I've ran into fee-flation too but I don't mind because that's the new normal now

[theking]

...Since I enjoy eating out as much as cooking at home, fee-flation is just part of the game now so pay for it if you want and can afford to. If not, stay home, simple as that  :

'Fee-flation' is here, as restaurants tack on airline-style fees to avoid raising prices

John Savage and his wife don't go out to eat much anymore. The cost of a meal in the San Francisco area has soared, he says — even if prices haven’t.

“When you go out to a restaurant, you start doing mental math, you go, ‘Well, we spent $60 or $70 on food,” Savage says. “And all of a sudden the bill comes out, you know, 30% to 40% higher sometimes.”

It’s not that Savage is bad at math. A few months ago he took to Twitter to vent his frustration about escalating fees tacked on to the bill:

“Looking to [take] my wife out to dinner in SF. 20% mandatory tip (they call it an equity fee, whatever that means). 5% San Francisco health care tax. 8.625% sales tax. That's an extra 33% on top of your bill. Looks like I am cooking at home.”

Savage acknowledges that restaurants and other businesses have gone through tough times since the beginning of the pandemic. But rather than raise prices to account for inflation, or reduce portions through "shrink-flation," it seems like their pain is being passed on to customers in a new, sneakier way.

Welcome to the “fee-flation” economy.

Fees are here, there, everywhere
These somewhat ambiguous fees have been cropping up on bills all over the service industry in recent months.

Romano’s Macaroni Grill added a $2 surcharge at all its locations across the country to help alleviate “macroeconomic” pressures.

Ca Va, a champagne bar in Kansas City, Missouri, is charging a 20% hospitality fee on all tabs to “ensure livable, competitive compensation for all staff.”

And Ally Restaurants in Minnesota, a chain of two restaurants and a food truck, is also charging a 3% “wellness fee” that goes toward making up benefits for staff.