Customer can't believe restaurant's $25 charge to cut birthday cake

It's no secret that having a birthday cake at a restaurant can be a fun treat - and the excitement of having it brought out and cut is typically on the house.

After all, when a person has a birthday at a restaurant, they will typically be splashing out on dinner, dessert and most likely multiple drinks. But this establishment is charging for the privilege:

However, as the video above, which was posted to TikTok by a shocked diner, shows this is not always the case.

Gigi took to the social media app, using the handle @vivala_blondiiie, to explain that she was floored when she checked her receipt from the restaurant and realised she'd been charged an extra $25 to the cake her party brought to the restaurant cut.

The note on the receipt read: "1 Cake Cut."

She wrote over the video: "When the server asks if we want the cake WE brought cut, thinking she's doing something nice for us… but it was 25 dollars."

"I didn't know this was a thing?!?" she added in the caption.

As you can imagine, the video went far from unnoticed on the social media platform, and since it was posted four days ago (30 January), it's been viewed over 800K times.

Alamy / Bill Cheyrou

However, the response to the charge in the comment section was mixed, to say the least.

One TikTok user wrote: "Totally a thing. Because then they bring plates and forks, which they then have to wash. But it was wrong that you weren't told of a fee."

A second agreed, writing: "My restaurant does this but we have to let the party know there is a fee if they eat the outside dessert. Usually, they don’t have a problem paying it."

"No different than a corking fee," wrote a third. "It a restaurant policy to help them pay their bills when people bring food in."

"Creative billing is a Thing [sic]," added a fourth. "Gotta recover losses, extra requests somehow. Plus, it's [a] business."

Alamy / Stuart Dagnall

But not everyone thought the charge was so reasonable.

"I would count that as her tip then..." wrote another TikTok user.

"That's outrageous," added a second, while a third slammed: "I've worked at a lot of restaurants and I've never heard of charging to cut a cake. That's crazy."

"Oh wow!" wrote a fourth. "I had no idea they charge for that. Good to know."

What do you think of the fee?