American vacationers take Greek seashore bar to court docket over £500 invoice for 2 drinks and plate of crab legs

Two American vacationers are taking authorized motion in opposition to a Greek seashore bar after it charged them greater than £500 for 2 drinks and a plate of crab legs.

Brenda Moulton and her 19-year-old daughter Kaylea had been visiting the Platis Gialos seashore in Mykonos after they declare the DK Oyster Bar lured them in and – they really feel – grossly overcharged them.

“An employee of one of the restaurants in Platis Gialos jumped in front of us and started saying persistently: “Sit here! Sit here!” Ms Moulton advised the Greek newspaper θEMA.

The pair say they loved a mojito every and one plate of crab legs between them earlier than being introduced with a invoice for €520.80 – with a “mandatory” €80 tip added on, making the worth €600 (£511) in complete.

Ms Moulton stated she refused to pay the invoice, telling employees, “two mojitos and two crab legs can not make €600”. She claims an worker of the restaurant then started to threaten her, saying she wouldn’t have the ability to fly again to the US if she refused to pay.

“He then told me, verbatim: ‘I will call the police. They will keep you here and you will not return to your homeland. We can easily find where you live’,” she stated.

Under duress, the holidaymakers paid the invoice and left the restaurant – however say they lingered outdoors for a while, warning different guests to the seashore of the “scam” that they had skilled.

Eventually Ms Moulton says “the ‘boss’ of the store came out furious and approached us in a threatening mood”.

Now the pair is taking authorized motion in opposition to DK Oyster Bar. Brenda Moulton’s lawyer, Marizanna Kikiri, says that her shoppers suffered threats and unfair remedy from the restaurant.

Platis Gialos is legendary for its costly luxurious inns and eating places – chef Nusret “Salt Bae” Gökçe has a restaurant there – and shopper reviews of rip-offs within the space are rife.

One latest evaluate of the DK Oyster Bar says “pushy waitstaff will trick you into a higher bill… and intimidate you into paying it”, whereas one other states: “The bill was over €400 for a couple of badly made drinks”.

In 2019, one other American vacationer was left shocked after being presented with an €836 (£738) bill for some calamari and beers on the similar restaurant.

In May, US vacationer Cheryl Lamphere advised the Daily Mail she and her associates had been charged $1,640 (£1,300) for 2 essential dishes, a salad and a few bread – with restaurant employees tripling the portion sizes and saying the marketed ‘dish’ costs has been per kilo.

She claims the group was taken away from different prospects and intimidated into paying the invoice by card.

“Every man in the restaurant got up and surrounded us, there were at least five of them, almost blocking us in. It was a very, very scary situation because we were six women being surrounded by five men… I must add, they were all dressed in black, it was sort of gangsterish,” she stated.

An internet site devoted to warning vacationers concerning the bar has even cropped up – on DKOysterRip-off.com, earlier company recreate the expertise of being on the restaurant, saying “the waiters are trained to pressure you to order” and that menus “show price per gram which confuses tourists”.

DK Oyster Bar didn’t reply to 2 requests for remark from The Independent.