I visited a restaurant a few days ago where I go quite often, especially at noon for lunch. I ordered a bottle of rose wine, the wine arrives, the first glass is served, and the bottle… dissapears! Soon our glasses are empty, I'm waiting for someone to refill them... I'm waiting, I'm waiting, and I would still be waiting if I had not signaled to the waiters 2-3 times… so, watching the waiter I discovered where my bottle was: in a bucket with ice, somewhere in the center of the restaurant, along with 3-4 bottles of other tables. Finally, the waiter came to serve us, fortunately I stopped him in time, as he was ready to serve us from another bottle, of another table!
In a little while our glasses are empty again... I am waiting for someone to pour us wine... I am waiting... I am waiting, I am waiting, I am trying to make a waiter look at us, but in vain. I get up from the table, walk to the bucket, reach and take the bottle, pass 2-3 lads "pretending" to be waiters and serve our glasses, then leaving the bottle on our table. And as soon as I do that, one of the waiters grabs the bottle and takes it back to the "cooling station" it was before! Still laughing! (certainly my company too)!
Guess that's how they save on… buckets and ice? Because if it was next to our table, I would have no problem serving it myself! But, guys, "silk breeches also need skilled asses", and the little ones pretending to be waiters are not skilled at all, they are panicking and drowning in a spoonful of water! But they have an advantage over the "real" ones: they are cheap… they are of course unable to smile, they constantly look at their shoes (what a love affair is this of the Greek waiters with the shoes!) So that they do not see the… desperate signals of the customers, they are lazy and always in a hurry, but… we said already, they are cheap!
But, my good friend Nikos, costs are not limited by using cheap and inexperienced "kids" as waiters or by abolishing the "dishes of the day", because they can not be charged as high as other dishes. It is done by charging the bottle of wine at the price of the catalog in the bill -that is 42 € - and not 9 € - which is the price of a glass of wine! I saw it after I asked for a receipt - which is never brought to the guest voluntarily! - when I took it out of my pocket at home to file it…
PS1: My friend Nikos, is there some instructions to the waiters by the management not to smile?... why, it costs nothing at all!
PS2: Yes... I did not reveal the restaurant's name. This is done in order to find out who actually reads my posts and who does not... the ones who do certainly have guessed the name...
PS3: What are you talking about! I will continue to visit the restaurant, the food is quite good and the environment excellent! And if someone suggests to me a restaurant in Athens where everything is perfect, then he will get as a gift a gold watch!
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