madi

I just came back from spending A day and 1/2 in Prague As some of you always give advice on this forum

I wanted to tell you that if one goes to eat there and they put bread or nuts on the table and you eat from it, they will charge you extra.

Otherwise , The city is beautiful. I am very glad that I took a guided tour of the Jewish quarter since I learned a lot

nytraveler

This is not just Prague - typically in europe restaurants have a "bread and cover" charge for everyone at the table. In some countries - Germany often - they charge only if you eat the bread.

Just because bread is free in the US doesn't mean it will be everywhere. Just as in some places in the US they have free refillable sodas - which I haven;'t seen in europe - or NYC for that matter.

logos999

>free refillable sodas
McDonalds and Subways in Germany.

Ingo

"bread and cover" charge in Germany? No way. Never paid for something like that.

dmlove

I remember being surprised by this the firt time I went to France. I don't think it's "typical" anymore, but regardless, I'm not surprised that Americans are taken aback when they get charged for something that is brought without asking. If a restaurant wants to charge for bread (or water, or salt & pepper), fine, but then it should be a menu item and not brought to the table automatically. It's another one of those stupid "nickel and dime" things -- why not just add a .1 Euro to the cost of each entree and NOT charge for bread?

nytraveler

Becasue it's europe - and they don;t do everything the same as in the US. (This is like asking why you have to tip in the US. That's the system and youjust do.)

Bread and cover used to be much more common - and more popular in some countries than others.

The key is not to ASSUME anything is free. If n doubt, ask.

dmlove

I completely understand and agree that customs are different. To me, that doesn't excuse putting bread on the table and then charging for it. If someone brings me an appetizer I didn't order in the U.S., that's usually complimentary, too. It's got nothing to do with whether they should charge for it, but with how it's done.

Jake1

Waht madi is referring to is not the more familiar and expected bread/table charge in Italy and often in France. Some Czech restaurants do also charge a small fee per head as well. But what madi is talking about is charging a comparatively large amount for a little plate of something you didn't order--separate from the smaller per head charge. It's a way that some less ethical Czech dining establishments pad the bill if you look like a tourist.

We also had trouble with a couple of restaurants making "mistakes" on the prices of items we ordered. Mistakes that somehow were always higher than the menu price, never lower. We learned to check our itemized bills and their math very carefully. This sort of thing can happen by accident, but Prague is the only place we've ever been to where it happened three times in four days.