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Dining Deceptions

Young chef making food on commercial kitchen stove — FG Trade/istockphoto

We recognize that restaurants face various expenses when determining their pricing. Operating a restaurant is certainly not without its costs. Additionally, we can comprehend that in order to provide lower prices for menu items that require more expensive preparation, it becomes essential to increase the prices of items that are less costly to make. It's all about finding that balance.

Still, some of the stuff customers spend money on at restaurants land in "ripoff" territory, and on a Reddit thread discussing the best examples of such things, chefs sounded off with their own experiences.

Young woman drinking red wine at bar — Satoshi-K/istockphoto

1. The "Signature Wine"

The resounding Reddit response among chefs is that you can't always trust the house wine at restaurants. One Redditor commented, "We buy tiny wine bottles for $7 and sell for $37. Spaghetti Factories house wine is Franzia box wine." Others were quick to agree, lamenting that house wine is commonly just the cheapest wine the restaurant has in their arsenal — their finest cardboardaux, as another Redditor put it.

Homemade cold peach tea in glass with blur background — Irene Cheng / istockphoto

2. ...Along with Our Signature House-Made Beverages

House wine isn't the only beverage that you might raise an eyebrow about at restaurants. "We used to sell a house-made drink with a ton of stuff we could make behind the bar for basically nothing. The cost to us, per pour, was $1.89. We sold it for $12," commented one Redditor. The user also pointed out that marking the price of cheap-to-make drinks or menu items is a practice that allows for more affordable pricing on the items that are expensive to make and sell.

Smiling woman waiter with two plates of cheesecake in restaurant. Waitress brings dessert dishes to the table of guests. — alvarez/istockphoto图库

3. Creamy Cheesecake

If you save room for dessert when you dine out, you probably want to indulge in something you don't have universal access to outside of that restaurant's four walls. Countless chefs on Reddit admitted that restaurants often buy their cheesecakes already made from the grocery store and they add sauces and syrups to them to dress them up before plating and charging around $7 a slice.

Beautiful spicy special Volcano sushi roll with crab meat and spicy mayonnaise — EzumeImages/iStockphoto

4. Specific Types of Sushi Rolls

Pay attention to the descriptions when you read the menu at your favorite sushi joint, guys. One Redditor explained that the only difference between her restaurant's $3.75 California roll and their specialty Volcano roll was the way the roll was cut and the spicy mayo it was topped with. Oh, and the Volcano roll came with a heftier $7.25 price tag. We're not mathematicians, but we're pretty sure that Volcano roll didn't have almost $4 worth of spicy mayo on it. You'd be better off ordering a Cali roll with spicy mayo on the side at that point.

Attractive woman eating vegetable soup in a cafe, healthy eating, veganism and vegetarianism, copy space. — puhimec/iStockphoto

5. A Serving of Soup

If you visit a restaurant with a particularly delicious soup, you might find yourself opting for the more expensive bowl versus a cheaper cup of said soup. Just keep in mind that the shallow bowl the restaurant gives you might hold the same amount of soup as that "smaller" cup.

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This article was originally published on Cheapism