A woman from Perth, Australia, Reanna Ho voiced her frustration online after receiving a staggering bill of $944 (approximately Rs 50,605) at an Australian Chinese restaurant on Friday night. She had dined with a group of eight people and ordered a total of eight dishes, but it was the ''live lobster'' that significantly inflated the final price. According to the New York reports, the price of lobster alone is $615 ( Rs 50,484), which was the main reason for the hefty bill.
Reanna was told the price of the lobster would depend on its weight and market price. However, she claimed that a few specific things on the menu were unclear when the order arrived. The restaurant did not provide the price details per kilogram, nor did inform her that five additional servings of noodles would cost $15 (Rs 1,296) each. She wrote on her Facebook post, ''Though I paid the bill, could not shake the feeling that something was off''.
No communication over price
After calling the restaurant the following day, Ho discovered that the lobster weighed 4.5 pounds (2.04 kg) and was priced at $120 (Rs 1,0375.86) per pound. However, what was more surprising for her was that she wasn’t communicated with about this at the time of ordering.
Ho further wrote, “We didn’t assume the lobster would be cheap, but based on common sense, the typical price per pound is usually around $60-$70 (approximately Rs 3,215-Rs 3,750). Even during the festive period, it seems unreasonable for the price to skyrocket to $120 (around Rs 6,431) per pound."
Reanna questions restaurant about live lobster
Ho questioned the restaurant about the live lobster, pointing out that if the lobster truly weighed 4.5 pounds, the head should have been significantly larger and more noticeable, but none of the diners observed this at the table.
Restaurant Response
In response to her query, the restaurant management acknowledged that the price and weight of the lobster had not been clearly communicated. However, they defended their method of cooking, explaining that the lobster's head was removed before cooking. “We do not see the point of wasting the meat of the head just for display purposes. We have been running this restaurant for 8 years and have been running it smoothly," the Chinese Restaurant management said in the comment section.