- A Japanese tourist upset with a $1,000 restaurant bill said she called the police about it.
- Junko Shinba was visiting Singapore and said she wasn't informed of the cost of the meal beforehand.
A Japanese tourist who discovered her restaurant bill had soared to $1,000 took the matter up with the police, saying she wasn't properly informed of the meal's cost.
Junko Shinba, who was visiting Singapore, was dining at the Seafood Paradise restaurant on August 19 when she learned that the chili-crab dish she ordered cost about $680, the Singaporean outlet AsiaOne reported.
Shinba, 50, told AsiaOne a waiter had suggested the dish, which is famed in Singapore and the neighboring country Malaysia.
But this dish was cooked with an Alaskan king crab, which costs diners about $20 per 100 grams at Seafood Paradise, AsiaOne reported. Chili crab is typically cooked with mud crabs.
Shinba told AsiaOne the waiter highlighted the crab as a dish priced at $20 "without explaining that they charge per 100 grams."
Paradise Group, which owns Seafood Paradise, told Insider in a statement that restaurant staff had twice communicated the dish's cost to Shinba's group, and that its staff pointed to per-gram prices on the menu to help the diners understand.
"To prevent any miscommunication, the staff even brought the whole Alaskan king crab to the table before preparation," it added.
But Shinba said she wasn't told "the whole crab would be cooked only for us" and assumed her group would be given only a portion of the crab, AsiaOne reported.
An image of the receipt provided to AsiaOne by Shinba showed the Alaskan king crab cost about $680, meaning it weighed about 3.5 kilograms or 7.7 pounds.
"There were three plates full of crab and many other dishes — we were unable to finish everything," she told the outlet.
Combined with the cost of other dishes, the total bill for Shinba's table came to about $1,000 on the receipt.
Shinba then asked Seafood Paradise to call the police, and officers later arrived on the scene, AsiaOne reported.
After some discussion, Shinba's group was given a discount of about $78, and her friend paid for the meal with his credit card, the outlet said.
Paradise Group said its restaurant manager assisted Shinba in making a police report and offered the discount "out of goodwill."
Shinba also contacted the Singapore Tourism Board about the incident, and her case was referred to the Consumers Association of Singapore, AsiaOne reported.
Crab dishes at Seafood Paradise typically cost about $7.90 to $8.60 per 100 grams, though its snow-crab dishes are priced at $19.60 per 100 grams. The cost of its Alaskan king crab is listed as "seasonal" on the restaurant's menu.
A representative for the Singapore Police Force declined to comment on Shinba's case, citing the confidentiality of its police investigations.
A representative for the Consumers Association of Singapore did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
September 20, 2023: This story was updated to include comments from Paradise Group.