saying: “They put 2 euros on her account for the saucer. By the way, having already factored in the cover charge.”
The Governor of Liguria Giovanni Toti also weighted in against the restaurant.
He fumed: “This extra charge is wrong to me.”
Restaurant owners responded to the row giving a stunning reason for the astonishing charge.
They said: “A table for three and they eat for one, then who does the dishes?”
Owner Ida Germano, 76 explained: “We made the lady who posted the receipt sit at a table for three, because there were two adults and a child.
“They ordered only one plate of trofie with pesto and one of fried anchovies and they asked for two saucers to share for both.
“So they had four saucers in all, not one, and we only charged for one because we pay for the dishwasher and the dishwashing too.”
Other customers run to social media to share their thoughts about the jaw-dropping prices.
A TripAdvisor user said: “Taking advantage of the location to raise the prices of absolutely basic dishes is in bad taste.”
This comes as another Italian bar added a bizarre extra charge to customers for cutting their sandwiches in half.
The posh eatery at Italy’s exclusive Lake Como sparked outrage after it revealed its new £1.70 slicing fee.
Osteria del cavolo/CENThe restaurant is located in Golf of Genoa where cover charges are common[/caption]