Bread charge at restaurants

[Ns1]

Never seen it happen at an american restaurant

 

[Scarpozzi]

There's a local restaurant that offers buttered croissants as "bread". They charge for them....3 for $1. I used to think this was crazy, but everything else on their menu is cheap/plentiful...and really good. They simply charge a recovery cost so people don't fill up on bread and waste a table.

I would only mind if I didn't order the bread. I hate it when you don't see the price...they offer it and you end up paying whatever they feel like charging you. If it's not particularly GOOD bread (as in not baked fresh there or at a neighbor bakery), I would definitely complain. Most chain restaurants simply outsource a commercial bakery for that sort of thing and the quality is somewhat poor compared to a true artisian bakery.

 

[torpid]

Most mexican restaurants I've been to provide free chips and salsa. Some charge for it. I've never seen a restaurant with free cheese dip.

Most chinese and other southeast / east asian places I've been to have free rice. If you ask for rice with an item where it is not typically provided, you are not charged (e.g. pot stickers / dumplings). I believe some Indian restaurants charge for their basmati rice, but not most chinese/thai/lao/burmese/malaysian.

I've never been to a place that treats your table like a hotel minibar and puts things there only to hope you will partake so they can charge you. If bread is given without ordering it, it should not be something they charge separately for providing. I have been to places where they charge you if you order bread or if you order a refill of the bread they initially provided you.

 

[alkemyst]

Where in the bible does it define what nachos are?

Nachos are just tortilla chips with some kind of thing to go with them (either salsa guac or queso). If you think otherwise then you must have some magic bible defining what everything is.

I think you been tokin' too much.

Chips and salsa <> nachos.

 

[torpid]

I think you been tokin' too much.

Chips and salsa <> nachos.

Maybe it's a regional thing. In most places hot sauce and salsa are completely different things but not everyone agrees...

 

[AznAnarchy99]

This has never happened to me.

 

[Ns1]

Maybe it's a regional thing. In most places hot sauce and salsa are completely different things but not everyone agrees...

around here hot sauce = the stuff in a bottle, salsa = the stuff you make

 

[zerocool84]

Maybe it's a regional thing. In most places hot sauce and salsa are completely different things but not everyone agrees...

Because these other regions have no idea what they're talking about.

 

[Perknose]

Most Mexican restaurants I've been in start you off with free chips and salsa (which are not nachos).

Most sit down restaurants I've been in that bring you bread to start off do not charge you for it, even when you ask for more, which I often do, especially when the service is slow, because I love good bread and butter.

But this convo does remind me of the first time I was in Paris, near the beginning of my 5 years abroad. My friend and I arrived in the Gare du Nord train station in the morning, famished.

We sat down at a cafe in the train station. There were croissants already on the table. As per American custom, we assumed they were free, and scarfed the entire bowl down. We did also order main stuff, btw, but were shocked when the bill came and we were charged per croissant as well. It was a minor cultural learning experience. <shrug>

 

[Ns1]

re^^

In vietnam they give you warm wetnaps in a plastic wrapper. If you use it, 25c. This was in 1995ish so who knows if this practice still continues, or what the cost is now due to inflation.

 

[Paladin3]

Wut?

If that were true, wouldn't they make better food?

That's exactly my point. Olive Garden gets away with serving mediocre food, and people continue to love them, because they throw in things like free endless breadsticks and salad to make the customers feel good and coming back for more.

Restaurants that nickel and dime diners by charging for bread obviously don't understand that. The same goes for restaurants that charge for drink refills or just have poor service in general.

 

[CPA]

I've eaten in a lot of restaurants and have never come across this practice.

me neither. The first thing I thought when I read the title was Dave's Vinegar thread. Has the same feel.

 

[Paladin3]

around here hot sauce = the stuff in a bottle, salsa = the stuff you make

I used to scratch my head when people talked about making salsa in a blender. Then I learned that what I was calling salsa was really pico de gallo (or salsa fresca or salsa mexicana.) Anything less is spaghetti sauce.

Pico de Gallo:

Diced tomatoes
Diced red onion
Diced Serrano chiles
Chopped cilantro
Chopped garlic
Lime juice
Salt

Optional:
Fish Tacos & Cerveza

 

[gorb]

ugh cilantro

 

[Ns1]

I used to scratch my head when people talked about making salsa in a blender. Then I learned that what I was calling salsa was really pico de gallo (or salsa fresca or salsa mexicana.) Anything less is spaghetti sauce.

Pico de Gallo:

Diced tomatoes
Diced red onion
Diced Serrano chiles
Chopped cilantro
Chopped garlic
Lime juice
Salt

Optional:
Fish Tacos & Cerveza

and here, salsa is that in between =P

Hot Sauce

Salsa verde/roja

Pico de gallo

 

[videogames101]

never been charged for bread

 

[torpid]

around here hot sauce = the stuff in a bottle, salsa = the stuff you make

So since stuff in a bottle could be tabasco/cholula or tostito's "salsa" you'd call both of those hot sauce?

 

[Ns1]

So since stuff in a bottle could be tabasco/cholula or tostito's "salsa" you'd call both of those hot sauce?

I am more referring to when you go out to eat. Never seen a bottle of tostito's salsa out in the wild served with mexican food. I would classify the sauce as hot sauce/salsa/pico de gallo based on my pictures above.

 

[Anonemous]

Chips with a side of salsa is not nachos. It is an outrage, an OUTRAGE, that you consider that nachos.

I love chips and salsa.

Also, I agree with you on the bread thing. If they bring it without you asking for it, it should be free. Keep fighting the good fight.

And finally, sorry I blew up about the nachos thing.

Screw you Chipotle for charging for chips and salsa!!!

 

[torpid]

I am more referring to when you go out to eat. Never seen a bottle of tostito's salsa out in the wild served with mexican food. I would classify the sauce as hot sauce/salsa/pico de gallo based on my pictures above.

Ah, sorry. I misunderstood and thought you were saying you only feel it is ok to call it salsa if it is homemade, and anything store-bought was hot sauce.

 

[Perknose]

me neither. The first thing I thought when I read the title was Dave's Vinegar thread. Has the same feel.

OP did say he wasn't American.

 

[torpid]

OP did say he wasn't American.

He said "pig American" which means he is a villain from a 1990's movie.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

In India if they get the bread themselves it is always complimentary. It is paid only if it needs to be ordered.

 

[WelshBloke]

He said "pig American" which means he is a villain from a 1990's movie.

You're thinking of "capitalist pig dog american", he's just calling you greedy fat arses.

 

[Perknose]

He said "pig American" which means he is a villain from a 1990's movie.

I hate these pompous, poseur, hyphenated Americans. So what if his grandparents were from Porkistan? No one says they're English-American!