Woman Stunned To Find Her $20 'Room Service' Pasta Came From Trader Joe's Frozen Bag

With people documenting every little detail of their life, it isn’t surprising that a lot bizarre things surface online, especially on TikTok. With rising food costs, stories for people getting overcharged for meals have rather become common as well. A similar yet strange incident was shared by Tiktoker named Elle McLemore (@elle_pooh) where she ordered a $20 pasta from the hotel’s room service only to get a frozen meal prepared from a Trader Joe’s product.

$20 pasta from a $4 frozen bag

Elle captioned the video as, "When you accidentally find out your expensive room service is from Trader Joe’s,” highlighted the bizarreness of the situation in the post. In the video, she shows the hotel staff presenting the dish as a luxury meal. She then goes on to show how she discovered the meal was actually from the hotel’s refrigerator which stored the frozen bag from Trader Joe’s.

She then goes on the show the exact product and the price of it as well. At the end she compares it to the bill which showed she was charged $20 for the meal prepared from a frozen bag that cost $3.75. While Elle doesn’t say anything in her original TikTok video, she had spoken to People about the incident.

In the interview, Elle admitted to not realizing that the pasta she was served was frozen. It was her husband who came across the incriminating refrigerator which was stocked to brim with frozen meals. She further says it was supposed to be a splurge on a celebration for her husband’s birthday, but the dishonesty of the service industry left her aghast.

However, she said that she was impressed by the presentation of the pasta which was listed as ‘Calming Cacio e Pepe Pasta with Truffle Oil’ in the menu.

Several viewers in the comments section tried to back up the hotel service. Some people claimed that the extra charge for preparing the meal was justified as it would have gone towards paying the staff. A viewer (@yourmom) said the hiked price would be compensated for various things like wage of the person preparing it, gas and more.  

Meanwhile, several others went on to share their own experiences where they felt they were cheated by restaurants. Another Tiktok User (@Jay) claimed that they had a similar experience where they were charged $8 for a croissant at a fancy spot only to find out that it was out of a box from Costco.

In another viral story from social media, Cindysnacks co-owners John Stengel and Indiana Cindy Kay shared the bizarre news of receiving ‘Dunkin Donuts’ instead of the vegan donuts they ordered from a local vegan bakery named ‘The Savory Fig’. Cindy in an Instagram post shared a concerning post regarding receiving what was supposed to be a vegan donut with the Dunkin donut ‘D’ sprinkles.

Even after sharing their concerns with the local ‘vegan’ bakery, the couple did not receive satisfying answers and the owner kept on denying the accusations. This led to the couple registering a complaint with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets’ Division of Food Safety and Inspection, which has launched an investigation into the matter.