My $18 US Side Order Of Corned Beef Hash

Are you kidding me?

This is a sidebar story in my series of  about my recent, fall 2025, cross country and back road trip, primarily following Route 66 west.  After arriving in California, we drove north to Washington state, then started out journey east…

When we departed Fairchild Air Force Base (we stayed in one of their officers’ accommodations) and the Spokane area, we hopped on U.S. Route 2 to start our long drive east.  After passing through Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, we decided it was time to stop for breakfast and found what the internet told us was a popular breakfast restaurant which had good food.  

After a short wait, we were seated and attended to by a very nice young lady.  The prices were on the higher side from what we had found on our journey from the east coast, but the place was packed with people and everyone seemed to be enjoying their meals.

I am a fan of corned beef hash.  Whenever a restaurant offers it at breakfast, I’ll order it.  When it was my time to order, I didn’t see any combination dishes I wanted that included corned beef hash so I asked our server if it was possible to order two eggs and a side of corned beef hash.  She said yes. I asked how much it would cost as it wasn’t listed as a ‘side dish’ in their list.  She replied she wasn’t sure of the cost.  Since the most expensive side dish listed was about $5.50 and corned beef hash is normally one of the most expensive, I assumed (it turns out erroneously) it would be around that top price. 

Breakfast came and was good.  I can’t say the same for the coffee but that is a personal preference and doesn’t reflect on what was served.  When the bills came, I looked at mine and saw the charge for the corned beef hash was $18.00!  Are you kidding me?  How could that be?

I waited for for about 5 minutes for our server to return to our table but she was busy elsewhere.  So, I got up and found her.  I asked her about the bill and if the cost of the corned beef hash was a mistake?  It had to be!  She said no.  I told her I could have had a complete eggs, sausage, toast & potatoes breakfast for $14.  No reply.  That was about it.  End of conversation.

Of course I paid what I owed and we left the restaurant.  Still in disbelief.

I will take some responsibility for this gaffe as I should have nailed down the cost before ordering the side dish.  That said, I will never eat there again.  Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.  They won’t get another opportunity to fool me.

…and we drove on to Montana on a beautiful early autumn day.

(Emoji courtesy of Vecteezy)

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Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

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