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Hotel charges diners £2 to remove items from its £20 burger

Hotel claims price additions were a ‘misunderstanding’

Aisha Rimi
Tuesday 19 July 2022 11:59 EDT
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The 17th-century hotel charges £21.50 for its burger
The 17th-century hotel charges £21.50 for its burger (Getty Images)

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A restaurant on the Isle of Wight has sparked outrage from customers after charging guests £2 to remove ingredients out of its burger.

A picture of the menu from The George Hotel in Yarmouth was posted online, showing the price of a burger with chips to be £21.50.

Underneath the dish, a note read that it would cost an extra £2 for the removal or the addition of an ingredient.

The meal price had already led to a negative TripAdvisor review written five days ago.

David B wrote: “Back to the prices - very expensive, e.g £21 for a burger, when asking for the burger without the bun (saves wasting a good bun) we were told it would then be £23 - yes, £2 more, for us to not have the bun.... Amazing, so we had the bun and gave it to the seagulls. Wouldn’t go back at those prices and quality of service”.

The hotel has since said that the whole situation was a “misunderstanding” and the price addition should have never appeared on the menu.

The ingredient removal charge has since been erased, but the hotel continues to stand by the price of the burger.

A spokesperson for the three-star hotel said: “This was an unfortunate instance of an employee misinterpreting a discussion regarding extra toppings for our burger.

“They took it upon themselves to add a sentence to the menu which made no sense at all.

“As soon as the mistake was spotted, the menus were all reprinted and the employee will not ‘fiddle’ with the menu going forward.

“We are a high-end beach club restaurant in a smart hotel with a private beach.

“We use locally sourced high-quality ingredients and employ skilled, well-paid staff. The cost of £21.50 for a burger is what we need to charge.”

The 17th-century hotel was given a one-star food hygiene rating last year, but is now under new management and has since been awarded a five-star rating.

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