Is ordering tap water in a restaurant rude?

[TigerOnTour]

My friend often orders tap water in restaurants and I think it's a bit rude. She also has a tiny appetite so will basically just order a side, a starter or a child's meal. I feel like we are pissing off the restaurant. Obviously we don't all have to order a bottle of champagne, but a coke isn't expensive. Friend is very wealthy, if that matters.

I believe it’s rude and cheap and order bottled water in restaurants

I always order Tap water, but I also order other drinks, it’s never just water, and I order a meal. I’d not go in and just order water, and if I did, I’d have bottled if it was all I wanted.

Why on earth would it be rude? Heard it all now

Agree @Gogogo12345

Asking for tap water is not rude ANYWHERE. 🙄

Many places offer it, and those who don't will happily give it if you ask. It's tap water FFS! 😆

No. It's not rude.

There was a big campaign by the Evening Standard at around 2005 to make free tap water available at every London restaurant.

I only drink water so won’t feel guilty ordering it. Sometimes I order sparkling cos I fancy it but otherwise tap water is fine. I always order a full adult meal too though.

JacketPotatoFoodOfTheGods · Today 21:49
No. It's not rude.

The combination of your reply and your username suggests to me that you are the soundest, most sensible person on Mumsnet.

Cheap I can understand. I don’t agree, but I can see why some might think so. But I can’t fathom why anyone would think it rude.

Firstly coke can be quite expensive- I paid over £4 for a small bottle in a restaurant at lunch today!
Ordering tap water is perfectly fine....and a decent restaurant will often provide or offer without being asked.
Bottled water is generally also available but unnecessary (and less sustainable)

The reason the restaurant may be annoyed is that is is only ordering a small meal..especially kids meal as these are often priced as a loss leader. So at busy times she is taking up a seat/table but spending well below the average cover spend....and not because she is drinking water. Lots of people do.

This thread is bonkers. How can it be rude to order tap water and a small meal? Is there an official calorie requirement for a meal out? And what about an adult with a young child, ordering a glass of water and a child’s meal for the child? Is that rude? How is that different from you and your friend eating out together?
Honestly, I had no idea that some people would say I wasn’t welcome in a restaurant unless I necked a fizzy drink and shovelled in a few million calories of steak and chips into my mouth!

Can you explain that? If OP is with her friend and OP is eating a full meal and fizzy drinks, but friend is having water/side dish - are you saying OP shouldn’t be allowed to go to restaurants unless she brings a greedy friend with her, who’ll eat a shit ton of food? Can OP eat out on her own? Is that allowed? Because surely that’s even worse than being with her small-appetite friend?

I know a few restaurants where tap water is free if you're getting another drink too, and otherwise there's a small charge (50p-£1.50) which I like as a policy as it's clear where you stand. I avoid alcohol and sugary drinks and genuinely prefer tap water.

I thought in the UK it’s free on demand?

Agree. This is my approach too. Tap water alongside a glass of wine is absolutely fine. As a stand alone drink it should be bottled.

I’m a CF who orders tap water and asks for ice and lemon in it 😜

Ordering such a small (cheap) meal is wrong though. The restaurant needs to make money off the table and that means ordering more than a £5 side for the hour you’re sitting there.

StormingNorman · Today 22:37
I’m a CF who orders tap water and asks for ice and lemon in it 😜”

Most good restaurants provide as standard. Why wouldn’t you? It costs little and promotes goodwill. I would.

??? surely everyone is considering the restaurant, it's integral to the question, who else would the OP be suggesting the action of ordering tap water was rude to?

The friend isn't taking up a table, she's there with at least one other person (OP) or a group, so she's taking up one chair on a table that is already occupied and therefore not available to other diners anyway. It's not as if the restaurant would squeeze an extra random diner on the table with OP and her friends if tap-water-drinking friend didn't come.

I order tap water with ice, I thought due to licensing rules water must be available. If they don’t like it then don’t serve alcohol.
The restaurant should have a minimum spend if they don’t like it.
It’s no worse than people sitting in coffee shops for hours drinking one coffee.

If I’m not drinking alcohol I only ever drink water. At home it’s just filtered through the fridge but essentially tap water.
Would always as for bottled in a restaurant though as otherwise I feel like a cheapskate! Even when everyone else is ordering soft drinks or alcohol and we don’t ever scrimp on the food order, one side dish isn’t going to touch the sides but i just don’t like other soft drinks. Sometimes I’ll order sparkling to really push the boat out 😂

My mum always thought it was rude / not done thing but she’s getting used to it now as insist. I don’t need bottled water and not good for environment so don’t want to pay for it. I do order a main
edit- although I may have another drink with the water (wine, coffee or soft drink), I may not, particularly if it’s just lunch

We order it all the time, our child only drinks it (their choice) and we have it as it as well as ordering a coffee usually or sometimes tea

no idea why it is rude?

@Lampslights
It's free in NI. We don't have water charges.

Only water if you are drinking alcohol.

Licencing laws for those drinking alcohol....

I'd do this until the recent tap water situation. Not sure I'd do it now though!