This may surprise bitches, given my dual passions of food and strongly expressing an opinion, but I actually don’t like to make a big scene at a restaurant if there’s a mishap with the service or my meal. Nor do I have the inclination to post about the injustice of my unspread schmeared bagel in a video online later. I’m not saying it’s wrong to do that, it’s just not my way. Obviously I am way out of sync with the rest of modern day culture on this, at least when it comes to posting about a bad food experience after the fact. Which brings us to LA-based food influencer @justinelovesushi. Last week, Justine and 10 friends dined at Poza, the rooftop restaurant of L’Ermitage Beverly Hills. The party of 11 brought their own cake, and evidently there was a serious miscommunication between the group and the restaurant, because upon getting the check, Justine & Friends were shocked by the cake cutting fee: $10/person x 11 people = $110. So Justine posted an Instagram video about the fee, and got a full sheetcake of responses, including from the restaurant itself.
“$110 just to cut a cake is honestly wild, I understand upscale restaurants have service fees and policies, but at some point it starts feeling completely disconnected from reality,” one person wrote in response to the viral clip on X.
But after the backlash exploded online, the restaurant quickly tried to smooth things over.
“We are so sorry you were not properly informed of our cake cutting fee,” Poza wrote in a public Instagram response. “Please know that is not reflective of our standard and you should have been notified of the fee once you brought the cake. As you weren’t informed, we’d be happy to refund the fee and invite you and a friend back to Poza to have a proper experience.”
The restaurant has since lowered the price per person to slice a cake — to $5.
Despite the sticker shock, a surprising amount of online reaction sided with the restaurant.
Commenters across X and Instagram argued that cake cutting fees are common at upscale restaurants, especially when customers bring desserts from outside vendors instead of ordering in-house.
“This shows how cheap you are, you brought 11 guests, you brought your own cake because you want to feed 11 people dessert and not pay for dessert, you interrupted the kitchen staff busiest time of the night, to cut your cake, and you’re also gonna use forks and plates to eat your cake and then they have to wash your dishes and clean your mess, absolutely you pay $10 per person,” one commenter wrote.
Another added: “This is totally normal—$10 per person is cheaper than what most nice restaurants charge per person.”
Others blasted the influencer for publicly shaming the restaurant over what they viewed as a miscommunication rather than a scam.
Justine did post a follow up video crediting Poza with reaching out to her, refunding the $110, inviting her back, and permanently reducing the cake cutting fee to $5/person. Then, hilariously, Justine spent the rest of the video saying it was unfair of people to bombard Poza with one-star reviews. But… they did that after watching Justine’s first video! What did she think would happen, lol?!
My thoughts on this took a winding road, which I shall try to recreate for you now: first, I questioned why don’t I have cake handy right now? Next, I figured before cutting deeper into the matter that it’d be wise to check Poza’s menu to see if they even serve desserts of their own. You know, to confirm that Justine was in fact bringing in a food item that technically could have been ordered off the menu. So I look up the menu and immediately clock that there are NO PRICES listed. Anywhere. That usually means… you don’t want to know the prices, and should have definitely been a big clue for Justine & Co of what kind of bill they were in for. After the lack-of-sticker shock, I scrolled down to the (unmarked) dessert section, where the offerings were indeed unremarkable, imo: Seasonal Fruit, Mango Pudding, Chocolate Mousse, and POPSICLES. Yeah, I would absolutely be looking elsewhere for dessert, too, but why not move the party to a new dessert-forward venue? Or to someone’s home?? Or to MY home?! Seriously, why don’t I have cake in this house???
Then, I admit, I honestly wondered if Poza had actually communicated the fee structure to Justine, and maybe it just didn’t compute until all totalled on the check. I don’t know. All I can say, in conclusion, is that $110 is a ridiculous amount to pay for drawing a knife in straight lines. Yet on the other hand, I’m not surprised by a fancy schmancy place charging that high a fee. The only thing I am certain of in all of this, is that I am on my way to obtain cake. Right now!
Photo note by CB: The photo on the homepage is from JustineLoveSushi’s Tawain haul video
