Where do you report a restaurant that wont give you tap water if you ask for it?

Restaurants are under no obligation to serve you tap water (or anything else) if they don't want to, so there is no-one you can report this to. The restaurant is not doing anything unlawful.

Obviously what's going on here is that the restaurant would feel embarrassed or unable to charge you for tap water, and the don't want to forego the margin they would make by selling you bottled water. So they hope that, by declining to supply tap water for free, they can encourage you to buy bottled water.

It's a very stupid marketing strategy but not, as I say, an unlawful one.

Obviously the story about the tap water being unsafe is bogus. It's the same tap water that you drink at home; it's perfectly safe.

If the tap water actually were unsafe then, yeah, there'd be a public health issue, and it would be a concern of the HSE Environmental Health Service. You can, if you wish, report to the Environmental Health Service that this restaurant is telling its customers that their tap water is unsafe to drink. But the EHS will see as quickly as you and I have that this is bogus, and they don't want to be drawn in to a what is in reality a dispute about a restaurant's shoddy attempts to sell overpriced bottled water. They have genuine public health concerns to deal with. So I don't think you'll get a lot of mileage there.

Could you just get up and go to a local convivence store and purchase water for a 1/4 of the price ? Assuming one was near.

There's plenty of places where it is actually a legal requirement - generally a component of the liquor licence. Just not Ireland.

Give me a break, it was an Indian restaurant, not a restaurant in India. If it wasn't suitable to drink everyone in the locality would be informed of such so it's clearly bs.

It's poor form to treat a customer like that but as above it's not unlawful, though perfectly reasonable to name and shame online, i'd be pretty peed off too if it were me.

Lots of places are happy to supply tap water. Highly unlikely the water is unsuitable to drink.

Cost cutting and a level of meaness is my guess

Go elsewhere for your meals. Maybe if enough people voted with their feet/money they'd realise that being cheap is poor form and shortsighted.

I’d say straight to Drew Harris or else the army, maybe try the SAS, such is the gravity of this situation

Look they didn’t only have bottled water. No restaurant in this country is without potable water. No public building is…. They are just attempting to nickel and dime you for a few more euros.

may not have been practical but I’d just have walked and not paid… it’s quite reasonable having been refused the simple courtesy of a glass of tap water…

OMG That is the absolute stupidest - throw toys out of the pram post I think I ever read. And for the record, tapwater is not free for a business, it is paid for in water rates. A business pays its bills from its fare, that includes the sale of bottled drinks, side orders, food and whatever.

1. No, it is not "as good as free", a business has to pay for it.
2. You have no idea what the restaurants financial situation is, so reducing additional drink sales by giving away water could be causing financial damage. I am frequently a designated driver and always have to pay for my pint of miwadi. "Sure its as good as free"
3. "I thought the customer is always right" LOL, That is an americanism linked to Karens.
4. The general attitude of the OP where they want to report the restaurant is laughable. Perhaps they should do that. Hopefully they will be put right.
5. Recently, I dealt with someone having a mickeyfit over someone selling "poisionous" food past its best before date. I linked them to the FSAI and they went quiet.

Dont you mean factual?

Correct

You may be factually correct but seem to be clueless about business and especially service industry and consumer psychology.

The answer for a struggling restaurant is never to make the service worse and come across like a tight-arse.

Every restaurant should have 'free' filtered water in any case and add it into the food cost.

😅 They also pay for light and heat, insurance…. Should clients be billed for those directly too :) ? Maybe charge for toothpicks and serviettes while they’re at it eh 😉

I won’t need to, where I eat the water is free and brought to your table. 😉

To my lasting regret, you're not entitled to repudiate a debt because your creditor fails to afford you simple courtesy.

(If you were, the banks would be in big, big trouble.)

It's common for restaurants to provide unlimited fresh water as part of the cover, just like they provide salt, pepper and (often, in an Italian restaurant) bread — common enough that's it's reasonable to expect water as standard. But your only recourse against a restaurant that doesn't provide it is to take your custom elsewhere.

If you go back bring your own water. The sign saying only food and drink purchased here can be consumed here is not legally enforcable either.

Yes, it is.

Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose,

And nothin' ain't worth nothin' but it's free,

Feelin' good was easy, Lord, when Bobby sang the blues,

And buddy, that was good enough for me,

Good enough for me and my Bobby McGee.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cg-j0X09Ag

In a company I used to work in the water was deemed safe to drink. But when you ran the tap and put it in a glass, the water was cloudy - like watered milk. We didnt drink it, we didnt even use it for tea. There is no way we could give a glass of that water to a client. Just because an areas water supply is deemed ok to drink by authorities doesnt mean its quality either. Treated Tap water can sometimes taste different to how it should aswell. There are several areas all over the country where water is deemed safe yet people living in those areas use bottled water.

In a restaurant setting tap water can only be served if it tastes good and actually is clear. If I owned a restaurant Im not sure I would be happy to serve tap water - I could very possibly be leaving myself open to litigation should a customer become ill from that water. The quality of tap water can change very quickly.

Also I think if you go out for a meal you have to be prepared to pay. Expecting or demanding tap water which may be of dubious quality is unreasonable.

Perfectly fine to drink apparently. We didnt drink it though because it looked and tasted awful. Would you serve a glass of cloudy water to a customer in a restaurant - no you wouldnt! Would you drink a glass of cloudy water if it was served to you in a restaurant - no you wouldnt!

I dont agree with you that the quality of water in Dublin is great and safe to drink all the time.

my first question here would be if the water is unsafe to drink, how can they use it for cooking/washing /cleaning?

i'd be declining to eat in that establishment in future.