Beware of restaurants' bill before payment!

Yes restaraunts are good at this these days. We recently went to Four Waterwheels in Hama, asked for two seperate tickets. When the bill arrived we were in fact charged for three seperate water service (bottle of water, napkin) and only recieved two. Regardless we didnt need the two but because we opened two seperate tickets they figured what the heck charge us for two tables, but somehow in all of it they still couldnt add! I was quite tiffed, and needless to say no longer recomend or go there! They were extremely rude about the whole thing, and to me honestly what makes it worse is the handwritten tickets that even the local arabs cant read. Dont ever be shy to ask to get a ticket explained! It is thier duty.

Aisha

This is a common mistake/scam in a lot of countries. While living in Kyrgyzstan, the bill was NEVER right, and we had to fight everytime. Even to places we frequented. That being said, i've had incorrect bills in western Europe and North America too. Nobody's perfect.

I recently went to the Four Waterwheels in Hama, besides trying to over charge me for the houmas I ordered. They then also tried to charge me, for a bottle of water and a box of Kleenex tissues, that I hadn't ordered or touched. This dishonest restaurant has subsequently been removed from my Hama top tips list. Who do they think they are?

That's a shame; last time I was in Tartous, one mshabba place I went to for breakfast one morning wouldn't even let me pay!

Although I do find that I get overcharged sometimes in Syria/Lebanon/Jordan, I don't usually get too worked up about it, as the amounts for a Briton are typically small, and overcharging in one place is usually balanced out by staggering generosity somewhere else.