Restaurant prices have gone up dramatically in recent years—and eager eaters aren’t too thrilled about it.
Numerous internet users have made videos complaining about the newly high prices that can be found at restaurants. For example, one shopper said they paid over $22 for a meal at Five Guys that “wasn’t even nice.” Another claimed they paid almost $25 for 3 items at McDonald’s. A further TikToker simply noted the rising cost of food truck meals, saying that it’s not uncommon to pay “$30 or $40 at a food truck.”
Given these high costs, diners are increasingly finding themselves in the awkward situation where they enter a restaurant, sit down, then realize they can’t afford it.
This recently happened to TikTok user Kaitlyn Zermeño Smith (@k8.zermenosmith). In a recent video with over 2.3 million views, Smith shows several women looking at menus with embarrassment.
In the text overlaying the video, she writes, “POV: you realized the ‘fancy’ restaurant was a little too fancy for your bank accounts.”
From there, Smith shows their group performing a “walk of shame” as they exit the restaurant. Eventually, they settle on another restaurant, where they order burgers.
“so embarrassing,” she writes in the caption.
In the comments section, many users claimed that they avoid such situations by preparing ahead of time before going to a restaurant.
“This is why i deep dive the menu, prices, reviews, and average wait time before even considering lol,” said a user.
“See this is where my indecision and anxiety would pay off: I always study the menu before I go somewhere,” echoed another.
“Who doesn’t check the menu and stuff before going tho,” questioned a third.
That said, many users claimed to have had similar experiences.
@k8.zermenosmith so embarrassing 😭#foryoupage #fyp #fancy #dinner #girlsnight ♬ IT GIRL – Sped up Version – Aliyah’s Interlude
“Literally me when we went to a restaurant on a little vineyard and a glass of wine was like 90€. Well after looking it up it had a Michelin star,” detailed a commenter.
“i went to vegas with my parents and someone recommended the Cesar’s palace buffet.. it was $80 a person and we were a party of 5,” recalled another.
“Went to a place where the cheapest SIDE DISH was $45,” shared an additional TikToker. “I got out of there before they brought our waters.”
In an Instagram DM exchange with the Daily Dot, Smith said that the restaurant in question was Morgan’s in the Desert—and they did check the menu beforehand.
“We only went there because we saw they had tapas on the online menu, but when we got there the actual menu didn’t have them,” she explained. “We looked at the other things they had and it just wasn’t it, especially for like $60 a plate.”
“We had one of my friends go up to the hostess and tell them we made a mistake and the manager came out to talk to her and he was not very happy with us. And then we just left,” she added
Smith also took a moment to respond to commenters.
“I wasn’t expecting it to go viral or get nearly as much attention as it did lol,” she stated. “For the most part, the responses were good, and lot of the girls had our backs saying they would have done the same and our bank accounts are thanking us…And then there were people that thought we didn’t check the menu when we did the menus were just different and I didn’t feel like explaining the situation in the comments.”
