Rome: 430 euros for two plates of spaghetti

Undoubtedly, good food is also part of a successful holiday in Italy: bruschetta, pizza, pasta, antipasti, for dessert tiramisu and a good wine - the bill can turn out to be a bit higher.

A Japanese couple, however, was shocked when the waiter presented them in a restaurant in Rome the bill for only two plates of spaghetti with fish and two glasses of water: 349.80 euros was charged him, plus a service fee of 80 euros.

According to the Independent, the couple uploaded a photo of the receipt to the TripAdvisor platform, where guests can rate the Antico Caffé di Marte restaurant. The negative reviews exploded.

In the meantime, TripAdvisor has removed the commentary for the restaurant from the site and instead posted the message: "Due to a recent incident that has attracted the attention of the media and a number of reviews that are not first-hand, we ask temporarily the opportunity to make reviews for this restaurant. "

Bad reviews for restaurants disaster

TripAdvisor is considered an important recommendation platform for restaurants, bars or cafes. On the website tourists and locals can share their experiences and rate them on the basis of a five-point scale from "excellent" to "terrible". Also activities, accommodations or events can be rated on TripAdvisor. For restaurateurs and hoteliers, the reviews are now in some cases more important than recommendations in guidebooks or advertising on other platforms. Bad reviews on TripAdvisor are a disaster for many.

Scontrino da 430 euro per due piatti di spaghetti: polemiche per il super conto del ristorante a Roma https://t.co/TnGy73eewg

Even with the owners of the Antico Caffé di Marte, the comments that are still visible, provide for bad mood: "This is a rip off," it says. And: "Do not come here, big rip-off." More than half of the users rated the Antico Caffé di Marte as "terrible".

Had the Japanese couple read through the comments beforehand, they would have known what to expect. One user writes: "The seafood platter for € 6.50 per 100 grams is an absolute rip-off - you can pay more than € 500 for a single plate."

"The menu is clear"

What exactly the tourists had ordered, is no longer visible. The restaurant commented on the incident in the Italian newspaper Corriere de la Sera. "The menu is clear, the reason they (the Japanese tourists) paid this price is because they ordered not only spaghetti but also the fish that was fresh." The guests would have chosen him at the bar himself.

This is not the first time that holidaymakers have been ripped off in Italian tourist resorts: especially in Venice, it is common for guests to pay horrendous prices for food or coffee.

The Italian police now wants to take action against the rip-off restaurants. Claudio Pica, head of the Italian Tourism Authority, described the recent incident in Rome as "very serious". "Something like that destroys the reputation of all Roman restaurants," he told the Independent. "We urge the Roman police to intervene." One should let the restaurant owners pay a high price for their procedure - about the loss of their bar permission or legal measures.