Diners are staying home, so this restaurant lets patrons pay what they want

By 

Joe Hernandez

A bartender pours a drink at L'Oca d'Oro, an Italian restaurant in Austin, Texas, that offers a weekly promotion where guests can pay what they want. Sergio Flores for NPR hide caption

Grocery prices got you down? Learn how to cut your food bill with NPR's 4-part newsletter. Sign up here for budgeting tips, meal planning and more.

Zayed Al-Hamad's party of four is ready to order. The table plans to share the rosemary sourdough focaccia, fresh mozzarella, polpette, rigatoni alla n'duja and smoked olive carbonara spaghetti.

The bill for all that food? It doesn't really matter, because tonight restaurantgoers can pay whatever they want at L'Oca d'Oro in Austin, Texas.

"My family in general, we don't always have the most money to spend. So we don't always get to go to somewhere nice when they come over," Al-Hamad said on a Tuesday evening in February. "But I figured this is an opportunity to actually experience something a little better without having to shell out $150 for the four of us."

Armand Daniels and Robin Wiley heard about the pay-what-you-will promotion on Instagram.

Robin Wiley (left) and Armand Daniels heard about the pay-what-you-will promotion on social media. Sergio Flores for NPR hide caption

"We didn't have a really great Valentine's Day," Daniels said. "It was OK, but nothing out of the ordinary, nothing spectacular, so this is our Valentine's date."

The couple ate a spinach salad with pickled pineapple oranges and candied almonds — "It was awesome," Wiley said — and ordered more. Daniels said they would make a decision about what to pay when they saw the final bill, but were considering paying less than full price.

How to cut your food bill