Rip off Ireland Still alive and well?

kjl · 14-02-2014 03:12PM

that is crap, neither my partner or I drink alcohol, so why would I need to pay for a bottle of wine.

syklops · 14-02-2014 03:13PM

darkpagandeath wrote: »

You know the Celtic tiger is over right ... ? The capitals restaurants to people ratio should put them in competition with each other as lack of business normally during the week after the crash. Maybe if the OP had shopped around he may well have got a way better deal.

Speaking as someone who works in "town", the celtic tiger is stirring from its slumber. Most restaurants tonight will be busy if not packed. There will be bargains to be had, but demand is high so prices will go up.

Ivaniayo · 14-02-2014 03:15PM

Worst night of the year to go for a meal, overpriced food, limited choice, and bad service guaranteed.

Gannicus · 14-02-2014 03:15PM

Lord Trollington wrote: »

Booked a table for dinner tonight

tin79 wrote: »

That was your first mistake!

BRilliant :pac::pac::pac:

bitemybanger wrote: »

buuuut you still payed!!

Exactly. Nobody made you pay.

To be fair I see why restaurants do this. I used to work in a restaurant years ago and they would take booking for Valentine's or Christmas etc and would then turn down business for walk in's or other booking because they were booked up and then person who made the original reservation never showed up.

That would cost the place money because they had to hold off in case you showed up late for the table and they had given it away. (When I mean it cost them money I mean profit not made not a physical expense). So our place started taking a booking per table or per head depending on the size of the table.

14-02-2014 03:17PM

OP you are the reason why rip off ireland is still alive and well? you still paid for it!!

Cant understand ppl giving out about things like this when they are the ones who are actually feeding it !

Unbelievable.. if there are stupid ppl out there willing to pay why the wouldnt businesses charge what they like.. its called business !

vicwatson · 14-02-2014 03:36PM

Lord Trollington wrote: »

I know.

Herself wants to go here, as I said we are regulars. I just found it extremely exploitative to insist on buying wine or champagne before taking the booking.

What if neither of us even drink?

Typical Ireland really.

I'll tell you what's typical Ireland - people complaining about things and doing nothing to change it ! You should have told them to feck off, end of.

Ishmael · 14-02-2014 03:37PM

You are right to some degree OP, the restaurant are being somewhat exploitative but they are obviously getting away with it so why wouldn't they do it. The only way to deal with that is to not buy into it.

Probably worth a shot to ask if you can just use the €35 as a deposit when you get there though.

homemadecider · 14-02-2014 03:42PM

Suck it up, OP. You chose to pay so effectively you've communicated to the restaurant that you agree with their booking policy for Valentines.

You could have gone somewhere else. You could have chosen to go for dinner tomorrow. You could have cooked a nice meal at home tonight with a bottle of bubbly.

caustic 1 · 14-02-2014 03:44PM

Would never ever go out to eat on Valentines night, sure to be brutal feed cause they know they are going to get the custom anyhow.

SmurfX · 14-02-2014 03:47PM

rockdrummer4 wrote: »

OP you are the reason why rip off ireland is still alive and well? you still paid for it!!

Cant understand ppl giving out about things like this when they are the ones who are actually feeding it !

Unbelievable.. if there are stupid ppl out there willing to pay why the wouldnt businesses charge what they like.. its called business !

It's a country rich with entitlement and deeply conservative people. Changing lifestyle is much more difficult for an Irish person than complaining until they're blue in the face about the unsatisfactory lifestyle they have.

Gavin. · 14-02-2014 03:53PM

josip wrote: »

Life is tough

The chap has a job, what, exactly, is the problem?

Keep the pity party to yourself.

syklops · 14-02-2014 03:54PM

Gavin. wrote: »

The chap has a job, what, exactly, is the problem?

Keep the pity party to yourself.

I think that poster was being sarcastic.

"Halp! I got ripped off booking my fancy-ass restaurant with the Missus for Valentines Day"

#VeryMuchAFirstWorldProblem.

Heroditas · 14-02-2014 04:04PM

I'm also a regular at the Port House and they don't take bookings. Mainly because it's a tapas restaurant and the idea is to order grub and some drink and sit there for a while and order more if you feel like it.
The wife and I went there last Saturday with 4 others and got a table at 5 and left at 10.30 after ordering food about 3 or 4 times over that period. You're never rushed out the door, you can stay as long as you want.

So if they actually do decide to let people reserve tables tonight, kinda makes sense to have some sort of charge/deposit like this to allow people avail of a service they don't provide any other time.

ted1 · 14-02-2014 04:18PM

Lord Trollington wrote: »

a bottle of Cava champagne for €35

There is no such thing as Cava Champagne.

Cava comes from Spain
Champagne, comes from the champagne region of France and is use is protected in that only sparkling wine from the area may use it.

If they bring Cava , tell them you bought Champagne. and insist on them providing you with champagne

Kinzig · 14-02-2014 04:28PM

=Heroditas;89003719]Port House have an excellent selection of wines.

For €33 you'd get a very nice bottle

Yeah but the wine inside is usually crap though!

swimming in a sea · 14-02-2014 04:29PM

You got to think smart about tonight, I promised to make dinner, even with spending a lot on wine and food etc. it is a fraction of the price of going to a restaurant on valentines day that falls on a Friday.

Son Of A Vidic · 14-02-2014 04:44PM

Reasonably price Ireland is dead and gone, she's with O 'Leary in the grave.

darkpagandeath · 14-02-2014 04:47PM

Kinzig wrote: »

Yeah but the wine inside is usually crap though!

Careful now I was corrected that house wine/sparkling would not cost them €2 and €33 was reasonable ..

Heroditas · 14-02-2014 04:52PM

darkpagandeath wrote: »

Careful now I was corrected that house wine/sparkling would not cost them €2 and €33 was reasonable ..

Have another go at inaccurately paraphrasing me.
That's not what I wrote.

gugleguy · 14-02-2014 05:01PM

I need to buy a ceratin JAVA programming book. In (aware of the moderator wrath if you name businesses) a non discount book store Cost was 27.70 euro. Too dear for me. In another supposedly better value bookstore it was 28.30. Well gugleguy ye can fuggedaboudit.

darkpagandeath · 14-02-2014 05:03PM

Heroditas wrote: »

Have another go at inaccurately paraphrasing me.
That's not what I wrote.

ok you said €20

So lets say VAT/TAX/Duty €5 now price of bottle to them before mark-up could be as low as €2.

so €2 + €5 is 7 charging the €20 would be well over 130% mark-up

Rough figures

donegal__road · 14-02-2014 05:13PM

Ivaniayo wrote: »

I find the Rep. of Ireland very expensive compared to N.I.

yep, you can get 2 steak main courses and a bottle of wine tonight in Derry for £40.

Arbiter of Good Taste · 14-02-2014 05:40PM

donegal__road wrote: »

yep, you can get 2 steak main courses and a bottle of wine tonight in Derry for £40.

Yes, and cost of providing the services - wages, electricity, insurance, general overheads - are more expensive in Dublin than Derry. So you're comparing apples with oranges.

To the OP - so? No one is forcing you to go there. If you didn't like the restaurant's terms, then you were fully within your rights to go somewhere else. It's not a monopoly.

Heroditas · 14-02-2014 05:49PM

darkpagandeath wrote: »

ok you said €20

So lets say VAT/TAX/Duty €5 now price of bottle to them before mark-up could be as low as €2.

so €2 + €5 is 7 charging the €20 would be well over 130% mark-up

Rough figures

Have another go.
You were referring to the €33 bottle.
I said one could get a very nice bottle there for that price. I still stand by that claim. In fact, the vast majority of their wines are nice.
I couldn't give a damn about the mark-up. They need to pay wages, rent, utilities, insurance etc and turn a profit. They're not charities.
I've found the Port House to be excellent value. Its food is much better value than many others places, in my opinion. 6 of us last week had 5 bottles of wine and loads of food for €260.
€43 each and we were there for 5 hours. Not a bad night out.

darkpagandeath · 14-02-2014 05:55PM

Heroditas wrote: »

Have another go.
You were referring to the €33 bottle.
I said one could get a very nice bottle there for that price. I still stand by that claim. In fact, the vast majority of their wines are nice.
I couldn't give a damn about the mark-up. They need to pay wages, rent, utilities, insurance etc and turn a profit. They're not charities.
I've found the Port House to be excellent value. Its food is much better value than many others places, in my opinion. 6 of us last week had 5 bottles of wine and loads of food for €260.
€43 each and we were there for 5 hours. Not a bad night out.

No one said they were just most people think €33 for a bottle of crap plonk is a bit much Ireland/Uk have little clue about wine mostly. Goto somewhere on the continent and see what they expect for €33 I will wager there will be a hell of a difference.

dudara · 14-02-2014 06:01PM

OK - restaurants do obviously take advantage of nights like tonight, but then, they'd have to be daft not to. But there is a flip side.

Restaurants do have a massive problem with people reserving tables and then not turning up. Restaurants are left scrambling to fill tables last minute, or have extra staff on hand who are now not fully utilised. This is always a problem for restaurants but it's typically worse around busy periods like Christmas etc.

I've even heard of people who book several restaurants for the same night, and then make their decision close to dining time. Some of them cancel the other reservations and some don't.

You might say that you'd never do that but there are plenty out there who do, and it's their actions that force this kind of stuff on the rest of us.

cherryghost · 14-02-2014 06:04PM

Lord Trollington wrote: »

I have been all over the world. L.A on New Years, New York on New Years.

Dubai, Paris, London, Milan and this kind of sh*t I'm sorry does not happen

I've been in Paris on Valentines Day and it's much much worse over there than it is here.

Heroditas · 14-02-2014 06:15PM

darkpagandeath wrote: »

No one said they were just most people think €33 for a bottle of crap plonk is a bit much Ireland/Uk have little clue about wine mostly. Goto somewhere on the continent and see what they expect for €33 I will wager there will be a hell of a difference.

Of course you'd get a lot different on the continent.
You'd get a belter of a bottle in a restaurant in Portugal for €5 but they have a far lower cost base and negligible taxes.
Can't really compare a lot of places on the continent to here, in my opinion.

darkpagandeath · 14-02-2014 06:18PM

Heroditas wrote: »

Of course you'd get a lot different on the continent.
You'd get a belter of a bottle in a restaurant in Portugal for €5 but they have a far lower cost base and negligible taxes.
Can't really compare a lot of places on the continent to here, in my opinion.

Yes I get what you are saying I'm just trying to point out most people would have no clue that the €33 bottle could be worse than a say €13 from a decent wine seller. And a lot of/most think price = quality.

Lord Trollington · 14-02-2014 06:19PM

cherryghost wrote: »

I've been in Paris on Valentines Day and it's much much worse over there than it is here.

I haven't so I can't comment on Feb 14th but I have been other times though around holidays ect with high demand.

It seems to me to be a uniquely Irish thing to absolutely screw
them for what you can when there's a remote chance of their being demand.

Port House would easily have filled every seat in the premises tonight without having to charge €35. Not only that , we have to vacate the seat within 2 hours as they have other bookings. That's fair enough I suppose but a full bottle of wine has to be consumed within 2 hours along with food.

Rip off Ireland Still alive and well?

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