As a rule of thumb, water is free at restaurants. One simple request is all it takes to obtain a cold glass of H₂O.
But at certain restaurants, the options may be more complicated. One New York woman is sounding the alarm on how to make sure you’re ordering the right water at certain restaurants.
“If you’re visiting NYC and you’re at a sit-down restaurant, the waiter’s gonna ask you if you want still or sparkling water,” TikToker Leni (@hello_len) begins in her video. “They’re not gonna tell you the secret third option.”
Here’s the magic word she stressed viewers should say to avoid an unwanted charge on their check.
“It’s very important to answer with ‘tap,'” she says. “Don’t be thinking ‘still’ is free. They’re going to bring you a glass bottle of water, and they will charge you.”
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Leni’s video received over 372,000 views.
In the comments section, many viewers shared that her PSA was issued a little too late, as they had already made the mistake and racked up a hefty bill. Several also pointed out that this is the norm at restaurants in other places in the U.S. and around the world.
“I once watched in horror as a table of my friends all ordered their own bottle of still water. Half the bill was just on their [expletive] waters,” one viewer recalled.
“They got me with this and I paid like $20 of water and [I] was like broke and 19 and almost died. I was only in New York like 30 hours and I already paid for a $20 bottle of water like three hours in,” another recounted.
“Yes this has happened to me but we said bottle and it was $18 a bottle and we have 3 of them lol,” a third remembered.
“This pmo so bad in Miami,” another said.
On the other hand, those who hadn’t fallen prey to this revealed how they avoid it.
“If they ask you about water, just think $till or $parkling – I always explicitly say tap,” one commenter stated.
“I have no shame in asking which is the free option,” a second remarked.
Some shared another way you could order tap water at restaurants: say, “House water.”
Is Free Water a Restaurant Right?
The restaurant tactic of charging for water has faced heat from critics. In 2022, Esquire wrote a lengthy argument about how exclusively offering sparkling or still is “meant to befuddle, goad, and mislead the diner into paying for what should naturally be free,” serving as a reminder of the “essential transactional nature of a restaurant.”
While there are establishments that offer complimentary sparkling water courtesy of a filtration system, it’s not the norm. Nevertheless, most do have tap water free of charge as the standard.
So, if your server only gives you two options—still or sparkling—don’t hesitate to ask for tap water. If you prefer sparkling, ask the price ahead of time.
Subplot News reached out to Leni via email and TikTok direct message. We will update this story if she responds.
@hello_leni
