An American TikToker living in Italy has claimed she was left crying in front of a Michelin star restaurant after paying $1,500 for her boyfriend's birthday meal.
TikToker Kacie described her excitement to take her boyfriend for his birthday meal at Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence, Italy after the restaurant was awarded an impressive three Michelin stars.
"I knew this was gonna be expensive," Kacie said. "I had been saving up for months."
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Kacie acknowledged she was lucky enough to have eaten at Michelin star restaurants before, and so had an expectation of the kind of service the restaurant would provide.
In her video, Kacie explained that Enoteca Pinchiorri did offer customers an option to have a birthday cake brought out at the restaurant, but Kacie decided against paying for it as she knew her boyfriend, Dario, would want to try the restaurant's dessert-tasting menu.
However, knowing a lot of other restaurants add a candle into the dessert when it's a customer's birthday, Kacie expected this to be the case at Enoteca Pinchiorri when she mentioned on the booking that it was her boyfriend's birthday.
She noted that another table received a dessert - not a birthday cake - with a candle in it, but when it came their time for dessert, there was no candle in sight.
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Confused, Kacie decided to ask a staff member why her boyfriend hadn't received a birthday candle despite the fact she'd mentioned the event in the booking.
The staff member apologized and went to get his manager, who brought Kacie's reservation sheet over to the table.
"He just starts like going off," Kacie claimed. "...It went from zero to 100... I was so confused."
The TikToker claimed the manager told her she had to reserve the birthday cake and pay extra for the feature, but Kacie insisted she was just 'curious' as to why the table next to theirs had received a candle in the regular dessert.
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"Part of me is just like... I just paid $1,500 for this meal and you're telling me I couldn't have just gotten a candle?," Kacie recalled.
As the argument continued, Kacie said she had to 'remove [herself] from the situation', so she paid the bill and walked towards the door, while Dario continued to speak to the waiter.
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The two men managed to reach an agreement and Dario informed Kacie the manager had offered for them to see the wine cellar.
Kacie decided to let Dario do the tour by himself while she went outside and 'started crying'.
"At a three Michelin star restaurant, I've literally saved up for this dinner for months to give him this special experience and like, to have it end on a sour note sucked," Kacie said.
"Today I'm still really confused and shocked still... I just did not expect that to happen."
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Kacie claimed she's since heard that other people had similar experiences at the restaurant, though she encouraged people not to leave bad reviews as a result of her video.
Viewers were left shocked after hearing about her experience, with one viewer writing: "As someone who’s worked in 3 star restaurants this is jaw dropping. Not just how it ended but the little steps that were missed throughout."
Another added: "3 stars means PERFECT service. There’s no excuse."
UNILAD has contacted Enoteca Pinchiorri for comment.
Topics: Food and Drink, Life, TikTok, World News, Travel