Originally Posted by
aster
Exactly. ^
I've made it a rule of thumb to always ask for LOCAL bottled water in each and every country I visit. The only reason restaurants try to pour you foreign water is to jack up (and justify) the price. Forget it.
I've never had a waiter automatically pour me paid-for water, but I've often had waiters or waitresses automatically pour me imported water when asking for just water. Hence I now always ask for "LOCAL water" when ordering.
While there are still many venues where the reliability or the flavor of local tap water may be questionable or unacceptable, trying to push "name brand" imports amounts to close to extortion if not simple gouging. Still true in Italy as it was 50 years ago, bottled water came automatically with the wine order, although "mixing", once common place for families dining out, especially with children along, seems to have grown uncommon. Even in the Lake Region, where the "tap" water is a treat, those locals who drink water at all (and I still believe many Italians avoid doing so
) prefer it from a bottle.
Then there was Mexico in the old days, where every restaurant had a young employee charged with filling empty water bottles from the tap in back and recapping them for sale to nervous turistas.