A group of holidaymakers in Spain were left stunned after ordering paella at a seaside restaurant, only to discover they had misread a key detail on the menu. The friends expected their meal to cost around €23, but the price they had spotted did not cover the entire dish, and their mistake was revealed when the bill arrived with a much larger sum than anticipated.
Confusion over €23 price
The incident was filmed and shared on TikTok, where it quickly sparked debate among viewers over whether the group had been caught out by an expensive restaurant or had simply misread the pricing. The video was captioned: "We thought a paella for three with a sea view would cost us 23 euros."
In the footage, the friends could be seen reacting to the bill with a mixture of laughter and disbelief. One pointed out that the total had reached "three figures", while another appeared to refuse to accept the situation, saying: "I'm not paying."
Per-person pricing explained
The source of the confusion was the €23 price listed for the paella. Rather than being the cost for the whole dish, it was charged on a per-person basis. As a result, the group was left with a considerably higher bill than the €23 total they had initially expected.
The holidaymakers appeared to see the funny side of the mistake, with their experience attracting plenty of reaction online. Their post also included the Spanish caption "fallo no pensar que era por persona", meaning "a mistake not to think it was per person".
Viewers defend the restaurant
But many commenters were quick to defend the restaurant, pointing out that charging for paella per person is not unusual. One viewer wrote: "€23 per person isn't much." Another questioned how the group could have expected a paella for three to cost just €23.
A third asked: "So, you wanted to take up a table for 7 or 8 people and pay €23? While eating paella?!" Others said per-person pricing was common, particularly at restaurants in popular coastal areas.
"€23 per person, my friend; I've seen it go up to €32 per person for a paella," one person commented. Another shared a similar experience involving seafood, writing: "That happened to me with a lobster paella in A Coruña. Honestly, I don't get why they price it per person; they should just set the paella at €80 and be done with it."
The restaurant's location also appeared to influence reactions to the bill, with one viewer arguing the price was reasonable given the setting. "€145 for two paellas with a view, and you think that's expensive? That blows my mind. Just go to McDonald's; a meal there only costs €12."
