A Mumbai-based content creator Vagmita Singh was in for a billing shock during her trip to San Francisco, in the United States, after a cafe charged her extra for removing cheese from her sandwich.
A Mumbai-based content creator Vagmita Singh was in for a billing shock during her trip to San Francisco, in the United States, after a cafe charged her extra for removing cheese from her sandwich. Vagmita shared the encounter in an Instagram video, questioning the logic behind paying for an ingredient she had specifically asked the cafe to leave out.
In the video, she explained that she had visited a cafe in San Francisco and ordered a sandwich without cheese. When she asked the waitress if the sandwich could be prepared that way, she was told it was possible—but would cost an additional 75 cents, which Vagmita calculated at around Rs 72.
The unexpected surcharge left her perplexed. She questioned why she should be charged for an ingredient she did not want and jokingly wondered whether customers might also have to pay extra for refusing Coke, not using the bathroom or choosing to pay with cash.
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When Vagmita asked why removing cheese would attract an additional fee, the waitress reportedly explained that the sandwich followed a fixed recipe and that the chef would need to put in extra effort to prepare it without the ingredient.
Vagmita highlighted the irony in her caption, joking about being charged for the chef to put less into her sandwich. She also invited viewers to share their own unusual restaurant experiences.
The video soon triggered a debate online. Some users claimed they had encountered similar charges elsewhere. One person said they faced the same situation in Paris and simply removed the unwanted ingredient themselves.
Others argued that the fee could stem from a restaurant’s standard operating procedures and the additional labour required when a customer requests a modification outside the usual preparation process.
