In Austria, a guest orders a slice of lemon with his Cola, which he has to pay extra for. The incident sparks a heated debate.

Eating out is becoming more and more expensive. In order not to scare away guests with prices that are too high, many restaurateurs rely on hidden additional costs. An outraged guest has now shared his experience in a restaurant in Austria on Reddit and provoked numerous reactions.

“I had lunch today. Two people. Cheese spaetzle with a cola. High prices. “I then see on the bill that I was charged one euro for the lemon slice that I ordered with the Coke,” complains the outraged guest on Reddit. He asks the community: “What do you think? Hardly acceptable for me. So it was the last time I ate there. Always complaining that people don’t come anymore and then doing something like that.”

Many users on Reddit share the outrage and describe their own negative experiences. A user reports that he had to pay four euros for an empty plate with cutlery for his three-year-old son in an expensive restaurant.

And he adds: “Or recently somewhere else: If you want salad instead of vegetables or vegetables instead of salad, you will be charged two euros extra. What is the innkeeper thinking?”

“Today I had lunch with my grandma, had 0.40 euros packed for food because my grandma couldn’t finish it, 1.20 euros for oats instead of cow’s milk in the café latte,” another describes a visit to a restaurant. “I recently paid two euros for tap water even though the three of us ate for 60 euros. Prices are crazy everywhere and that makes me angry,” read another comment.

As the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports according to preliminary results, the hospitality industry recorded a real decline in sales of 1.1 percent in February 2024 compared to February 2023, the same month of the previous year. However, compared to February 2019, the comparable month before the corona pandemic, hospitality sales were 14.0 percent lower in real terms.

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