Originally Posted by
N965VJ
Hey, at least the water at restaurants is free in the States.
In most EU countries, it must be free by law for anyone who orders food. Of course, some restaurants will fight you on that
Originally Posted by
Eastbay1K
And you also know exactly how many cl of liquid you are supposed to get. At least the good news in the USA outside of the measured-pour-nazi states is that you often get a really good shot of booze in your glass. At least near where I live.
I don't think it is inappropriate or cheapskate to ask how much a particular drink will be.
An ethical place will usually have prices for some basic drinks - martinis, gimlets, etc. - on the menu. They will usually use that as a basis for anything you have them make for you, and adjust for higher shelf.
I do agree that you usually get a decently poured drink. In fact, I find that they sometimes over pour on drinks that require some precision to be tasty.
I also agree that its neither cheap nor inappropriate to ask the price. I also think that, in a case where you don't have prices listed for your specific drink, there is no shame in arguing your bill. If they aren't publishing a price, you have the absolute right to negotiate.
Originally Posted by
nerd
Drink prices are on the menu maybe 50% of the time. (I have zero experience with chains).
Mixed drinks (martini, Gin/Tonic, scotch/rocks, etc.) - Usually never
Beer - 50/50
Whatever's on the "Drink Menu" - Generally always
I see beer pretty much all the time, but you might have to ask if its a more recent add to the menu or they have an ever changing beer selection.
You definitely get the "drink menu" prices. For the unfamiliar, and I can't imagine there are many, that is where they put a few "creative" cocktails that are very hit or miss, but that they train every bartender on.
Originally Posted by
chemist661
1. We were at a restaurant in Germany. We ordered tap water and they tried to charge 3 euros for it. I asked in German where it was on the menu. It wasn't.
I told them for that price, my wife & I could each have a beer.
2. At another restaurant in Germany, they said they only had hot water. I told them in German that warm water was OK. They then said they had no drinkable water.
That was the only restaurant open at that hour so we shared a large German beer (very good) that was only 2 euro.
All the other restaurants we went to in Germany, Austria, Switzerland had tap water at no charge.
Yeah - very typical. The law in Germany is that a restaurant MUST give free leitungs wasser (tap water) to anyone who orders food. Of course, they don't usually like doing that.
Originally Posted by
saint_em
The only place I know of in the UK that does free refills on soft drinks is Pizza Hut.
Subway does - its their worldwide policy.
I will give UK restaurants some credit, however. Relative to dine in places in the US, they generally give you a larger soda size (served in a UK pint glass - 20 oz) and don't mark it up as much (a pub will charge you ~a quid).
Originally Posted by
iahphx
Half the time I ask, the waitstaff doesn't even know, so it's usually an exercise in futility.
The microbeer trend does seem to be somewhat increasing the frequency of a drink menu with prices in the USA -- especially at higher end restaurants. I guess if you're serving lots of different beers of various quality, it's difficult not to list the prices next to them (could you imagine ordering off a wine menu without prices?). I seem to order beer out more than wine, since the mark-up is often much less. I guess everybody knows what a beer should cost, but few know what a particular wine should sell for, so the restaurants can't "go crazy" with the price. I've been to a lot of nice restaurants where a really good beer is about $4, but a halfway decent bottle of wine is $45.
The mark up on beer can actually be more. Beer is significantly cheaper than wine to start with, and draught beer comes in large kegs that are really cheap. Like Coca-Cola postmix cheap, or nearly so.
Wine, as someone else said, is usually 2-3x marked up, and you almost never see a size other than a Standard 750ml bottle. Hard to get it in the kind of bulk that brings greater economies of scale.