Be on your guard

IN these hard times it must be very difficult running a restaurant on the island especially as consumers search for value for money at all times. But I would like to alert you to what I call a rather smart practice which is being carried out by some restaurants. They offer you a good value three course menu- of- the-day for as little as ten euros but what they don´t say is that drink in not included. The other day Ienjoyed what Ithought was an excellent value menu of the day;the three course meal cost 10 euros but a small bottle of water and a coffee cost 4 euros. Total cost 14 euros. My cheap meal no longer looked as cheap. After paying the bill I glanced again at the three course menu and indeed it didn´t say anything about drinks. Now, I have noticed a number of restaurants carrying out this practice over recent months. In other-words they have tried to reduce the cost of their food but at the same time they have increased their drinks  prices. This is not really acceptable behaviour. The restaurant should really advertise that drinks are not included.  So be on your guard. The restaurant trade continues to struggle as both tourists and local residents have cut back. Ithink you could almost count on a single hand the restaurants which are making big profits. But this should be no excuse for smart practices. They may appear to be smart practices but they are not smart at all really because I will not return to the restaurant in question because in some ways Ifelt Ihad been conned.