17 Sneakiest Ways Restaurants Get You to Spend More (and How to Avoid It)

The simplest trick kicks in the moment you step into your favorite restaurant. Oh, your table isn’t quite ready? Been invited to enjoy a drink at the bar while you wait? Surprise: those drinks are adding extra charges to your total, and sipping on one or two glasses of wine or cocktails on an empty stomach often leads to eating more and spending more. We’re not suggesting the restaurant is trying to get you tipsy, but... yeah, the restaurant is trying to get you tipsy.

Something you might not even realize could be affecting your spending decisions at the restaurant: the music playing in the background. A bustling lunch spot typically plays fast, upbeat tunes, as studies show this encourages diners to eat quickly and move along, helping to turnover tables faster. On the flip side, research indicates that classical music can make people feel more sophisticated, which often leads them to spend more and take their time, ordering extra. Keep this in mind the next time you're enjoying a fancy dinner.

Ever sit down at your table and find a server right there, asking if you'd like a drink or appetizer? While this can indicate good service—people get frustrated if left unattended for too long—it also rushes you into making decisions before you’ve even had a chance to glance at the menu. This can result in you ordering cocktails or appetizers that add up quicker than you might expect.

When your server announces the specials, they usually go into great detail, using enticing language and mouthwatering descriptions. But there’s almost always one key detail missing: the price. Specials tend to be introduced with no mention of the cost, because they’re, well, special. Sure, you could ask, but that makes you seem like a cheapskate in front of your dining party. You know that ordering the special without knowing the price is a risk, but the description sounded so irresistible...

This might seem odd at first, but there’s actual psychology behind it. Simply put, many restaurants remove the dollar sign when displaying prices. It’s a small change, but it works. People tend to spend more when dollar signs aren’t visible on the menu, leaving just the numbers. The idea is that by eliminating the dollar sign, the number feels less connected to actual money, so your brain doesn’t register it as spending—it’s just a random number.

This tactic is widely used across many industries because, despite how simple it seems, it’s incredibly effective. Instead of saying that the potato skins cost $10, the menu will show them for $9.99, $9.75, or something along those lines. Being just under a round number makes it seem much more appealing, making that penny difference feel way more significant than it actually is. The best part? This works at all levels—check out Redfin and you’ll see how many homes are priced with a “99” at the end.

The menu handed to you at a restaurant is filled with psychological tricks. There’s even an entire field of study called Menu Engineering dedicated to designing ways to subtly steer you toward the most profitable items. Techniques include highlighting dishes with boxes and borders, using hard-to-read fonts to hide prices, and placing high-margin items in what’s known as The Golden Triangle at the top of the menu. It’s all crafted to direct your focus exactly where they want it.

Menu design isn’t just about layout and fonts. Some menu items aren’t there to actually be sold—they’re there to influence your perception of the rest. The most common example is the “anchor,” a highly expensive dish like a “captain’s feast” on a seafood menu. The price and prominence of the anchor make everything else seem more reasonably priced. The restaurant doesn’t expect to sell many anchors, but they know this strategy boosts sales of the next most expensive options.

Everyone loves a combo meal that includes sides and extras for just a little more. But even upscale restaurants use this tactic, offering things like wine pairings or discounts on side dishes. The trick is that by including the cost of these “extras” into the overall price, it hides their true cost, encouraging you to spend more than you might have if the items were listed separately.

Side-dish manipulation can work in reverse as well. Instead of bundling extras with your main dish, some restaurants opt to leave side dishes out entirely. This is common in steakhouses, where sides can be very pricey, but diners don’t want a lonely steak on their plate. Shared sides only intensify this tactic, as people often order more out of fear that there won’t be enough. If your friend tends to devour a plate of onion rings, you’ll likely order another just to be safe.

Ever gone out with friends and ordered an appetizer that only had three pieces? Nothing’s worse than sharing three potstickers with four people, and restaurants know this. That’s why many appetizers come in odd-numbered portions, forcing you to order another round to avoid a tense standoff over the last potato skin in the parking lot.

Portion shrinkage isn’t a figment of your imagination: Restaurants definitely play with portion sizes. But they do it cleverly by shrinking the size of the plates you’re served on, so the smaller portion still looks full. The difference is subtle—can you tell the difference between an 11-inch plate and a 12-inch one? Probably not. The result? You’re paying the same price, but receiving less food. On the bright side, your table feels a lot more spacious.

Just like Paul Rudd at Starbucks, we’re all often left scratching our heads at restaurant portion sizes. What does a 'half sandwich' really mean? Half of what? Without knowing the full portion size, labeling something as 'half' is meaningless. This technique, called 'bracketing,' makes customers who want to save money feel like they’re getting a deal, while those opting for the full size think they’re getting more for their money. The catch? Half-portions are usually marked up so much that you’re not really saving at all.

It’s widely recognized that the second-cheapest wine on a restaurant’s menu is often excessively marked up. The reasoning behind this is straightforward: No one wants to be seen ordering the cheapest wine, fearing they’ll be labeled both a wine novice and a tightwad. Choosing the next least expensive option makes you seem a bit less stingy. Restaurants are well aware of this, so that bottle just above the cheapest tends to have a hefty price hike.

It’s always a pleasant surprise when a server comes by to top off your wine glass and check in on how things are going. Excellent service! But here’s the catch: Refilling everyone’s wine glasses quickly means you’ll go through your table’s bottle faster. If you’re still snacking on appetizers and the server pours the last of the pinot, the chances are high that you’ll order another bottle—and possibly even a third if they keep pouring.

At the end of a meal, it’s easy to understand why restaurants are eager to tempt you with an expensive dessert. However, when asked if you’d like to peruse the dessert menu, most of us decline because we’re already full. That’s when restaurants get sneaky and simply drop the dessert menu on the table without asking. Once it’s there, it’s almost impossible not to glance at it out of curiosity, and before you know it, you’re talking yourself into ordering the huge Ziggy Piggy.

As you pay the bill at the end of your meal, be mindful of the restaurant’s tip policy. Many places automatically include a tip for larger parties, but some restaurants aren’t very transparent about this. The result? A group of slightly tipsy diners may unknowingly add an additional tip to a bill that has already included one.