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What a rip off

What a rip off

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Old Nov 20th 2006, 2:01 pm
  #16  
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Default Re: What a rip off

Originally Posted by lionheart
I was staying in the Ritz-Carlton in Seoul, S.Korea a couple of years ago and went to the hotel bar for a glass of wine. I noticed the wine was a cheap California red that can be bought in most supermarkets here for $7 a bottle. The bartender proceeded to pour the glass very delicately with white gloves on and making a right fuss. When the bill came it was $25 for the glass ( and not a very big glass either). I was expensing it but still felt like I'd been ripped off
You have the watch out for the 'recommended' drinks, ie brandy, port etc. When the waiter makes his suggestions you don't want to appear cheap by asking the price but a small glass can cost hundreds. :scared:
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Old Nov 20th 2006, 2:31 pm
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Default Re: What a rip off

By far the biggest rip off I have ever felt was on a trip to a fondue restaurant the name escapes me but I'm sure they are everywhere. Thing was me and hubby didnt want to ever go there as we kept thinking why would I pay for a piece of meat that I have to cook myself! Anyway we were leaving the US and as friends had taken us out a month before and paid we felt we had to return the complement seeing as it was their favourite place to eat. Should have listened to our heads, anyway this is basically what we ate between 4 of us. 1 Apple, a few small chunks of bread in a cheddar cheese sauce for starters. (I knew we were snookered when our friends exclaimed cheese and apple together...who would have thought!) for our main meal 2 chicken breasts, a small diced fillet of steak, 16 shrimp, a small piece of lobster and 2 ravioli parcels., which we had to cook ourselves in a sauce of Buillion Powder. Pudding consisted of marsh mellows in chocolate sauce. Between us we had 2 bottles of wine, which I might add some wench kept coming up and lifting up the bottles to see if we needed more...how helpful of her I thought. Anyway the bill came to an astonishing $350.00....I kid you not. Annoying thing was I had already bought a desert and 4 bottles of wine as our friends were coming back to our house after the meal...all in all the evening cost us hundreds not withstanding the fact we paid for before dinner drinks. The lesson I learnt from that experience is listen to your gut instinct...by the way just remembered the name of the restaurant, its called the melting pot....I do not recommend it to anyone..
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Old Nov 20th 2006, 2:52 pm
  #18  
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Default Re: What a rip off

Hubby had a steak dinner riding on who won the Ryder Cup (sorry about the pun) this year. So seeing as the Europeans whipped the US, he was supposed to be taken out to one of those places that charges around $50 per steak.

He let the guy off.

Must have had an extra bowl of stupid that morning.


We have a spanish place near us that serves:

domestic beers $3
imported beers $3.50
well drinks $3.50
margaritas $4

thats all day every day.

It quickly became our local...
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Old Nov 20th 2006, 2:55 pm
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Default Re: What a rip off

Originally Posted by ladylisa
By far the biggest rip off I have ever felt was on a trip to a fondue restaurant the name escapes me but I'm sure they are everywhere. Thing was me and hubby didnt want to ever go there as we kept thinking why would I pay for a piece of meat that I have to cook myself! Anyway we were leaving the US and as friends had taken us out a month before and paid we felt we had to return the complement seeing as it was their favourite place to eat. Should have listened to our heads, anyway this is basically what we ate between 4 of us. 1 Apple, a few small chunks of bread in a cheddar cheese sauce for starters. (I knew we were snookered when our friends exclaimed cheese and apple together...who would have thought!) for our main meal 2 chicken breasts, a small diced fillet of steak, 16 shrimp, a small piece of lobster and 2 ravioli parcels., which we had to cook ourselves in a sauce of Buillion Powder. Pudding consisted of marsh mellows in chocolate sauce. Between us we had 2 bottles of wine, which I might add some wench kept coming up and lifting up the bottles to see if we needed more...how helpful of her I thought. Anyway the bill came to an astonishing $350.00....I kid you not. Annoying thing was I had already bought a desert and 4 bottles of wine as our friends were coming back to our house after the meal...all in all the evening cost us hundreds not withstanding the fact we paid for before dinner drinks. The lesson I learnt from that experience is listen to your gut instinct...by the way just remembered the name of the restaurant, its called the melting pot....I do not recommend it to anyone..
So it didn't leave you with many fondue memories
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Old Nov 20th 2006, 2:55 pm
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Default Re: What a rip off

Originally Posted by ladylisa
By far the biggest rip off I have ever felt was on a trip to a fondue restaurant the name escapes me but I'm sure they are everywhere. Thing was me and hubby didnt want to ever go there as we kept thinking why would I pay for a piece of meat that I have to cook myself! Anyway we were leaving the US and as friends had taken us out a month before and paid we felt we had to return the complement seeing as it was their favourite place to eat. Should have listened to our heads, anyway this is basically what we ate between 4 of us. 1 Apple, a few small chunks of bread in a cheddar cheese sauce for starters. (I knew we were snookered when our friends exclaimed cheese and apple together...who would have thought!) for our main meal 2 chicken breasts, a small diced fillet of steak, 16 shrimp, a small piece of lobster and 2 ravioli parcels., which we had to cook ourselves in a sauce of Buillion Powder. Pudding consisted of marsh mellows in chocolate sauce. Between us we had 2 bottles of wine, which I might add some wench kept coming up and lifting up the bottles to see if we needed more...how helpful of her I thought. Anyway the bill came to an astonishing $350.00....I kid you not. Annoying thing was I had already bought a desert and 4 bottles of wine as our friends were coming back to our house after the meal...all in all the evening cost us hundreds not withstanding the fact we paid for before dinner drinks. The lesson I learnt from that experience is listen to your gut instinct...by the way just remembered the name of the restaurant, its called the melting pot....I do not recommend it to anyone..
My husband and I went there, we had a $50 gift card and still ended up paying i think about $70 for the 2 of us and we were still hungry when we got home!
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Old Nov 20th 2006, 3:07 pm
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Default Re: What a rip off

Another quick one on the subject of rip-offs.
My Dad was selling a TV and VCR in the paper a few years ago. A young couple came around and bought the TV, being as they were a young couple 'just starting out' as my Dad put it, he threw in the VCR for free.
Later that day he noticed his Visa gold card was missing and recalled he had briefly left the young couple in 2 separate rooms in the house .................... yep, they had stolen his card and were already charging on it when he called the bank. Nice people eh?
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Old Nov 20th 2006, 4:23 pm
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Default Re: What a rip off

Originally Posted by lionheart
A lot of people in the various forums are always comparing prices, what's cheaper in the US versus the UK, Oz, Canada etc.
So I went out on Saturday night with a bunch of friends and we stopped by a new restaurant in trendy Santa Monica that has just opened within walking distance from my house. It's a New York style steakhouse and I thought I would check it out.
I ordered two Stellas, these were draught beers in a glass and were not even full Imperial British pints, the tab was $16, that's $8 a draught beer plus tip.
I also noticed they had a hamburger and fries on the menu for $22 :scared:
Anyone else been royally ripped off lately?
We've also been to places like that too, here in the Phoenix metro area. Which you would have thought wouldn't be so expensive, oh how wrong could we be?!? Lesson learnt, don't go back again!

How was the rest of your party weekend?
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Old Nov 20th 2006, 4:28 pm
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Default Re: What a rip off

Originally Posted by ladylisa
By far the biggest rip off I have ever felt was on a trip to a fondue restaurant the name escapes me but I'm sure they are everywhere. Thing was me and hubby didnt want to ever go there as we kept thinking why would I pay for a piece of meat that I have to cook myself! Anyway we were leaving the US and as friends had taken us out a month before and paid we felt we had to return the complement seeing as it was their favourite place to eat. Should have listened to our heads, anyway this is basically what we ate between 4 of us. 1 Apple, a few small chunks of bread in a cheddar cheese sauce for starters. (I knew we were snookered when our friends exclaimed cheese and apple together...who would have thought!) for our main meal 2 chicken breasts, a small diced fillet of steak, 16 shrimp, a small piece of lobster and 2 ravioli parcels., which we had to cook ourselves in a sauce of Buillion Powder. Pudding consisted of marsh mellows in chocolate sauce. Between us we had 2 bottles of wine, which I might add some wench kept coming up and lifting up the bottles to see if we needed more...how helpful of her I thought. Anyway the bill came to an astonishing $350.00....I kid you not. Annoying thing was I had already bought a desert and 4 bottles of wine as our friends were coming back to our house after the meal...all in all the evening cost us hundreds not withstanding the fact we paid for before dinner drinks. The lesson I learnt from that experience is listen to your gut instinct...by the way just remembered the name of the restaurant, its called the melting pot....I do not recommend it to anyone..
When I started reading your post I was thinking, oh I bet it's The Melting Pot. So many people have recommended that place to us, but it just does not seem appealing at all. I think what's putting me off, is that I keep expecting to get there & have that plastic 'Kraft singles' cheese that most places seem to serve. I will take your advice & avoid it!
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Old Nov 20th 2006, 4:30 pm
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Default Re: What a rip off

Originally Posted by Partystar
When I started reading your post I was thinking, oh I bet it's The Melting Pot. So many people have recommended that place to us, but it just does not seem appealing at all. I think what's putting me off, is that I keep expecting to get there & have that plastic 'Kraft singles' cheese that most places seem to serve. I will take your advice & avoid it!
yes, avoid it! The food is 'ok' but certainly not great and worth the price they charge.
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Old Nov 20th 2006, 4:45 pm
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Default Re: What a rip off

Originally Posted by ladylisa
By far the biggest rip off I have ever felt was on a trip to a fondue restaurant the name escapes me but I'm sure they are everywhere. Thing was me and hubby didnt want to ever go there as we kept thinking why would I pay for a piece of meat that I have to cook myself! Anyway we were leaving the US and as friends had taken us out a month before and paid we felt we had to return the complement seeing as it was their favourite place to eat. Should have listened to our heads, anyway this is basically what we ate between 4 of us. 1 Apple, a few small chunks of bread in a cheddar cheese sauce for starters. (I knew we were snookered when our friends exclaimed cheese and apple together...who would have thought!) for our main meal 2 chicken breasts, a small diced fillet of steak, 16 shrimp, a small piece of lobster and 2 ravioli parcels., which we had to cook ourselves in a sauce of Buillion Powder. Pudding consisted of marsh mellows in chocolate sauce. Between us we had 2 bottles of wine, which I might add some wench kept coming up and lifting up the bottles to see if we needed more...how helpful of her I thought. Anyway the bill came to an astonishing $350.00....I kid you not. Annoying thing was I had already bought a desert and 4 bottles of wine as our friends were coming back to our house after the meal...all in all the evening cost us hundreds not withstanding the fact we paid for before dinner drinks. The lesson I learnt from that experience is listen to your gut instinct...by the way just remembered the name of the restaurant, its called the melting pot....I do not recommend it to anyone..

Yup this sounds like my experience of the Melting Pot. $600 for 8 people. Not a good meal, not great service.Never again.
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Old Nov 20th 2006, 10:47 pm
  #26  
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Default Re: What a rip off

Originally Posted by Jerseygirl
Do you mean Morton's Steakhouse?. They bring the raw food to the table instead of a menu...complete with live lobster moving around on the trolley.
how can they do that, do they bring out cows as well and ask which one you'd prefer
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Old Nov 20th 2006, 11:09 pm
  #27  
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Default Re: What a rip off

Originally Posted by irnbru4u
how can they do that, do they bring out cows as well and ask which one you'd prefer

Turkeys too at this time of year....watch out! Gobble, gobble. :scared:
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Old Nov 20th 2006, 11:09 pm
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Default Re: What a rip off

Originally Posted by Partystar
We've also been to places like that too, here in the Phoenix metro area. Which you would have thought wouldn't be so expensive, oh how wrong could we be?!? Lesson learnt, don't go back again!

How was the rest of your party weekend?
It was good. I went to a BBQ with the guys I play football with. The guy who's house the BBQ was at was Argentinian, as were most of the people there in addition to some Mexicans and Colombians. There was also an American guy I play with there with his wife, they left almost immediately after eating, which was a complete surprise.
We hung around with the Hispanic's and their wives and families chatting and drinking beer.
It's so funny how I feel much more comfortable in Hispanics company, no networking or phoniness, talking about careers and possessions. Just down to earth people enjoying an afternoon talking, eating , drinking and hanging out with our respective families.
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Old Nov 20th 2006, 11:30 pm
  #29  
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Default Re: What a rip off

Originally Posted by lionheart
It was good. I went to a BBQ with the guys I play football with. The guy who's house the BBQ was at was Argentinian, as were most of the people there in addition to some Mexicans and Colombians. There was also an American guy I play with there with his wife, they left almost immediately after eating, which was a complete surprise.
We hung around with the Hispanic's and their wives and families chatting and drinking beer.
It's so funny how I feel much more comfortable in Hispanics company, no networking or phoniness, talking about careers and possessions. Just down to earth people enjoying an afternoon talking, eating , drinking and hanging out with our respective families.
Good, I'm glad you had a good time.
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Old Nov 20th 2006, 11:30 pm
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Default Re: What a rip off

Originally Posted by Partystar
Good, I'm glad you had a good time.
Would have been better if the women had bigger tits
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