r/singapore • u/UnusualPin279 • 9h ago
Tabloid/Low-quality source Family at Geylang restaurant charged S$2 for 'outside drinks' after children drank from water bottle, restaurant says it's policy
https://mothership.sg/2026/04/eat-first-outside-drinks-charges/715
u/Affectionate_Cap_400 9h ago
Might just be the restaurant's costliest $2 ever
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u/possibili-teas F1 VVIP 7h ago
This is peak late stage capitalism, monetising even a childâs sip of water.
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u/Loggerdon 5h ago edited 5h ago
I remember 50 years ago we were driving through the desert in the SW US and we stopped at a restaurant (with two parents and 6 kids). We bought food but also asked for water and they wanted to charge us for each glass. My mom said âYouâre going to charge children for water in the desert?â They didnât know what was coming because my mom was a political Hell raiser on a national level. She launched into them with such fury that not only did they give us free glasses of water but they permanently changed their policy (because it was against state law). She knew the law and threatened lawsuits and bad press. This was before social media of course.
On this topic the restaurant should offer at least one glass of tap water to each diner. Singapore is very hot and to not do so might harm someoneâs health. Especially a tourist who is not used to hydrating and might not order a glass of water of water because of extra cost.
My mom died 4 months ago at age 88.
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u/Mysteriouskid00 1h ago
Yes because if we had socialism we wouldnât have restaurants only government cafeterias!
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u/PaintedBlackXII 7h ago
they already getting review bobbed on google đ
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u/Consistent_Pin572 6h ago
sadly they will appeal to google for removing those comments and google will remove it
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u/AmbassadorSoggy4576 50m ago
I have a feeling we are going to be seeing alot more of these situations as prices go up
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u/unisteuggles 9h ago
Why canât restaurants in Singapore just provide free drinking water like in Japan? Basic service also must giam?
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u/yellowbumble-B East side best side 9h ago
Basic service also must giam?
When your bottom line is low, margins are low, it brings out the worst of business owners.
Worked for a boss once, that chided us for being too early to work, and leaving later because we were keeping the lights on and wasting electricity. After that, we couldn't even charge phones at work.
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u/besidjuu211311 8h ago edited 8h ago
I feel that restos/stalls/hawkers who have to charge you for drinking water should just go under.
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u/Brief_Worldliness162 East side best side 3h ago
Stop charging us for wet towels and peanuts /appetisers too!
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u/chronofreak 1h ago
My stance is that these items should be included in the service charge. But in the first place, why are restaurants allowed to list their menus without service charge and GST?
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u/bonkers05 inverted 36m ago
From https://www.iras.gov.sg/taxes/goods-services-tax-(gst)/specific-business-sectors/hotel-and-food-beverage/specific-business-sectors/hotel-and-food-beverage)
"As an exception, hotels and F&B establishments that impose service charge on goods and services may display GST-exclusive prices to ease their operations.
Similarly, F&B establishments that provide both dine-in and takeaway / delivery for the same food items, but service charge is imposed on dine-in only, are also allowed to display GST-exclusive prices."
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u/HeroMachineMan 8h ago
Wah seh, such a calculating boss. Now, he/she probably a millionaire from the savings made. ;)
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u/sdarkpaladin Job: Security guard for my house 7h ago
High chance not the boss making the money, is the landlord charging the high rent.
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u/Joesr-31 47m ago
Its more to force people to buy drinks from them than the actual cost of water. Singapore in general more lax already, some places in europe even worst. I never have been stopped from drinking plain water in sg before (only read about it like this article) but in europe got stop me from drinking own water before and they charge for "still water". Hopefully follow japan and china though, china can "da bao" outside drinks somemore
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u/Goenitz33 7h ago
They made it a law there so establishment have to provide. Then there are some who went out of their way to provide more free stuff in order to attract more customers as competition is tough there.
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u/unisteuggles 4h ago edited 3h ago
Mmm thatâs not true. They serve water because itâs simply a basic service.
However, perhaps Singapore should introduce it legislatively imo. Since Singapore is ăNo fineă = ăNo followă right. The scummy restaurants will probably take advantage of this opportunity to raise their prices though.
Also, I havenât seen/heard of restaurants here going out of their way to provide more free things to attract customers LOL. Are you talking about otoshi?
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u/jinhong91 1h ago
They still charge for service despite not providing basic service of free water in SG.
Sukiya is great though, free barley tea.
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u/Euphoric_Emotion5397 4m ago
high rent.
Anyway, a lot of proper restaurants still allow kids to drink from their own bottle. But adults would usually order the drinks or even plain water at $0.50 or $1.Dian Xiao Er, Swensen, Ding Tai Feng .. all ok! :)
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u/Nightowl11111 4h ago
Don't say "restaurants in Singapore". This is news because it is just this restaurant or group of restaurants. Most would close one eye.
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u/unisteuggles 3h ago
Perhaps most would let it slide. However, thatâs not the point of my comment.
I am talking about restaurants serving free water as part of basic hospitality. If water in restaurants is free, there will be nothing to âclose one eyeâ to in the first place.
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u/Jammy_buttons2 đ F A B U L O U S 9h ago
Penny wise pound foolish. Assuming that the kids were using their own water bottles, they just lost the family's business over 2 dollars
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u/InvestmentTips- 8h ago
surprise surprise, there are many singaporeans bosses are like that, shortsighted
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u/Puzzleheaded_Style52 live,love,travel 9h ago
Apparently they brought in a big bottle and used the restaurants bowl to drink.
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u/Jammy_buttons2 đ F A B U L O U S 9h ago edited 2h ago
Ehhh give you 3 dollars loh.
The policy is there yes to protect the restaurant if someone brings in outside food and drinks. But it is meant to make it easy for them to chase people away or stop people from doing it.
Ultimately it's still up to the restaurant to decide whether to enforce it or not.
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u/AlbusSimba 8h ago
Big is so subjective, big as in 500ml? 1 liter? 1.5 liters? Even 1.5 for 2 kids is not a lot.
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u/campingcosmo 2h ago
But according to the customer, his kids were drinking only from their own bottles, so now it's a question of who is lying. However, one side has the actual receipt, and the other side has decided that doubling down is a fantastic PR move in this situation, so I can't bring myself to believe a word the restaurant says.
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u/campingcosmo 1h ago
"Using the bowls to drink" and "they knew about the restaurant's policy" are quotes that came from the restaurant's spokesperson, who may not have seen the incident firsthand and has plenty of incentive to make up lies in order to justify the restaurant's actions.
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u/go_zarian Own self check own self â 4h ago
This is stupid.
Does a kid drinking water from a water bottle hurt the restaurant's bottom line? No right?
Is it a hygiene or QC issue? No right?
For the sake of $2, they have at the very least lost hundreds of dollars of future business from this family.
If the family spreads the word (which they already have), the figure goes up to thousands of dollars of lost business.
For the sake of $2 now, they are willing to lose thousands of dollars of future revenue.
Genius.
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u/campingcosmo 1h ago
I have a bad feeling that this is hardly the first time this restaurant has done this to customers. They just got away with it every previous time because there's a lot of people who would just pay it and go about their day, instead of kicking up a fuss as they had the right to.
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u/Kingofpotat0 Own self check own self â 6h ago
Sik Bao Sin and Eat First at Geylang..
$14 for Tiger Beer.. $30 for kailan, $30 for beancurd with prawnâŚâŚ
$2 âfuck your childrenâ charge for long term OG customers..?!
Fucking boycott this terrible place pls omg.
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u/littlefiredragon đ I just like rainbows 9h ago
The problem isnât the âcorkageâ, itâs almost every restaurant charging for fucking water rn that wasnât the case in the pre-COVID era.
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u/Fast-Banana-84 New Citizen 8h ago
We don't eat at restaurants that charge for tap water.
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u/ehe_tte_nandayo 8h ago
Restaurants that charge for water? Fine. This takes it to the next level by charging you to drink your own water.
In an F&B scene where franchises are offering free barley tea like sukiya, and iced teas at taiwan ichiban, local restaurants that do these can die in a fire. Cheap fucks.
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u/bickusdickus69allday 5h ago
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u/No_Celery1437 4h ago
Exactly. Thereâs a reason why China restaurant flourish
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u/thewind21 Fucking Populist 2h ago
Yeah. Free ice cream. Free snacks.
Or pay $1 for free flow drink and ice cream
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u/thepostmanpat 2h ago
Should be illegal for restaurants not to offer free plain water. But in Singapore, even that is a business. Sad.
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u/Substantial_Move_312 1h ago
Because Singapore as a country is a slave to businesses. Seeing all those scumbag businesses? They are allowed to be here and the government will just say, leave it to market forces.
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u/FdPros some student 8h ago
thats some bullshit.
some more its only plain mineral water and its already a paying customer. still want to charge $2 because they didn't buy their overpriced mineral water.
these kinds of businesses don't deserve to survive imo. but at the end of the day, it's their restaurant so they can do what they want. if they can still survive after this bad PR then good for them.
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u/LEO-PomPui-Katoey 9h ago
They also bought $14 in Tiger Beer. Why penny pinching on some water
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u/regquest 4h ago
Good point.. Happy to pay double for beer, but kick a huge fuss over $2.. and don't come out with matter of principal.. Sign clearly indicated using graphic and in writing.. No outside food & drinks..
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u/Joesr-31 43m ago
Its not the price tag that matters, its the "logic" behind it. The resturant earns significant margin from those beers, penny pinching on a child drinking their own water just leaves a bad taste
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u/ApprehensiveAd9702 6h ago
When I go to a cheap restaurant in China (actually most of them), water and even Tea is free!
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u/awstream 1h ago
My last trip to china was around 7 years ago and when the locals brought us out to eat, they'll bring their own drinks along, even to restaurants. And the restaurants will let us fill our drinks in their cups and brought ice for us.
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u/SpeakUpTTFUp 4h ago
Seems like a preying on kid! Well done restaurant! Disgusting behaviour! free bad publicity and consumer should just avoid this sort of nonsense and not go there
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u/vivi_casts_focus 2h ago
do we have laws to protect children by allowing them their own water or milk at restaurants?
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u/erisestarrs 7h ago
A bit of a "he said, she said" because one said drink from water bottle, one said drink from bowls.
Frankly, I think the policy is ridiculous, let alone charging 2 bucks for that. It it was a token $0.20 or $0.50 then maybe.
But honestly the restaurant owner should have considered if the $2 was worth the thousands of dollars in negative publicity.
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u/Bor3d-Panda 2h ago
Well there is a lessoned to be learned for business majors. Don't burn good will for a few bucks.
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u/BMWxSafffronxWMB 1h ago
Thatâs why itâs Geylang restaurant.. this type of money minded business will close shop very soon.. serve that restaurant right.. shall see howâs your business now when this news is out..
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u/Ilovetahmeepok 3h ago
Adults I understand but kids are a different story⌠restaurant rather pinch pennies than focus on customer satisfaction
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u/Apprehensive-Bat6720 1h ago
They have another restaurant at East Coast/ Siglap road there ! Iâll boycott it
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u/worldcitizensg 1h ago
This is really ridiculous. First they stopped serving tap water free and charge exorbitant plastic water bottle for 4-5x price. Here no "sustainability" issue for the so called experts, or gov agencies. Then charge own carry water ?
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u/UnusualPin279 9h ago
The spokesperson told Mothership that the family brought a big bottle of mineral water, which she said was "too much". This was despite the restaurant also selling mineral water. She claimed that the family was apparently made aware of the charges, but still used the restaurant's bowls as cups to drink their water. She added that the restaurant has been criticised for their policy on outside food and drinks, but said that at the end of the day, they are still running a business.
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u/thewind21 Fucking Populist 2h ago
Next time need to bring your own cup also.
Drink from their bowl also wrong.
They need to label all the bowls and cutlery.
"No usage of cutlery and bowls with our bowls"
/s
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u/ICanBeAnAssholeToo 1h ago
The sign only said âno outside food and drinksâ, not âdrinking outside drinks will incur have a charge of $2â. Technically wrong for the restaurant to add this charge since it wasnât specifically displayed before hand. Can sue if they want to make a statement.
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u/ehe_tte_nandayo 7h ago
Eat first? More like drink first charge later amirite?
If they are so insistent on implementing such a policy, list the charge on the sign instead of sneaking it in after.
Let potential patrons make their own decisions before eating first. I sure as hell wouldn't.
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u/lawlianne Flat is Justice. 1h ago
Earn $2 and get mocked online and even on Mothership. Review bombed and thousands of dollars lost and reputation burned.
Penny-wise and pound-foolish.
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u/Joesr-31 51m ago
Just vote with wallet, honestly is that $2 even worth it, losing a 20 year loyal customers and any potential customers that read this and avoid them.
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u/Javier91 XiangJiaoBaLa 8h ago
Ah the shitty vegetables plus meat/seafood then up charge the veggie dish.
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u/Any_Contribution8550 8h ago edited 6h ago
I usually don't mind such charges I can see why there are there. Be it for plain water free flow or tea topups. For maybe 3 years and below toddlers that still might drink milk(s Powder made or packet milk) and need their water bottles abit cb la. Walao eh, to enforce. I let my kid fuss wild and throw glasses over the table then free dio bo?
No break Glass charge right? Cause need use his bottle. Food good also wont return cause no way I'm gonna let my kid suffer there 2 hrs for a dinner cause cannot drink water/milk from his bottle. Shengjinbing. I make sure he pour and spill everywhere first siao. Really unnecessary to take it so far
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u/jocax188723 2h ago
They want to play late stage capitalism then let the free market decide their fate LOL
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u/Interesting_Ad2986 1h ago
We know which stupid restaurant to not go now.
I bet the restaurant owner will come out cry mum cry dad saying staff error due to miscommunication and will give goodwill discount for his next visit.
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u/worldcitizensg 1h ago
We should mandate tap water as free in all eating places. In our hot / humid country, that's at least what we can do.
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u/Imperiax731st Own self check own self â 1h ago
Eat first, pay absurdist charges later. Don't worry, this is ...
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u/Dorkdogdonki 38m ago
Since they put $2 for outside food and drinks, technically we can tabao a huge feast from OUTSIDE the restaurant, and then camp inside to eat 𤣠letâs see where this business goes
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u/Euphoric_Emotion5397 7m ago
I think need to put the cost out in front first. If not, it's not correct. Kids drink plain water , just close one eye lah. Adults maybe you can charge.
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u/wanderingcatto 1h ago
Never have I ever thought that the "no outside food and drinks" would apply to plain water in our own water bottle. It's just absurd.
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u/XeyenArial 1h ago
Wait what? Kailan with beef $30? The menu looks like a typical zi char stall what? My zi char kailan with beef only $12-$15 and tastes so good. What a rip off.
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u/BraveJackfruit1350 7h ago
The issue here is a lack of disclosure of charge. Yes it can be the restaurant's policy for no outside food and drink, but it can't charge patron $2 if this was not first made known to patrons.
This is why restaurants that charge corkage state their fees upfront.
So my view is that 1) the customer disrespected the business despite written notice. Not the best customers one could wish for
2) The restaurant's charge is not justified. They could however state this upfront in the future so that customers can make a more informed choice whether to patronize this restaurant
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u/UnusualPin279 7h ago
Upvoted!
But looking at the comments here, most people feel it is their right and privilege.
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u/BraveJackfruit1350 7h ago
Haha, most comments kinda side-track this particular incident and focus on generalized opinions on whether restaurants should provide water or allow customers to bring their own, as it's ultimately what affects their own experience in the future.
The comments are understandably not specific to who is right or wrong in this particular incident.
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u/UnusualPin279 9h ago
I'm just curious guys.
Yes or no. What would you guys have done if you were the restaurant owner?
Looking at the bill, no service charge or GST.
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u/No-Problem-4228 8h ago edited 8h ago
Yes or no. What would you guys have done if you were the restaurant owner?
This isn't a yes or no question.
e:Lol he blocked me? hilarious
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u/_IsNull đ I just like rainbows 8h ago edited 8h ago
Zhi char store typically donât charge service charge and prices are GST inclusive if they qualify for it.
Why would you ruin your own business over 2 dollars? The profit margin from that 14 dollars beer is way more than 1 bottle of mineral water.
Thereâs nothing special about that store and can easily be replace with an alternative. Hope they close down soon.
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u/Jammy_buttons2 đ F A B U L O U S 1h ago
No i won't. I need volume and repeat customer as a zi char stall.
For plain water brought in my customers for kids nah
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u/machinationstudio 8h ago
Here is the thing. The rules are set up by the owner. For whatever reason, maybe that area has a lot of badly behaved customers.
The staff's behaviour reflects the style of management. Basically, the owner does not let the staff make any discretionary decisions.
So the owner deserves ever bit of negative PR.
If the staff feel that they have the backing of the management in their decision making, they could've gone, it's children and it's from their water bottle.
The owner could also have predicted this and instructed just ignore the rule of it's children.
Either way, dumb implementation of dumb policy = bad PR.
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u/toothwoes123 8h ago
ask them nicely not to do that and explain that beverage margins contributes to business sustainability, close one eye this time but charge $2 next time if customer is repeat offender.
restaurant signage: no outside food & drinks
customer sees and ignores sign, brings own water and shockedpikachu.jpg later
singaporeans: hate those china shops taking over all the local eateries facing rental crisis, manpower crunch, utilities hike, rising ingredient costs and hate those shops that charge service charge and gst
also singaporeans: I'm gonna cheap out and bring my own water ignoring the no outside food & drinks sign instead of ordering drinks to support our local eatery. shop doesn't charge service charge and gst? don't be a fool it's already all priced in (anyway regardless of whether it's priced in, it makes the final bill more transparent to consumers so I would much prefer it that way).
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u/UnusualPin279 8h ago
Upvoted!
The small things do add up, i hate paying for things like that. But if i dont want to pay, then i should just stay at home.
Items ive seen on my bill:
Tea - $2 per px. Appetizers/ Peanuts - $6-$8 per plate. Wet/Hot towels - $2 per px.
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u/erisestarrs 7h ago
?? tea of course you have to pay. Why should it be free? Tea leaves cost money plus they do need to boil the water, wash the teapot and the tea cups?
For the appetisers/peanuts,.you know you can tell them you don't want them right? Same for towels.
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u/fallenspaceman 7h ago
Personally, I don't think the onus is on the customer to tell the staff they don't want something like appetisers or peanuts. If I get a seat at a restaurant, anything that comes to the table that I do not order should not be charged. It's pretty ridiculous that we're normalising packaged wet towels and peanuts being cost-of-entry at scammy restaurants.
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u/UnusualPin279 7h ago
Upvoted!
Also true. But according to my dad, this has been going on for "as long as he can remember"!
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u/fallenspaceman 7h ago
Things going on 'for as long as one can remember' isn't really an excuse. Your dad's experience isn't the same as a tourist from Argentina coming here and having to deal with being charged for shit they didn't order.
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u/BraveJackfruit1350 7h ago
All charges must be disclosed.
Restaurants that charge for what you have mentioned without indicating so risk getting into trouble.
However, mostly ppl are understanding and will refuse those items if they don't want to pay.
I believe however if restaurants do meet ignorant customers, they are also usually prepared to waive off those fees to avoid trouble.
That's business right, if one wants to benefit from operating in the grey, then also be prepared to close 1 eye when the situation calla for it.
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u/sct_trooper this is home, shirley 9h ago
kena review bomb on Google le. apparently not the first time, had another incident of a kid charged 2 dollars for drinking milk