Couple’s ‘perfect’ holiday ruined by £106 bill for just five prawns | World News

A British couple believe something a bit fishy is going on at a seafront restaurant in Lanzarote after they paid £106 for just five king prawns.

Dean Cadywould was on holiday with his wife Kerry in Playa Blanca when they sat down for a romantic meal at Casa Pedro.

They had enjoyed the ‘perfect’ day driving around the popular island before Dean, 55, asked the waiter if they had any prawns on the menu because they’re his partner’s ‘favourite’.

But when the bill for five king prawns, eight Canarian potatoes, two drinks and a bread basket was slapped on their table, the couple were horrified.

Kerry, 47, immediately noticed they had been charged a whopping £116 (€137) in total – £106 (€125) of which was for their measly main course.

Dean said the prawns – priced at £21 each – weren’t even that impressive, claiming they had ‘hardly any meat’ on them once they’d de-shelled the critters themselves.

He begrudgingly forked out for the hefty bill but was so furious at being ‘ripped off’ and ‘conned’ that he stormed straight back down to the eatery to complain.

Describing the moment they realised the extortionate price, Dean said: ‘We asked for the bill, they brought it over and it’s for €137. My wife’s face dropped.

‘I said “what’s wrong?” She said “it’s €137”. The prawns weren’t worth €25, never mind €125.

‘[The owner] came over and said “yes, I know, sorry they’re expensive”. We got home, I put it on Facebook and someone said the price has to be displayed.’

‘I went marching back there, I was that incensed,’ said the dad-of-two from Leigh-on-Sea in Essex. ‘I was furious. I just felt cheated, he knew exactly what he was doing.

‘It just takes advantage of tourists. We’d had an amazing day, an amazing holiday, and it 100% ruined our night.’

When Dean confronted staff at the restaurant, he was offered a €40 refund but still doesn’t think it was fair and believes tourists are being swindled. 

Casa Pedro explained the couple were served Carabineros prawns, which are a prized and more expensive type of prawn with flavours similar to that of lobster.

However, Dean said both he and Kerry were completely unaware of the price of the food – and staff didn’t warn them of how expensive they were during their visit on January 20.

‘My wife loves prawns, so I just mentioned king prawns,’ Dean said. ‘They went “oh hang on, let me go to the kitchen and see if we have any”.

‘They came out with these prawns and we looked at them and thought “lovely”.

‘So they bring it out [the prawns] on a silver tray, five king prawns all in their shell, about eight Canarian potatoes and a few slices of tomato and lettuce. That is it.

‘My wife and me, we didn’t want to cause a scene but we just sort of looked at each other with an inquisitive smile, thinking “how does this work?”

‘[We got] two and half king prawns as our main [course] which we had to shell. There’s hardly any meat. That’s before I knew I was being ripped off. The whole thing was so bizarre.’

Dean, a magician, and Kerry, who owns a balloon shop, have been holidaying in Lanzarote for 10 years and hope to one day move to the Canary island.

But now they have vowed never to return to Casa Pedro and want to warn others about the high price of the prawns. 

‘We love Lanzarote, Playa Blanca,’ added Dean. ‘We love it and we’ve been there many times over the last few years.

‘We always hire a car so we’d been driving round the island and had a lovely day. We were looking forward to a nice dinner.

‘It was a super day and it just really bugged me. They were just taking the mickey. It wound me up. I just don’t like being conned.

‘[The next] morning we kind of smiled about it and put it behind us. It does rile you up though.

‘My wife and I want to move out there eventually but we’d never go back there. It was so bad.’

The restaurant has a rating of 3.7 stars on Google, with numerous one-star reviews complaining about the price – and specifically the prawns.

On the flip side, a newlywed couple fled their wedding without paying a £7,000 bill in the most lavish dine and dash ever back in October.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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