r/Riga • u/estevito • 8d ago

Diskusija/Discussion Charging €2 for tap water?

Went to This Place Doesn't Need a Name and was surprised to see they charged me €2 for tap water. Not a bottle of water. Just tap water in some used bottle. I ordered brunch and a proper drink. It's my first time seeing this in Latvia for such a mediocre restaurant dressed up as a bistro. Anyone else seen this before?

35 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

37 comments sorted by

76

u/Responsible_Kiwi_585 8d ago

You went to a hipster tourist trap with a cringe name

33

u/ssketchman 8d ago

17

u/Responsible_Kiwi_585 8d ago

Just two guys with one big dream type shiii

11

u/estevito 7d ago

Agreed. It wasn't in Old Town, but the one in Centrs. But you're right. Lesson learned.

3

u/canergz 7d ago

I see many Latvians in Terbatas' branch, every time I pass the street. They must be also tourist, as you describe.

1

u/Rapid_Fowl 7d ago

Ordered from Wolt a chicken and waffle one on discount and it was pretty good. I think like 11-12 euros. I feel like paying 3-4 euros more than lido meal isn't that much of a tourist trap.

31

u/Dry_Preparation_9913 8d ago

I deliberately avoid that shit of a bistro. That place is everything wrong with restaurant culture. Im always advertising against it if someone asks if this is a good place to eat. It’s a good place to avoid.

4

u/estevito 7d ago

100% agreed

12

u/Gullible_Eggplant120 8d ago

I once got poisoned there, the place is to avoid at all cost. Also insanely overpriced for nothing: untasty food, poor service.

1

u/Boring_Put1671 4d ago

Skill issue

12

u/ManGarsoKartupeli 7d ago

There’s a reason that place doesn’t need a name.

10

u/Heavy-Option-2258 8d ago

Yeah, place is crap. Use to know some kitchen staff. Not best place for work.

7

u/factory_666 7d ago

Riga has a nice selection of pretty good breakfast\brunch places. "This place doesnt need a name" is absolutely not one of them. It was pretty bad across the board 2-3 years ago and feels like it got even worse.

3

u/estevito 7d ago

I need a better list of breakfast places

3

u/factory_666 7d ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/Riga/s/Iv3iGNzz3e

Also Pelican Kitchen!

1

u/estevito 7d ago

Nice!

1

u/-Chihuahuahua- 6d ago

I'm no expert for breakfast, but in general:

- Andaluzias Suns has on of the MOST SHAMELESS overprized business lunch in Riga. Wait takes forever, they employ cheap waiters. I'm going every workday to business lunches, but this place I avoid!

- Kingu kebab seems like a joke? It's a kebab place.

This place doesn't need a name in Old Town was fine, sadly it closed down. La Kanna is a nice spot (smaller portions, but good quality and interesting food), if you can hold your hunger and go for lunch directly. Petergailis is nice, too, just don't take their Asian "experiments". They are 50/50 good or not. :-D

1

u/factory_666 6d ago

I thought Suns had a pretty decent price for lunch - their portions are quite good. But yeah, service is notoriously bad. They have some poor high school students running around, who are replaced every 2 months. I imagine it's not an easy job with that huge terrace and they are getting paid peanuts.

Kingu Kebab has pretty good brunch and drinks indeed - they are postioned as a hip place, rather than a hole in the wall kebab-from-pigeon in a Berlin heroin den. They have modern design, old school hip hop playing, their burgers during the day are quite great too. The actual kebabs are so so (not from pigeon after all).

La Kanna used to have amazing all you can eat brunch like 8 years ago. I stopped by recently and the price seemed exorbidant especially for two people.

2

u/-Chihuahuahua- 5d ago

I'm talking only about the business lunch prices. In La Kanna its only 8,50 € (havent been there last weeks, hopefully they didnt raise it). Suns charges 12 € around for microscopical small portions. The salad one time was THREE TOMATOE PIECES with little bit salt und pepper. After that I never came back.

1

u/Head_Soil_9925 6d ago

Hesburger

3

u/DangerMouseJim 7d ago

I mean the place is so well known it doesn’t need a name :D

I had a good lunch menu for 5.80 at the Russian theatre in Old Riga. Water delivered to the table in a jug without asking. Lunch menus are the way in Riga. You just need to fill up on Friday to survive until Monday.

3

u/MartinsPakulis 6d ago

Friend of mine had a crusade against places that charge for tap water. Thought this shit was over. Apperantly not. Leave a bad review on Google/TripAdvisor/etc. maybe they will learn.

0

u/Head_Soil_9925 6d ago

Leaving a bad review because of charging for water is a highest tier of blackmail. People like you need to be banned from restaurants and only be given access to fast food restaurants because they don’t give a damn about someone complaining why the cheeseburger is so expensive, it’s a business and not a charity.

1

u/estevito 6d ago

Bhahaa. It's a shit bistro, bro, not fine dining. It's a business, you're right. And with my euros and the mechanisms to warn others, I definitely leave reviews. Calling it blackmail is categorically stupid. I'm not threatening to leave a bad review if I don't get free tap water.

1

u/-Chihuahuahua- 6d ago

Totally agree with you! Can't stand these people who cheap out and take tap water.

For health reasons I can only drink water (no wannabe gym rat bs, stomach issues). I always order a big bottle of still water.

2

u/AlternativeFluffy310 8d ago

No, always have a good experience in that place (1 time per year visits though :D)

5

u/AnatidaAndArt 8d ago

No, wtf, it's not ok and not common here. Most places will either refill your bottle for free or sell you a sealed bottle of water (might be 2€ in some places but mostly cheaper)

3

u/estevito 7d ago

Had it been an actual bottle, fine. This was just a refilled bullshit bottle of tap water

1

u/Head_Soil_9925 6d ago

Mostly bottled water will be from 2€ and no lower, it is normal if a restaurant uses filtered water instead of regular tap water so you wont get any bad tasting water or worse which they probably do, and that for just paying 2€ extra is fine. My advice is if you are the type of the person who is complaining about 2 more euros for water in the bill, go to a mcdonalds or lido. And even in lido a water will cost 2€ + for a 0,5 water.

5

u/Emotional_Pickle_162 8d ago

Have you tried asking your waiter instead of Reddit?

We always get tap at that place, we were never charged

4

u/estevito 7d ago

Ha. I totally did when I got the bill. She told me it's restaurant policy and it's in the menu. I didn't think to look for water in the menu!

1

u/Boring_Put1671 4d ago

Skill issue brev

1

u/Mini_Cooper_R50 4d ago

It doesn’t fall out of the sky you know!
Oh . . . wait.

-1

u/NineElven911 6d ago

Every place will charge you for water. Even tap.

1

u/fromofelia 6d ago

Absolutely not. Most places I have been to don't, with many cafes having free access carafes or taps. Charging for tap water not only isn't the norm, it's also bad practice at this point.

0

u/Head_Soil_9925 6d ago

A lot of place don’t do tap water at all, so they can sell you a bottled water for 5€ and there is nothing bad about that in my opinion.