Why do restaurants charge extra for basic sides and additions?
Charging separately for essential meal accompaniments like bread or simple syrup makes customers feel nickel-and-dimed over minor details. This frustrating pricing practice damages trust, leads to immediate cancellations or returns, and drives paying customers away permanently.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1increasing the menu price of the main dish slightly to include a sufficient amount of bread
- 2leaving bad reviews
- 3never returning to the establishment
- 4Asking the resort to lower or remove the per-person food fee.
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I ordered a bowl of mussels, the menu mentioned It came with bread. Imagine a slim French baguette, two half inch slices cut on the bias. That was the portion. I never went back.”source ↗
“I went to this very expensive coffee/breakfast/pastry place. I ordered a large iced coffee $9 along with a bunch of stuff for the family. All told It was about $75... They told me $1 per pump [for simple syrup]... They did and they stood there ground on the subject, so I said fine I am going to return this coffee and credit it back to payment method. Which they did. We will never go back”source ↗
“I’m having a hard time understanding why we have to pay a pretty large per person fee for the wedding buffet when everyone attending is already paying to stay at an all inclusive resort where food is included.”source ↗
“Would love to hear if anyone was able to work something out with their resort.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2Why do restaurants charge a fee for sharing a meal?
- 4Why are service fees so expensive for tiny repairs?
- 4Why are basic security features locked behind expensive tiers?
- 3Why is eating out so expensive now when the food quality is worse?
- 3Why is QuickBooks still taking credit card fees from my bank account?
- 10How to stop dealership service upsells you don't need