Italian restaurant charges ‘outrageous’ fee to slice birthday cake

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Customers at an Italian eatery in Sicily were left astounded when they were unexpectedly billed £17 for the mere act of cutting a cake they had brought along to commemorate a birthday.

This week, a picture of an invoice displaying the "€20 x Servizio Torta" charge, which means "€20 x cake service," became extremely popular on various social media sites.

According to reports, each person was expected to pay an extra fee of 86p, in addition to the group's total expenditure of £103.49 on pizza, wine, beer, and water.

The Palermo restaurant's identity remains undisclosed, causing confusion among individuals due to the excessively high fees imposed for their services.

"In Italy, a €20 fee was imposed on a family for dividing a cake they had purchased into 20 slices," states the initial tweet, accompanied by an image of the receipt. "Although they had already spent €121 on food and drinks, they were unexpectedly charged an additional amount. If this isn't an unfair practice, I can't help but question what it actually is!"

Another individual chimed in, expressing their astonishment by stating, "Oh my, this is absolutely absurd."

This is not the initial occasion where an Italian eatery has imposed an unforeseen service charge on its clientele.

Earlier this month, a British traveler was left surprised when a €2 fee was included in his restaurant invoice for slicing a sandwich in two equal parts.

The unidentified guest was having a meal at Bar Pace in Gera Lario, a well-known vacation destination near Lake Como in Italy, when the event took place.

He examined his receipt and came across a charge of €2 labeled as a "diviso da meta" or simply put, a fee for splitting his toasted sandwich in half.

Shortly after the news spread like wildfire, the proprietor of Bar Pace justified the fee.

According to the Italian newspaper La Reppublica, owner Cristina Biacchi mentioned that any further demands would incur a fee.

We found ourselves needing to utilize two dishes instead of just one, which consequently doubled the amount of time required for washing them. Additionally, we also had to place two placemats on the table. It wasn't a mere toasted sandwich; it was filled with French fries as well. Cutting it in half took us a considerable amount of time.

She mentioned that the customer involved did not raise any concerns at that moment and, if asked about it, the fee would have been removed from the invoice.