Admittedly, we own some restaurants, so this is closer to home than for most. But we are currently at a seaside location and went to the clubhouse of the resort for some free internet. Upon sitting down at the lounge, Mrs. MM said that we have to order something, to help use up a consumable amount for the quarter… so without really thinking, the Teen ordered some nachos and I got a Diet Coke. The nachos arrived, a tiny serving of say 15 chips, with some liquid cheese squirted over them (and cold,not hot at all) and some chopped bland tomatoes sprinkled on top. Pathetic really. So I looked at the menu and was shocked to see they cost PHP380 for this order. That’s highway robbery! Perhaps PHP25 cost of ingredients, for PHP380! But worse, we noticed a standee on our table that proudly announced “Three Ice Cold Beers AND nachos for PHP300”!!! So I asked the nice server if the nachos was the same serving as the freebie, and she said “yes”, so I asked that our order be changed to the one with the free beers, and to make a short story shorter, they agreed. So instead of PHP380 for the nachos, I now have 3 cold beers to take home, the Teen had her nachos, and we only got charged PHP300! And that’s still about PHP100 cost, so a markup of 3x, which is normal for these kinds of places… Yipes, who makes up these deals?!? :)
Meanwhile, had a fabulous, fabulous Sinigang na Talakitok at Bayabas for lunch and some terrific barbecued shrimp. More on that in the days ahead. Have a good weekend!
11 Responses
Looking forward to the barbecued shrimp recipe. Sinigang with bayabas is a rare luxury now, I think.
We were victims of highway robbery menus too in the past so we now browse the menu to avoid surprises when the bill comes.
You would think that one indelible brush with bannetons would have been a lesson. Were you incidentally in a diet spa where the gougey pricing was set to discourage snacking?
Btw, price gouging is good business plan if you can persuade naïve domestic goddess wannabes to flock to your doors and web portals as lawful prey as William Sonoma apparently is able to pull off.
Williams-Sonoma is selling this large mocajete for $50, the same one I got for $18 at Costco.
But even the server didn’t “offer” or suggest to you their promo???? Good servers will usually see if diners just missed a good deal for their money. Kulang yata sa training or what?
Masaya ako when the restaurant staff is so attentive to us. Talagang babalik- balikan! ;-)
Good lord! That’s a 3-course meal in some restaurants….the waitress was an “accessory to the crime”….
Oh Footloose, i can think of a few diet spas with gougey pricing..
Yikes, yes. My husband and I call those “trap items”. Many restaurants have reasonably priced items, but we would see two to three items that are obviously overpriced. The sad thing is that these items are mostly the “kid-friendly” items too. :(
Footloose, no, not a diet spa, just a beach place with mediocre and some wildly overpriced food. Funny you should mention the banettons, I just saw them over the weekend at the beach, and they have only been used once for letting bread rise… the rest of the time, they are bread baskets… darned overpriced bread baskets. :)
Goodness, 5 years Footloose! and you remember! You ‘ll have to share your memory pill!!!
https://www.marketmanila.com/archives/banettons-of-regret
Definitely highway robbery! Pero hindi ba usually naman malaki talaga ang mark-up sa mga beach resorts, sa hotels at lalo na sa airports. By the way, okay ba yung beer? Or ordinaryong San Mig lang? :)