A NEW ICE CUBE SCAM - I KID YOU NOT!

My wife and I eat out at least 2-3 times per week. We frequent all kinds of restaurants including some high end ones. In all the times we have gone out this has never never happened and I have not even heard of this practice!

Last night we went to one of our favorite restaurants with our friends and two of us ordered Bourbon on the Rocks. The ice cube that was in the drink was a round ball about the size of a golf ball. After dinner, we get the bill and I noticed they charged us $2 per drink too much (4 drinks x $2 premium each or an $8 surcharge + tip and tax on that surcharge). We call the waitress over and she informs us that for the round style ice cube they charge an extra $2 per drink! I said to her we have been here at least 8 times in the last 3 months and have never been charged extra for ice in our drinks regardless of the shape. Secondly, we were never informed either on the menu or verbally that a round shaped piece of ice is a $2 premium charge! She then repeated that there is no charge for regular ice cubes but for the round ones they do charge $2 premium per drink. I politely asked for the manager and he basically was embarrassed to tell us the waitress did give us the truth and I also told him that in all the other visits to that restaurant we have never been charged for round ice! He also told us he has had this exact conversation with patrons at least 100 times over the last few months and after asking the obvious question ,"so why has this practice not been rectified" he told me that is just the way they do it there. I also said to him that you either need to inform customers verbally or at least on the drink menu because this practice is so out of the ordinary people are going to get super pissed off! He did remove the $8 surcharge and in the future we will be ordering drinks with regular ice cubes - that said, I truly think this is an outrageous practice!! The fact that the restaurant's owners are fully aware than many customers have complained about this and have not changed anything is even more outrageous. The manager told me that all high end restaurants are now doing this - and I respectfully and strongly told him that is not true, he was misinformed and that we are restaurant junkies and eat out 2-3 times per week and that this was the first time we have experienced this practice.

I think these restaurant owners and managers must stay up late at night thinking of how to get on the scam wagon! Is there no place that will treat people fairly now days? Just another way to ruin an otherwise great dining experience!

I have heard of this but never encountered it.
Like you a regular ice cube at no charge would suit me.

The $2 up-charge is probably buried in the fine print on the menu. I suspect most customers don't even notice. I'd inform you up-front if I was serving you, but I wouldn't make a very good waitress!

FYI, a round ice cube press is between $130 and $200 and I'd guess they have more than one.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_mvueb-seM[/ame]

They're pretty cool (pun intended), but not $2/drink cool!

For $2, they ought to use real golf balls, frozen to sub zero temps, that you could keep when you finished your drink.

That's the name of the game these days....

Find ANYTHING that can be added as an extra charge and go for it.

This isn't unusual, has come up several times in a bourbon i belong to.
The option of the large sphere or regular ice should be clearly expressed both on the beverage menu and by the server.

I've stopped going to restaurants that do stuff like this.

They usually don't last very long after they start upsetting their customers.

Spherical ice CUBES? I think there’s a joke in there somewhere!

I wonder what he'd say if you brought your own ice.

Why go back?
Do you want to be PO’ed again when they
Charge you for not buying a round ice cube?

"and in the future we will be ordering drinks with regular ice cubes"


Really???


They charge me $2 a drink surcharge for the ice?


In the future I will be going to a different restaurant.

I think that the real question is: Why pollute good bourbon with ice or water? Drink it neat and you won’t have the charge. ��

Single Malt - NEAT, no sense ruining good Scotch with now.....

Which is why I drink my whisky neat.
Ice is a componemt in cocktails. Shaved ice, crushed ice little ice cubes big ice cubes rould ice cubes. Shaken drinks with the ice strained, frozen drinks. Ice melt is critical in a cocktail and different ice forms are used specifically for ice melt properties. If you want a cool drink with little ice melt go with a bigger size cube (or ball). A splash of ice water in a neat drink will provide the coolness desired without cooling it to the point that you can't enjoy the aromatics. Me personally, I prefer hard ice (as opposed to rotten ice at 32 degrees) as it melts slower thus cooling the drink without excess watering.
Since covid, I much prefer my pour than a resturant or bar pour
I think the ice ball is an affectation but I DO like the over-sized ice cubes as you get the cooling without the excess melt. But you can bet your *** I ain't paying an extra $2 for it!

Dang. That's cold.

What is the supposed reason for the $2 up charge because the ice is round?

Man, I gotta get out more.

I'm not paying for anything I did not request. If I didn't order a ball of ice (notice how I avoided "cube"?) I'm not paying extra for it. The only large Ice ball I ever got came in an Old Fashion. No extra charge, but there shouldn't have been for the price. Kind of too sweet for me.

NOPE - not stated on the drink or regular menu anywhere! I even asked the manager and he agreed with me that it was not in the menu - but should be. The waitress should have (at the very least) let us know. The fact that the Manager said to us he has had this discussion overt 100 time in 3 months tells me this policy needs to go the way of the gooney bird! The owner is pissing people off. I like the restaurant quite a bit - BUT next time I will specifically state I want just regular machine made ice or as some here have suggested, drink it neat.

For what it's worth, I think they make the ice in a silicone tray with a top and a bottom (judging from the look and shape), not in an ice forming machine as in the video above but I could be wrong. The funny part of this is that they told me this has always been the policy but last night was the forst time we have ever been charged.

We have a few different shaped silicone ice trays in our house - I don't charge anyone for them - LOL!!

A local bakery changed hands a while ago and was charging $1/tab of butter. Now doors are closed.

I use to charge for tire and filter disposal as I was charged to get rid of them, but decided to just include it in the labor rate as many people objected.