We ate at Bo, a cafe near our apartment, and we had a crappy experience, despite the fact that their pizza was the best yet here in Greece.
I'll say that this isn't typical of the cafes and restaurants we've patroned here in Athens, it was definitely an outlier. It first took forever to get our food, and considering that it was New Year's Day it was by no means busy. We even had the bill on our table long before the food! We were generally able to let that slide, since the Miami Swimwear Spring Fashion Week was on the TV so we watched some tushies in swimsuits while waiting.
Then while joking about the bill arriving before the food, we realized that they'd overcharged both of our meals. While the total amount overcharged was less than a euro, I still wanted to know what was up. I figured we'd get some line about having changed their prices while still using old menus. Turns out I wasn't far off. The waiter stumbled around checking the prices in the menu when we pointed it out and then said that it was because of Christmas, that they raised their prices for two weeks around Christmas and everybody in Greece does it. He also pointed out that it wasn't illegal. While I don't claim to know what is or isn't legal in Greece, I do know what is and isn't ethical and we clearly pointed out that while it might be legal, it was in fact still lying and unethical. It wasn't the amount or even the fact that they increased prices for the holidays that bugged me, really they could have said they raised their prices because it was a Saturday if they had been upfront about it. By trying to hide it and sneak it on the bill hoping no one would make a fuss, just points to a poorly run business.
Thankfully, the prices were restored to the advertised amount, and in the end, the waiter got a slightly bigger tip than he might have otherwise.
*Catch up on our entire Athens adventure by checking Our Travel Page, or our Greece tag.*
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