Recommended Restaurant—Paid for Ice Water?

Dragging our suitcases 🧳 into that alley near the hotel, I kept muttering, "The restaurant recommended by Xiaohongshu can’t be that bad." The eatery had a faded lantern 🏮 hanging outside, and "Welcome" scrawled crookedly on the glass door. Pushing it open, the air conditioning mixed with curry aroma hit us—sort of cozy, in a gritty way. The waiter, a guy in a white shirt, didn’t wait for us to speak. He plopped a bottle of ice water 🧊 and two glasses on the table with a "clank" and walked off, leaving me and my "big trotter" (partner) staring at each other 😳: Is this a default? The menu was crammed with English and local script 📜. After five minutes of squinting, we settled on a safe-looking chicken curry 🍛, fried fish chunks 🐟, and a mango juice 🥭. While waiting, I stared at the ice water—ice cubes clinking in the bottle, the tropical heat seeming to melt away. I even thought, "Nice service, offering water upfront." The food was underwhelming when it arrived 😐: the curry chicken sauce was runny, the meat undercooked, spices sitting on the surface; the fried fish had a crispy crust, but the flesh inside was dry, and the tangy sauce was so strong it masked the fish’s freshness. The mango juice was okay—sweet-tart with fine ice, but that was it 👍. Overall, "edible" at best, nowhere near the "amazing" hype on Xiaohongshu. I picked up the bill to scan, then froze at a small line 😲: "Bottled water 2USD." I asked the guy, "Isn’t this water free?" He pointed to tiny print in the menu corner and shrugged, "Yes." Looking further down: 10% service fee, 12% restaurant tax—adding up to nearly 5USD more than the two dishes 💸. Standing at the cash register with change in hand, I couldn’t help but laugh 😂. Before coming, I’d only remembered "Xiaohongshu says it’s good," forgetting Maldivian restaurant tricks—free water might be a bill trap ⚠️, and "average" food comes with hidden costs. Walking out as the sunset 🌇 stretched our shadows, my partner mumbled, "Next time, we’ll bring our own water 💧." Yeah, that first meal in Male? It was a crash course in "travel expenses 101" 📚. #MaleFood #MaldivesTravel #XiaohongshuEats #TravelPitfalls