WalletPop alerts us to ten “sneaky restaurant tricks” to look out for as food costs rise and restaurateurs cut corners to avoid hiking up the prices on their menus. Nothing really surprising here: We’re apt to see smaller portions, less expensive ingredients (one analyst foresees a resurgence of liver and onions — which means we’ll just have to spend more money on Altoids), less fresh produce, generic brands, the pushing of high-profit-margin entrées like pasta, and (gasp!) weaker pours of liquor:

In the United Kingdom pubs must sell liquor in 25 ml or 35 ml servings and have bar gadgets that pour exactly that amount. Maybe they'll start becoming a common sight in the U.S., too.

In fact, maybe we’ll have robots for bartenders and we wouldn’t be able to hook up with them at the end of the night, and, and… Oh, this is going to be bad.

Sneaky restaurant tricks: Ten to watch out for [WalletPop]