Guests pay 200 forints for ice cube in a restaurant near Lake Balaton

HUF 200 (EUR 0.49) extra if you get an ice cube in your drink? This can certainly happen in the extreme heat, as everything has a price when energy is scarce.

The restaurant of Ördög and Nánási

Nóra Ördög is a well-known Hungarian TV presenter, editor. In 2020, Ördög and her husband, Pál Nánási, have opened their very own bistro at Lake Balaton, in Balatonakarattya. The bistro has been very popular since the beginning. Blikk has previously reported on the oddities of different restaurants, but this time, the bill of Nóra Ördög’s restaurant in Balatonakarattya included the HUF 200 in addition for an ice cube.

HUF 200 for ice cubes

“A couple of weeks ago, we sat down for breakfast at the restaurant of the well-known TV host. This has happened before, my partner is a food fan. I hadn’t noticed it before, but now I noticed right away that the bill included a special item, namely the ice cube, for which they charged an extra 200 forints,” the young man recalled to Blikk, who asked for his name not to be published.

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As a result, he said, the soda water they ordered already cost double its original price, HUF 400 (EUR 1). “I’ve never noticed such an item on the bill before, and I didn’t mention it this time either, I just told my partner that it was a bit rough,” added the customer, who also admitted that he asked for a glass of cold soda water, preferably with plenty of ice.

Nóra Ördög, the owner of the restaurant, was visibly surprised when Blikk asked her how long they had been charging customers for ice. At first she thought it might be a mistake. But when she saw the bill, she soon found out what was behind it.

The reason behind the extra HUF 200

“My husband, Pál Nánási, and I spoke to the staff and it turned out that they had started charging for ice in cases where the drinks did not contain ice cubes by default, unknowingly and somewhat beyond their authority, although obviously in the interests of our company. In fact, it has recently become common for guests to ask for extra ice,” the TV presenter and restaurateur began, confirming that as the owner, she was unaware of this.

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“In this case, they asked for ice with a glass of soda, which is very cold by default, so we don’t serve ice cubes with it, and we don’t sell it at a high price. Nevertheless, this is certainly not a desirable practice and we have taken steps to ensure that it doesn’t happen in the future. In the case of syrups and cocktails, ice cubes are a basic ingredient and are included in the price of the product, we do not charge for them separately,”

explained Nóra Ördög, adding that with today’s energy prices, the preparation, serving and storage of ice cubes cannot be considered a penny expense either. She added that this would not happen again and expressed her regret for what had happened. The well-known TV host also said that he contacted the guests and compensated them for the inconvenience.

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Source: Blikk.hu, life.hu