Overpriced Menu Items You Should Always Avoid

Have you ever felt ripped off at a restaurant? It’s not a pleasant sentiment. You leave feeling used and even if the meal was delicious, it puts a damper on the whole experience. But are you just being cheap or were you genuinely taken for? The answer depends on what you ordered.

At restaurants, we understand that we’re not just paying for the food, but the experience. However, the cost of specific items takes it too far. So how far is too far? Within the restaurant industry, it’s commonly believed markups should be 300%. So if the cost of making that sandwich is $2, it’ll be priced at $6. This isn’t a hard rule, and many items are priced far higher than we feel they should be. The sting is even greater when those items are inexpensive and easy to make at home.

If you’re questioning whether you overpaid for a menu item, you’ve come to the right place. Below, we’ll cover overpriced foods and beverages to avoid at restaurants. Some may immediately resonate with you, while others may be surprising. And next time you open a menu, you’ll be looking at your options in a whole new light.

One of the perks of dining at Mexican restaurants is the free chips and salsa — or so it used to be. More and more, restaurants seem to be charging for this simple side dish. We realize that making chips and salsa costs the establishment money. However, chips and salsa are the bread of the Mexican world, and as Americans, we’re used to getting these accompaniments free of charge. So what changed?

As we scoured articles and forums, we noticed diners complaining of this trend right about the time that the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Restaurants saw a huge decline during this period and likely offset costs by charging for previously complementary items. But while we’ve transitioned out of our pandemic ways, many restaurants are sticking with the surcharge. Adjusting to this change is frustrating — and if those chips and salsa don’t have that flavorful, freshly-made quality, they’re probably not worth the extra money. So check the price before asking for a basket of chips because if it’s not automatically brought to your table, chances are, it comes with an unexpected charge.

Shrimp cocktail was a symbol of luxury dining in the 1970s. If you wanted to feel like a million bucks, you’d head to a restaurant and order plump shrimp hanging off the edge of a martini glass, complete with that tangy red sauce. But while this retro appetizer is making a comeback, it’s bringing sky-high prices with it, which has people wondering, is this seafood snack worth feeling fancy? We think not.

We crunched some numbers and, well, the math isn’t mathing. The menu price of shrimp cocktails is far higher than its production cost. For starters, cocktail sauce is made with five basic, inexpensive ingredients: ketchup, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and lemon juice. And while shrimp cocktail isn’t served raw, it takes very little effort to prepare. Plus, the cost of shrimp has actually decreased in the past few years, and today, it sits at around $6.62 a pound. But at some establishments, including Gallaghers New York Steakhouse, the cost of shrimp cocktail is nearing $30.

Do you ever feel guilty when ordering egg dishes at a restaurant? It feels like throwing away money, especially considering how easy it is to make it home. And that sentiment isn’t entirely unfounded when you do the math. Eggs cost an average of $3.60 per dozen, putting them at $0.30 each, but you can expect them to cost far more in restaurants.

Restaurants capitalize on trendy brunch-goers, who don’t have the energy to cook or clean on a Sunday morning. And what do you often crave for weekend brunch? Breakfast favorites like fried eggs, scrambles, or omelets, rounded out with a slice of toast or side salad. Unfortunately, these simple dishes come with some not-so-simple prices. Take San Francisco’s Crepevine. They’re charging $17 for a basic omelet with potatoes and toast — ingredients that probably cost them less than $4. Sure, in a city where coffee can cost $7, these prices don’t sound outrageous. But considering how easy it is to whip up eggs at home in your pajamas, paying these dining prices doesn’t seem worth it.

What exactly constitutes simple sandwiches? You know the ones — the nostalgic PB&J, the humble ham and cheese, and that comfort food classic, the grilled cheese. These sandwiches rarely have more than two fillings, yet they have been spotted with double-digit price tags.

So what’s a fair price? When it comes to basic sandwiches, many diners say they wouldn’t pay more than $5. As one Reddit user puts it, “If I were to pay for a basic grilled cheese, I think two to three bucks is a fair price. Maybe five or six if it’s made with fancy bread and cheese, or if it comes with fries. Eight to nine dollars is pushing it.” Now, if we’re talking gourmet grilled cheese — with homemade sourdough, fancy cheeses, and caramelized onions — that’s another story. We’d be willing to shell out more money for that kind of creativity. But if the restaurant is sandwiching ham and cheese between two bread slices, our money is better spent on other items.

Before you gasp in horror, hear us out. We’re not talking about fresh, homemade pasta from Nonna’s Italian eatery. We’re talking about bulk-buy pre-made pasta sold at chain restaurants and inauthentic Italian joints. They might be passed off as fresh, but if you’ve had the real stuff, you can taste the difference.

If you’re eating pasta that came from a bulk supplier’s cardboard box, you may as well eat the same stuff from your pantry. An entire box of dried pasta costs less than $3 and can feed a whole family. But somehow, those restaurants are charging upwards of $15 for one serving. And that sauce? It was probably premade and frozen or worse yet, from a jar. Sure, it’ll fill you up — but life’s too short to eat subpar spaghetti. Save those pasta splurges for the real deal.

The beauty of wedge salads lies in their simplicity; crisp iceberg lettuce often topped with crunchy bacon, satisfying blue cheese, and tangy dressing. While we’re obviously not here to hate on this classic salad, we wish prices reflected this simplicity. After all, the cost of the produce and the effort to make it are minimal. And let’s be honest, the primary ingredient is a quarter of an iceberg lettuce head plopped onto your plate.

New York’s Delmonico restaurant charges a whopping $28 for a wedge salad. Granted, the heirloom tomatoes, Kikorangi blue cheese, and Yuzu honey vinaigrette give it a gourmet edge. But even with all the fancy toppings, the markup seems questionable. Of course, not all restaurants charge nearly $30 for this staple salad, but prices do seem to be climbing rapidly. And considering iceberg lettuce is 96% water, this starter is rarely filling enough to merit its price.

Potatoes aren’t exactly the most high-end vegetable in the produce aisle. Yes, they make excellent comfort food, but at what price? When you consider just how inexpensive and easy a baked potato is to make — wrapping it in foil and popping it in the oven — the cost doesn’t seem worth it. We realize it’s usually dressed up with goodies like chives, bacon bits, and sour cream. But even so, the price rarely feels on par with what you’re getting.

Making matters worse, many steakhouses even charge separately for baked potatoes, bringing that $30 steak to a $40 meal. When dining out, save those dollars for a specialty side dish. Aim for something that highlights the chef’s skills like a seasonal salad. And if you want restaurant-level baked potatoes at home, try Martha Stewart’s trick for making super fluffy jacket potatoes.

When it comes to restaurant ripoffs, rice is at the top of the list. It’s one of the cheapest items in your pantry, and an entire grocery store bag of rice costs less than a single serving at a restaurant. Walmarts long grain enriched rice cost $1.86 for 2 whole pounds. Meanwhile, we’ve seen diners pay $3 or more for one serving at a restaurant.

We realize some meals aren’t the same without this staple side dish, which is why it should already be included in the price. Those Indian and Thai curries? They’d be overwhelming without a simple starch to balance them. And while they’re always offered at Indian or Thai restaurants, some of these establishments have the audacity to charge separately. If you’re not a big rice consumer, you can get away with sharing an order and saving a few bucks. Even so, you’re still paying far more than that rice is worth. So if you’re ordering takeout but eating at home, consider supplementing by cooking your own rice. And if you need any pointers, check out this flipping trick that guarantees evenly cooked rice.

Edamame is a satisfyingly salty finger food that helps you bide time while waiting for sushi. However, this appetizer is essentially just steamed and salted soybean pods. Very little goes into the preparation. It takes more effort to free the soybeans from the pods, which is left up to the guests. Mind you, this is half the fun of eating edamame — but when that bill arrives, it might put a damper on the experience.

Restaurants are charging up to $10 for a small bowl of these salted soybeans. The markup is ridiculous considering a pound of frozen edamame at the store costs about $3. Since the appetizer is neither complex nor filling, we’d save that money for a spicy tuna roll, instead. And if you want to order like a pro at Japanese restaurants, avoid these mistakes everyone makes when ordering sushi.

Remember when a warm bread basket was part of the dining experience? Well nowadays, many restaurants are transitioning away from complementary foods. So before you go asking for bread, check the menu price. Bread baskets are often more than you’d expect to pay, and honestly, the quality hasn’t improved with the price tag.

Unless you’re at an artisanal restaurant with freshly baked loaves, you’re probably getting the same mass-produced bread that’s been sitting around since morning. Instead of that fluffy, fresh-from-the-oven quality, it comes off as semi-stale or bland. You’re essentially paying to gnaw on subpar starch while waiting for your actual food. Money is better spent elsewhere, so save your appetite and your dollars for a tastier starter. But if you crave homemade bread while dining out, head to one of these restaurant chains that bake their own bread.

We’re honestly puzzled by the price of pancakes at some restaurants. At Chicago’s Pancake Café, a stack of buttermilk pancakes is $14. We’re talking about something that costs maybe 50 cents to make. Flour, eggs, milk, and butter aren’t exactly ingredients that break the bank.

You don’t need to be a professional chef to cook up crave-worthy pancakes, either. Simply mix ingredients in a bowl, heat up a pan, and voilà! You’ve got pancakes in a matter of minutes. What’s even better is you can make them exactly how you like, whether that’s thick, thin, or crispy. And if you want to be a breakfast pro, try this mixing technique for extra fluffy pancakes. But the best part is you get to go wild with the goodies. Throw in some blueberries, bananas, chocolate chips, or all three. Drizzle extra syrup or honey or experiment with entirely new toppings.

A blooming onion is a deceiving appetizer because it looks so impressive. The perfectly fanned-out onion slivers are something out of a foodie’s Instagram. But when you really think about it, this starter is just a large onion dipped in batter and deep-fried. And that side sauce? It’s basically just seasoned mayonnaise.

Despite its humble ingredients, chain restaurants are charging $10 to $15 for a blooming onion. Outback’s Blooming Onion is smack dab in the middle at $12. But don’t get us wrong — this appetizer is absolutely delicious and when craving fried foods, it hits the spot. That satisfyingly soft onion with crunchy hot batter is a textural dream. But considering that you’re paying for mostly air and oil, we’d reconsider ordering one. That is, of course, unless restaurants are offering a special deal, like that time Outback Steakhouse offered blooming onions for free.

Quesadillas are like kids’ meals without the kids’ prices. In fact, restaurants are charging far more than they should for this dish that’s essentially a grilled cheese made with tortillas. If you’re lucky, you might get tomatoes or grilled chicken thrown in the mix, but rarely enough to justify the cost. Plus, making a quesadilla requires minimal culinary skills. The kitchen staff are basically grilling the ingredients and flipping it once.

Another diner was equally confused by quesadilla prices. On Reddit, they asked “Why are quesadillas at Taco Bell (and everywhere) so expensive?! Is there a reason for this? Or is it just, that people continue to buy them at that price so there is no incentive to do anything other than jack it up?” We imagine this is the case. After all, everyone gets the occasional craving for a quesadilla, and restaurants are known to take advantage of this. So, if you’re hankering for a quesadilla, try using this hack to pay less than half price for Taco Bell quesadillas.

If you’re ordering sodas at restaurants, you’re probably being swindled. Think about it. Sodas can cost $4 before tip and tax. So if you’re dining with a family of four, you’re looking at a $20 drink bill before you even order actual food.

Soda fountains are known to spit out even more overpriced drinks. They cost the restaurant about $0.25 to $0.40 per soda. If the establishment is charging you $3 or $4, you’re paying for a markup of nearly 1,000%. This is part of the reason fast food joints offer combo meals; it’s an easy upsell that costs the chain next to nothing. If you’re ordering soda, hopefully, it comes with free refills. But even so, how many would you have to drink to make it cost-effective? If you prefer being a savvy spender, stick to water when dining out. Your wallet and your dentist will thank you.

Dining out feels like a special affair, and you may want to order a cocktail or two for the occasion. However, not all restaurant cocktails were created equal, and when eating at restaurants, we’d skip the classic options. These include two-ingredient cocktails like gin and tonics or rum and cokes. While these drinks are extremely straightforward to make, they can set you back over $10 each depending on location.

These drinks require zero expertise; you’re paying a bartender to pour a mixer and liquor into a glass. Save the classic cocktails for your home bartending or that dive bar around the corner. If you’re going to spend money on cocktails when dining out, choose a drink that showcases the bartender’s craftsmanship. Peruse that specialty cocktail list and see what tickles your fancy. It may cost you a couple of dollars more than a classic cocktail, but the creativity and complex flavors are worth it.

That bottle of wine you spotted for $20 at your local store may go for double or triple that at a restaurant. We understand restaurants need to charge a service fee to cover expenses, and that slight markup is worth it for the celebratory feeling of sipping wine alongside a meal. However, we’re noticing ever-increasing prices on wine lists, and we’re not alone. Many people online have been catching this, too, and aren’t happy with it. Some theorize its the effects the COVID-19 pandemic had on the industry, but there’s probably not one fast and hard reason for the price increase. Whatever the reason is, the price of wine at restaurants has gone up, for sure.

These price surges don’t mean you have to bid farewell to restaurant wine altogether. Save the more expensive bottles for a truly special occasion. And for more casual nights out, stick to by-the-glass options.

Before identifying overpriced menu items to avoid, we needed a clear definition of “overpriced.” To do so, we reviewed several restaurant menus to determine the price range of commonly ordered items. Then, we compared these prices to the retail cost of ingredients. The markup of these menu items seemed far higher than reasonable — some upwards of 300%.

We also considered customer perspectives by reviewing discussions on platforms like Reddit. We noticed diners consistently complained about certain dishes being more expensive than they were worth. And ultimately, the menu items that we chose were easy and inexpensive to prepare at home, making that restaurant markup hard to justify.