U Houdků — Restaurant in Prague

This is a place with very shady practices meant to make you pay as much as possible. In my opinion it might be great for groups or just for drinks, but is horrible for 1-2 people. I came alone and was recommended the pork knuckle, which I thought was too large a portion for me. I asked the waiter twice if it’s too large and he said no problem, it’s ok. When it came it was obviously a large chunk of pork knuckle that most people won’t be able to finish alone. Don’t get me wrong, it tasted good and 250kc for that amount of meat was pretty cheap. But here’s the thing: I could have spent half of what I eventually spent if the waiter had been ethical in his recommendations. Other main dishes costs 120-150kc. When the bill came I realised they had also included charges of bread (24kc), which they served but which I never took a bite of because of the huge portion of the knuckle. The total bill came to 303kc before tips and it included a beer, a pork knuckle that was too huge to finish, and a basket of bread that I didn’t eat. After paying (and including tips) I told the guy I didn’t eat the bread at all and his response was “sorry that is automatically included”.

Please for the sake of ethics, don’t visit this establishment if you’re a tourist. They obviously do this to every tourist they see—when I entered I saw a poor couple abandoning half a knuckle each (which was a HUGE hint and I feel so foolish to have missed it). I should have seen this coming as there were numerous other reviews that gave a hint as to the practices of this place but I decided to check it out myself and deeply regret it. This place feels affordable because their price-to-meat ratio is great, but look at every other review and you’ll notice the staggering amount of people who said that their food was “too much” or “huge portion”. The huge portions are not a good thing, it’s a sign that they have consistently recommended overly large portions in order to get tourists to pay more. Please don’t fall for the trick?

If you’re a tourist and still want to visit this place then here’s a few tips to help you make your dining experience as value for money as possible. First, if you’re alone then avoid everything on the “Czech specialities” section of the menu. Second, if you’re not alone you can order one of the Czech specialities and one other smaller main dish to share among 2 people. Third, try to refuse the bread when they serve it if you know you won’t be eating it. Last tip: please find another restaurant! Remember that food, however amazingly cooked, becomes disgusting when you have to force yourself to eat more than your...

Having lived across from U Houdku for over a year I have enjoyed many a fantastic meal there. There are a couple of servers who are Czech men that are always very patient with my inadequate Czech and always make me feel at home and welcome with great service and great food.

However, today is the first day I have been unhappy with the service there. My husband and I were served by a woman and everything was fine until we asked for the bill. I did the math and things didn’t quite add up so my husband asked what the extra charge was. She told us it was the “service charge.” Well I have been to this restaurant more times than I can count and have never had a “service charge” added to our bill. I also know that it is illegal in the Czech Republic to do this if it is not stated in the menu.

So, we paid our bill, including the “service charge” of 47 czk (10%) and left. I should note that I had been in this restaurant 2 days earlier and left a 20% tip as I always do. I am Canadian and have worked as a server for many years so I always leave a 15%-25% tip. By attempting to rip us off this server actually missed out on a larger tip.

I have always loved this restaurant and recommended it to others. I hope this one bad action was not a sign of how things will be from now on. I will think twice before returning as I do not like being taken advantage of because people assume I am a...

Great local food, generous portions, wonderful service, nice beers, low prices.

We were not happy with the high prices for restaurants in the tourist areas of Prague compared with restaurants in other towns, so went Googling for better value places. This one came recommended by the respectable Guardian newspaper in the UK, so we thought that we would give it a try. We were not disappointed.

The surrounding area looks a bit rough, but the restaurant/pub has a fun and casual atmosphere. It was pretty busy but we just got a table for two. The staff were very busy but maintained good humour and spoke good enough English. There are also English menus available.

We had to wait about 30 minutes for our food to arrive, but when it did we knew very quickly that it was worth the wait! The portions were big and the quality was superb. Everything was freshly made and the salad was nice and crisp. We did not have room for starters or desserts, so can't comment on those.

The total price of two main courses and 4 drinks was €18, although it was maybe worth...