How they trick tourists with food "by weight"?
VloĆŸit
- Äas pĆidĂĄn 22. 05. 2024
- We have been following the story of Old Prague ham for some time now. Nothing has changed, only for the fact, that we decided to make another video to shed some light on this trick, that is being played on tourists that visit Prague.
Help us create more videos by joining us on Patreon / honestguide
Thank you, our creative journey would not have been possible without your help đ
Our BOOK: honest.blog/shop/honest-guide...
(Best places for beer, coffee & food included)
Honest Guide on Instagram: / realhonestguide
Janek: / janekrubes
Honza: / honzamikulka
Facebook: / honestpragueguide
0:00 Is Street Food Cheap?
1:13 When A Tourist Buys The Food
2:00 When A Local Buys The Food
3:23 How Does it Work?
6:14 London Calling
6:43 Hiding Behind a Charity?
9:36 Czech Word
9:57 Epilogue
Music we use for our videos: bit.ly/HonestMusic
(A great website for creators. This is an affiliate link and we may earn a commission if you purchase through our link.)
Thank you for your support!
Honza Mikulka & Janek RubeĆĄ, Prague based journalists
#HonestGuide
When I was visiting Prague, thanks to the Honest Guide Guy, I was prepared for this and I ordered "100 grams of Ham". They refused to sell to me by a specific weight. They insisted I'd have to pay to whatever it weighted. I told to them "Then sell me around 100 grams, I don't care if its a bit more" . Then, they again refused. They told me "pieces are pre-cut" , with the whole piece and a knife in the hand, hahaha. So I just walked away. Crooks.
@@armamentarmedarm1699 not much more because they are overpriceed, so the locals wonÂŽt eat there. The people who buy there do it because they donÂŽt want to look around and just want to eat something.
And looking at the video, they give people so much food that they would need like 300-400% more customers to make as much money.
Im so embaressed i was duped by these guys like... 4 years ago. There was somewhat of a line, and four VERY agressive "salespersons" in the stand. I asked for a hundred grams, they said there was a minimum requirement and started stressing me out, almost shouting at me. Instead of just walking away, i said "ok" - and left with a f-ing bucket of ham (enough for a family of four), like 27 euros (!) poorer. I have never felt so foolish. Chucked it all in a bin and left, because i was so angry. Hope these guys burn in hell.
@@armamentarmedarm1699 of course, they make more money this way, although the price per kg is always the same. If they gave out just normal sized portions, they would need about the 3x of clients every day. Also, it's much easier and less effort selling 600 g to one person than to 3 different persons (with 200g each). So, although it's very sneaky and disgusting, it works out economically.
@ same situation here man ahahaha, July 2018, hope this video will help tourists now
Can we all go in and destroy them on Google maps?
As a Norwegian, I think it's pretty great that you get free ham for the price of a beer.
My man trolling like a native Trollan
American here in Seattle, same.
FÞlernnn. KvÊr gang Ê e i Polen te familien min e Ê skolert over forskjellen pÄ priser. Det er jo sinnssjukt
Go get your salary in Czech crowns and you'll see :)
that right? dude got hooked up for cheap!
I feel so validated by this video - went to Prague in 2018 and was charged an exorbitant amount for a potato pancake + cabbage in a similar area. I walked away feeling like the change was wrong, queried it, then found myself in a bit of an arguing match with the vendor about the lack of clarity on weight charging.
Excellent work đđ
I've been to that exact same square and those exact same street food things and I actually had an argument with the employee over the amount of food I was being given. I was given a huge portion and when I politely asked to have a smaller portion I was denied. I was told that's the portion and that's it. In the middle of the argument I'm sure I was insulted in Czech. After some shouting, I eventually got the quantity I wanted. Many of the Czechs that run 'tourist targeted' businesses are actually quite unpleasent and don't deserve the money they get. There are nice people out there but they're not the majority.
if you didnt want to eat it all you could have trown it away.
@@melius0 DID YOU JUST THROW AWAY THE MONEY
@@melius0 the reason they are asking for a small portion is so that no money thrown away
@@melius0 Thatd be a waste of food and money
â@@melius0 reading your comment made me lose brain cells.
jUSt THrOw aWAY f0oD lOLz instead of just getting what you need and paying the appropriate amount.
This man is single-handedly dismantling the Czech mafia and corrupt politicians. On camera. We need more people like these everywhere.
Do not forget his partner camera man.. They are doing this together even that Honza is not in the videos, but behind them :)
I was just thinking thw same. My city needs guys like these two
@@lecisko e
They need security.
I digress⊠we need to hire them bodyguards
I remember being a student and ordering this ham, thinking 100g is the portion size. Got half a kilo of meat and a price that was way outside my price range. Walked away, they shouted something behind me, I kept walking end of story. What are they going to do? Call the cops? And say what? I didn't eat anything.
Epic
Based
Lol yeah don't fall for this shit
more should do this. that way they have to ask how much first XD
I will never, and have never eaten from a place that weighs its plates - and you pay per portion.
Ive just come back from Prague and this stand has actually doubles their efforts now. They now also sell some potato/gnocci, bacon, onion and cheese dish from a large pot. I chose to have some of that as I assumed it would be a cheaper street food option than the ham. Again they did it by weight which i didnt realise and after I paid 400kc i realised what had happened. Couldnt believe it. Be careful.
Whatâs the food place called? I canât find it
@@nadxc8590 its in the old square and youâll se the stands
I have been to the same stall in 2019. First time in Czech Republic, I had no clue how much was a portion, or what it was. There was a sign 100g for x amount (using x as I don't remember). I thought, ok I'll try it first, so I said "Can I get 100g please". The guy literally shouted at me and shooed me away saying you need to buy at least 10 Euros worth. Then I saw him sell a plate worth 16 euros to an American woman. He just quoted some amount in Czech krona and the woman said how much is than in Euros, and he went 16. She was startled a bit initially but paid the money.
The American woman asked how much it was in � Not $?
@@ApenstaartjeYT Yes, because euros are also accepted at many places in Prague. And a lot of tourists are touring many Schengen countries in the same trip so already have euros and can spend them directly in Prague without exchanging them. I did the same, as I traveled to the Netherlands and Germany just before and had some spare Euros which I spent in Prague. So at a lot of places, you can ask the price in euros.
@@ApenstaartjeYT euro and dollar are basically 1:1 so its not that hard to understand how much it is worth
Can confirm, same hapened to me back in 2017, and don't dare to tell them that they just gave you too much because they will just start to shout and insult you in Czech obviously
I asked for 200grams and got it no problem. I don't see what the problem is here.
When someone from London one of the most expensive cities in the world is saying the street food is overpriced, then there are problems.
@Tahir That's a surprise actually, there are tons of airports near the North Circular
@Tom Foster the price is the same for us Londoners. Beer costs ÂŁ6, that is 180 CZK for a single beer!
@@dgibelli ÂŁ6 for a beer is ridiculous. Just go into ASDA and smuggle a few instead.
@Tahir Ah ic, my mistake
@Tom Foster Same with the Barcelona. We also went to Tarragona and other places nearby and whole day ticket for all major sites in those towns woudn't cover single entrance fee to sight in Barcelona.
Also GOLDER RULE OF TRAVELING: Any establishment in the view of or a short walk from major touristy landmark is suspect by default until proven otherwise beyond reasonable doubt. Doesn't matter if it is Old Town Square, Acropolis or Tower of London.
Hey come to Romania please. Everything is cheap. Even in center
@@user-mi4yc7pr3x not at tourist hot spots. In every tourist city you have at least 1 guy out of 5 try to scam you with overpriced food. Its the same in berlin. If something is in a tourist guide its most time even worse ( with very few exceptions).
People visit berlin and eat a döner kebab at a special location for 5.50euro. As berlin guy i can say the döner there is nothing special. Its basicly a rip off / almost a scam because you get a tiny döner. Ive seen the same in pisa, rom, nice, monaco, paris.
If you walk to one street next to the tourist spots you find almost everywhere better or the same food but cheaper.
Acropolis is visible from most of Athens, even from many suburbs, just like all highly placed monuments like Christ in Rio or Burj Khalifa. The real golden rule is : if you don't see any locals sitting there, it's a bad sign.
@@teiher "in close view then" basically I was thinking of the whole area if you walk from Acropoli station to Monastiraki
@@Turtle1631991 even in the tourist zones, you can see several shops and vendors visited regularly by locals and others that are obvious tourist traps, even side by side to each other.
I was just in Prague for a few nights and loved the city. The Honest Guide videos helped me tremendously. Thank you for your videos.
I thought I was the only one! I visited Prague about 8 years ago around Easter and ended up paying 12 euros equivalent for cheese and potatoes (tartiflette, basically) - when the price was marked as being 2.5 euros or something. Outrageous. Thank you for the video!
So do I understand correct? Petr Hejma, the mayor of Prague 1, used his position and power to sell ham in the most central and expensive per square meter part of the country for 80 eur per day exclusively without any competition on behalf of children charity organization? And he is still holding his position after that? Since his political party accepts it it means they are all share a lot more corrupt schemes.
This is small potatoes compared to the real corruption schemes with multi-million turnovers. It's a _modus operandi_ of all political parties in pretty much all Slavic countries, it's just the extent that varies... Unfortunately, the citizens themselves are trying to skim little something-something here and there so they don't see anything egregiously wrong with it as they themselves would probably do far worse if given the chance.
@@zwerko I am mostly impressed of impudence of mayor's and his political party's action, not amount of the money they make with this misuse of power. Try to rent similar area in Old Town Square, see how much it cost. But not for mayor and his friends, especially as long as they use kids and charity. Disgusting.
Since the planned economy doesn't work, people are left to fend for themselves. There's a saying from those times:
"Who doesn't steal, steals from their own family."
I sincerely hope it will diminish significantly with time and effort, though...
@@zwerko Bulgaria is a great example of that.
@djindivik Which is like 95% slavic or have been under slavic *rule*. For the West, countries like Romania, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania... it's all USSR.
frankly, this guy deserves to be awarded the highest civilian award of Czech republic. He is so much concerned in making Prague the utopian tourist place sustainably. Kudos !!
"Frankly"
@@jamesmcinnis208 "frankly" đ
Got back to London from Paris recently (I'm a Londoner, I just look foreign), got into a black cab as it was only a short ride and we had luggage's, the black cab driver, he almost missed our turn which we had to practically yell to tell him to turn, and after arriving, charged us by card which is mounted inside the taxi, and after the payment went through, he said to us "You need to pay, the machine doesn't work", and held up his own Square machine and kept the door locked, I showed him the transaction on Monzo on my phone and said to him "I know you get better rates on Square but we've already paid", he lowered his machine and we got out of the car.
We were mildly annoyed, didn't really think much of it, then it dawned on us later that this guy probably does it to every tourist, we kicked ourselves a little for not taking down his details. While you despise scammers from your own country and propped up honest street food stands of London, just know that we get our fair shares of chancers, black cab drivers especially known for that.
Well, at least they did actually give as much meat as the price indicated. There are scams where eg. oranges are listed by price per kg, except the "per kg" bit is either very small print or not even mentioned. The locals know that this is the price per kg., but tourists may think that's the price per orange. So the tourist pays for 3 kg worth of oranges, but only gets 3 oranges. This sort of scam was more common before the Euro, but it's still happening.
When I was in London and trying to grab some street food as I was leaving I walked up to some Philippine food stand. I was almost out of money since I was leaving the next morning and was going to be with family for the rest of the day and didnât need to worry about paying. So when I was talking with the owner and realized I didnât have enough he said it was fine and that he would give me a half portion. I think he was very generous with his definition of half and the meal still filled me up and it was only around 4-5 pounds. All around it was a great way to end off my trip there, lots of friendly people!
Can attest, as a Filipino myself we are generally generous in portion sizes when it comes to meals :) you can get a full sized meal even for just $1-2 here in various restaurants, whether fast food or not.
because london is the greatest European city and no other city comes close. FACTS.
Big king meal is 3 pounds and would have filled you up pretty neatly, then again that would be less healthy.
op kors pilipino generosity mate!
5 pounds is enough for a cheap dinner. It's not like ridiculously cheap lol.
1:12 loved that attitude of that woman who's enjoying her pizza in her own world without any worry of being videotaped.
Edit: it is langos and not pizza what she is eating, as mentioned in the comments. Wasn't aware of langos. Thanks!
i think she is eating a langos with garlic creme :D but yeaah i liked that too ^^ first i thought maybe she is a karen and will stand up soon but nope ;D
its not pizza , you should try make langos at home its so good man
Not a pizza, it's a Langos (fried bread, with toppings like: garlic, sour cream, and cheese)
Ah yes the liberation of eating when hungry
I came to the comments to find this.
I feel that woman in my soul. Good for her.
That lady in the back holding & eating the entire pizza is my spirit person đ
that what I noticed too đđđđ
itÂŽs a langos not a pizza. they are eaten like this when you are on the way...
@@kinggeedorah8953 Oh, got it, thanks :). Langos or not I would have eaten it the same way.
@@kinggeedorah8953 it's a pizza and eating like a cow
@@shmooveyea ist not pizza its called langos
you guys are doing right things to do not only for the tourists but also for the local. cheers!
You guys are extremely valuable to the foreigners, expats, and locals as well, thank you for trying to keep Prague amazing as it always is đ
expat is just a term for immigrants to feel better about themselves, you're an immigrant, not an "expat"
yeah thanks to them I had the best of times when I visited Prague
@@eyzmin don't want to sound racist or something
But most people who called themself expact is white people
@@DooDee0608 its not racist if its a fact, im white and youre right, expat is what white people call themselves so they dont say immigrant, it s a little pathetic tbh
HOW??? he didn't say anything worth hearing. less food cost less, more food cost more.
Back in 2012 I was ripped off by the "Old Prague Ham" scam. It looks great. But when you are eating way too much food for too much money the taste isn't very good. I did try to ask for less but they essentially said they had already cut the ham off the wheel. I have had a nice slab roast pork in another Czech town for a couple of dollars. Thanks for going after the vultures guides!
As a Texan pitboss, i would like to apologize. Meat and beer should be a happy unifying experience, not a scam. Shameful practice on there behalf
You should have simply and calmly answered "So now eat it yourself because this is not what I wanted..." We have always the choice.
@@irondasgr
Absolutely, nobody can force you to buy something in EU, no matter how corrupt the place is. I am baffled by people who allow scams to proceed place even after they realize that they are getting ripped off.
@@puzzlingcentaur many people are innately polite... To realise immediately and snub.... That is how the scam goes on and on..
@@ussvmehar7352
I am usually trying my best not go into pointless conflicts if they can be avoided, but I have zero problems with going into conflicts with scammers....my mood is already ruined when they try to scam me, there is no way in hell that I am going to give them money. And if they try to touch me, the best they can get is getting police called on them for assault.
Honestly, this could be avoided if tourists just went to non-blatant tourist traps. 9/10 times you can find the same food/drink/whatever just around the corner in a family ran restaurant for the price it should be.
I don't know how much you've travelled, but i can say that from my experience, it's very time-consuming and boring to tell apart scams from more traditional food places, in a country you've never been to and know close to nothing about.
@@arthur_4902 hasnt been that hard for me. Just search reviews, takes 10 seconds to know if it is bad or good.
And dont go to the main street when searching for something.
If the mayor of owns the stalls, there is a bigger problem than the decisions of individual tourists.
yes a scam is completley legitmate because of options and free will
You're saying that like most people plan their trip and go to obscure places in country they're traveling, lmao
Every single city needs a man like you to champion the honest businesses who provide services that offer value for money to tourists and local people alike .
Long may you continue to shine a light on greed and corruption . Stay safe though , because people have a habit of doing whatever it takes to protect their interests . Even corrupt officials .
Generally its a good rule of thumb to stay away from places that A: Are obviously visited by all the tourists. B: Are right next to some fancy church or in the middle of a popular square. Don't be a lemming, ask the locals what they think is worth checking out.
If you have a native friend there, ask them for recommendations
@@kendernicklas7524 Or if you don't just talk to any locals on the street who look nice to you and ask them. You might not always get a perfect recommendation this way, but a local will rarely send you to a tourist trap. Plus its a good way to connect with the local culture a bit instead of just staring at old buildings.
Visited by tourists is fine. But if it's almost ONLY visited by tourists, that should be a red flag. It means the locals don't think it's worth going to, and it is likely a tourist pitfall.
More than half of all people are complete lemmings and have neither the desire nor the capacity to change
@@jeffsmith9351 Yeah, thats why you really cant rely on tripadvisor ratings because people will just follow the herd like on most social media and give 99% of their attention to the same 5 locations.
I'll be honest: "Tourists get bigger portions" is a lot less sinister than I thought this was going to be.
The main issue is that foreigners are given too much food and are therefore charged up to 5 times more than what someone who lives there/speaks Czech would have to pay. The fact that theyâre told that the amount that theyâre given is a regular portion when asked is also a problem.
I mean, not really? Americans especially ARE likely to want a bigger portion. Also, you can ask for less. Like those ppl with $30 hams like like they just took the rack with them. If I was shown that I would immediately ask for less lol
@@migsy1 yes but u GET MORE MEAT
There is also the part where the guy cuts a slice and the scale reads 100g exactly. Janek exclaims, "Wow! You knew how to cut 100g exactly! I've never seen that before!" Implying the that scale itself is rigged.
@@JookySeaCpt I don't think so, if you cut and weight things for a living it's fairly easy to do so. Tampering with scales is highly illegal and can cost your entire business and really hefty fines. Scales have to be certificated and anyone can ask to see it.
You're doing the right thing and the world deserves to know how corrupted this is, but at the same time, this makes me worry about your safety. Stay safe, and as you gain popularity and recognition, it will be easier for these thugs to go after your loved ones and family.
I'm too much of a swabian in my heart. When I visited Prague for the first time, I asked a friend from Pilsen about the prices in thr Czech Republic, googled important information and just gone besides the tourist zone with my map - and I was fascinated by the beauty of the city and it's very cheap prices for beer and roasts. Besides one time in Augsburg, I never ate a Sauerbraten with Knödel and Sauerkraut wich tasted so good.
Tell them you are a schwab, it will amuse them (obv means cockroach ;)
@@caccioman Ć vĂĄb nebo ĆĄvĂĄb, to je otĂĄzka?
There you notice, that Bohemia was for nearly a millanial part of the HRE. An old german word for cockroach is "SchwabenkĂ€fer" (Swabian beagle) đ
@@nicolasmarazuela1010 l did not know that, dakujem pekné
@@caccioman MusĂm podÄkovat! Jen moje babicka se mnou mlivila Äesky. Because of that my vocabulary is very limited to conversations you have at home. đ
I almost got into an actual fight with these guys last time in Prague. I ordered and they tried to charge me by weight and I started arguing because a few years ago the sign advertising the price was out front saying one price but they would later argue that price was per ounce, totaling over 10x as much when they rang it up. I remember being so hungry and agitated and getting into a yelling match with these assholes
Man they are totally fucked up. We have metric system, we dont even use ounces :D And every market or city fair is 100% that you gonna find something similiar.
They actually must specifie how big (how many gr) should be their portions, theres laws onto that. But in real life it mostly looks like - Hams stand - Ham 100gr - 100czk+disheh+bread+paperbag+towels etc. But IÂŽm sure lot of them are actually hustling with weights
@@krystofcisar469 Is it even legal to sell by ounce in CZ? Because I don't think it is.
@@Turtle1631991 Of yourse it isnt. Would be nice to pay for liter of gasoline and get a gallon no doubt. But itÂŽs just not happening.
@@krystofcisar469 You must be fake Czech. Otherwise you would never say that. Obviously they would make us pay for gallon and give us a liter :-D
Instead of doing that, you could, like any normal person, have asked for the price beforehand, then declined and walked away.. No yelling involved, whatsoever.
When I did volunteer work in a position that scammers wanted to manipulate, "who is paying you?" was always the signal that the person I was dealing with was a scammer *and* a psychopath. They legitimately could not conceive that someone would be trying to help people.
or maybe they are like working people who need to like work their asses 8-12 hours a day to earn the living and they can't concieve someone can have so much free time to be working for free
@@wilhelmu We dealt with that, too. Honest workers would actually follow our instructions to accomplish their goals legitimately because it was less work and they had help. Scammers trying to exploit the project for free advertising for other scams could not conceive that people can sincerely want to make the world better.
@@wilhelmu Scammer cope. Go back to your call centers and your All You Can Eat buffets and your "for kids" "charities"
Stop calling everything "psychopath"
Out of curiosity, what kind of volunteer work was it that you had to deal with scammers often?
I wish there's a HONEST GUIDE for every country. Can you turn this channel into a franchise? lol
Universal rule seems to be: Don't go to the tourist spots. If it's in a guide, it does not reflect the culture people live in and is overpriced.
We need a guy like him in every city
You should make a shirt that says "Dishonest Ham". Maybe "Old Prague Ham Scam."
scam ham is good :)
Allow me to build upon your Idea if I may. Old Prague "SC(H)AM"
no, please no
"200 grams is not a portion"
1:16 the lady eating the whole pizza without cutting it is amazing lmao
God, i wish that were me
I think it's a Lango.
How did you notice this
@@12thstreetrag how did you not?
that's LangoĆĄ tho
Street food in places like london and paris (only places I know well enough to judge) is also expensive but this is just a step above.
Love your vids on Prague and Czech, you saved me loads of money from getting scammed when I went to Prague. Lovely place, just need to avoid the scams.
Fair play coming over to London to show the difference between the two prices đđđ
@@marekkelin1181 she flew to glasgow.. how dares she.. âșïžđŹ
@@fly89 She went by train tbf
There are plenty of scammers in London.
@@chrisg38 she took a train from Sweden ?
@@RegulareoldNorseBoy Itâs a fairly easy journey, I travelled by train from Malmö in Sweden back to Leeds in the UK and it can easily be done in less than 24hrs
Gonna be honest, last time I was in Prague, the whole city really felt like a tourist flytrap.
20 tiny corner stores all called practically the same thing located more or less 3-4 per street selling ridiculously overpriced stuff like water bottles etc. very deliberately towards tourists.
Bunches of "Enticing looking" candy shops with ridiculous pricings "A hand and a leg/kg"
There are many more examples, but it generally felt like there were hundreds of "small businesses" that sold the exact same mediocre goods for far too much money that looked a bit too similar to each other, pretty much as if they were owned by the same scummy companies trying to lure in dumb tourists by having posters in English and stacking storefronts with exactly what a tourist might want to buy. ...Also, restaurants had pretty much the same exact menu to the point where it didn't matter which one you went to. There were a few really nice places with good beer though.
Beautiful old city, but some aspects of it are quite blatantly predatory.
Any well visited city can be a rip off if youâre not paying attention
it's called money laundering lol those stores dont care if people buy from there or not because they are fake
...if the beer is good then not much else matters!đđ€
Been there twice. First time with my brother, second time with my wife.
We went to a restaurant that was on a very popular spot so I already feared it would be expensive.
The waiter was drunk "because tourists keep buying drinks for me!", and very friendly.
He offered some welcome drink and of course it turned out that you had to pay for it.
He made a few suggestions of what we should eat and drink and I asked him how much it costed.
My wife acted insulted: "NOT HERE! This country is so cheap, we're not going to act difficult about prices!"
Alright, fine my dear! đ
We had those pork knuckles but they were made in an awful way, nothing like the first time that I had it. We also had some cocktails.
The bill was close to âŹ50.
Yeahhh from that moment on we DID look at the prices before ordering anything, haha!
Those very similar menus we also noticed indeed.
Shops with very similar items; I guess you've never been on vacation in Asian countries? It's even far worse there than in Prague but I do agree with you.
Am from London, Been to the exact same spot when I visit Prague, had the same experience but never realised that I was scammed until now, you should also do a video on the bars and nightclubs, when you pay for drinks they donât give you change back as they will just pocket how ever much it is as a tip, had an argument with the bar staff as they had just done exactly that, they gave it back in the end as they didnât want a scene to be caused, have to be careful in these cities, many scams going on.
Im from Poland, i've been to Czech Republic a couple times, and planning to do a trip next month. CZcams Algorithm propose me that channel, i suppose because i watched a lot of videos about busting scammers, and i think you're guys are doing great job!
Not only is it ridiculously overpriced, it is burnt to shit
The guy at 1:00 payed 23ÂŁ for some
charcoal with bread on the side. lol
Also the days czech word would so obviously be dĆevÄnĂ© uhlĂ.
and therefore carcinogenic
no burnt to shit... thats the crispy layer mate. but yeah. its Overdone by some
Imagine someone from say Texas trying to eat there? Hahaha they'd probably die considering how meat culture is in the US.
I was there during Christmas a few years back and really wanted to taste this, but also had my first shock of Prague. I didn't have much appetite, so i asked for just 100 grams, but they served me a "portion" of 300 grams, and said they don't serve less. I said no, and then I left. What felt really bad, was that most people around me were served oversized portions, and no one could have it, so they would all throw away the leftover food in the bins. And you could clearly see the bins full of some very good and fresh ham, and as fate would have it, a lot of people who weren't fortunate enough that Christmas, were digging up the bins. This was a shock to me, and I couldn't buy an oversized portion, even though I really wanted to have ham that afternoon.
Yes, they could make an honest buck but they prefer to make a little more by being dishonest.
I was right there the year before the coof and had a great lunch in the restaurant just behind those idiots, about the same price but an actually great meal with full service.
Sadly that place closed down...
You can get 300 grams and share it with your family.
@@cagedtigersteve But what if you are travelling alone? Or you and your family/party got meal for each already because you couldn't predict this situation with overweight food?
So you just took away some homeless personâs Xmas meal đč
If you see you are served such a large portion you just shouldn't pay or maybe offer some of it to other tourists. Seeing meat being wasted makes me sick, since it means an animal has been killed for nothing.
Honest guide...thx for all you doing and all util information!!big like and hug 4 all your staff!!God bless you. đđđđ
I like what this guy is doing. Only been to Prague once. Wonderful place. I was surprised to see beer being sold from these stalls. You do hear stories that tourist pay more than the locals in shops and restaurants. Will now learn another language.
Some people claim that you're scaring tourists away from Czechia. I completely disagree! These videos make me feel *more confident* about visiting there and other places too!
Scams happen everywhere and tourists are targeted because they often don't know better. Scammers don't care when you say "I'll never come back!" Another tourist will take your place. These videos equip people with the knowledge to recognise and avoid these scams, plus it gives them courage to argue or walk away when a scammer becomes aggressive.
Scammers will lie and say things like "This is normal" and "You're stealing if you don't pay." As a last resort every tourist should learn the local language word scammers fear most: "Police." Learn phrases like "Let's go to the police station to resolve this" or "Somebody call police!" Many scammers will run away in fear when you say this.
Thank you Janek and Honza for your hard work! You teach valuable lessons even for those not travelling. Scammers target locals too! Especially now that tourism has drastically reduced around the world...
He is scaring me away.
@@glennwatson3313 It is not the guy talking about the problem that scares You away. The problem is scaring you away, so if they get rid of scammers and tourists traps there will be nothing to worry about
Fr! I feel like I donât know what places I can eat because I risk getting scammed.
If someone from London says something is expensive, then definitely listen to them lol London isn't cheap by english standards, but atleast it's not 50 euros for some pork lol
The cost of beer was 2 pounds though, in London it would be 7.
@@vonder7 yes but elsewhere in prague is like half, or almost, price for a beer
the guy was charged 11ÂŁ fro 300g of roast ham and tap beer. That's not expensive at all by London standards
Thank you so much, Please Bring us more Strategies â€
Hats off to you for doing such good work đ©đ
1:16 that lady in the back is living the life! NO NEED TO CUT THE DAMN PIZZA U GO GURL
Pretty sure that's a Langos with some sort of topping on it, not pizza. You don't cut Langos.
It's even worse, last time when I was in Prague, around a month ago, and I bought it there, half of the ham was in fact pure fat, not meat.
Dude you can't change how does ham looks like ok
Silly Slavek, didn't you know that was the standard portion of fat on your plate? Tsk tsk
@@tekken.universal2343 They can control how much meat vs. fat they cut off and give to a customer
A good fatty "bĆŻÄek" is nothing to sneer at, but if they sell it as ham, that is just plain wrong. That's like ordering an espresso and getting a batch brew. They're both from the same source, but treated (and priced) very differently.
Well, fat weigh a lot less than pure meat, so it is not that big a problem.
When I was there, I saw the pricing was by weight, so I just asked for how much I wanted (I said, "I'd like 100g of ham and 100g of potatoes please"), and that was it.
Plus, it was really good, and I did came back for it a few times
Wow thank you so much from Kent UK. Seeing Prague in July 2023
I got this experience some years ago. Said it was too much and was told it was a standard 'portion'. I walked away.
Nice. As a tourist, this is the best thing you can do.
Exactly what i did when it happened to me. They wanted to charge me 27⏠for the fattiest piece of pork i had ever seen in my life.
"There's overpriced food in London?!?. Well let's go check it out!"
That was epic!
Did you encounter the Pakistani Muslim grooming gangs?
@@scottdoesntmatter4409 No but I did just encounter another angry racist stereotyping white man
@@ifuzegaming Nope, I study Islam, I own two Qurans, and that was a direct statement of fact about the grooming/raping gangs. Feel free to check it out for yourself. Oh, and your racism is showing. You immediately insist I am white and male, as well as racist etc.
@@scottdoesntmatter4409 you critique me for calling you racist then call me racist? that alone make me disregard anything else you have to say
@@ifuzegaming Wow. You really don't see it.
London is definitely expensive, especially in the busier parts of it. So when a Londoner says sht is overpriced, you know for sure that its in scam territory of overpriced.
Nice I love it truly a Honest Guide :)
Haha I got scammed at this place too! Didn't realise immediately that the price was crazy because of the different currency. Took me a second to realise the guy had sold me for 16 euros of cheap disgusting ham with a piece of bread!! Started a proper french scandal at the guy who called me crazy but still gave me some of the money back. đ€Ł
Was at the same spot too. I just said fuck you and left. Prague has been the worst experience in terms of tourism. They were all either scamming or just negative and aggressive. Even worse than France
We were in Prague few years back and got scammed few times. It was beautiful city but the scamming part was horrible. This channel is the only reason why we would go back. Now we have a guide :)
Congratulations!
World need transparency like this to be an honest world
đ It's by habit but I always ask for the price or look at the menu before I order anything. I won't say 'I want the beer, ham and bread' , I would ask 'how much is the beer, ham and bread?', and I'd ask the price of other things too before I finally settle on what I'll order. How can anyone order without getting the price before hand? If they say they have to weigh for a price and ask them to weigh before I order, just like I do with my butchery, and if it's expensive I'd ask them to remove some ham until it came down to a price I'm comfortable with, just like I do with at my butchery.
Its also ok to ask about servings. Portion size and volume?!
@@dawamit_rong I don't ask for portion size because I'm always happy to carry leftovers if I can't finish anything (this happens quite often). However, I can see why I'll need to start asking, just in case the portions are small. Though I've never ran into this problem before, 32 years of living and the food I've ordered has always been normal sized. đ
I wish more cities had guys like you covering all these details. Just great content.
i agree, maybe they could cash on that and create similar crews for different places, it is sure handy for visitors
At first I was thinking it's overpriced and just slightly dishonest, since it's by weight and then the mayor's charity scam comes out. Damn! Good investigation!
Me in Australia: Hmm, these prices don't seem too bad.
I had the "Prague ham" the one time that I visited and was equally ripped off. It was very tasty ham but an absolutely insane portion, I gave most of it to a homeless person who was eyeing the bins.
All the locals told me to avoid the street food cars.
Love how this just proves their points
Yeah avoid but ONLY in the center
In 2014 my wife and I spent a week in Prague. Thankfully, we had some friends who had lived there for several years and provided us with with some tips about where to eat and what to avoid.
Needless to say, the touristic hot spots where the priciest, and we were shocked and amused the same time about HOW MUCH pricier the food was there.
By the way, Prague is a stunning beautiful city which has so much more to offer apart from the crowded spots. Just get yourselves a Metro Ticket and go explore!
To the lady that was eating the whole pizza on the background you're my spirit animal. You go girl!
This also happens in the states and if you go out on a Saturday it happens. Ever gone to a bar on Friday-Saturday night?
Around 4 years ago I dodged this exact Prague "scham".
They asked me what I wanted, I said I wanted a small portion of ham because I didn't eat much. Then they offered me extras like coleslaw and I told them I just wanted to try them. He conveniently hid everything they were taking out behind the counter so I couldn't see the portions. And then basically he exposed all that food at the same time he asked for payment, which totaled I believe 41-43⏠(for 1 person). I immediately told the guy I didn't have that much money on me and asked if they accepted card payments (I had seen they had a warning they only accepted cash). He told me no and pointed me to the closest ATM (an EuroNet machine), to which I walked to, never to return again.
43� Holy crap
Smooth evasion, eh
Boss move.
Honestly, I'm not so disturbed about the portions than the background stuff about renting, charity and major. Great work as usual guys. Take care!
I thought the same. At least you're getting your meat for the announced price. I would eat and save some for later.
Edit: Some folks complained that the piece they were served was composed mostly by fat. Not ok, then.
@@imalrockme well somebody has to get the fatty part
@@tavish4699 or sell it as something else for people who like alot of fat
I remember my first visit to Prague, I will grab a quick ham sandwich to go from this stall, blimey, luckily my future visits I discovered the wonderful pubs outside the tourist traps and ate like a king after this !!
Great work!
I am surprised you never covered this before. I found myself in that situation few years ago. When I told the guy that was much more expensive than advertised (the concept of price by weight was completely unknown to me) the guy at the counter just got mad at me and didn't even explain how it worked. After watching his reaction, I just told him that I didn't have enough money and just walked away.
Wow, those are insane prices.
I was in Lisbon this week and a Bifana (pork sandwich) and small beer came to ÂŁ3.
Now that's gotta be some of the best value street food in all of Europe.
you cant really compare a scam to that. and to your statment , you can get a proper meal and beer in CZ for ÂŁ4 (not a sandwich) eastern europe ischeaper than PT if you dont get scammed , greece is probably cheaper too , many have good prices
Go to turkey for cheaper prices and amazing food
@@orkunbartn197 oh you get scammed there too. Just mostly not with food.
In southeast Asia the two tier pricing system is universal especially in Thailand. I go to Big 'C' (similar to Walmart here in the states) where all the prices are the same for everyone and I take notes so when I am in the local street markets I have a bench mark of prices to bargain with. I can dial it down to a fair price for both parties but still realize that I will be paying more than the average local. That's just the way it is. I don't go on vacation to save money.
Thank you for your work be safe đâ€ïžđ
Before the pandemic, I went to Prague fairly often. I got taken by those guys one time. I viewed it as an expensive lesson learned! Good for you guys exposing them for being the rip off that they are!
The guy who owned the business is the city mayor. That just show something how dirty the city is?!
@@ghosthdel3098 Well not the city mayor, just "mayor" of the city district....
@@martinkarasek5939 from which party?
@@maciekziobrzynski6910 don't know, don't care
We got stung by this scam at that exact stall in November 2019.
They also loaded up the plate with fat and when I complained, was told it was "traditional" style with lots of fat.
Love Prague but wouldn't fall for these guys again.
Thanks for highlighting these scams, you do great work.
All the best food I've had on holiday is found in small out of the way resturants which are always lovely!
I see similar things in Poland. I am a non native living here, but I know where to go. When I visited Prague, I left the tourist area for meals. I mostly ate a wide variety of the open faced sandwiches.
Haha, restaurants do this as well. Example: 1kg "Tomahawk steak" for $120 which is mostly bone and 400 grams meat or you could just buy 400 gram steak that is the same cut for $40.
What kind of tomahawk is that? Whole entire rib cage tomahawk?
Sorry but i hate this kind of argument. When you go to a restaurant, or any other kind of place for food, you're always paying for the convenience, for the wages of the staff, for the equipment/machinery maintenance, for the rent of the establishment, for the insurance of the establishment, for the bills of the establishment, for the delivery of the goods to the establishment, so on...I absolutely HATE this rhetoric. "oh but you can just buy it yourself and cook it at home for cheaper" yeah and water is wet.
@@MrBaronCabron And you have Salt Bae paying his employees peanuts and selling a cut that cost in his restaurant $400 USD for $1600USD cause it is covered in a sheet of gold that actually cost like $20USD.
But again, sometimes is the status, not the quality of the food what does a rich person pay for a high-class restaurant.
@@MrBaronCabron yea but dude described a 400g ribeye (tomahawk without bone.) which is a 14 oz ribeye. select ribeye is usually from $6.99 to $10 "in season" when I buy. usually up to $14. so his quote of $40 per 7/8th lb ribeye is most definitely refering to a restaurant/ prime cut price. ( was a 2x head chef and am a professional cheapskate)
but yes your point is valid. its not just the cost of the meat producer/transporter/ butcher/ investor\ store owner, stockers. like our regular meat. . its also the restaurant owner, property owner, chef, waiter, investor. the governement also gets their cut at about every step. lots of middle man, lots of overhead.
@@MrBaronCabron That is not what they meant. They were complaining that a restaurant charges an extra high premium for tomahawk ribeyes versus regular ribeyes. This is true. They charge a lot extra just for extra bone. They have no need to charge so much for bone. They are exaggerating a bit with their examples, but the point is the same. Tomahawk ribeyes cost a lot more than regular ribeyes at the same restaurant.
I am a foreign person living and working in Prague and I can say that in bars and restaurants in Prague, sometimes I have been treated in a different way than the locals. Unfortunately if you don't speak Czech sometimes happens to wait for your meal to be served for 50 minutes while the other tables are being served because they are locals even though they arrived at the place later than you. Also sometimes if there is a big company of foreigners sitting in a bar and having a lot of drinks, at the end happens to be charged for more drinks than they order...
There is standard menu in restaurants, which can take some time to cook and there is daily menu, which is something they have already prepared, if you don't know about this, then you can wait long time. But 50 minutes is really extreme, it happened to me only once in my life that I waited so long time and they forgot about us back in the day, we had to say something and our food was on the table in few minutes. If you wait 50 minutes, then just don't visit such restaurant again.
@@Pidalin thank you for your reply, it was lunch time when this happened and all the tables ordered the daily menu and we asked 3 times for our meals to the waiter and at the end he was annoyed
That's interesting because usually it is the other way around in touristy places,. The moment they hear Czech they will treat you poorly because they can't rip you off.
I am sorry you were treated badly. Some people in Prague are rightfully sick of over tourism. Especially the bad kind. But that does not excuse crap manners.
aatsatis konstantinoula pou exeis xtipisei kai meneis praga
@@Turtle1631991 Yes, I can confirm, they are mostly angry when there is some Czech in tourist places, they wait for rich American pensioners, not for you or me. :-)
Even without the tricking of tourists or customers in general, these prices are quite steep, especially by Czech standards.
I've had similar experiences in Poland though. Both beautiful countries with great people, but any place is going to have tourist traps unfortunately. Great that channels like these exist to expose them.
Exactly what happened to me in Turkey Grand Market, at a Tea shop.
A high school classmate of mine visited Czech republic and Poland (from South Africa). He said he liked Poland more, partly because of stuff like this.
Poland is quite nice. Cheap Germany
@@nineteenfortyeight6762 Poland is Poland.And not a cheap Germany.
@@amedeohembersin3182 Alright, alright, we will call Germany "expensive Poland" đ
I didn't let them fool me with that ham: I asked for a small chunk, they tried with a large one and I said NO, SMALL! All tourists gotta be a little street-Smart.
I could eat that much ham but I would not come back at those prices.
People need to act as they would in their own country, ie stop trying to be best friends with everyone and stay neutral.
I had pizza in a Restaurant when I was in Prag, they were relatively well priced. I got a giant pizza for the price of what that guy got for his Ham.
Great video!
Yup, I got involved with this near the famous clock. Luckily, I "won" the battle. I said something like I wanted 100g, and was told no, we cut it, and then you pay based on the weight. I think in broken English they said something like "normal is 300g or so." I was looking for a snack, just a small taste, so I said no thanks and walk away.
They can't scam experienced eaters đ
Exactly!!!!!
I mean, this is the normal way to do it, isn't it. Ask for the price, then decide.
Kevin, I mean technically 'winning' would be them cutting you a 100g portion as requested and selling it to you by weight as advertised. You learning of their scam and walking away could probably be considered a draw at best.
This video ranks up with the best of CZcams content. Great work(!) and very worthy cause of protecting the public. The journalistic value is clear by your overall findings.
il y a quelques années nous avions manger dans un restaurant " la petite bretagne" a prague.
Et c'était génial ^^
Quand vous Ăštes des touristes, allez manger plus loin que les avenues principales.. ( c'est moins cher, il y a moins de monde et surtout les gens sont plus fun )
D'ailleurs il y a des coins vraiment cool en dehors des itinéraires touristiques..
Well, in London, there are people putting little flowers into your shirt pocket and saying: welcome to London!
You think they are just being friendly, but the fact is you have to pay 20 pounds for it.( year 2012)
And the people who put corns to touristâs hand in the Milan cathedral plaza. ( 25 euro each time).
1:17 i love that lady eating the entire pizza at once :O
It's not pizza as far as I can tell. It is probably langoĆĄ - flat fried piece of risen dough covered with garlic, ketchup and cheese.
Traditional Czech langos. Or not traditional. đ
Yeah, I think it's LangoĆĄ as well.. :D
@@selpet1476 Traditionally they much smaller, as far as i remember, lol
@@Turtle1631991 shhhhhhh its a pizza
0:59 23,30 Euro for a piece of charcoal :D
Yeah for sure that's burnt steakđ
You are a great guy, Thank you!
WHAHA! I fell for that trick in Prague, indeed with that ham!
The biggest part was fat and the rest was injected with very salty water to make it heavier.
They decided how much they cut off for you. Some customers got angry and walked away Of course those sellers didn't care; they sell loads anyway.
If I remember correctly, I paid âŹ16.
This reminds me of the pay by the weight sea food restaurants in Rome. A tab will easily run in the 2 - 3 hundred of euros for two people. And tourist are always the target.
Or the âsit downâ espresso in the middle of Venice which costs 13 Euros as opposed to standing price of 1 Euro.
As a side note, I found the 1 Euro standing espresso a nice loophole to get a great product and pay for using a toilet at the same time.
@@ondrejsedlak4935 1 euro is cheap for a coffee and a toilet to dump some đ©
5:17 can we just appreciate how he cut exactly 100g just judging by eye?
I went and visit my dad who moved Czech from UK. I remember him walking over to that stand and swiftly walking away and told us it was a rip off.
U r doing a wonderful job,salute to u . Love u