Tourists Angry After Being Charged $100 for Seven Sodas at Greek Restaurant

A stock restaurant photo (Pexels / Kaboompics)

A group of tourists said that they were charged a considerable amount for seven sodas and a milkshake after visiting a Greek restaurant.

The tourists, from the United Kingdom, said they were on vacation in Rhodes, Greece, and went to The Gate in Old Rhodes Town.

Vicky Scott, who was with four friends and family, wrote on Facebook that her group was charged more than $100 for eight drinks, according to News.com.au.

“Went to The Gate restaurant in Old Rhodes Town for a drink,” she wrote on Facebook. “The bill for eight soft drinks was €82 ($100) — €14 ($18) for a milkshake!”

“I confronted him and all he could say was ‘thank you lady’ people like him should not be allowed to rip off tourists,” she said of the manager. “On our way back he posed for the photo until he realized who I was then he followed me down the street telling me I couldn’t take his photo.”

Scott then urged other people to share her message to “stop others” from “getting ripped off” at the establishment.

The Independent reported that the bill shows two drinks cost €5 ($6) a piece, five cost €10 ($11.32) each and one cost €14 ($16). Also, an €8 ($10) service charge was also added, which is about 10 percent of the bill.

In the comments section, some people sided with Scott, and some sided with the restaurant.

Judith Burry wrote: “All I can say is have your wits about you. Many places rip off the tourists. Easy money for them. I would have asked for a proper till receipt. No receipt no pay.”

But Jan Manessi told her: “Check the menu prices—otherwise only yourself to blame!”

Paula Moody commented: “Shameful. Hope it did not spoil your holiday. Rhodes is a beautiful island with many hard working honest and trustworthy restaurant bar owners.”

Alexandros Angelopoulos added, “€14 for a milkshake is expensive. But €14 for a liter milkshake is not.”

The restaurant has been mostly panned on TripAdvisor, where it has 102 “terrible” ratings out of 160 total.

The National Herald noted that it is common at Greek restaurants to not be given the menu, which often leads to shock when the bill is given back to the customer.

Another Incident

It comes weeks after an American soldier claimed that his group was charged $935 for what they said was calamari, tomato juice, and six bottles of beer.

They claimed that they were charged $661 for six plates of calamari, $167 for six beers, $20 for a glass of tomato juice, $20 for two bottles of water, and $66 for three Caesar salad appetizers with chicken, the Daily Mail reported.

The tourists went to the DK Oyster restaurant in Mykonos, Greece. According to the Daily Mail, the restaurant refused to show their party a menu or show them prices before giving them their final tab.

Francisco Tajeda, 38, a U.S. Army soldier, warned other tourists to stay away from DK Oyster.

“This place is a ripoff, look at the picture I posted,” he said.

“Avoid this place, this place is a trap,” he wrote on TripAdvisor. “They charged us 830 euros for calamari, 6 beers and 3 salads. The staff is not honest and refuse to provide a menu and prices.”

Tajeda then offered a warning: “Avoid this place at all costs! No pun intended.”

DK’s owner, Dimitris Kalamaras, said that the area around the restaurant is luxurious, so the prices reflect that.

“We regret the language of the person who posted this photo. Indeed, the prices are correct,” he told the Daily Mail. “Although we feel that they reflect the level of our efforts, care and the quality of the food served in one of the world’s most coveted beaches, we can sympathize with an unsatisfied customer.”

But he said that to describe his establishment as a “trap is not fair.”

“Why is a luxury hotel allowed to charge 200-500 euros per night and nobody compares it to a room to let? Why does a customer of a small retailer pay for a jacket 50.00 euros and others charge up to thousands? Are we all criminals, thieves, bad people?” he asked.

The manager added, “I want to tell you from my heart that we value our customers, and we have carefully accounted for the cost in order to produce a product which we consider to be value for money.”