Vine Amererican Kitchen Invents a New Customer Surcharge

I visited Vine American Kitchen recently and was surprised about a new substitution surcharge that the management has invented.  I grew up in Ft. Lauderdale and saw all kinds of ways restaurants invented ways to screw the tourists but a substitution surcharge is a new one one me.

I ordered a burger and it was accompanied by a choice of fries, sweet potatoes fries or slaw.  I saw another side, a cheese pasta that was the same $4 price as was the fries, sweet potato fries and slaw.  I asked the waiter if I could substitute a side of equal value.  He said sure but it would be an extra $2.  I reminded him that the side I wanted to substitute was the same price and asked him to check with the manager.  He came back and said managers policy was that $2 surcharge applied to all substitutions.

Ways to get around unfriendly and ridiculous customer surcharges:

• Our Le Tap water instead of bottled water
• Order a cheaper wine
• Order less wine
• And my favorite - avoid restaurants that have ridiculous customer surcharges

CC:

Helen Schwab

Jenny Brantley

Tricia Childress

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