R8 600 bill for lunch will be the death of Venice – patron

A BRITISH tourist has written to the mayor of Venice after he received a ß526 (R8 640) bill for lunch.

Luke Tang, a lecturer from Birmingham, said he and his elderly parents had been shocked to be charged so much for their seafood lunch.

He accused the restaurant, Trattoria Casanova, of taking advantage of the language barrier.

Waiters had brought them dishes they had not asked for and had not disclosed the cost, he said.

In a letter to Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro, Tang, 49, wrote: “I wanted to draw your attention [to] the behaviour of this business, [which] will ruin the reputation of Venice.

“It is disgraceful – and indeed the shame of Venice.”

The bill was for a lunch of oysters, spaghetti, grilled fish and crayfish.

Tang said: “I did research on the restaurant and realised we were not the only ones to be treated like this.

“There were a lot of complaints from Japanese and Korean tourists – the restaurant seems to particularly target Asian visitors.”

Trattoria Casanova’s owners said prices were clearly displayed.

“We gave them what they ordered. The prices of the fish, per 100 grams, are shown clearly on the menu,” a manager said.

“They didn’t send back anything. If there were dishes they had not ordered, they could have refused them and would not have been charged.”

The restaurant receives generally negative reviews online.

On TripAdvisor, 56% of reviewers said it was terrible, while only 18% rated it as excellent or very good.

Others called it a rip-off and “beyond unacceptable”.

In another alleged rip-off, a Japanese couple said on Monday they had paid ß120 (R1 970) for spaghetti and lobster in Venice.