IT'S the last thing you'd expect after a nice meal out - for your feelings to get hurt instead of just your wallet.

But that's what happened to three US women on Friday when they were handed a receipt with the words "fat girls" written across the top, the Daily Mail reported.

Christine Duran, Christina Huerta and Isabel Robles, who were dining at the Cameo Club Casino restaurant in Stockton, California, thought it was a joke at first.

"I got the bill, and I was like, why does the receipt say, ‘fat girls?'," Duran told News 10.

"I was laughing at her, and she was like, ‘I'm serious'. I'm like, ‘No, it does not say fat girls, let me see it'," Huerta said.

"I still can't believe that somebody would put that on a receipt."

The furious women claim they asked the waiter for an explanation but he denied any involvement, instead placing the blame on another waiter "Jeff", whose name was on the receipt. He had apparently typed in "fat girls" to keep track of their bill.

After being told he'd left for the night, the women insisted on seeing a manager, who they claim had little sympathy for them.

"He had a smirk on his face, like it was funny, but he was trying not to laugh," Huerta said.

He apologised and offered to cut their bill in half, an offer the women refused.

In a Facebook message overnight, Maggie Lewis, the Cameo Club Casino owner, apologised and said the insulting treatment Duran and her friends had received was "intolerable in our establishment".

Bar manager Jimmy Seimers said he was disgusted at the joke and said Jeff has been suspended while management investigates the incident.

"I just want to tell (the women) that we're sincerely sorry for that, and that we'll do everything in our power to make sure that this never happens to anyone ever again."