Ah, what a fine drop... of water.

[Alex Bragi]

I think perhaps Benjamin Franklin said it best: "When the well's dry, we know the worth of water". Ah, but what about the price of the stuff?

My other half and I went to a cool new restaurant the other night. No, it wasn't for a birthday or anniversary or any other special occasion. Romantic and traditional as they are neither of us has ever felt the need to conform to the rituals of these overly commer******ed events. We just felt like spoiling ourselves. It's nice to do that once in a while for no particular reason, isn't it? Little acts of spontaneous indulgence I call them.

It was one of those upmarket restaurants where there waiters seem to be everywhere at once, so right on cue, minutes after we were seated one came dashing over to ask if we'd care for a pre-dinner drink. My other half and I looked at each other. Yes, we were both thinking the same thing: Overpriced, over diluted, over done drinks, so we told the waiter, "Water will be fine." I actually prefer water as pre-dinner drink. I think there's something rather pallet cleansing about it. In fact if I'm eating something very spicy I'm happy to drink water. Sure, I often enjoy a bit of vino but I think all too often it's simply over-rated and there's just so much snobbery about it too. Oh boy, I'll never forget the time we were at, yes, another over priced restaurant. The table next to us ordered a bottle of wine butwhen the waiter poured a little of it for tasting, the host to took one sip and with a wave of his hand declared, "It's not quite right to go with what we've ordered"and promptly requested something different! I tell you, I would love to know what restaurants do with wine that's obviously paid for and then discarded like that. I was just simply dying to tug on the waiter's sleeve and say, "I hate to see waste, can we have it?" only my other half would have just simply killed me.

Ah, but I digress...

A few minutes later our waiter came back with a bottle of a fancy-nancy looking bottled water—already opened! Had it perhaps been filled from the tap? I don't know. I'm not a connoisseur of wine or water so I couldn't really tell. Although glancing at the label and way the bottle was presented, with a napkin folded around the neck, I could surely havebeen forgiven if I'd mistaken it for Dom Perignon. I thought, ok, it's not really want we had in mind but how much can a freaking bottle of water cost anyway? Well, let me tell you how much...

And speaking of "how much", how is that the more expensive a restaurant is the less likely you are to get much? The portions will always smaller and you're more likely to have to pay for every little extra? You want bread? You pay by the slice. You want potatoes? You paid by the spud. You want ketchup??? Forget it! We had great dinner with friends a few weeks ago at dirt cheap little Italian joint. The water, the bread, the Parmesan cheese, and the ketchup, were all complimentary.

Ah, but I digress yet again...

So, the bottle of water—750mls not even a full litre—cost us nine bucks!!! Holly hell, I tell you, at that price I expect it to be blessed by the fuckin' Pope!

I think perhaps from now on when we want to feel indulgent, we might just stay in bed all day watching porn on telly with a pizza and six-pack of beer!

Footnote: Sorry, I have no idea why I couldn't post the word commer******ed here.

[Nikita]

I know what you mean Alex.

Our city has the reputation of having poor tasting water. The restaurants don't even offer it, rather, they walk up with the specialty water just as your waitron did. After the first time, we caught on. When we ask for tap, we get the look that means 'cheap.'

Wtf do I care? I drink wine anyway.

[fetishdj]

You can always specify tap water when asking in restaurants and that should be free. Its what we always do. If you just ask for 'water' you automatically get the bottled stuff.

The wine that gets discarded is probably drunk by the staff after closing. Most restaurants will not charge for rejected wine (its considered a write off) as usually the main reason for rejecting it is that the bottle is off and that means they can pass the complaint up to the supplier and recover their money that way. Even if they don't, the massive surcharge they put on every bottle is enough to cover the occasional rejected bottle and it is better from a customer service PoV to take the financial hit for one bottle of wine than incur worse from bad publicity from a complaining customer when you have charged them for a bottle they did not drink.

[Euryleia]

Oh, yeah, it seems the more expensive the place, the less we get for our money. Instead, we're subsidizing those celebrity chefs.

[denuseri]

giggles, i avoid resteurant water like the plague

at least with tea i know sorta what i am getting, especially sweet tea

[Tufty]

You can always specify tap water when asking in restaurants and that should be free. Its what we always do. .

Er, well no. A few of us went for meal a couple of months ago and one of the part asked for a glass of water.
"Just ordinary tap water is fine," they told the waiter.

We were a little surprised when we were told that it 'wasn't house policy' to serve tap water to customers and that
bottled water was available at the bar.

Some places would charge for fresh air if they could get away with it!

[Thorne]

giggles, i avoid resteurant water like the plague

at least with tea i know sorta what i am getting, especially sweet tea

Except...

Where are they getting the water to make the tea?

True, it is boiled. Probably. Or maybe nuked. Hopefully. But how do you know?

[Ozme52]

If you Brits and former Brits would spell such words with a Z instead of an S, we'd let you post them....




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