How much should a serving of shwarma cost? NIS 30? 40? Try NIS 10,000. More precisely – NIS 10,100.The story of the tourists who paid this exorbitant sum for a shwarma plate was originally broadcast on the Channel 13 program Hatzinor (The Pipeline). The program’s team turned to the owner of the Old City Shwarma Restaurant in Jerusalem’s Old City near the Jaffa Gate, who claimed that it was a mistake. But up until this writing, three weeks after the event took place, the tourists have yet to receive their money. Laura Ziff had originally posted on Secret Jerusalem on Facebook. that she was seeking help in pursuing her complaint.On Keshet 12’s Morning News program, a former restaurant employee explained that this is not the first time this has happened. “It’s the owner’s work system. That’s one of the reasons I left the place,” he said. “They started playing with the prices – it’s terrible. The police came with tourists to us [to complain] three times.“It works like this: They don’t have a menu. They ask tourists for NIS 80 for a shwarma platter and charge them in Euros or dollars,” he explained. “Sometimes the person notices and catches it, but sometimes he gives you the credit card and then signs. He sees 80; sometime the word ‘dollar’ doesn’t show up. It’s crazy.“Don’t let a tourist eat and then offend them,” the former employee added. “Some people go and get the police if they realize where this is going, and some just give up – poor guys.”On Monday, Ziff posted in the comments section of her original post that she had been contacted by the restaurants owners, who apologized for the misunderstanding. “I am confident that they are trying to do the right thing,” she wrote. “I am hopeful that within the next day or so everything will be resolved.”
One of the commentators on her Facebook page wrote: “100 people should go and have shwarma there and when he comes with the bill they can tell him that Laura Ziff already paid!”
JTA contributed to this article.
![shwarma [illustrative] (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)](https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/q_auto/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/445713 "shwarma [illustrative]")