peter what are you doing speaking italian everyone loves pizza pasta and gelato unfortunately your
friendly neighborhood italian chef might be ripping you off here are 10 sneaky ways
italian restaurants are scamming you step 3 i put it on some pasta and that's a recipe
the olive oil might be subpar anchovy fillets and virgin olive oil everyone knows that the best kind
of olive oil is extra virgin olive oil however there's a good chance you're being duped at your
local italian restaurant you might think you're drizzling high quality extra virgin olive oil on
your bruschetta but in reality it's probably the cheap stuff if you want the real deal you'll need
to head over to costco or better yet a local italian market you trust olive oil is serious
business and the best olive oil is extremely pricey there are plenty of italian chefs out there
looking to make a quick buck by cutting corners there's nothing worse than getting scammed and
ending up with a bitter and pungent knockoff that's right the olive oil at some italian
eateries might not even be actual olive oil at all instead it might just be a mixture of inferior
vegetable oils disguised with a fake olive oil-esque aroma and sounds like some of these
scheming italian chefs need some sense knocked into them by an italian grandmother according to
forbes as much as 80 of so-called italian olive oil is fake fake olive oil is such a lucrative
business that it has attracted an unsavory crowd that's right it seems that organized
crime is squeezing in and making obscene amounts of money importing fake olive oil unacceptable
now we've heard about counterfeiting money but counterfeit olive oil who would have thought
the buffalo mozzarella probably isn't authentic my tasty baked ziti with basil and fresh mozzarella
not everyone can make a buffalo mozzarella as good as artie buco from the sopranos there's
a good chance that the matzah your local italian eatery isn't the real deal the chef may claim it's
authentic but it probably isn't authentic buffalo mozzarella is made of milk from the coveted black
horned asian water buffalo the matzah on your margarita pizza was probably made with plain old
cow's milk cow's milk matzah tastes perfectly fine don't get us wrong but it lacks the creaminess and
slight sour taste of authentic buffalo mozzarella if you see real italian mozzarella on the menu at
your local italian joint you should probably be skeptical especially if it doesn't cost an arm
and a leg authentic buffalo mozzarella fetches a high price some foodies say it's more valuable
than gold that sounds expensive this is why fake buffalo mozzarella producers are cashing in
it's not uncommon to see cow's milk mozzarella labeled as buffalo mozzarella you're not safe
at an italian restaurant the supermarket or your local italian grocery store in fact you could even
be duped in italy the italian government conducted research and found out that 25
of the country's buffalo mozzarella contained cow's milk now that's a national tragedy
cheap fungus instead of high-end truffles come on you didn't even notice a truffle how do you a food
truffle i don't it's truffle oil if you don't have a truffle pig to sniff out the real deal you'll
have to rely on your local italian restaurant to get your fix unfortunately you might be getting
duped those delicate white truffles on your pasta might not be high-end truffles at all instead
you might be scarfing down cheap tunisian fungus fake fake fake fake unless you have a personal
truffle stash there might not be any way to avoid this you can easily be tricked into eating an
inferior fungus at any italian restaurant even if it has three michelin stars truffle swapping
is a real problem and lacks rules make it easy for some italian chefs to serve up an inferior product
whether intentional or not you see it takes a real expert to sniff out a world-class truffle take the
world-renowned piedmont white truffle for example this gastronomical delight hails from the piedmont
region in italy and is so sought after by foodies that it can range in price from 2 700 to 6800
per kilo these truffles are so highly in demand that they're even sold on the black market
you might think your carbonara is topped with piedmont truffles but the truth is there's no
way of knowing for sure there are reports that up to 75 of piedmont truffles on the market
aren't what they claim to be they're probably not from piedmont and maybe not even from italy
unless you're a truffle expert yourself there's really no way of knowing for sure watch out for
the parmesan cheese i bet she orders the eggplant parmesan like it's something fancy who doesn't
love parmesan cheese it goes great on pasta and caesar salad it's even yummy enough to eat by the
slice you can even enjoy it as a midnight snack when it comes to parmesan the best of the best
is parmigiano-reggiano it's not called the king of cheeses for nothing however there's a good chance
you'll never get to try it for yourself if you see it on the menu at your favorite italian restaurant
there's a good chance you're getting scammed for parmigiano-reggiano to be the real deal it has
to come from italy and be made with milk from the parmesa region you think you could milk me most of
the parmesan cheese in america doesn't come from italy instead it probably comes from the midwest
that wisconsin-made parmesan may taste heavenly but it doesn't hold a candle to high-end italian
parmigiano-reggiano authentic parmigiano-reggiano has a distinct savory flavor thanks to salt and
rennet from calf intestines that's used in the recipe yes you heard that right calf intestines
american-made parmesan cheese tastes pretty bland in comparison there are plenty of italian chefs
who have no problem passing off american-made parmesan as 100 authentic parmigiano-reggiano
unless you have a degree in food history you probably had no idea that people took parmesan
cheese so seriously as we keep moving on take a second to hit that like button would ya thank
you next watch out for the fishing waiter scam if you're in italy first time for you first time yes
here's a tip to all you world travelers out there if you're visiting italy make sure you
watch out for the fishing waiter scam what's that you might ask well that's when a waiter
stands outside a restaurant and tries to lure you inside if a restaurant is truly amazing the owners
won't have to hawk their food on the street if the waiter is begging you to come inside then the food
and service might be subpar it might seem obvious but you'd be surprised how many suckers fall for
this scam those italian waiters can be sneaky and they can spot a susceptible american tourists with
a fanny pack filled with cash and credit cards from a mile away you're better off checking out
the online reviews on sites like tripadvisor and yelp if you're looking for a good place to eat
when you're in rome yeah but i'm kind of teetering on five stars or one star you can trust the waiter
as much as you can trust a politician they might claim the pizzas the best in italy but they're
probably lying if you're looking for a great place to eat ask a local another way to find a great
restaurant is to watch out for lines if there's a lineup to get into the restaurant you can bet your
entire paycheck that it's probably a high quality restaurant don't tip if you're in italy we don't
accept it formally it's always important to leave a big tip if the service and food was up to par
you want the chef and waiter to know that your plate of pasta was magnificent however
you shouldn't tip if you're at a restaurant in italy tipping is customary in the united states
and canada but in italy it's not required if the waiter tells you that you have to leave a big tip
then you're being scammed that being said tipping isn't completely off the table in italy
it's not like in japan where tipping is seen as rude in italy you should only tip if the service
was phenomenal if you're dining at a three-star michelin restaurant it's okay to tip tipping is
much more commonplace at very high end restaurants in italy even so you should never tip more than
10 or 15 percent if you're in venice and want to thank the barista for that tremendous cappuccino
you can tell them to keep the change that's the italian way there's no need to open your
wallet for more cash keep that money or go on a shopping spree at via del corso in rome
sounds good to me waiters are paid a reasonable salary in italy it's not like in the u.s where
waiters need tips to survive don't be duped into forking over more money if you don't have to
the gelato might be a rip-off you're under arrest for veganity violation
has this ever happened to you you finish a nice meal at a high-end italian restaurant and the
waiter brings you the dessert menu the pistachio gelato catches your eye how could you go wrong
it's a little pricey but it sounds delicious so you splurge well we hate to break it to you
but you were probably ripped off gelato is often marked up by a ridiculous degree and most italian
restaurants serve the cheap store-bought stuff anyway the menu may say the gelato is artisanal
but that doesn't really mean anything it's just a fancy word to dupe unsuspecting customers
gelato is pretty much just cream milk eggs and flavoring it shouldn't be expensive in fact that
artisanal gelato might just have been water and a prepackaged dry mix if that pistachio gelato
was bright green it probably wasn't authentic homemade gelato if it looks fake it's probably
too good to be true if the strawberry gelato looks like bright red lipstick then there's a
very good chance it's packed full of artificial coloring easy peasy if you want to make sure
your gelato contains natural ingredients keep an eye out for a softer color palette if it looks
natural then it probably is you don't have to be a dessert expert to spot cheap store-bought gelato
fake gelato is easier to spot than a bad toupee you might be served leftovers let's have breakfast
at my club too they do a thing on friday called yesterday's potatoes leftovers are great at home
but you wouldn't want to be served leftovers at a restaurant unfortunately there are plenty of cheap
chefs out there who are willing to cut corners and pass that frozen lasagna off as fresh out
of the oven there's nothing worse than saving up money for a nice italian meal only to be duped by
day-old leftovers two thumbs down honest chefs use high quality fresh ingredients in fact that's the
number one rule when it comes to italian cooking however not everyone out there is as honest as
you might think there are plenty of italian chefs willing to pull a fast one over on us so what's a
foodie to do how can you be sure you're not being served leftovers well unfortunately there's not
much you can do but there are a few dishes you should avoid these dishes are very often made
with leftovers for starters avoid stuffed pasta shells chefs will often stuff the shells with
less than fresh unused ingredients and then mask the flavor with mountains of sauce you should also
steer clear of spaghetti with meatballs the ground beef used to make the meatballs could have been
sitting in the freezer for a very long time watch out for anything on the menu that's labeled on
special that's usually just a fancy way of saying we couldn't sell it before and we're hoping
a sucker like you will order it before it goes bad the margarita pizza might be overpriced the
margarita with onion pineapple number 17. thank you who doesn't love margarita pizza it's easily
one of the most popular items at any italian restaurant and for good reason it is the best it's
tasty affordable and actually authentic unlike hawaiian pizza but that's a separate argument for
another day however you might actually be getting ripped off when you order a margarita pizza you're
probably thinking to yourself how is that possible margarita pizzas are so cheap they can't possibly
be a rip-off well unfortunately they are they cost so little because the ingredients cost practically
nothing a margarita pizza is just dough basil tomato sauce and mozzarella it's so easy to make
even the worst chef on kitchen nightmares could make one we hate to break it to you but margarita
pizzas are marked up considerably italian chefs could charge a lot less for this pizza
and still make a tidy profit that 20 margarita pizza probably only cost four bucks to make yikes
now you can see how margarita pizzas are a rip-off if you want to get your money's worth at your
local pizzeria order pizzas that you can't make at home the more complicated the better that way
you'll know you're getting your money's worth skip the wine and save some money i'd like your eight
dollarist bottle of wine please if you're in the mood for some libations with your pasta you should
be on guard you can't always trust the sommelier at your local italian eatery it's easy to get
scammed when it comes to wine most wines are marked up quite a bit and we're not talking a few
dollars here either you're very likely to pay two to four times more at an italian restaurant for a
bottle of chianti than you would at the liquor store in the words of bart simpson like a rumba
if you want to avoid being ripped off download an app that lets you check the retail price of
wine that way you'll know if you're being fleeced here's another tip always order wine by the bottle
there's no bigger rip-off than a single glass of wine better yet skip the booze all together
that's not good for you anyway you're better off sticking with a nice bottle of san pellegrino
or an italian soda trust me when i say this get a taste of more great videos just tap or click hit
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