The $55 Mac And Cheese
UPDATE: The $55 Mac And Cheese Guy Speaks
UPDATE: The Menu Said ‘Truffles’
This guy goes to the Waverly Inn and orders a mac and cheese, the night’s special, as an appetizer. It’s the kind of place where there’s no prices on the menus. When the mac comes, a waiter slides over and grates something on it. The guy assumes it’s cheese, eats his dinner and gets his bill. His eyes explode.
The mac and cheese is fifty-five dollars.
Turns out the stuff the waiter grated on wasn’t cheese. It was a fresh truffle. Special, indeed.
Watch out at the restaurant. Just because they put the fancy on doesn’t mean they’re above sneaking charges into your meal. Our reader’s letter, inside…
— BEN POPKEN
Max writes:
- “Hey Consumerist! Funny night for both me and my roommate. Not only did the girl I am seeing not put out, but my roommate has a problem with his date as well. They had decided to go to dinner at a restaurant she liked in the west village, and they ordered the usual: Salad, tuna tar-tar, chicken pot pie, and creamed spinach. My roommate, a comfort food fan (guess which of the previously mentioned items was his), noticed that the special for the evening was macaroni and cheese. He was in the mood, so he ordered it as an appetizer. The menu had no listed prices.
They brought out the macaroni on a small plate, in a quantity he describes as “not even enough to be considered an appetizer.” A waiter came over and grated something over the top, which was assumed to be cheese, and that was that. Then the bill came. The Salad? $10. The pot pie? $18. The look on my roommate’s face as he tells me he just dropped $55 on Mac and Cheese? Priceless.
It turns out that the stuff the waiter had grated over the dish was not a cheese but a fresh truffle, and no one had thought to mention anything until the bill came. He spoke to the owner, who gave him “A few free glasses of wine for the trouble,” but the point he makes is that there’s no reason a respectable restaurant with average dinner prices should sneak in a $55 macaroni order. Naughty naughty!”
Full receipt:
