Dear Slate, yes there are chocolate bars in China
Lot o' Hotpot: Three Travellers
How AIDS in China is spreading
Shanghaiist Scrabble: We have a winner!
Interview: Kerry Ann Lee, culture shock = inspiration
That is, because they won't give you any.
On Saturday night, after enjoying a nice home style meal at Chun, our favorite little hole in the wall, we walked over to Manifesto to enjoy a taste of the opposite end of the Shanghai social spectrum. We got there at about 9:30 pm, found a booth and ordered our drinks: a glass of red wine (54 RMB), a bottled beer (45 RMB) and a cocktail (58 RMB). Shanghaiist was thirsty -- likely still dehydrated from the previous evening's Happy Hour -- so we ordered a glass of water, too. The following dialogue transpired:
Waitress: I'm sorry, we don't serve water.
Shanghaiist: You don't serve water?
Waitress: On Friday and Saturday after 9 pm, we don't serve water.
Shanghaiist: Why?
Waitress rushes off. A few minutes later she brought us our drinks. Shanghaiist: Excuse me, I just wanted to know why you don't serve water.
Waitress: No water!
Waitress rushes off again. We flag her down a little bit later. Shanghaiist: I understand that I can't get water, but I am just curious why.
Waitress: We don't serve water when it is busy.
Shanghaiist: It's busy now? There are 10 people here.
Waitress: No water after 9. You can order mineral water.
We notice that there are two glistening glass jugs full of water on the bar. It looked delicious. We stopped the waitress as she rushed by again. Shanghaiist: We were wondering what the water on the bar is for ...
Waitress: It is for our staff. If they get thirsty.
Shanghaiist: That makes sense. Thanks.
No tip for her. One thing that sucks about living in a country that doesn't tip, you have very few ways to show your disapproval when you get bad service. The waitress at Manifesto was an unsmiling bitch and there was nothing we could do about it. For the record, six drinks at Manifesto will cost you more than a dinner for five at Chun. And the service at Chun is so much better -- when we ordered a Diet Coke, they didn't have any ... so they walked across the street and bought us one.
Image from woundedmuse.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
post to facebook
Hilarious! My friends and I had the same experience with that waitress (I know just the one you are talking about). We complained to management, and when the management reprimanded her, she had to nerve to come over and give us even more attitude. It was appalling.
It's a pity because Manifesto is a cool place to hang. But given the current state of affairs, I am going to take my RMB and spend it elsewhere.
I agree, the water situation at resteraunts in this city is intolerable.
It has gotten so bad that when my friends and I discuss good resteraunts in this city one of the key selling points is whether they bring water to the table after being asked only once. Honestly, I think management tells their servers to not bring water the first time asked - as if I'm going to throw down for a 35 rmb coke to go with my beer if you fail to provide water.
A couple other places that don't serve free water are the British Bulldog and How Nice Brazilian BBQ. It really doesnt make much sense. A big water cooler for my home runs me about 12 kuai, and my water dispenser cost a whopping 60 kuai. Usually if you bitch enough, they will find you a glass of water, but if your with a date who doesn't need to see that lovely side of you just yet, than avoid any one of these places. By the way the BBQ place mentioned above is in Raffles City, and it is pretty awful.
That's really really annoying.
"and there was nothing we could do about it."
That however is not true. Just not true. Dan, there are so many levels that are worth sinking down to.
Did you or 'rence' above go with a Shanghainese girl? I don't think so. Man my wife would have SLAYED that bitch, I mean SLAYED.
I'm getting really excited thinking about it actually. I might take the wife there just to watch the sparks fly. She is of course nice and polite and I don't think an Englishman would marry a girl unless her manners were impeccable - but man can that bitch SLAY anyone who is rude to her first!!!
Reminds me of the various places around town that won't serve ice coffee with a set lunch ("only regular coffee or regular tea"), but will happily give you a cup full of ice with that regular coffee.
Did you really just call your wife a bitch? I need to stay away from this hole.
Ha ha, that stuff happens all the time in Beijing as well. It's near-impossible to get a free glass of water anymore.
You should check out Chinarant.com for similar postings...
As if we needed another reason to boycott British Bulldog ...
Me and my wife call each other much much worse. It's called maturity . . .
"Me and my wife call each other much much worse. It's called maturity . . ."
I'm LMAO, but that's the most immature thing I've read in eons.
I like Manifesto, there aren't enough chill lounge type places in Shanghai in my opinion. I often want to sit and chat casually and drink without disco music or live music, and I don't want to be in an intimate setting like Velvet Lounge or People7. Face really pisses me off, so I end up at Manifesto, like last night. I just don't understand why at just about 12 midnight, with about 20 patrons in the place, they were calling "last call". Annoying because we were up for another round or two, but didn't want to see the place closing around us. So we left.
Anyhow, if you have a problem with a waitress, why not speak to the Manager? Charlie (actually the owner) is a very cool and attentive guy and would have certainly taken care of you.
@ Old Geezer - Agreed.
I know which waitress you're talking about! Is she on the short side with a round face and ponytail? I really don't know why Charlie keeps her, I've heard so many complaints about that girl. And she's incredibly rude to me and my friends whenever we go there.
The no water policy is better aggravating but I'm pretty used to it. At Element Fresh, I'm pretty certain they give you water straight from the tap and then add some lemons to it because their water tastes like ass.
I too have had a very similar experience but next door at the sister restaurant Mesa. First they charged me 80RMB for a bottle of imported still spring water. On asking for just plain water we were told its not available.
As much as I agree with the poor attitude of the waitress I do believe that it is a management issue here. If the management really want to give free water there is no reason (other than laziness) that they don't serve it. Why are the management there so cheap...
there's a qwik-mart across the street from Mesa, so just load up on bottled water and bring it along to your fine-dining experience of beets, goat cheese and the like. they won't refuse to give you a nice tall glass for that ass.
mmh..I heard that actually drinking a glass of Shanghai's (finest) water would be equivalent to taking a sip of toilet cleaning detergent. Cannot confirm that one, but it is highly unlikely that they will use bottled water to give you a free treat. That's also the reason, why I stopped to ask for ice cubes. Another interesting thing is - have you noticed that your hotel room comes with bottled water in the bathroom? It's for brushing your teeth.
>>Another interesting thing is - have you noticed that your hotel room comes with bottled water in the bathroom? It's for brushing your teeth.
I've always just used beer. Cleaner than water and washes away the chalky aftertase of that HeiRen toothpaste. And after you're done rinsing--Hey! You've got beer! Great way to start a day of meetings off on the right foot.
Best place for water: Azul. Big glasses with ice and lemon. And you never have to ask.
Zapatas has a policy of not serving water after nine or ten o'clock as well. The last time I was there, I dropped a couple hundred kuai on fish bowls and beer, but was flatly denied when I asked for a simple glass of water. Even tap water.
So I puked in their bushes.
If there are any restaurant or bar managers out there reading this, do the right thing and supply your patrons with a glass of water upon request. You may be selling a couple of bottles each night at some criminal markup (25 rmb for a 2 kuai bottle?), but you're alienating a lot of potential customers.
Don't you just get people sitting around all day enjoying the free water otherwise?
Tell them you are mentally ill and must take your medicine with water, or things might get out of shape.
All over Shanghai, restaurants and bars refuse patrons water. It may be a step up from offering them tap water which is virtually guaranteed to make you amazingly sick (being certainly worse than toilet water in many places in the world), but it doesn't make any sense. I know I am far more likely to stay... and spend more money in a bar when I can have a glass of water in between my many glasses of wine. It is a fact that drinking, especially wine, is bound to make you thirsty. Unfortunately there is not a lot of recourse in that situation. Manifesto is a great lounge and I would not advocate boycotting them over the water issue. I strongly suggest we just learn to bring our own water and place it prominently on the table. Maybe once managers and owners see this form of non-verbal protest, they might start to get a clue. Free water = Good business.