Austrian restaurant charges 8 euros for an empty plate: bizarre or understandable?
An interesting discussion is unfolding on social media. A Viennese couple ate at a restaurant on Austria’s Austrian Wörthersee, but had to pay 8 euros for an empty plate. Sounds bizarre? At first, it does, although you might understand it once you hear the restaurant’s explanation.
Let’s be clear right away: this is not about an extra charge you have to pay because you finished your plate. No, that really would be ridiculous. This concerns a dish that is shared. So you order one dish from the menu, and an extra plate is placed on the table for the other person, so that you can eat the dish together.
That extra plate is the empty plate. 8 euros isn’t an Ibiza price, but still… You could have ordered a good glass of wine with that.
8 euros for an empty plate: delusions of grandeur!
Restaurant Miralago introduced the rule. When the bill was shared on social media by the Viennese couple, all hell broke loose. A flood of outraged reactions on Instagram followed. ”Unbelievable, we would have left immediately”, ”Delusions of grandeur!” and ”I’ve been there too, and although the food was good, I probably won’t go back. I don’t want to pay for such nonsense.” Some were clear: ”Wasn’t it indicated on the menu? Then get up and walk out.”
One Dutch commenter is not at all surprised that this happens. ”This isn’t news, is it? In Renesse, they’ve been charging 4.50 euros for a cake plate for years when people bring their own homemade wedding cake!” Um, Renesse visitors: is this true?!
The free tap water debate
Still, plenty of people also understand Miralago’s decision. They are mainly people who work in the hospitality industry. Because even though there is no dish on the empty plate at first, it still has to be brought, cleared away and washed. A restaurant owner in Wernberg also says that it requires ”twice as many staff members” when someone asks to share a dish in this way.
Toni Mörwald, an Austrian chef, says that the discussion about whether or not to provide free tap water is similar. ”We are service providers, and people are charged for that service.” He also says that ”restaurateurs are not supermarkets where everything is simply sold without any further consideration.”
What do you think?
So you can be either for or against it. Perhaps you’ll understand it better if you work in hospitality yourself. In any case, I’ll be double-checking from now on whether it’s still safe to share my dessert. But we’re curious: what do you actually think about this?
Also read:
- Guests ask for ice in their wine and receive a hilarious bill
- Infuriating: those people who pay the bill separately
- The police were called: the bill was such a disappointment for the guests
Sources: Misset Horeca, 20 Minutes
