When you go to a restaurant, you typically seat yourself. If there is an empty, clean table you may take it. There is no greeter or table seater with menus. Your waiter or waitress will bring you your menus.
D asked for Cracker "Barrow" several times when we first arrived. There are no specialty breakfast places here, though occasionally we will see a breakfast type item on a menu. One example is "ham 'n eggs", though we don't really know what exactly that would be like. Some offer "palacinky" (pancake) on their dessert menu, which is similar to a crepe and is filled with fruit, chocolate, poppy seeds, or a nut mixture. Sometimes it is topped with yogurt or sour cream.
For weekday lunches most restaurants have something called the "daily menu." This is typically a soup, a main dish, and sometimes a dessert. The choices are set and the price is reduced, often making the soup or the dessert free. This is primarily so that people who work can quickly get a meal and go back to work. The restaurant makes large amounts of the foods offered on the daily menu. During Communism employers were required to provide for their employees' lunches and this continues for many today. Now though, people can choose to either use their "vouchers" at a restaurant or they can also use them to buy groceries at different stores. Many choose to buy the groceries to save on their expenses.
Some restaurants sell the main course, such as chicken, alone and then you order the side, at an additional cost. Typical sides are potatoes, knedla (a bready dumpling), or rice, but some offer vegetables as well.
Salads are popping up here and there, but are still not overly common on the menu. If you do order a salad, it will most likely have an even amount of lettuce, tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, and any other included veggies. Dressing choices are very limited here, so oil and vinegar would most likely be what is served unless they have put a mayonnaise type dressing on it.
If you pay by credit card they typically bring a little hand-held wireless machine over to process your card. I honestly prefer this method as we had two different credit card number stolen after visiting the same chain restaurant in a suburb of Chi*cago.
Europeans are prepared to pay for drinks and often this is one of the reasons they go out with friends (especially if they drink alcohol). For those who like those free glasses of water you get in the States, we have found an option. Many restaurants will give you a pitcher of water, but only if you know how to ask for it. Many don't charge for it, but some do. We have learned to say, "Prosím si dzban čistej vody." We are asking for a pitcher of clean water. Of course this is to make sure they don't give us dirty water. Just kidding! Not really sure why we have to say "clean", but this is what we've been told to do. It basically tells them we want water from the tap, not a bottle. If you order a drink, do not expect to get ice. If you want ice in your drink you'll have to go to McDonald's. Often drinks are not overly expensive, especially if you order a Slovak specialty like Kofola (soda only found in SK) or Vinea (like sparkling grape juice, but a little different and cheaper).
Beef dishes are rare, especially burgers. Other than McDonald's we haven't had a hamburger since we left the States. Steak choices are limited too and generally very expensive. We aren't completely sure why this is the case. Even in the store beef is pricey. We have wondered if this is due to a lower demand after problems with Mad Cow Disease in Europe 10 years ago or so. That is just speculation on our part.
Pizza is generally cheap anywhere and since our kids love it, it is a great dining choice. You can get a large cheese pizza for around $5. You cannot find pepperoni or sausage pizza here, but you can get salami, chicken, ham, or bacon (their version of it anyway!). Corn is also a very popular topping choice as well as mushrooms and peppers. Probably the most unique pizza we've tried so far was zucchini and sun-dried tomatoes. It was very tasty! There is one Pizza H*t about 25 min. from our house. They have a Buy 1, Get 1 free deal from 2-5 during the week. We've only taken advantage of that twice since it is rather far (when you're paying $7-8/gal.).
Tipping is normally 10% here and you either tell them what to make the total when they bring the little credit card machine to your table or you give them extra money when you pay. You don't leave the tip on the table here.
Tables are not set ahead of time, so your waiter/waitress will bring out what you need based on what you ordered, not how many people there are. This is often true for napkins also.
Those are the differences we've observed or learned about so far!
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