Surcharge is an independent directory of the extra fees Australian restaurants and venues add to your bill — card surcharges, weekend and public holiday surcharges, service charges and more. We currently track 1,016 venues across six cities: Melbourne (528), Sydney (297), Perth (54), Brisbane (45), Adelaide (44), Canberra (48). The goal is simple: let you know the real cost of eating out before the bill arrives.
Surcharge is built and maintained by George, a software engineer based in Australia. It started as a personal project after one too many surprise surcharges at the terminal — a card fee here, a weekend loading there, a service charge that never made it onto the menu. There was no single place to check what a venue actually charges, so I built one. It is run solo, in the open, and is not owned or operated by any hospitality group, payments company or media outlet.
Surcharge data is compiled from public and community sources rather than from the venues paying to be listed. In practice, a figure comes from one or more of the following:
Every new venue and every update is reviewed by hand before it goes live. Submissions are cross-checked against a second source where one is available — a current menu, a booking page, or a dated receipt — and figures that can't be reasonably verified are left blank rather than guessed. When a submission includes evidence such as a receipt or menu photo, that carries more weight than an unsourced claim. Because venue data lives in version-controlled files, every change has a visible history of what changed and when.
Surcharges change often, so freshness matters. Each venue records the date it was last verified, and that last updated date is shown on every venue card so you can judge how recent a figure is. The dataset is refreshed continuously as reader submissions and pull requests come in, with the busiest cities — Melbourne and Sydney — updated most frequently. If you spot a figure that looks out of date, the fastest way to fix it is to submit an update.
No venue can pay to be added, removed, or to change the surcharge figures shown against its name. Surcharge does not sell placement, run sponsored listings, or accept payment from venues. The Buy Me a Coffee link in the footer is a voluntary tip jar from readers who find the site useful — it is not sponsorship and has no bearing on any venue's listing.
We work hard to keep these figures right, but surcharges can change without notice and can vary by payment method, booking channel, group size or time of day. Treat Surcharge as a well-researched guide, not a guarantee, and confirm the exact amount with the venue before you pay. Nothing on this site is legal or financial advice.
The quickest way to correct or add a listing is the add or update a venue form. For anything else, get in touch: