Crime forces Popular rooftop eatery in downtown L.A. to charge customers 4.5% security fee

Angelenos are used to seeing fees for gratuity and even healthcare on the restaurant bill, but a downtown Los Angeles rooftop eatery is now charging a fee for security.

Considered an essential experience in rooftop dining, diners at Perch, which is on the 15th floor of the Pershing Square Building at Hill and 5th streets, may soon notice the 4.5% surcharge on their receipt.

“In L.A. it’s like the gratuity law, so all these extra fees on DoorDash, it’s kind of normal,” Simone Dill, who dined at Perch, told KTLA’s Samantha Cortese.

What’s a little less normal, though, is that the security fee is not about protection from people outside the restaurant, rather it’s protection from other patrons.