‘We just wanted a quick snack’: Canadian honeymooners in Mykonos ‘intimidated’ into paying $410 bill

Another couple have been stung with an outrageous bill by a notorious beach bar on the idyllic Greek island of Mykonos.

Canadian newlyweds Alex and Lindsay Breen, both 30, were staggered to be hit with a €400 bill ($410) at the DK Oyster bar after ducking in for a ‘quick snack’ on their honeymoon on May 23.

The Toronto natives were forced to pay the eyewatering sum after ordering just one beer, one cocktail and a dozen oysters.

Recruiter Lindsay said they were in ‘disbelief’ when saw the tab, as restaurant staff had given them a drinks menu that did not list the prices.

The couple also claim that rather than presenting them with the bill at the table, carpenter Alex was taken to a back room to pay and when he asked for a breakdown, they showed him their computer screen which was all in Greek.

Lindsay says her new husband settled the bill without arguing as he wanted to avoid a confrontation.

‘He definitely felt intimidated and he’s the friendliest guy so even if the bill was double he probably would have paid it to avoid any problems.’

Alex Breen, 30, looks happy on his honeymoon with a giant beer in a boot-shaped glass

Lindsay said: ‘We went to the oyster bar for a bite to eat and a drink.

‘They immediately said ‘do you want oysters?’ They were very presumptuous. We said yes and he said ‘a dozen?’ so we said yes because a dozen is a typical order.

‘My husband ordered a beer and I asked for a cocktail menu and he came back with the beer but I had to ask again for a cocktail menu and he started rhyming off different kinds of alcohol he had, vodka, gin but I asked for a menu.

‘I didn’t know how it was so difficult to see what they had.

‘He finally brought me back what they consider their cocktail menu. A laminated piece of paper with the types of alcohol listed but it didn’t have the brand or the drinks, nothing.

‘So I said fine I’ll have an Aperol spritz because they clearly didn’t have a menu that they wanted to give me.’

Lindsay claims that the waiter served them ‘comically large’ drinks and once they’d finished their order, tried to persuade them to order crab legs and desserts.

She claims that when Alex was taken into a back room to pay, he felt intimidated and coughed up to avoid a confrontation.

Lindsay said: ‘He finally came back with comically large drinks so we were thinking it’s their funny thing that the bar does because we didn’t ask for an extra-large cocktail.

‘He was very much lurking around the table the whole time. He was always around.

‘When we’d finished the oysters, he was trying to get us to have crab legs and thank goodness we didn’t.

‘He said ‘you know what would go really nice with these oysters? Crab legs. Shall I get some over for you guys?’ and we said no, we just wanted a quick snack and a drink.

The bill in the end for one beer, one cocktail and a dozen oysters came to $410 at the DK Oyster bar

Lindsay and Alex Breen, from Toronot, were on their honeymoon on the idyllic Greek island of Mykonos in May when they were hit with the bill

‘My husband went to the toilet and when he came back he said he thought he’d seen a menu inside that said it was 29 euro per oyster and I said there’s no way.

‘We had already eaten the oysters so we thought ‘oh God, what are we getting ourselves into with this bill?’

‘The guy came back with a huge trolley of desserts and he says ‘so of course we’re having cake today’ and starts putting different desserts on our table and we said we didn’t want them and he started getting offended that we didn’t want to take them so I can see how people would be pressured to take more.

‘As we kept refusing what he was trying to give us he was getting more frustrated.

‘When we were ready to leave, I went to the washroom and they had my husband go into a back room to pay which is sketchy.

‘They gave him the bill which was over 400 euros. He was shocked and asked for a breakdown.

‘They had a computer screen that they turned to him and it was all in Greek but we don’t speak Greek.

‘He got a sketchy vibe from them and didn’t want to get himself in a bad situation so he ended up paying it.

‘He definitely felt intimidated and he’s the friendliest guy so even if the bill was double he probably would have paid it to avoid any problems.

‘It was pretty crazy. I’m glad in hindsight that we didn’t cause an argument or refuse to pay because it could have ended up worse for us They know when you’re tourists they take advantage.

‘When I met him out front, I was in disbelief. I could not believe it. In Canadian dollars it’s over 600 dollars. It’s so crazy to pay that for a snack.’

Lindsay and Alex had married in Italy in May this year and were celebrating by travelling around Europe for three weeks.

Located on Platis Yialos on the Greek island in the Aegean Sea half way between the Greek mainland and Turkey, the restaurant advertises itself as ‘the freshest, all-day entertainment venue in Mykonos! 

Part of the sales strategy of the bar is to tell tourists the sunbeds are free and lure them in by insistent staff

They were only in Mykonos for one more night and were due to fly to Athens before heading back to Canada.

Lindsay said: ‘We were really shocked, especially because we’d had some really nice meals in Italy and we’re willing to spend when it’s justified but we didn’t get much.

‘On average we were spending about 120 euros for a full dinner with a couple of cocktails and an appetiser.

‘Luckily we had enough money left, we were using our credit card for larger expenses. I can imagine how someone would end up with no money. It’s not an ideal way to spend our money but we’re fortunate we could pay.

Lindsay claims that after their ordeal, other local business owners apologized on the restaurant’s behalf.

Lindsay said: ‘Next door, a store owner said he was so sorry to hear that we went.

‘He said he warns everyone that goes into the store to stay away from there and it doesn’t represent who the Greek people are.

‘He said they really need tourism. Everyone we spoke to after, we warned them not to go.’

DK Oyster’s Tripadvisor page is flooded with one star reviews and also customers who allege they experienced similar treatment as Lindsay and Alex.

One review states: ‘DO NOT GO HERE! Absolutely disgusting behaviour from manager and staff. Cocktails are awful and charged Euro 125 plus service for 2! Waiters made us feel very uncomfortable.’

Another said: ‘Wish we looked at the reviews before! This place is a joke! 350 euros for 4 drinks!! I would definitely NOT recommend going here. Please save your euros!’

DK Oyster bar took to Tripadvisor to defend their prices.

Canadian newlyweds Alex and Lindsay Breen, both 30, were staggered to be hit with a €400 bill ($410) at the DK Oyster bar after ducking in for a ‘quick snack’ on their honeymoon on May 23 

They wrote: ‘Thank you for taking the time to post your review, but could you please clarify the exact reason of your disappointment? The prices you mention sound correct, so I would like to understand what the problem was.

‘The drinks were not what you expected, the setting or the service? Your opinion is important to us. So, we would appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to clarify.’

They also mocked customers who said they felt intimidated into paying the extortionate bills.

They wrote: ‘Let me see if I got it right: You were abducted from the beach and shoved by force into a luxury restaurant.’     

The Breens are just the latest in a long list of angry and fed up customers who have been hit with apparently excessive bills by the beach front bar. 

The restaurant has a Tripadvisor score of 2.5 stars based on 1,455 reviews, including 567 one-star reviews. All the dozens of reviews since September 2021 have been one star, with the exception of one two-star review and a suspicious five-star review.

Located on Platis Yialos on the Greek island in the Aegean Sea half way between the Greek mainland and Turkey, the restaurant advertises itself as ‘the freshest, all-day entertainment venue in Mykonos! 

‘At the cosmopolitan beach of Platys Gialos, luxury and style finally found the most deserving destination!’

American tourists Brenda Moulton and her 19-year-old daughter Kaylea took the restaurant to court after they claimed they were also scammed into paying $641.15 for two crab legs and two mojitos when they visited in May.

They claim the waiters proceeded to threaten to call the police when they complained and told them they wouldn’t return to the US if they refused to foot the astronomical bill.

‘It was a nightmarish incident for them that they will not forget,’ their lawyer Marianna Kikiri said. 

Brenda Moulton and her 19-year-old daughter Kaylea were looking to spend an idyllic day on the paradisiac Platys Gialos beach

The pair had ordered two crab legs and two mojitos after staff insisted for them to order food 

The were charged $640 – 600 euros – for the food. The bill led to a confrontation between the Moultons and staff 

However, they experienced the scare of their lives when intimidating staff at DK Oyster bar told them they wouldn’t return to the US if they refused to foot the astronomical $640 bill, Brenda claims

The restaurant defended itself, claiming they were ‘stunned’ by the complaint which is ‘unfounded’ and that they ‘cannot know what and how she was motivated.

‘However, she was definitely motivated by opaque, unfair and obviously hidden competitive interests,’ the restaurant added.

The restaurant was fined €31,000 ($31,700) in July by the Ministry of Tourism after an investigation of their books revealed ‘seven or eight violations’, the Greek City Times report.

The restaurant’s Tripadvisor page is flooded with telling reviews of customers who alleged that they were lured with the same strategy – overly insistent ‘shady’ waiters who offered ‘free sunbeds’, vague descriptions of the menu’s prices and ultimately astronomical bills. 

Much of anger seems to be around the restaurant’s policy of – unlike the rest of Greece – listing prices per 100 grams instead of by the kilogram. So €19.80 per 100gr is in reality €190 per kilogram.

‘Avoid this place, this place is a trap,’ Rock said, posting an image of the check to TripAdvisor

Cheryl Lamphere, 43, (center left) told DailyMail.com that her group of friends were misled, intimidated and scammed into paying $1,640 for food that did not justify the outrageous price at DK Oyster in Mykonos 

Lamphere  said the food, and its taste especially, did not justify the massive bill

Cheryl Lamphere, 43 from Seattle, claimed to DailyMail.com that her group of friends felt misled and intimidated into paying $1,640 in May for food at the restaurant that did not justify the outrageous price. 

Lamphere and her group of girlfriends said they had no other option but to pay the eye-watering price after ordering one plate of calamari, one order of lobster pasta, a salad, and bread at the DK Oyster restaurant in Platys Gialos. 

The mother-of-two said the group visited the picturesque island on May 3 and their first evening was ruined after owner Dimitris Kalamaras and male staff at the restaurant cornered them when they even dared to dispute the astronomical tab. 

‘Every man in the restaurant got up and surrounded us, there were at least five of them, almost blocking us in. It was a very, very scary situation because we were six women being surrounded by five men… I must add, they were all dressed in black, it was sort of gangsterish,’ Lamphere told DailyMail.com on the phone. 

The restaurant owner, Dimitris Kalamaras, is notorious in the area for dismissing customers’ concerns

Francisco Tajeda, 38, from Brooklyn, revealed on TripAdvisor how staff at the DK Oyster restaurant in Mykonos refused to give their party a menu or show them prices, before surprising them with the final tab for $935 in May 2019. 

Responding to a negative review on the website, the restaurant answered: ‘There is not free country in the western world that would force us to explain to each customer why we charge the way we do.’ 

‘However, we have often tried to explain the great cost of operating a business like ours. Would you ask Bugatti why they charge as much as they do? Would you ask all the luxury brands to justify their prices? You may opt for cheaper products and services. There is no monopoly.’ 

When reached out by DailyMail.com in May about DK Oyster’s over 500 negative reviews, Tripadvisor said they regretted so many visitors had had horrible experiences at the restaurant. 

They wrote: ‘This story is totally horrifying, and we sympathize with this family and others who may have experienced anything like this. This kind of horror story really underlines just how helpful a resource Tripadvisor is to travelers looking for guidance on where to visit.

‘A first-hand account of an experience for a place from a fellow traveler is invaluable insight into what can be expected there. The reviews for this business speak for themselves. 

‘We’d urge travelers to refer to Tripadvisor when making plans at home or abroad. The Tripadvisor app makes it easy to do this on the go no matter where you are.’

Have you had a bad experience with DK Oyster bar in Mykonos? Email walter.finch@mailonline.co.uk