Woman fumes after Australian restaurant demands $380 for live lobster

A woman who was handed a staggering A$944.30 (US$584.18) bill at an Australian Chinese restaurant has hit out at the bar online.

Reanna Ho, from Perth, said the incident happened at Canton Lane Chinese Restaurant on Friday night, where she dined with a group of eight.

While the party ordered eight dishes in total, it was the “live lobster” that drove the bill up.

The pricey crustacean costs $615 ($380 USD).

Ho was informed in advance that the price of the lobster would vary based on its weight and the market price, but when the dish arrived, the specifics remained unclear.

She claims staff failed to disclose the price per kilogram, or even inform her that five extra servings of noodles would cost $15 (US$9.28) each.

“Even though I paid the bill, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong,” she wrote in a Facebook post.

A call to the restaurant the next day revealed the lobster weighed 4.5 pounds (2.04 kg) and was priced at $120 (US$74.25) per pound — a detail Ho says was not made clear at the time of ordering.

“We didn’t assume lobster would be cheap, but based on common sense, the typical price per pound is usually around $60-70 (US$37-43),” she said.

“Even during the festive period, it seems unreasonable for the price to rise to $120 (US$74.25) per pound.

“If the lobster really weighed 4.5 kilograms, the head should be large and visible, but none of us at the table saw it.”

Locals were on her side, saying the restaurant should have been more transparent about the cost.

“Who goes ahead and cooks a meal worth over $600 (US$370) without first letting the restaurant know it’s going to be extremely expensive?”

The restaurant’s management responded by saying the price and weight of the lobsters had not been properly communicated, but defended their actions.

They explained that the head of the lobster is removed for cooking and that this has been their method since the opening of the restaurant.

“We don’t see the point in losing head meat just for exposure purposes,” management said.

They also explained that increased market prices due to the festive period and increased exports to China were seeing costs rise.

“We have been running this restaurant for 8 years and have run it smoothly,” they added, insisting there was “no cheating”.