Stop getting ripped off by Roman restaurants

In any place which is not an absolute tourist trap,it is like that.In fact nearly every trattoria in Palermo does it.Or at least offers you a free 'amaro' or another after-dinner drink.

Selling by etto isn't the scam although most foreigners don't know the word. I've had guests who thought the etto price was for the whole dish and were shocked by the bill. In the example I gave of the 350 euro bill, the customers were scammed: I saw the platter and it was a kilo of seafood at most, not 3 kilos.

In the example I gave of the 350 euro bill, the customers were scammed: I saw the platter and it was a kilo of seafood at most, not 3 kilos.

Well if they don't scream blue murder and make a lot of awkward noise, it's hard to be sympathetic towards them, contributing to their being scammed as you say.

All my years going to Italy, never seen a menu with seafood by the etto...

Italy is scam central, avoid the touristy places and eat where the locals eat.

Its an interesting point.I guess there is no way to know it,short of weighing it when it arrives.Not surprising that tourists can be ripped off in this way.Maybe better to avoid buying things by weight in places where you don't know the staff/owners?

In Brazil for example you can buy many kinds of food by weight,but you choose it and it is weighed in front of you..and you pay before you eat it,not after ;-)

Its very common,if you buy whole fish or things like lobster...they can't sell them by number as the weight is so different from one to another.It is nearly always by etto and just occasionally by kilo.

Of course if you buy (say) pasta with seafood it is by plate not by weight.

The USA for fresh fish on a menu at a better establishment may have "Market Rate", which you just ask how much the portion cost. Its not a scam. Its a set price. They usually run out by end of the night.

Fresh fish is on the menu by the kg/hg in the local restaurant we often go to (far from the sea and not for tourists).

In the same place, hot bruschetta with tomatoes is given free to everyone just after ordering, and a limoncello or liquirizia (licorice liquor) is always offered after setting the bill.

What may sound a scam is often an unknown habit.

If I saw a price on a menu per etto, I think I would at least ask, "What's an etto?"
Which reminds me: what's an "hg"?

Good thing for me they don't charge for cheeseburgers that way.

Hg is the chemical symbol of mercury, I doubt this is what chiaram had in mind.