Bratislava: Great food, but poor service

Just my experience with a rude waiter


After my girlfriend and I walked from Bratislava's Main station to the Presidential Palace, then walked through the Michael's Gate to the Main Square, we arrived at the Hviezdoslav Square, and that's when we really got hungry. So we decided to find a restaurant around there. The first restaurant we saw was Slovenská reštaurácia (Slovakian restaurant), but it seemed very fancy and the prices were pretty high, so we skipped that one and walked on.

Slovenská reštaurácia from the outside.

Next to Slovenská reštaurácia is Café and Restaurant Verne, where we decided to have our lunch. It looked cozy and small and the prices were reasonable. They had wooden tables and chairs placed on the sidewalk of the Hveizdoslav square. There was also an interior part, but we just sat outside. We put our small cam and the DSLR on the table and started to check the menu. It was in Slovak and in English, so it was easy to find out what they had, but with my Slovenian I could understand most of the menus they served. Since I wanted to try the famous Slovak dish Bryndzové halušky and just have coffee, we had to choose something for my girlfriend. They mostly served some modern West European food. Since my girlfriend wanted to try something new, we went for chicken cutlet covered with tomatoes and mozzarella.

Everything seemed fine, but then... we were waiting... and waiting... and waiting. Now and then waiters passed by, but nothing happened. We felt like we were invisible. Must have been like 10min, before we saw the waiter near enough, so that my girlfriend, who was almost starving, turned her head and called him by using a hand gesture. The guy (who looked like a rickety student with long hair and a tattoo on his leg, wearing sneakers and an apron over his shorts) would not bother me at all, had he not given my girlfriend a weird look, as if she was rude by waving him over. Helo? Isn't waving the waiter over like the ultimate hand gesture acceptable everywhere? Maybe everywhere but in Bratislava? I mean, what can we do? Tsk him over? And we were waiting like 10min to get our order... =.= what would you do?

This is how the tables look like.

I haven't noticed his weird look, but my girlfriend was a bit shocked and told me: "The waiter just looked at me as if he was a bit annoyed. Did I do anything wrong? Is he unfriendly, because I'm Asian?" I replied: "No, maybe he is moody or stressed, I'm sure it's not, because you're Asian."

So the guy comes over after a minute and already looks a bit annoyed. No smile, he doesn't even welcome us, he just stands there silently. So I ask: Do you speak English? He looks at me and then mumbles something like: "Yes, and you?"

What? Did he just reply "Yes, and you?" O.o Was that supposed to be funny or something? "Yes, and you?" Is this the Slovakian humor? Sorry, if I did not laugh at your sarcastic reply, but I was starving and annoyed with the poor service. Seriously, I never came across such an unfriendly waiter, not in Ljubljana and not in Macau. Bratislava tops my list of the cities with the most unfriendly people I've ever met. I guess I should've paid 50eur for a meal in Bratislava to get some friendliness along with it? I don't know, but I'd love to be enlightened about that, because except some young girls at the main station, who helped us with the directions of the luggage storage service, we only encountered rude or annoyed Slovakians that day.

We ordered drinks first, I had a latte, my girl had tea. It was both very good. And we weren't served by that rude waiter, a girl brought us the drinks and the food and at least she smiled. I think.

My latte and my girlfriend's blueberry tea.

And after some 10min of waiting, I finally got the famous Slovakian national dish: Bryndzové halušky! It's a simple dish made of potato dumplings, sheep's cheese and bacon.

Brindzové halušky: Simple but soooo yummy!

I would go to Bratislava just to try this dish again.

My girlfriend's dish wasn't bad either: A chicken cutlet covered with pieces of tomatoes and mozzarella cheese and with fried potatoes and vegetables. It was very yummy and also very fulling. We had no complaints about the food, it was superb.

And we also ordered pancakes with walnut filling for dessert: Tasty as well.

When we finished our food, we had to wait again for the waiter to pass by. I spotted him drinking beer at one of the tables and chatting with some friends. Nice. When he finally came around the corner, I asked for the bill and of course he didn't smile or anything, just went inside. When he came back, he passed me the bill and said: "Here you go, buddy." O.o

. . .

What can I say more? Of course he didn't say thanks or anything. That would be too much for mr. Hereyougobuddy. It would probably trigger a gag reflex in his throat and I surely would not wanna see that. I couldn't be happier to leave that place. But there was some comfort: The food only cost us only around 15€ and I mean all together, drinks, main dish and the dessert. I'd probably pay 3 times more in Vienna. And the food was yummy and abundant. So I guess we were lucky after all. Here are some reviews of the Verne restaurant and I guess I wasn't the only one, who experienced poor service there.

After the food, we left Hviezdoslav Square and moved on to the New Bridge and the Bratislava castle. More about that the next time.

Hviezdoslav Square.

Did you ever experience poor service or a rude waiter? Share your experience.

Hviezdoslav Square <- BEFORE ✰ NEXT -> New Bridge

[Keep in mind, that I'm only sharing my personal experience here]
[Bratislava map][Slovakia is not Slovenia][All photos by MKL, 2010]