I was at a Mexican restaurant near me, one we love.
I ordered my Fajita like normal. The waitress asked, “Anything else?”
I said, “Can I have a few more fajita shells?”
She said, “How many?”
I said, “How many do I get normally?”
She said, “You get three.”
I said, “Can I have two more to make it five?”
She said, “Sure.”
I got five, ate, and received my bill. I was charged $1.00 for the extra shells. It was nowhere on the menu and she did not tell me there was an extra charge when I asked for them. I told them up at the counter and they told me I had to pay it even though she did not tell me up front.
I paid it. I was hoping for “Oh, we’ll let you off this time, but know that in the future.” Anyway, I paid it because they are a nice restaurant.
Was I right, though? I definitely get paying more for bonuses, but I think I should have been told before it showed up on the bill.
In your case, I don’t think she had any obligation to tell you about the extra charge. You ordered extra food and she charged you a reasonable amount for extra food. It’s like asking for an extra side or making a substitution. You can’t expect that they will always do it for free even if restaurants sometimes do. I might answer differently if they had charged $50 for the tortillas or if she had asked if you wanted something that is ordinarily free, like bread or water, and then charged for it. If you were concerned about how much it would cost, the question to ask is “how much would it cost to get two extra tortillas?” Then you can make your decision.
She should have told you but I would say the customer should assume asking for extras of non-condiments will come at an additional charge. There’s no harm in asking at the time, “Is that like a dollar more or what?” before she brings the order.
If you’re asking for a substitution (“I’d like this salad, but I’m vegetarian, can I get nuts on it instead of bacon?”), I think they should let you know if there’s an upcharge. But if you’re asking for extra food, the default assumption is that it’ll cost extra. I don’t really think she’s obligated to tell you the cost if you don’t ask.
Agree. But I also get annoyed when restaurants severely miss-match the amounts of foods served together. So if the serving of fajitas is easily enough to fill 5-6 shells and they only give you 3, then I would definitely say something if I was charged for the fajitas needed to finish the meal.
Shells? Y’all mean tortillas? Where are they called “shells”?
Tortillas are always extra, in my experience. If you’d asked for a refill on the chips and they’d charged you for a second basket without warning, I’d consider that a mistake on their part, and those are typically free.
I never understood how Mexican restaurants expect you to eat a heaping plate of food wrapped in three palm-sized tortillas. And tortillas are cheap! If they’re going to be stingy, you’d think they’d be stingy with the meat, not the tablespoon’s worth of wet, grilled corn flour.
A dollar is an outrageous price for two small tortillas. On the other hand, I expect minor upcharges for stuff like this at restaurants, and wouldn’t dispute it as long as it’s a small charge. If it’s an extra 75 cents to add cheese to my burger, I won’t mind, but if it’s an extra five dollars, my waiter better warn me of that fact before placing my order. A dollar for two tortillas slides under the limit. If it were more like two dollars for one tortilla, a four dollar upcharge for both, then I’d agree they owed you a warning.
Finally, if at all in doubt, ask. I often do. “I’d like a couple extra tortillas to go with my fajitas, how much is that?” Then if they say “that will be five dollars extra, sir” I’ll just eat my fajitas with a fork and avoid that restaurant in the future.
But fajitas come in enormous serving sizes. The one time I finished an entire order of fajitas, the waitress said “Oh wow, you finished a fajita!” (And that was without extra tortillas, there’s no way I could have eaten all the fillings and extra tortillas.)
I understand that. There’s a local Indian place that gives you hardly any rice with the dishes and expects you to buy a side of rice if you want more. This is apparently what they think is the authentic means of serving these dishes but it’s not what’s typically expected in American Indian restaurants. Luckily due to circumstances we have a plethora of Indian restaurants in town and go to the ones that provide plenty of rice.
On the other hand, for low end restaurants charging for the extras can be important, it’s easy to get nickel and dimed to death on the extras if you need to keep your prices down, and low most low end restaurants are barely surviving. But for something like taco shells or rice they should provide enough that you don’t need to order extras. Or at least it should be clearly marked on the menu. Personally I find the listing of extra pricing on menus to be a turn off but it seems to be pretty common now for all sorts of items and variations on dishes.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the waitress did not know if there was an extra charge, or what it was. I think there is an obligation to tell you about common substitutions. And it is good business to tell you about extras — if there is a big group, on weekends and holidays, substituting a salad for another side, upsizing drinks. Less frequent requests? The restaurant was reasonable in charging a dollar and was kind to waive it. I hate paying for “extra sauce” myself but more food costs the restaurant more.
They should tell you. In a case like the OP, I certainly wouldn’t expect it to be free, I’d expect to pay extra for additional food, be it tortillas, or dressing, or whatever. But I like to know how much I’m paying. Two extra tortillas could be an additional ten cents, or it could be ten dollars. I don’t know how much they think their tortillas are worth. Chances are I’d pay whatever the server says, but I just like to know out of principle.
C’mon, Man, really? A dollar? You asked for extra, you got extra. You complained about a dollar on your bill for extras. Allow me to let that sink in. Nope, ain’t sinking. Can I ask what the bill totalled, and how much you tipped?
Gringos try to make fajitas into burritos. Mexicans typically eat with tortillas by breaking off smaller parts and then using those to scoop up food. Usually 1/4 of a tortilla or less at at time. But yeah, tortillas should be the cheap part of the meal. Still, if you eat the way it was intended to be eaten, there should be enough tortillas for the meal with just 3. The key is: don’t eat like a Gringo!
For minor things such as salsa, tortillas, or chips, I’d be annoyed if there was an extra charge. I’d give a pass if it was a place that served a lot of students and they frequently had customers that just filed up on chips/salsa/tortillas but I’d hope to be avoiding places like that.
I’ve noticed that guacamole prices have gotten eye wateringly expensive in some places so I always double check on that.
I don’t like being nickeled and dimed to death, especially for something like tortillas or chips that the restaurant produces in great numbers and throws away large amounts.
I’ll never forget some ultra trendy restaurant that charged me .25 for red pepper flakes on one of their flatbread cheese pizzas. Never went there again and was happy they went out of business soon after. The wait staff was far more concerned with their facial hair than the care of customers.
