Mayor of Venice steps in after tourists charged £970 for meal

The mayor of Venice has promised to investigate after a group of Japanese tourists called the police after they were presented with a £970 bill for a plate of fried fish, four steaks and a bottle of wine while dining near St Mark’s Square.

The group of tourists were charged £970 for a plate of fried fish, four steaks and a bottle of wine

The group of students complained to the police after receiving the €1,100 (£970; US$1,347) at a restaurant in the centre of Venice, with the Mayor of Venice stepping in to voice his outrage over the excessive cost of the meal. Despite their displeasure at the bill, the group did pay the bill, only calling the police when they arrived back to Bologna.

Italian media have chosen not to name the restaurant, but have said it is owned by a Chinese woman and run by an Egyptian, as reported by the BBC, while the Metro has named the restaurant as Osteria da Luca.

“We will thoroughly examine this episode, we’ll check to see if the complaint was made properly,” Mayor Luigi Brugnaro tweeted. “If this disgraceful episode is confirmed, we’ll do all we can to punish those responsible. We are for justice – always!”.

The tourists’ case has also been taken up by Marco Gasparinetti, spokesman for a Venice residents’ forum called “Gruppo 25 Aprile”, who says their have been many cases of restaurants overcharging tourists in Venice. He claims that only 1.1% of restaurants in that part of Venice are owned by locals, with the figure only 50% in the historic centre as a whole.

“We defend local residents and whoever puts the good name of Venice at risk harms all Venetians,” the group said in a tweet.