you like coffee??
 

Tourists Charged $135 for Coffee
:helpme :helpme :Oh crap

A group of tourists was charged $135 for four coffees in Venice, Italy this week. The group of seven tourists from Rome sat down at Caffe Lavena in the famed St. Mark?s Square, ordered four espressos with shots of Amaro, an Italian liqueur, and enjoyed themselves. When the tourists received the bill for ?101, or $135, they were shocked to find espresso was $8 a cup, a shot of Amaro was $11, and they'd been charged another $56 because there was a string quintet playing!

full article and video...

hah, what a bunch of crybabies!

Ive been there before and they LIST the prices clearly for you to see.

So they are just trying to make a scene, but what did they expect, a $1 espresso and $2 shot? This isn't Detroit...

Stupid tourist making society look worse. If you go to a nice place and nice things are happening, you will pay more. Idiots :2 cents:

the band was playing so they were charged $65 surcharge!!! :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

:thumbsup it's embarrasing for the rest of us.

so they should sit and play for free for people all day? Sounds like a 10 Euro charge if you want to sit down. Have you ever been out of the US? It's common to charge a "dinning" fee if you want to sit down or take your food to go.

obviously this is something you wont find in your local chain store because they will allow anyone in and eat outside food. try that in an upscale restaurant and see how fast your ass get's tossed out.

point being, doing some homework before you travel and don't be so ignorant all the time :2 cents:

next time you go to a sporting event, tell them you're not going to watch the game, you're going to sit in the seat and play candy crush, so you shouldn't have to pay.

if you go to a bar and a band is playing you walk over and tip them?

Bought ice cream in florida once and every damn cone was ringing up $6-$8+, I didn't care cause was on vacation but once my aunt saw the first order ring up she changed her order on me, tried to get her to get whatever she was originally going to get but she wouldn't tell me as she thought the prices were crazy which they were, don't remember the total but cones for 5 people was pretty damn pricey, beware when the ice cream shop doesn't list prices :1orglaugh

fuck that id say you eat it and walk out :2 cents:

i tell ya what pissed me off, wnet on the outside to get my coffee this morning and on whim, got 1 of those fancy coffee shop $3 blueberry muffins, the good ones, got home and it tasted like blueberry perfume, they used fake blueberry flavoring in gourmet muffin!

did you finish it :helpme

hell yeah, it was $3! :1orglaugh

their coffee is fucking delicious though.

:1orglaugh yeah i would have as well

not in Europe

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh i would have been fuck no on the music charge and paid the rest.

Charging for the band is weak (anyone that thinks otherwise, please speak up); but to think Amaretto in a Venice hotel was going to be cheap, I am not sure where their head was at.

I've never paid to sit down and eat my food in Europe.

probably on of those tourist groups wearing t-shirts telling:
im on a spending frenzy and i wanna feel big for a day
please rip me off

i had my last cappuccino in venice for 2 EUZ /or wait was ist 1.50 and
if some singer, performer comes along send him to hell

What else could you expect from Italians?

you're oblivious. This is NOT common in europe, this is clearly a rip off. Love to see you go to countries where people rip you off even more, i bet you are the favourite tourist for these low life scam artists.

i say, whoah :-O

a room full of tourist is a goldmine :2 cents: the band would never stop playing id have a cd on repeat :1orglaugh

Good thing they didn't meet the mafia :)

they haven't figured out cover charge over there? Pay before you go in, don't charge after, that is stupid and clearly a trap.. no matter how fancy you new money think you are...

Odd I go to upscale places all the time and never get charged for the entertainment, or a surcharge for sitting.

Maybe they were just trying to rip off some tourists which is common practice in a lot of places now days.

Finally someone said it. Bingo.

The place seems to have this attitude like "fucking rube tourists, so stupid they deserve to get their wallets raped by us smart cunning locals"

when in fact those tourists will likely never go back there, and not only that but with this story will spread the word to millions of other future tourists (such as myself for example) who will also watch for and avoid such places.

Those prices and charges are absurd.

Good coffee must cost... :)

maybe they're trying to get their moneys worth :1orglaugh

according to the article, that cafe is in a primo spot in venice and is very upscale, the prices and such are all listed and if that group wanted to, they could have gone inside and gotten cheaper coffee and not had to pay the band fee.

i can also see at certain times an upscale cafe bringing in an upscale band that commands upscale fees, i would not have a problem at all paying extra for that.

The Costa Coffee in the town over from me charges more for 'eating in' rather than 'take away'. Not much - like 10% more - but its still more. This may be an extreme version of that kind of thing?

Was the band famous or something? I don't get it.

I got a 75 cent espresso yesterday and a 75 cent beer last night - of course I'm in Bogota, Colombia right now.

you just paid someones pay for a day. :pimp

i bet you had like 3 beers, maybe 4, no more than 5,.... 6 tops.

Minimum daily pay for 8 hours in Bogota is 15,000 pesos, so about $7. Most people make 20,000 and up.

I stop at three these days, especially with everything else available in Bogota. :pimp

i hear ya, same in la la :pimp i doubt i could get 3 beers down the hatch these days in fact. it's tasty though, how's columbia beer? decent?

:helpme :helpme

Italy is like that, poor tourists weren't advised. I wouldn't have paid those 56 and obviously would have made a huge scene. =P

They have some decent beers, all made by the same brewer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bavaria_Brewery_(Colombia)

Top 3 beers are Poker (1,100 pesos) Aguila (1,300 pesos) and Club Colombia (1,500 pesos). I'm a big spender, so I go with the 75 cent Club Colombia.

But sometimes I chill at the Bogota Beer Company - a great microbrewery that's been around for about 10 years - maybe 8 locations in Bogota. But now we're talking $3-4 a beer - considering rolled joints go for $2.50, that's some serious cash!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17912032

I don't like coffee, prefer black tea.

BTW maybe 3 years ago I bought coffee to my GF in Venice, and it was either 1 euro or 50 eurocents, don't remember for sure.