By Liz Borod Wright, ZAGAT.com staff editor

You enjoyed your meal – until you got the check and realized you'd been billed for something you assumed was free.

We recently asked ZAGAT.com users to tell us about unexpected fees they've encountered at restaurants. Service charges were frequent culprits, from an unstated gratuity policy to a mandatory captain's fee. Add-ons for things like sharing, or for bread baskets that arrived unbidden, also earned gripes. So did various petty charges: 75¢ for extra sprinklings of cilantro (on a check that totaled over $100); $2 for the unordered tea that appeared with a meal at a Chinese restaurant; $2.25 for the containers used to package a party's doggy bags.

Read on for a selection of other complaints, as well as the restaurants' responses and our take on the situation. One general tip: if you feel a fee is unfair, talk to the manager. Several respondents say they succeeded in having an offending charge removed.

The Fee: 10% for takeout

The Restaurant: Next Door Nobu, NYC

The Story: "I was shocked," says one patron who was ordering takeout to surprise friends and found a $7.50 fee ("I was told it was a packaging fee") on the bill. "I asked if they also charge a dirty plate fee when people eat in. They didn't find it funny. I don't find $7.50 for two boxes and a paper bag funny. If you don't want to do takeout – don't. Fining people for it [is] a bit too much."

The Response: "The 10% fee is a service charge to defray costs," says owners The Myriad Group. They declined to elaborate.

Our Take: Next Door Nobu does spell out the fee on its take-out menu, though not on its Web site. Either way, it's easy to understand why take-out fees surprise some patrons, since they're not getting table service or benefiting from a restaurant's atmosphere.

The Fee: $7 for nuts

The Restaurant: Royalton Lounge, NYC

The Story: "Four of us stopped into the Royalton Hotel cocktail lounge," reports one respondent. They enjoyed the atmosphere ("very avant-garde") as well as the drinks, but the "kicker" came when they asked for some nuts: "We were charged $7! That's a bit unfair."

The Response: Though the Royalton couldn't be reached for an official response, we checked and found that the nuts are essentially treated like a menu item.

Our Take: Sad to say, free nibbles are not always a given with cocktails, so ask before ordering if you don't want to be surprised.

The Fee: An "Arnold Palmer" premium?

The Restaurant: The Cheesecake Factory, Marina del Rey, CA

The Story: A diner lunching with a friend at the popular chain noted that an iced tea cost $2.50. "[But] an Arnold Palmer – half iced tea and half lemonade – was $3.75!" On the plus side, "They did offer complimentary refills."

The Response: Even though it's half lemonade and half iced tea, an Arnold Palmer "comes from the bar as it is a mixed drink. Also, lemonade costs more than brewing iced tea," explains Howard Gordon, senior vice president of business development and marketing with the Cheesecake Factory, Inc. (and yes, the prices noted above are correct and include unlimited refills).

Our Take: It's not surprising that an Arnold Palmer costs as much as the more expensive beverage in it (a glass of lemonade at The Cheesecake Factory is $3.75). But it might surprise a diner, since the chain doesn't print prices on its beverage menu – maybe that's the real issue here.

The Fee: "Straight-up" surcharge

The Restaurant: Del Posto, NYC

The Story: A martini maven reports being "charged an extra $2 on top of [the drink's] already fat price because it was ordered 'up' rather than on the rocks. Of course, classic martinis are always 'up' and in a martini glass."

The Response: "We charge extra because a drink without ice has between 30 and 35% more liquor, the main cost in a beverage, especially a 'high call' brand liquor in an up drink like a martini, which has virtually no mixer in it," says co-owner Mario Batali.

Our Take: Why not make the basic price of a martini reflect the standard straight-up version; that way, patrons who order it on the rocks could be charged less – wouldn't that be a nice surprise!

The Fee: 5% service charge for kitchen staff

The Restaurant: Incanto, San Francisco

The Story: "Since I have always considered the kitchen and bus staff included in the usual tip, I deducted the 5% fee amount from my normal tip," reports one diner who encountered the fee.

The Response: The notion that tips are shared throughout the restaurant staff "is not an entirely correct perception," replies Mark Pastore, Incanto's owner. "California law (section 352 of the California Labor Code) prohibits restaurant management from requiring servers to share tips with kitchen staff." The 5% charge is therefore "a legal means for sharing the rewards of service with our non-tipped employees. We use the proceeds to, among other things, provide 100% employer-paid medical, dental and vision insurance to full-time staff," says Pastore. Why not just raise prices? Pastore believes the service charge "makes better financial sense for our guests," since someone "who normally tips 15% can adjust to 10%, or from 20% to 15%, which in the end means that the guest did not pay any more for his/her meal, we merely re-allocated where the guest's money went."

Our Take: Who can argue with efforts to offer more equitable working conditions? Incanto also gets points for clearly noting the fee on the menu. Still, it's possible that some diners might be confused by the charge and end up tipping more (or less) than intended.

The Fee: $1 rice charge

The Restaurant: The Slanted Door, San Francisco

The Story: "The server asked if we wanted rice with our dishes, and we said 'yes,' but there was no mention either by him or, as far as we could recall, on the menu, that it cost [$1] extra" per order.

The Response: Faith Wheeler, a brand specialist and consultant to the restaurant, says that chef-owner Charles Phan believes that charging for rice is the norm. "Even the cheapest of Chinese restaurants in San Francisco offers rice for $1. Free tea, perhaps, but not free rice," she says.

Our Take: The rice charge actually is clearly stated on the menu, and à la carte sides have become commonplace. But that doesn't mean all guests will be happy about it.