Friday, December 19, 2008

F**k Artisan Water

Madness is... a HKD80 (USD10) bottle of water.

Apparently, that's what some restaurants are charging these days for bottled water. Not only do they charge an outrageous price, but they damn near force you to order it.  If you want water, you have to order the silly artisan bottled water. Otherwise, you're just going to have to go thirsty while eating that meal.  What happened to the days when water was free at restaurants?  

I'm a drinker.  I'll have beer with my pizza and wine with my steak, and I'll pay for it.  But I absolutely hate having to pay for ridiculously expensive water that comes in an environmentally unfriendly bottle.  It is stupid.  I feel like I'm being cheated.  The water costs HKD10 in the store, so they're making a profit of HKD70. That is seven times the retail cost.  

Sabatini's in the Royal Garden Hotel has the right idea.  They serve bottled water, but it is included in the meal.  Now that is service, and service that I will gladly pay more for.  

2 comments:

ahsir said...

Sabatini is one of the best rest. in my book.
good food, comfortable sitting, waiters knows your name, and best of all, value.
I think it is a norm these days to charge for Bottle water. Man, I always think that boiled water is fine by me.

dra said...

I once read on openrice that a customer received extremely bad attitude from managers of agnes b cafe in causeway bay when they ordered hot water instead of bottled water. Basically the manager "inched" the customer like," An order of authentic boiled tap water" something like that said loudly and intentionally behind the counter. So ridiculous.