‘Very rich Italian’ is left outraged after being chased down and reprimanded by a Saint-Tropez waiter for ‘only leaving a 500 euro tip’ after his meal

A ‘very rich Italian’ has been left furious after reportedly being chased and reprimanded by an angry waiter in Saint-Tropez for leaving only a 500 euro tip.

The restaurant, which has not yet been identified, was chased by the member of staff into the restaurant’s parking lot at the glamorous French Riviera resort and told it was “not enough.”

The waiter chastised the ‘very wealthy’ customer and told him to go back inside and pay a further 500 euros to reach the ‘minimum’ tip amount of 1,000 euros (£859), the local newspaper reported. Nice Matin.

A French friend of the stunned Italian said: “He thought he had been generous in leaving 500 euros, but instead he was reprimanded.

“The waiter told him it wasn’t enough and that he could still make a little effort to get to 1,000 euros as it was more consistent around 20 percent of the total amount of his bill.”

The Italian was so offended by the exchange that he reportedly told his friend he never wanted to set foot in Saint Tropez again.

The incident marks a growing frustration for vacationers traveling to Saint-Tropez, a popular holiday destination for royalty and the wealthy.

Tourists have told some restaurants in the coastal town require a minimum spend of 1,500 euros (£1,288) each, while in other parts of the French Riviera, customers are expected to spend at least 10,000 euros (£8,587).

“Recently, this restaurant that we know well required a minimum spend of 1,500 euros each,” a regular customer, who said he is unlikely to return to Saint-Tropez, told Nice Matin.

It was also reported that a family at a restaurant in Ramatuelle, just south of Saint-Tropez, was told by staff that the minimum spend on a table there was 100,000 euros (£85,900).

The Italian, who has not yet been identified, was chased by the waiter into the parking lot of the eatery at the glamorous French Riviera resort and told that his 500-euro tip “wasn’t enough” (file)

Restaurant staff would also screen customers — and if they found they didn’t tip on a previous visit, they wouldn’t let them book a table again, reports Republic.

Saint-Tropez mayor Sylvie Siri said he has called on local restaurant owners to meet at the end of the summer season to “clean up” their practices and “welcome customers in a more dignified manner.”

Speaking about how restaurants only reserve tables for customers who agree to a minimum spend, Ms. Siri said, “It’s a practice similar to extortion, a form of extortion.”

It’s the latest example of the skyrocketing cost of enjoying bars and restaurants in some of Europe’s most exclusive holiday hotspots.

It emerged yesterday that shocked customers had been ordered to pay a restaurant €20 (£17) to cut a birthday cake.

The family brought the cake for a party in Palermo, Sicily.

But the partygoers were stunned to discover that they had been charged €20 for the cutting up.

Last week, diners at another restaurant in Italy were shocked after waiters charged them €2 for an empty plate so their daughter could try the pasta.

Italians mocked the restaurant for its unusual charge and even the regional governor condemned it.

Ida Germano, the owner of the Osteria del Cavolo in Finale Ligure, told The times the charge was valid because cleaning more plates meant more work.

She clarified that the cost of supplying and washing extra plates so that the mother could let her daughter taste the pasta would be “more work.”

Since international travel returned to normal at the end of the global pandemic, several disgruntled holidaymakers have taken to the internet to express their dismay at being charged exorbitant bills at bars and restaurants in a number of European holiday destinations.

In another pricing scandal, a couple asking for an extra teaspoon to share a dessert was charged €1.50.

They were billed for the pleasure of using two teaspoons to eat the crema catalana they ate at the pizzeria near Alba, in northern Piedmont.

It emerged as a bar on Italy’s exclusive Lake Como and has sparked outrage after it was revealed that it charges customers an extra €2 (£1.70) just to cut their sandwiches in half.

A disgruntled customer shared a photo of a receipt online as proof of the baffling charge.

The June 18 print clearly shows that Bar Pace had charged them €2 for the privilege of cutting their sandwich in half.

Listed as ‘diviso da meta’ it translates into English as ‘divided in two’.

In 2019, a Venice restaurant sparked outrage by charging tourists £1,000 for four steaks and a plate of fish.

The outraged Japanese diners – students from the University of Bologna – said they ordered three steaks and fried fish at the Osteria da Luca near St. Mark’s Square.

With only glasses of water with their modest meal, the group was shocked by the €1,145 bill on Friday.