Drinks in restaurants?

[SlushMountain]

Say a family of 5 go to a restaurant, is it acceptable to buy only 2 refillable drinks and share them or is that not allowed/ frowned upon? Last time I went we spent £20 on just drinks! What do other people do?

Yes of course it is

I can’t imagine the restaurant would be very impressed but I can see why you’d do it. Do you just ask for extra glasses?

Have no personal experience of refillable drinks in restaurants, but I would think that once you’re ordering food, then that’s absolutely fine. Lots of people go to restaurants and request tap water.

I think it’s really cheeky to do that with refillable drinks. If you want to get 2 “normal” drinks plus tap water and share them between 5 then fair enough, but not with refillable ones.

Good grief ! that's mean. 2 drinks between 5 how do you work out whose turn it is.
refillable ? just where are you eating out.

£20 on drinks - yes £4 per head. and that's prob per drink.

No because you’d have to pay for them?

Ah ok, I’ve completely misunderstood the “refillable drinks” concept. Yes, if you’re using two refillable drinks options to serve your table of five, then yes that is unacceptable.

Refillable drinks is normal in many restaurants Pizza Hut being one of them 🤷🏼‍♀️ it’s hardly an unusual concept

No, I don’t think that’s OK at all. Cheapskate and dismal.

That’s fine will probably skip the drinks then as £20 is crazy and I’d be more embarrassed asking for tap water, just didn’t think it was any different to allowing kids to share a plate at a restaurant which I’ve heard people doing. I will ask on another group as I know mumsnet can be snobby 😂

It reminds me of Alan Partridge and his extra large plate.

Well that’ll be an enjoyable meal out then with no drinks 🙄

Will put them in our bags and have them before/after 🤷🏼‍♀️

I’d be more embarrassed asking for tap water

Why? It’s a perfectly normal thing to do.

That seems cheap to me, it’s no big deal anyway was just a question. Drinks with meals aren’t compulsory and I’m not spending £20 on drinks again so will have some in our bags for after.

If you do ask for tap water then they just give you a glass and you fill it up with ice and water yourself at the drinks area. It’s not embarrassing atall. Don’t be tempted to grab juice as they’d def charge.

Perplexed that you feel the tap water option is embarrassing but yet wouldn’t be mortified by ordering 2 refillable drinks for a table of 5?

We often order tap water when eating out at lunch and not planning on having alcohol or wanting other types of beverages, especially if in work hours and we are wanting swift service, don't feel embarrassed about it as it’s just situational.

Not at the restaurants I’ve been to they give you a glass of water as I’ve been with others that have asked for it.

It’s not “snobby” to find this behaviour cheap and embarrassing. The increased cost of living affects restaurants/fast food places as much as anyone else, and they’ve presumably calculated the cost of this policy based on the number of refills the average person will have. If everyone just buys one refillable drink and shares it around their whole group they’re going to be losing money. Honestly £20 for refillable drinks for 5 people doesn’t seem that bad to me. But if it does to you drinking tap water is a perfectly normal thing to do.

Somewhere like pizza hut will charge you per head if they see you doing that anyway, same as if they see two people eating from one buffet plate. Not ordering drinks at all is much weirder than ordering tap water.

You would order two refillable drinks between five which is very obvious to be cheap, yet asking for tap water is outrageous. I’m so confused! I always order a soft drink or alcoholic but always ask for some water for the table. Never knew I was being cheap!

Apologies the last Pizza Hut I went to was completely devoid of service. So we went in and were told to order on the app and then they brought me an empty glass and vaguely gestured at drinks area. Where to be fair I did find water. There was some bottles of squash too is unlimited squash a thing for kids?

Nothing embarrassing about ordering tap water though.

I’d be more embarrassed buying 2 drinks for 5 people to share than asking for tap water. I always ordered a glass of tap water, sometimes that’s all I have (dont like fizzy drinks) but even if I’m having a wine or beer with my meal I still order it with a glass of tap water too, cos I like water with my food, no waiting staff have ever made me feel bad for doing this. In no way is ordering tap water in the uk embarrassing or unusual.

Just order 5 tap waters or ask for a jug of water for the table if you feel £20 for 5 drinks is too much.

Just drink water. Sharing plates is completely different then overusing the refills

Lots of people actually do drink water with a meal, by choice.