Last week we talked about food influencer @JustineLoveSushi putting a high end LA restaurant on blast for charging a $110 cake cutting fee… for a cake Justine and 10 of her friends brought to the restaurant from an outside bakery. While $110 out of context sounded high, y’all schooled me in the comments about the fee covering labor and dishwashing and space in the kitchen and table space and more, to the point where $10/person became actually quite reasonable. Thank you, I’m here to learn! So here’s another case: TikToker @elisa_does dined at an Eataly restaurant located at the Park MGM in Las Vegas, where she ordered one pasta dish and one San Pellegrino sparkling water bottle. And the total, for just those two items, came to $52.95. That’s a lotta lira! (RIP Italian Lira, you always made me feel so rich.) Comments to Elisa’s post were divided between those who were gagged by the grand total, and those who couldn’t help but ask back to Elisa: “But you still ordered it off the menu?”
A viral video of a woman who paid $52.95 for a bowl of pasta and a beverage at Eataly has resurfaced. The video comes amid growing controversy about rising food prices at restaurants, sparking widespread debate on the internet.
The video was originally posted by TikToker @elisa_does in late 2025 and has since resurfaced on X and Reddit amid renewed discussion about restaurant pricing.
In the video, the woman shared a bill featuring her order and the cost of $52.95, which she had to pay. The video showed her drawing attention to the bill and the food itself — a modest portion of pasta and a water, totaling $52.95.
She said she was dining at Eataly at the Park MGM in Las Vegas. The comment section of her TikTok blew up with people sharing their thoughts. Many commenters criticized her for complaining about the price rather than checking the menu beforehand.
They also wondered why she didn’t read the price on the menu before ordering. However, she responded to the scrutiny in a separate video. The woman addressed the criticism and explained her intention.
The intent wasn’t to complain, but rather to “make a difference.” The weekend after she had posted her review, the TikToker highlighted the change that followed.
Caesar’s Entertainment offered Nevada residents 25% off food and beverages at its restaurants and lounges, along with free parking.
The offer ran from September 21 to October 20, 2025 — temporary, the TikToker acknowledged, but still a step in the right direction in her view. In conclusion, she said, “It goes to show that one little voice, such as mine, yelling out $52.95…can help make a difference.”
Multiple users have reshared the video, highlighting the crisis with hiked food prices at restaurants.
The X account Matrix Mysteries shared the video with the caption, “Vegas used to drain your wallet at the tables, now it does it before you sit down.” This sparked a flurry of mixed responses.
One user mentioned, “Even if she did this for views or boosting engagement, the menu prices are ridiculous. It’s pasta and water!” The next one said, “Ohh no. I’m making that at home FOR A FAMILY for $5.95.”
As with Cake Cutting-Gate, my first instinct was to seek out the menu. Elisa doesn’t name the exact pasta she ordered, but between having a best friend of proud Italian heritage and my own studies in eating — where I’ve majored in carbs — I am making the educated guess that Elisa had the Tagliatelle alla Bolognese: “Housemade Tagliatelle Pasta, Pork & Beef Ragù alla Bolognese, Agriform Parmigiano DOP.” It’s also the second most expensive pasta on the menu at $35, the most expensive being a dish with lots of seafood ($40), which Elisa’s pasta clearly doesn’t have. And then the sparkling water is $9. That gets us to $43, so $9.95 covers tax and tip. Call me pazzo, but I’m rather inclined to agree with the “But you knew what you ordered” faction. There were other options on the menu! Even just among the pastas; I mean, the Bucatini Cacio E Pepe was RIGHT THERE, and only $27! (Is my New Yorker showing at “only $27”?) Plus, pasta can absolutely be worth $35… though I highly doubt that pasta would be found at an Eataly. Anyway, that’s my two cents on this intersection of cash and cucina. But as long as Elisa feels she “made a difference,” good for her. That kind of validation is priceless.
Note by CB: Elisha’s video is below and you can follow her on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.
In Nevada almost all of the casinos and big hotels offer discounts for locals already.
That said, of course the big cheesy (no pun intended) restaurants are expensive. She could have gotten much better food if she’d driven her rental car a bit.
She didn’t want to save money, though, she wanted clicks, which she got. Though maybe she didn’t expect the negative pushback. I mean, lmao at her attempt at CYA by saying “I wasn’t complaining, I wanted to ‘make a difference’.” She was absolutely acting outraged at the cost of something she knew the price of when she bought it. People saw through her original post, because both of these things can be true at the same time: food in Las Vegas can be wildly expensive, and 2) she made a choice to pay that much when there were less expensive items on the menu and elsewhere.
Everything on the strip is expensive (caveat: I don’t actually know where Eataly is in LV). Last time I was there was for a conference, and my daily Starbucks order, nothing fancy mind you, literally a flat white and egg bites, was $20, normally costs $11.
And I don’t normally do Starbucks, or Vegas, but it was the only thing on my entirely indoor 40 minute walk from my hotel to the conference center.
If you’re expecting free buffets and the Las Vegas of yesteryear, you’re at least 25 years too late.
My first time in Vegas, the hotel menu charged separately for cereal and milk. So I had Oatmeal, no milk. I’m great at going budget when I travel. And it’s fine to laugh at absurdities in Vegas but complaining just shows you didn’t do your homework.
Exactly. I never go to a restaurant without looking at the menu first online. She’s doing it for clicks by the look. True story though, 15 years ago we were going out for a special meal and I ordered two glasses champagne off a champagne trolley and they were $100 each. Lol though I didn’t complain about it!
Yeah, trolling for rage clicks. It’s Vegas, a name brand restaurant, and she ordered the second-most expensive thing on the menu. Also, SP isn’t just plain water, Is her point that tourist traps are expensive? OK then.
She went to Eataly (overpriced since the first one opened on 23rd Street) and made a choice like an adult and got the viral content she wanted.
Eataly is known for those prices, but maybe this kind of content is made for kicks as I can’t fathom her being this naive. I don’t think Eataly is going to change their prices.
A San Pelligrino bottle cost 8 bucks in a high end restaurant in 2019 so I wouldn’t be shocked by the current cost of sparkling water either.
You’re not really paying for the food but for the “experience.”
She could have specified tap water in a standard glass and enjoyed the “experience” of virtually 100% recycled water from Clark County Water Reclamation District for $0.
She actually looks pretty happy in the last picture in the series (‘Good Eats’) where she’s twirling noodles from what looks like a fairly large bowl of pasta.
That is true.
I just realized she paid for the plastic bottle version of San Pelligrino (and possibly the smaller version?). Either way, you can get that way cheaper, in either a plastic bottle or a glass bottle, at the drug store. I would not pay for San Pelligrino in a restaurant haha since it is always too expensive in any restaurant. For a different experience than what you can get at the drug store, she should have picked a replacement drink that she probably hasn’t tried before or most definitely gone with the tap water. It’s now even more hilarious to think how she spent her money on sparkling water, which isn’t really necessary to enjoying being inside an Eataly.
The prices at Eataly are the same here in Boston. It’s $8 for a small cup of gelato and that’s buying it at a counter, not a sit-down restaurant.
Is Eataly a quick service type of restaurant or a sit down restaurant? The picture makes it look a little more casual, not like somewhere that I’d expect to pay 35 dollars for pasta. But as long as the menu isn’t hidden and the prices are clear…..
(I WILL spend 35 bucks on a bowl of pasta especially if its homemade pasta. I just didnt think Eataly was that kind of place.)
It’s a food hall that includes a sit down restaurant with “appropriately-dressed” servers. The locations also include other things like a grocery store.
They can be found in any major city, although their headquarters are in Italy.
For some reason, it’s considered a big deal when they open a new location. But you can easily go on their website to see their pricing, and I think it would have been easy to veto choosing this restaurant. I suspect Las Vegas has a ton of other restaurants within the same space so I don’t think she would have had a dearth of choices. If I see 10 restaurants in an area, I’ll go with the cheapest one if price is a concern for me that day. They literally put the menus outside the restaurant as well for you to take a look.
Eataly is fairly famous in the way the Olive Garden is (though I’m not sure if the reputation is considered better; I just know they’re hyped up because their origins are in Italy and I think the idea is to mimic some kind of European experience ) so maybe this influencer caters to a somewhat naive audience.
It is my understanding that Eataly is supposed to promote Italian quality food and its tradition, with premium products imported from Italy, so it was never supposed to be “cheap”.
I wonder if with all the Trump tariff, and the Iran wars importing things from Italy might weight on this.
That is my perception of Eataly as well.
I’ve never thought of it as a place that was intended to be cheap or inexpensive. So if people want to talk about rising prices, I don’t think that’s a good example to use. There have always been places that would be considered expensive within the hospitality industry, whether we like it or not, and you have to use your personal judgment whether it’s a good idea to spend that kind of money or not. This kind of judgement would have had to be exercised even before inflation skyrocketed.
In LA, Eataly is many things. They are a market and bakery, and then there’s multiple restaurants inside with different price points (coffee shop and fresh pasta/pizza are more casual, the patio restaurants are more fine dining). Not sure if Vegas has the same setup.
Eataly is in Toronto and I took a look at the menu for the Yorkville location and the pasta is cheaper.
Things must be bad in the states for chains to be cheaper in Canada because usually it’s the opposite.
The pasta is fine but $50 for pasta and water is a lot.
There are also many other locations in Toronto where you can get homemade pasta and side dishes for less than this.
I think she might have picked the more expensive option on the menu.
I feel that likely wouldn’t have been the only option for pasta on the menu. There was probably a cheaper one she could have picked but opted not to.
Here in Chicago Eataly is a restaurant, a food hall, a grocery store and a bakery. You can do fast casual or you can do sit down. But the prices are pretty much in line with what she paid – it’s expensive.
Yeah, even their olive oil is expensive. Like, how did she not know before stepping in that she’d be overpaying?
But where else will one get authentic Italian food in Chicago? 🙄
Las Vegas prices are out of hand. I think everyone already knows that. If you plan to go there, plan accordingly. Most restaurants have menus posted online so you shouldn’t be surprised by the prices.
You can’t turn around in Vegas without running into a place to eat — pick someplace different if that restaurant seemed too expensive.
Over the last 5 years I have become an EXCELLENT cook…not ONLY because I’m NOT eating in restaurants to preserve my health…but also because I REFUSE to pander to the “shrinkflation” & “inflation” of ALL restaurant food…even neighborhood places have lost their minds…so nope!🤨
We eat out waaay less, but I can’t make a decent pad Thai or Ethiopian platter. So I breakdown and order occasionally. No joke that prices have increased as much as 150%. Family businesses aren’t at fault for that but 😳
I eat at Korean or other Asian restaurants off the strip when I’m there and the food is amazing and reasonably priced. I also bring a coffee maker because the rooms don’t even have coffee makers anymore and a small coffee in the lobby is like $8 after you wait in line for 20 minutes.
Good idea. Not just because of that, but it also seems that not only do some people use in room coffee makers to do little laundry items *shudder* . They are also seldom cleaned.
I also always bring travel size lysol wipes and spray for doorknobs, the remote(s), surfaces. I’ve seen enough “undercover” vids/exposés to know the same rag used to wipe the toilet is used on most of the surfaces in the bathroom (even the water glasses after first use). GROSS!
Vegas actually has some amazing restaurants off the strip – where everyone who lives in Vegas eats. The strip places – even the “nice” ones are overpriced and mid. The only place I went on the strip where I thought the meal was excellent was the Eiffel Tower Restaurant. And it was STILL overpriced. I paid $100 incl. tip for brunch for just myself! Glad I had the experience but I went to an amazing restaurant another night off the strip and had a great meal at half the price.
May everyone’s eyes be opened so they stop paying attention to idiotic influencers. China won’t let you get on line an espouse on a subject unless you are an expert in that subject. I ain’t mad at them.
Sorry but they lost me with the name ‘Eataly’
Same. I understand businesses need to stand out when advertising, but spelling words wrong really irritates me. I tend not to patronize those places.
This didn’t seem an unreasonable price for Vegas, honestly. they charge that much for breakfast-BREAKFAST!
I paid nearly $50 for ONE fish and chips and a shake at one of Gordon Ramsey’s restaurants last time I went to Vegas.
I don’t get why she’s acting like someone forced her to go into the restaurant and pay.
I’m more bothered by the rise of fast food prices haha and Subway asking for a tip since those places are technically supposed to be cheaper. I’ve never expected a European-style sit-down restaurant to be that cheap and I know that they are designed for a very specific kind of clientele. I suppose one could argue that I should avoid Subway asking well which I now tend to do haha. If a fast food restaurant expects a tip, then I just won’t go in haha.
Vegas prices are INSANE. I stayed at Caesar’s Palace (which is basically budget now), and I ate at the food court to try to save money before heading out exploring. I bought a food court bowl of ramen and a bottle of water and it cost me $30 total. The water – Dasani, ugh – was $8.
I’ve had pasta for that price point at Michelin starred restaurants in LA so why would she eat at an overpriced chain and expect value? She could have gone to a strip mall and gotten better food and drank tap water.
Eataly usually has a bakery and a grocery store where you can buy ready-made items. I’d probably have bought something from there instead.
2 things can be true, right? Yes, she ordered the pasta. Yes, she’s in Vegas. But can it not also be true that the price tag is still ridiculous? I went to Vegas a couple years ago with my husband (his work trip) and I was totally shocked at the prices for mid-at-best food.
Yes, the price tag can be considered ridiculous which is why it doesn’t make sense she chose that option and acted indignant about it and THEN acted surprised that peole would be like “Well, yeah, it happens…”
If it was a pricey restaurant no one has ever heard of I might understand her indignation, but Eataly is well-known and I think their pricing has always been weird, even before inflation. There are some places that are simply like that, and you kind of just avoid them..
Even upscale restaurants in East Tennessee have pasta plates in that price range (or higher), depending on what specific menu items you order (especially imported seafood) and on the amount of time/labor (whether the pasta is hand-made) involved. Bottled sparkling water is also around the price of an imported bottled beer or cheap cocktail, even here. She is making a point to the segment of the population who live in denial about the extent to which inflation has become untenable and will argue with their full chest that a 2 bedroom apartment can be found anywhere for less than $600 a month if you just look hard enough. The same people would believe Vegas is still the land of cheap all-you-can-eat buffets and would be astonished, just astonished I say, at those prices. End stage capitalism s#cks. I have had frozen Lean Cuisine that looked better than that for a tiny fraction of the cost.
I think if she had provided actual social commentary outlining why the cost was ridiculous, she would have gotten more support and possibly praise.
But she didn’t really do that. She did that typical influencer thing where she looks annoyed, says a few words, and then expects the viewer to fill in the gaps (though maybe that’s the point of social media so I could be somewhat wrong in my perception).
I think this is what would be called a communication failure but influencers do the bare minimum to get their point across. I know she has to put in the effort of turning on her camera and using a tripod, but you still have to communicate something more than just the price and an annoyed facial expression if you want people to agree with or see your point.
Has she never been to an Eataly before? Eatalys are expensive. All of them. And of course you will pay an up-charge at a tourist destination. I’ve been to Vegas multiple times -everything is more expensive. It sounds to me like 1. She was mining for content – which is dumb because this is shocking to no one but her and 2. She didn’t do any research on where she was eating. I always look at menus online to decide not only what to eat but if I want to eat there and how much everything costs.
I paid almost $50 for a paper plate with tiny dim sum at a FARMER’S MARKET in OAKLAND last weekend 😉 (it was supposed to be enough for 2 large and 2 small people, the joke was on me, obviously)
Yeah Oakland is very expensive.
Wait till she sees the food prices at the airport…
In the Milan, Eataly, which is basically supermarket dining and this would be less then 20$ including service charge. Esse is now doing the same concept and you pay even less
I don’t get the outrage. She’s in Las Vegas. I went to a music festival in Ohio the other weekend and mixed drinks were $20+ each for a single shot and some soda in a plastic cup. You didn’t even get a straw.
It’s the up-charge you pay for where you’re at. A literal hotdog at the festival was like $18, fries were another $12. It’s obscene and annoying, but it’s not unheard of. It’s the price of going to places like Las Vegas or a music festival. You just eat the cost and bitch about it with your friends.
I had a similar experience there, but the issue was the $16 bottle of water. The waiter casually asks you if you want sparkling water and then they nail you with the price at the end.