Peter Sarsgaard, Zachary Quinto, Brian Cox, and Michael Nouri, stars of the commercial for The Slap, accidentally paid more money than they expected to pay for lunch at Madison Avenue's Nello. ...Or did they?

Page Six reports Nouri made the decision to bring his fellow cast members to Nello, a restaurant where he is a regular. OK. Story seems like it checks out so far.

While there, Nello owner Nello Balan, whom Page Six claims is "famous for not disclosing the prices of his specials," asks, "Why don't you try our truffles?" A wicked trick, and a hard sell disguised as a soft sell. At this point you would think Peter Sarsgaard, Zachary Quinto, Brian Cox, and Michael Nouri would understand that the truffle dish at Nello would be a particularly expensive dish, alas:

But, according to a spy, the star and his fellow thespians were shocked when the bill for that dish alone was a whopping $500.

Like buying a juice at a store and then realizing that juice is $9 and not something like $3, the cast was shocked to find their truffle dish (come on) was, damn, so expensive. But did it matter? Again, from Page Six:

However, Balan ... told us, "They got the check by accident . . . I ended up buying the food for them."

Hmm. But did he?

But a source insisted the actors paid and, "Brian took his truffles to go" back to the set.

Hmm. An unfortunate fact about Hollywood Mysteries is, though they capture our attention in the present, most will likely remain unsolved until long after our deaths. C'est la vie. Part of the price we pay for prying into the glamorous and fascinating lives of the rich and famous is the nagging thought that we may never know the whole truth. But, of course, we have our guesses.

Who paid for lunch? My guess: [Negligible for everyone involved].

[images via Getty]