I actually prefer having surcharges at restaurants rather than a fixed price increase on the menu

You can literally just ask them to take it off. Now of course some places could be lying and they don’t actually need to raise the price of their menu items, but you can just look at an old menu photo from a couple years ago and compare pictures. If the only difference between then and now is the surcharge, then I really would much rather prefer having the optional surcharge than them raising prices.

Like is it so hard to mention, “Hey can you take the surcharge off thanks” when you ask for the check?