A tourist in Italy pays to cut his sandwich in half

A man from Milan orders a vegetarian sandwich with stuffed fries at Bar Pace in Gera Lario at the northern end of the lake.

After sharing his meatless sandwich with his friend, he was shocked to notice a surcharge on his bill.

He paid without complaining, but posted a negative review on TripAdvisor.

The disgruntled customer explained that he and his friend ordered a sandwich to share, but never asked to cut it in half.

The receipt lists a sandwich at 7.50, a Coca-Cola at 3.50, a water at 1.50 and an espresso at 1.20, as well as the controversial “diviso da meta” charge, or “division in half”, for a total of 2.20 euros. .

A confused customer gave the restaurant one star on TripAdvisor based on more than 100 reviews, well below the average of four and a half stars.

According to The New York Post, the restaurant owner has defended the allegations.

“Additional requests have a cost,” owner Cristina Biacchi told Italian newspaper La Repubblica. “We had to use two plates instead of one, and that doubles the time to wash them. It’s not just a toasted sandwich, it’s got fries in it. It took us a long time to cut it in half.

She also stated that the client did not complain or question the allegations.

The practice is not unheard of in expensive cities and popular tourist spots in the United States, where frugal eaters (and those with small appetites) are sometimes hit with a shared load or a plate load. Shared to compensate for lower average bill.

Some New York restaurants are even banning the practice of sharing, period, reports The New York Post.