What's the most overpriced menu item you've seen?

[piano boy]

A new restaurant opened up in town, German beer hall style.

Apple and Beet Salad - $17

I went through the rest of the description, "...toasted hazelnut vinaigrette, frisee lettuce, sundried figs."

No meat, no cheese, no gold dust... I can't wrap my head around $17. Sure in the scheme of things it's not expensive compared to other appetizers and I've spent 4 times that on a salad at a 3 michelin star restaurant but it seems too expensive for what you're getting. A salad. At a pub.

[wyogal]

Coffee.

[The Professor]

Especially at Starbucks. It's not even particularly good coffee.

[uwsister]

Small coffee is a dollar and change at Starbucks. Not much more than other places.

[poloprincess]

$27 for a jug of orange juice at the Fairmont Hotel in Whistler

[smartie]

reminds me of a bowl of fruit at a Marriott in London - 25 UK pounds for an apple, an orange, a pear and a banana.

[lunchslut]

Not a restaurant but $12.99 for two pieces of ginger at Whole Foods. First time in my life where I refused to purchase and walked out. Picked up similar sized pieces at the grocery across the street for $0.99. 12x markup for organic is ridiculous!

[mtoo]

I wonder if they rang it incorrectly. I was buying a bunch of fresh basil at WF several years ago, and the cashier rang it as dried basil. That $5 bunch of basil suddenly became at $50 bunch of basil. No way that was happening. I pointed out the error to the cashier and she corrected it.

[lunchslut]

Double-checked with cashier before walking away. $12.99/lb. My two large chunks were one lb (I was making ginger syrup). Across the street it was $0.99/lb. What got my goat was that I have likely been paying $3-4 per small chunk for a bit but had not really been looking at my receipts at Whole Paycheck.

[twyst]

Not a food item, but $85 for a glenlivet 12 and water in the lobby bar of a hotel I was staying at in hong kong. Thank god for expense accounts ><

[Veggo]

I hope they gave you a double for another 2 bucks like some airports do....

[Zabar]

How about $12.65 including the mandatory 15% service charge for a Hebrew National frankfurter accompanied by a small side order of french fries and a 1/2 cup of cole slaw? This ripoff is still being offered on the menu at a very modestly appointed beachside restaurant, located on a tiny Caribbean island.

[fourunder]

Country clubs charge in excess of that every day.....not including the gratuity...which is another 18-20% plus another 7-9% for state sales tax.

[Zabar]

"fourunder"... I don't think that it is appropriate to compare a frankfurter being served at a "country club" to a frankfurter being served at a "open-air beachside bistro".

[fourunder]

" Zabar " ......I'm actually surprised the hot dog is not more expensive.....a bistro on the beach...high land value, mortgage, taxes , rent and etc......If at a resort...resort fees. A Hebrew National product....imported which comes with higher costs and duty fees....

Even the Jersey Shore probably costs at least 10 bucks on the boardwalk, without a tip...

[Veggo]

I can't recall seeing a Hebrew National in the Caribbean. Which island?

[gryphonskeeper]

Salmon Sashimi, 5 slices, under one OUNCE total. $13!

[PotatoPuff]

A plain hamburger over 20 (seen in NYC)

[Veggo]

$25 at '21, last visit.

[Bill Hunt]

Now, not THAT long ago, I did have a real Kobe burger (not a kobe burger), that was US $ 20, and was worth the $. OTOH, I have had some "mundane burgers" at the US $ 25 +/- rate, and not has done anything for me, other than empty my wallet.

Hunt

[Veggo]

I sometimes copy the tarragon butter pat in the center of the '21 burger - works nicely.

[WhatsEatingYou]

Pint of gelato from a gelato shop in Stamford, CT is $15! And I thought Ben & Jerry's was pricey at $5!

[Jay F]

Jeni's Ice Cream with Cornstarch @ $10 a pint strikes me as overpriced. And I didn't like the two flavors I had any better than their haagen-dazs equivalents.

[Motosport]

Restaurant Le Pressoir in Grand Case, St Martin: Romanee-Conti Grand Cru Vintage 2000: 11,978 euros. They declined to serve it by the glass.

[Bkeats]

Well a bottle sold at Christie's £4,140 or about $6,700 so using the stadard 3x mark up, its a bargain! Just kidding. ;)

[alliegator]

A popular bar/restaurant a stone's throw from my front door charges $9.75 for large cheese fries. Not enough for 2 people and plain nasty. Thick and soggy fries with oily, half melted shredded cheddar. Oddly enough, the rest of the menu is reasonable priced and the dishes taste good.

[amazinc]

Here in Souoth-Central Texas, iced tea is the "house wine". When a restaurant charges
$3.00 for a glass, I drink WATER. Imagine! A glass of iced tea costs less than 3-cents
even if you factor in an ice machine, glassware and wait staff to deliver it. Talk about profit margin!!

[fourunder]

A glass of iced tea costs less than 3-cents
even if you factor in an ice machine, glassware and wait staff to deliver it. Talk about profit margin!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I would disagree

[julesrules]

I love actual brewed iced tea but it is pretty rare here in Canada. If you order iced tea you are generally going to get bottled Nestea. There is a great bbq place (bbq is just catching on here and it's not a cheap eats thing) in cottage country where the owner does brew iced tea, but then sells it for $3. His homemade gingerale also costs $3 so I think he's just trying to standardize the menu but... I definitely order the gingerale, which at least requires some effort to make!
I rarely feel ripped off over portion sizes of items that involve actual cooking and/or sourcing truly interesting ingredients in the case of salads. I expect appetizer ravioli to be expensive for what you get, for example. But the price of mesclun salad (which I KNOW is from a giant pre-washed bag) just about always kills me... too much at $7, WAY to much at $10 and up.

[Bill Hunt]

Well, "overpriced" is a personal matter, but I passed on a Kobe # 5 New York at US $ 300, with no sides.

Now, I have paid about half that, for a Kobe (do not recall the grade) tenderloin, and it was worth every penny, though only ranked about # 3 on my "all time beef scale." Still, worth it to me.

As far as your example, I also wonder about some dishes that I see. "House Salad" for US $ 15, and I wonder what the heck is in that thing. Could be worth it, but I still wonder.

Going back many years, we had a wonderful market in South Denver, Toddie's, and they had a great pizza bar. One could pick their crust, and then ladle on the toppings. Oh, what great toppings they had! Then, one paid by the pound at the register. I think that my most expensive was ~US $ 40, and that was in 1980's $'s. Who, in their right mind, would pay US $ 40 for a pizza, that still had to be cooked at home, and with topping piled THAT high, it was not going to be easy? The answer - ME.

Hunt

[cleobeach]

Last month at a decent enough locally owned brew pub that has a good reputation for their food - three tiny (think quarter coin sized) hazelnut ravioli in a butter sauce for $12.

[2roadsdiverge]

This all comes down to what the OP meant by overpriced.

Is it:
1) Foods that simply have a high markup/profit
2) Foods that are genuinely expensive to serve but which aren't worth the price

Imagine that I made the best pasta in the world. The flour, eggs, tomatoes, olive oil, and butter cost me $1 per serving, but I charge $40 and people line up to pay it. No one has ever complained after eating it and I have a 100% return rate. Is it overpriced?

Imagine there is a food that takes 100 people a year to produce one kilo. It has to be overnighted from Borneo to make it to your table. It costs me $100 an ounce and I serve it for $200 an ounce. Is it overpriced? What if I just had to open a tin and put it on a plate?

How much does preparation count towards the idea of being overpriced? Pasta ingredients are cheap, but making lots of little raviolis takes a lot of work. How much does expertise count? It takes a sushi chef years of training to know how to cut that fish, even if the actual labor is not much.

[bobbert]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the biggest ripoff of all: professional sports stadiums. $5.00 for a 15 cent bottle of water at Yankee Stadium? Oh yeah, don't forget to tip.

[Bill Hunt]

But you DO get a baseball game with that... and it only cost you US $ 120/seat [LOL]

Hunt

[The Professor]

Bottled water in general is a ripoff.

[AngelSanctuary]

Oh I was just talking to my friend the other day how I felt so angry at being ripped off at this restaurant. It was supposed to be high end Chinese food but the only thing high end about it was the prices. I had Cantonese classic stir fried beef noodles. It was $16 dollars and the ingredients were pretty much the same as other places...other places that charge $6 ($4 during lunch specials!) as if that wasn't bad enough the cheap alternatives tasted better. The expensive one was ridiculously bland.

Their dim sum was also expensive and it was merely mediocre and I definitely didn't taste higher quality ingredients.

[woodleyparkhound]

The bloomin' onion at Outback - $.30 worth of ingredients and it costs what $8.99 or so? I read somewhere that this item is hugely famous in the chain restaurant biz for having the largest profit margin of any food item sold.

[Bill Hunt]

Yeah, it does not pay to read some of the restaurant biz's magazines, as one finds out all about those French Fries, the "Blooming Onions," and some of the other things, that diners just take for granted.

One of my clients served the restaurant/hotel business, and those mags were always in the waiting room. I hated to read them.

Besides the "profitable food" articles, there were others, like one Dallas restaurant chain winning a national award for instituting the "45 Minute Wait." They decided that no matter how full, or how empty their restaurants, all customers would have to wait 45 mins. During that time, they would be offered appetizers (high profit center), and drinks. With no menu, the patrons would easily pay 2 - 3x the price for those drinks, even if they could order them for less in the restaurant. Guess that it worked well, as they are still around.

Do not read the biz mags, or one might never dine out again. That stuff should be Top Secret!

Hunt

[Steve Green]

I've seen that 'mandatory wait" in any number of places, although the stated duration varies. We don't fall for that. Since neither I nor my GF drink, we just either just wait in the lobby (or if waiting in the bar, decline drinks or apps). 9 times out of 10, our table is miraculously ready as soon as management sees we're not ordering said drinks or apps.

[Midlife]

Teppan house in Kyoto in the late 80's. We were being treated by our contact at a large trading company , whom we'd gotten to know really well on a personal level. Someone ordered winter melon for the 4 of us as dessert. After returning to the table from signing the credit card receipt, our host (in an uncharacteristically Japanese show of involving us in his work politics) voiced his hope that the company accounting department didn't kick this meal upstairs to senior management................. each very small quarter of the winter melon had been US$40.

Our relationship with him went on for several years after that, but at each dinner he hosted, the joke was "order whatever you like, but NOT the winter melon!".

[Bill Hunt]

Midlife,

I will remember that - NO Winter Melon!

As one, who answers the siren song of foie gras, all too often, US $ 40 for a 1/4 Winter Melon seems a bit high.

Now, way back when, at the Ritz-Carlton dining room in Amelia Island, I ordered the papaya. We travel to Hawai`i about 2x per year, so I get a lot of great papaya. This tasted like little cubes of plastic, and cost US $ 28 for a tiny bowl.

Should have thought of that dish, but until you shared the Winter Melon story, I had forgotten. Per the definition of "overpriced," that had to rank near the top, and it was also in 1980's $'s.

Thanks for the trip down melon lane, er, I mean MEMORY lane.

Hunt

[thew]

i saw $80+ cantaloupes in tokyo in 2004

[Bill Hunt]

Uh-oh, Summer Melons strike again!!!!

Hunt

[julesrules]

I believe imported fruit are taxed as a luxury item in Japan.

[Tripeler]

These cantaloupes are grown in Japan. They are a deliberately produced luxury item.
As far as I know, there is no special tax on imported fruit in Japan, which is often cheaper than domestic fruit.

[gryphonskeeper]

23 Euro for a 6 inch pizza with a thin layer of sauce and 4 tiny blobs of cheese in Rome. I left hungrier than when I arrived!

[wattacetti]

"criminale" lives. Rome is much better without the Romans.

[kcward]

Angulas, baby eels. About as expensive as cavier, butnot at all worth the price of 100$ an ounce, considering it's just opening a tin.

[kpaxonite]

caviar is stored in tins....

[kcward]

And so are angulas, your point being?

[2roadsdiverge]

I think the point was that serving caviar is also "just opening a tin", but you seemed to accept that it could be 100$ an ounce.

[kcward]

That's because baby eels are nasty and caviar is sublime.

[donovt]

The "opening a tin" comment still doesn't make any sense. It's not the fact that they are in a tin that makes them overpriced, it's the fact that they're "nasty".

[Bill Hunt]

Had baby eels once, but they kept biting my lips. It cost me more for the plastic surgery, than 100 salads. I'll stick to caviar, as it does not bite me.

Hunt

[Delucacheesemonger]

Be glad to take yours. Love 'em. Angulas , l mean. Had them twice, both times fresh, but canned supposedly are excellent as well.

[Veggo]

A 4 ounce tin of Spanish angulas runs 50-60 bucks. I love 'em, too, been on my profile since day 1.

[BobB]

Same here - never had canned anguillas, only fresh, in Portugal, and they were fantastic.

[monavano]

Hands down, wine, which is why DH and I drink little to no alcohol when we dine out. We don't avoid it if we want to enjoy a glass of wine, but it would really put a much bigger dent in our dining dollars. I get that's how many places turn a profit, but not on me.
I miss byob's. Sigh.

[nocharge]

Ironically, the markup on the nonalcoholic beverages you order is probably higher than on the wine you don't order (unless you only drink tap water).

[monavano]

Probably true, just doesn't hit the wallet as hard.

[Bill Hunt]

Wine can certainly be "overpriced." I have had some, that were not worth 1/10 of what I paid.

Along those lines, we had our annual "Slammer Chardonnay Challenge." That year, the winner was a Chard from OZ, that retailed for US $ 5/btl. Moved to AZ, and went to a hot, new wine bar, in a very upscale area. They were serving that same Chard for US $ 25 per glass! They closed within the year, but whenever we passed them, they seemed full, with many having that particular Chard, and seemingly enjoying it? Heck, it seemed like a good business model - buy a bottle at US $ 2.00, and get 6 pours from that, taking in US $ 150. Subtract the overhead, and then pocket the profit.

OTOH, I have paid much, much more, and had wines that were worth every $. It just depends.

Hunt

[monavano]

wowza on the $25 per glass!!

[Bill Hunt]

That DID catch my attention too. I have paid more, per glass, but not for a wine that cost (at the time) about US$ 3.50 wholesale per bottle. Guess that they assumed that they had "caught the market sleeping," and for a bit, they probably did?

Hunt

[linguafood]

Wow. You've spent $68 on a salad at a 3-star Michelin resto and didn't think THAT was overpriced?

That's pretty hilarious.

[kpaxonite]

I don't know who that was directed to.... but items are only overpriced in my mind if they don't live up to expectations. If you order a 68 dollar salad and its the best thing you've ever tasted then its not overpriced.

[linguafood]

It was directed at the OP. And unless that salad was made of elfin-picked & shaved white truffles, foie gras and Wagyu carpaccio, it is overpriced. Regardless of context.

[Bill Hunt]

The active term here is "overpriced." That is highly subjective, or at least speculative.

I've had several dishes, that seemed to be in the "overpriced" category, until I tasted them. Then, they became "worth every $." It all depends.

Hunt

[linguafood]

Well, in my - admittedly - highly subjective opinion, any salad costing $68 is overpriced.

[Bill Hunt]

I have not yet encountered any salad, int the $ 68 range, that I would not consider overpriced either, but if another said, "best salad of my life, and worth every $," I'd have to believe them.

Hunt

[HungryAsian]

30$ for 4 cod cheeks @ Whalesbone Oyster House in Ottawa. Never went back to the restaurant!

[lianasea]

WINE, definitely, and almost everywhere. I mean, its not like they have to prepare it or anything. They just open the bottle and pour. Why the huge markup? I would rather stay home and drink a whole bottle than pay the same for one glass.

[missdona]

$2.79 for a single can of soda at Earl of Sandwich at Newark Airport. The cans were not priced for individual sale, they were intended to go in a combo. So, they tried to tell a guy that they could charge him the price for a liter, and he could take two cans. But he only wanted one can... which was also priced at $2.79. He walked away.

[Jetgirly]

I'm a public servant so we have to pay for our own Christmas parties. I'm also a vegetarian. It's always nice to see what forty dollars will buy a vegetarian at a restaurant that mainly does corporate dinners during the holiday season. Two years ago I was not served an appetizer, and as a main dish I was served THREE ravioli drizzled with some pesto oil. I didn't bother sticking around for dessert. (Of course that didn't include drinks.)

Another one that comes to mind is the time my mom came to visit me in Barcelona. I'd been there a few months and was way too savvy to eat or drink on Las Ramblas, but my mom really wanted to. I knew it would be a rip-off but I didn't realize just how much... we ordered two glasses of sangria, and were served GIANT drinks in huge boot-shaped glasses. One boot could have served four. When the bill came they were sixteen euros each (at the time that was closer to $25 CAD), which WAS fair for the size and touristy location, but our server could have warned us about the size. Of course, by then we were too drunk to mind!

[ike04]

In Regina Sask, $22 for a personal pizza at a local pub

[judybird]

The $18 hamburger at Red White & Bluezz, an otherwise excellent restaurant, wine bar & jazz club in Pasadena. Sure it's made with Wagyu beef, but I don't care if the cattle were hand-fed from birth and slept in gold-lined stalls, it's still a burger!

[kpaxonite]

Don`t know the restaurant but its nothing close to the most overpriced I`ve seen by far

[linguafood]

Ooohh, please, please please don't make us wait with anticipation. Won't you share your most overpriced? We know you want to.

[marcbjohnson]

Went to Jose' Andres restaurant, "Oyamel" in NW Washington, D.C. $14 for the guacamole. REEEEEEEDICULOUS!!! OK...they make it for you tableside....who cares?

[smartie]

I think guac at Rocco's Tacos here in Boca is about $13. It's good but what a price!

[Isolda]

Okay, then I won't complain about paying $10 for tableside guac at Viva in Wayland, MA.

[wattacetti]

I forgot one: soft drinks in Brussels. 15€ for 150 mL cans. The soft drinks accounted for close to 75% of the bill for the meal (I suggested to my then colleagues that they might want to consider drinking wine as that was considerably cheaper).

[thew]

@ spigolo in NYC $15.95 for a plate w/ 6 gnocchi and a little gorgonzola sauce on it

[Delucacheesemonger]

In Lille in northern France went to a restaurant for lunch and ordered a bottle of Chateldun sparkling water. yes it comes from France. It cost 14 euros, $ 20. That got my attention.

[AussieBeth]

About ten years ago, I paid $15.00 for a small bowl of steamed broccolli as a side dish at Aria in Sydney. We were shocked at the price, but it was the BEST broccolli that I have tasted before or since, we fought over the last peice, and still refer to it as "that amazing cocaine broccolli". I will go to my deathbed wondering how the chef made it taste so good. Worth every cent.

[kpaxonite]

Well then it wasn't the most overpriced menu item you`ve ever seen...

[smartie]

fountain soda surely wins the prize, that icky syrup and a gas cannister and water for $3 or so when you know it's a few cents at best, I don't care how many refills they give you.

[nocharge]

Yeah, fountain soda would get my vote, too.

I once attended a lecture where a restaurant consultant threw out the question "What type of restaurants have the lowest food cost percentage?" His own answer to that question: Chinese restaurants located inside airports.

[smartie]

and barely any work to do, the boxes of syrup are delivered and connected to the pump, a gas canister sits beneath the unit. Servers or customers press the button and hey presto the glass or paper cup is filled up. NO cooking, prep, little maintenance.

[2roadsdiverge]

I've heard a lot of people assert that the soda costs less than the cup it is served in.. When I was a teenager I worked at an ice cream parlor that had been there since the 40s. We had a giant old ice maker in the back that was constantly running. Our manager told us that the ice in a soda cost more than the soda itself. I don't know if it was true or not, but it was a good story.

[woodleyparkhound]

When I worked at McDonald's years ago, I learned that they make a profit on only 3 things they sell (everything else costs them money to serve it to you). They are soda, french fries and cheese, which is why they always "suggestive sell" these items ("Would you like fries with that?") So if you get a hamburger and a shake, you have cost them money.

[Terrieltr]

That's good to know. I like the idea of costing McDonald's money.

[Jay F]

Outside a Sbarro pizza place in downtown Pittsburgh, a sandwich board advertises this special: "A slice and a soda for $6.50." Are they out of their minds?

[roohound]

Red pepper gazpacho with heirloom tomatoes and goat cheese crostini = $12. This was at AM@FM - which is Arnold Myint's little stand at the Nashville Farmer's Market.

I just don't get it.

[Bkeats]

I think the most consistently overpriced item I see on menus is caviar. I know the stuff is expensive wholesale, but it gets ridiculous at someplaces where an ounce will set you back $100+. The mark up is insane, so they give you a few toast points and more garnishes than you could ever use to compensate? All they do is scoop it out of the same tin I can buy. Nothing the kitchen does to it. I love the stuff, so I just buy it and have it at home.

[bdachow]

Just look at any menu in Bermuda and you'll be appalled at what they charge. The price of living on an island in the middle of the Atlantic.

[Bill Hunt]

Similar could well apply to Hawai`i too - remote, away from major supply sources, and resorts.

Until fairly recently, any sort of garden greens were about 10x there, but local chefs and local farmers have turned that trend a bit.

Hunt

[babette feasts]

One small happy hour scallop, seared with a bit of sauce, $6. This unfortunate experience made me relieved I had not ordered the happy hour oyster, also $6. $6 for an oyster? Other happy hours have $1 oysters, and average regular price for oyster here is $3. Does not compute.

[Bill Hunt]

Babette,

I have seen such prices for those bi-valves. In Vail, CO, one restaurant had them, from supposedly different sources for from US $ 10 to $ 15 each.

Heck, I grew up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast (usually only one type of oyster there), and for US $ 6.00, we got a dozen, and enlightening conversation with the shucker!

Hunt

[pitagirl]

I eat kosher so I'm used to crazy prices, but there is one place near my office that has among other insanely priced things a salad - romaine lettuce, shredded carrot, beets, red onion, cabbage, cucumbers, peppers, $16.95

[velochic]

My dd's (9) favorite beverage is mineral water and I buy bottles of it for home in all sizes and several different brands. I'm very much aware of what it costs retail, let alone wholesale, which has to be cheaper.

We recently ate at a restaurant that charged $12 per 750ml bottle. I have never seen an item with such a huge mark-up. Never. The charges for her water (we drank a little, too, so went through two bottles) were more than the charges for our wine.

It's one thing if it's a prepared dish, but geez... this was an item that just had to have the cap removed!

[wattacetti]

Sounds like you were in Montreal during Grand Prix weekend.

Guy Savoy in Paris doesn't charge for bottle waters - it's considered beneath them. They will charge you 360€ per person for more expansive of the two tasting menus though (worth it though).

[wattacetti]

For food, pasta pomodoro. $20 at several wine bars. Dried commercial pasta, tomato out of a large tin, no fresh herbs, but plenty of salt in the cooking water.

Beevod's already identified one of the primary profit generators, though I think coffee has the edge percentage-wise on mark-up.

[lcool]

I'll join you on the coffee.We have a moderate to expensive white table cloth place near by,uses a nasty old vertical perc,too little mundane coffee and then hits the unaware for $9.00.Ordered it once,when served it looked un-drinkable,refused it and had to press to keep it off the check.

[beevod]

Wine.

[fourunder]

Garlic Noodles in a San Francisco Vietnamese restaurant.........about 10 years ago, $13 for Lo Mein Noodles with butter/oil and granulated garlic......

[inaplasticcup]

If you were at Crustacean, I think I know the noodles of which you speak. One of the daughters of that family runs a restaurant named An Qi in Costa Mesa, and they offer the same thing. A lunchtime portion was something like 15 bucks for exactly what you described - and overboiled at that. Joke.