What people don’t realize is that it’s not just relevant to dating at non-kosher establishments.
A kosher restaurant manager once told me that the daters are the least profitable customers as they sit and schmooze for hours and don’t order that much. But he understandably didn’t institute any cover charge, that’s life.
I don’t know what percentage of river cafe customers are frum daters, but I’m sure there are many other customers that come for the view there which aren’t profitable. They just aren’t as easily identifiable, so they just overcharged the religious couples. I understand the business principle behind it — instituting a min. charge for all will alienate customers, even those that spend more. However it’s still discrimination.
Point is use common sense when dating, but don’t be so quick to chastise daters as if they are doing something terribly wrong. If you ever read a non-jewish paper or even website they usually have ideas for free or cheap dating spots, we’re not the only ones taking advantage of freebies.
Incidentally, this is not the only place such discrimination exists, I’ve heard of a u-pick farm that only charges an entry fee on chol hamoad. Do we really pick so little, is it a form of crowd control or are we easy targets?