To think that if you go out …

You're being weird OP.

DD only drinks water (anywhere). DH almost always drinks water (anywhere), occasionally juice. I drink a lot of squash at home but mostly water when out - squash tends not to be an option! DH generally tips generously, to make up for the fact that our bill is lower because of our preferences.

Spectacularly missing the point, but I can’t stand the word ‘beverage’. It sounds so mass-market catering to me! But, I wouldn’t have a problem if someone I was eating with just wanted tap water. If I’m having lunch I’ll often only have water anyway, and though I’d usually have sparkling if I didn’t like sparkling I’d probably go for tap water not bottled, unless I was in an area where I didn’t like the tap water! Most restaurants offer tap water without being asked any way, so I don’t see the issue.

I'm in the UK and the restaurants I go to always bring a pitcher of water to the table, ice if requested, when we arrive. Hardly anyone orders a drink unless they want an alcoholic one. Thought it was normal.

They have stopped the bread basket though. It never returned after lockdown.

I only like water, tea and coffee so tap water for me too. Just as an aside, I have noticed also at venues now (London Excel, Birmingham NEC etc) there are places to fill up your water rather than continually having to buy plastic bottles of it.

YABU lots of people like tap water. I don't see the issue.
Some restaurants will even provide it for you without you having to ask

Odd. Surely if this were such a faux pas, restaurants wouldn't allow it.

So many casualties of lockdown 😔

RIP the Harvester breakfast buffet. Another casualty 😔

My son doesn’t drink fizzy drinks so if he’s driving he’ll just have tap water. If he’s not got the car he’ll have wine or beer! I don’t drink alcohol and generally like something a little less boring than tap water when I’m out but no issue with people that do

I always get water, sometimes I might get a glass of wine too but if I’m driving water is fine. I do think drinks are shockingly expensive now. £10 a glass of house red same for g&t. Most coffee shops have water stations so you can help yourself to a glass to go with your sarnie or whatever.

Why?

What do you order @6079SmithW ?

I’m in Japan at the minute and a few of the places we’ve been to showed us a card in English or had a a sign or note on the menu to say that each person dining needs to buy a drink. We were planning to anyway and I thought it was a bit strange because who wouldn’t order a drink at an izakaya restaurant. I hadn’t realised that it was so common for people not to order any drinks. A cup of iced water is put on your table in any restaurant here, but I’d still always order a drink, same as at home. I genuinely didn’t realise it was so common not to. As long as the restaurant you’re at doesn’t have a minimum drink order then I think it’s fine. If it’s somewhere like a coffee shop and you only order something small like a cookie and then sit there taking up a seat and drinking from their water jugs then that’s not on. Otherwise it seems fairly harmless to me.

What kind of drink is required? Will juice do?

I will usually order a coffee after. Does that count?

Otherwise I generally drink water. I don't like alcohol drinks and am usually the driver. Sometimes I'll get a juice or a lemon and lime bitters. I don't feel obligated to buy a drink with a 2-3 course meal.

Any kind of drink seems to be ok. There’s nothing to specify it has to be alcohol and juices are usually as or more expensive than alcoholic drinks here anyway. A glass of orange juice is pretty much always more expensive than the cheapest house whisky highball so I don’t see why they’d mind that.

I don’t alway want alcohol and I don’t like anything fizzy so yeah sometimes I order water because that’s what I prefer. Why is that a problem?

Some of us don’t drink alcohol or sugary drinks.
So if restaurants want non-water ordered, decent alternatives need to be offered.

Former restauranteur here. No issue with just tap water. People are buying food.

I only like water. In some places they don't serve tap water, so I buy flat mineral water, but if available I would always prefer tap water as it seems silly to ship bottles of water around the place when tap water is fine. More of an ecological than an economic consideration for me.

We always order a huge amount of food (sporty dh and 2 sons) so I'm pretty sure the restaurant is more than breaking even on us anyway.

If I'm out at lunch time then it's water for me. Breakfast or brunch, that's tea or coffee with water. Dinner might be a glass of wine and water. Lunch? Definitely just water. A long time ago I'd have ordered a crisp cranberry juice, but I've had some appalling ones that were all pale pink sugar water. No thanks.

I don’t like soft drinks, so no. If I’m not drinking alcohol then it will be tap water only.

What’s the problem? They’ve bought their meal - why do they need to spend more money on top?

I’m with you! It reminds me of my old uni housemate, who always used to propose going to the pub with “Are we going for a few beverages?”, as if it made him a bit fun and quirky. I wanted to hit him in the face with a pan.

I’ve worked in various hospitality jobs and it’s perfectly OK to drink tap water as your only drink with a meal. In practice, very few tables order no drinks with a meal, but it’s not uncommon for one or two people on a table to stick to tap water and it would be fine if everyone did.