Restaurant Fires Back After Disgruntled Diner Calls Cops Over $1,000 Tab
Most overpriced restaurant bills pale in comparison to what one tourist received in Singapore.
A tourist visited Seafood Paradise in Singapore's Clarke Quay to try a plate of chilli crab, one of the country’s most popular dishes.
All was seemingly good…until she got the bill.
The cost of dining out is getting alarmingly expensive. A bowl of pasta can now cost upwards of $30, you can’t get a cocktail without shelling out the big bucks, and even indulging in an appetizer has turned into a major investment. But most overpriced restaurant bills pale in comparison to what one tourist received in Singapore.
Japanese tourist Junko Shinba visited Seafood Paradise in Singapore's Clarke Quay to try a plate of chilli crab, one of the country’s most popular dishes. According to Shinba, the waitstaff highly recommended one type of crab in particular—the Alaskan King Crab.
Shinba heeded their advice and enjoyed the nearly eight-pound crab along with several other dishes. All was seemingly good…until she got the bill. The meal totaled 1322.37 Singapore Dollars (around $968 USD), with 938 of them going towards the crab alone. That’s nearly $700 USD just for some spicy shellfish!
Shinba told the outlet AsiaOne that the restaurant failed to disclose its pricing model. The waiters allegedly told Shinba that the Alaskan King Crab cost $30, “without explaining that they charge per 100 grams,” she said.
The tourist contested the bill, claiming that she was overcharged for the meal. She even went so far as to call the police, who arrived at the scene to mediate the skirmish.
But according to Paradise Group, the parent company of Seafood Paradise, the restaurant staff was transparent about their pricing model from the very beginning.
In a statement posted to Facebook, Paradise Group argues that they communicated the price to the customers twice. They even brought out the uncooked crab to the table to confirm the size. Clips from the restaurant’s security footage reveal Shinba and her guests posing for selfies next to the live crustacean.
Regardless, the restaurant’s manager still took extra steps to make it right. They offered a discount of $107.40 SGD, enough to cover almost a pound of crab. The peace offering was an act of goodwill, but the tourist still went out of her way to report the restaurant to Singapore’s Tourism Board and to the news.
“We are deeply upset by the inaccurate claims made by this group of customers, seemingly aimed at tarnishing the reputation of our restaurant and our dedicated staff on various platforms,” Paradise Group wrote in their official statement.
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