U Matěje Kotrby Restaurant and Bar — Restaurant in Prague

Amazing food the quality is mindblowing! Congrats to the chef and owner! Highly recommended! Unfortunately the service was terrible, Me & my wife were served by Leo. He greeted us, after taking the order he made weird/uncomfortbale comments towards how much alcohol we ordered, and the fact that we asked about what local beer is the best, to which he shook of his head and said “what do you expect in Czech” (we were genuinely asking about menu beers) or “ You should drink more if you are not driving” (Rude way not funny, we have a sense of humor) anyway after asking what we want he pushed to order a stake which we simply were not into, especially as we wanted to try local traditional dishes. When the check came he said to me can I “ROUND IT UP by 20 CZK”, I said that’s fine as “round up means add to total sum the difference to make it a full number” he then proceeded to type the amount and I payed it, turning out he put a 20% tip without mentioning it would be percentage he simply told us “ I would round it up by 20”. Never said the word “tip” or “May I add a 20% tip” in full. After that he tried to show me each position on the receipt telling all prices were per the food we paid and “restaurant service charge”, which then seemed it might be a restaurant policy as it was not explained clearly by him that he put it as a tip for himself and that it was up to us to decide. He made it look like the check was just the check for what we ordered. (We overpaid 170 CZK) He then proceeded to write on a piece of paper the name of his colleagues and asked to write multiple reviews from multiple accounts, mentioning names off all the staff, Leo, Petr, Lukać as this would give him a hire bonus by mentioning their service names. Very disappointed for the shady service practice, but congratulation to the hard working chef truly amazing...

TL;DR - The waiter is pushy/dishonest. If you know that and how to say "no" to extras/upselling, you'll get a good meal.

I was in the restaurant with the reviewer "M" who also left a 1 star review today. I'll preface this by saying that I don't usually leave that many review, but the restaurant left a very bad impression on me.

The food was good, I really liked it. The portions were big enough, and the price was okay.

The thing that got me was the waiter. From the start he tries to upsell you on the menu, which is normally okay up to a point. When we ordered a beer each, he asked if he should also bring a becherovka (almost making it seem as if it was on the house/not mentioning a price). While it's easy to say yes, a single dose costs 4.5€.

I saw another customer who (uncertainly) agreed, and when the waiter brought the becherovka, he asked him whether he would like a double, or triple shot. A "single option" was not presented and, again, it's easy to just agree - he got a double (9€) shot. Getting expensive becherovka is a common complaint in the reviews.

He also tried to get us to choose the steak (which can be min. 100€ for some of the steak options on the menu lol).

He called previous customers idiots for leaving a bad review

At the end he tried to guilt-trip us into giving a tip. When we refused he seemed dejected and asked if something was wrong (no - we just don't feel it was tip-worthy). At the end he said "I guess I'll survive somehow."

He also tried to get us to leave a (5-star) review, making us scan a QR code while he watched. We scanned it, said we would, and promptly left. Here's the review chump.

(Again, upselling is ok to an extent, but I do believe the waiter is consistently abusing the fact that many people, when uncomfortable, just agree to what...

Food is great, very interesting and unique and tasty.

Service is way too fast, feels like you are being rushed, waiters just keep asking you to get more drinks and food and then rush the bill to get you out and the next customer in. I felt I had to hurry up and finish and leave and I went there during the most quiet times on a Monday when only 8 people were seated.

The design of the place is a bit over the top. It feels like they made a restaurant inside an antiques store. There are too many old items that are unrelated to each other. You got typewriters next to gramophones next to jesus on a cross, next to old photos of random people next to paintings of other random people, next to old radios, next to clay pots and vases, next to other religious symbols. You get the idea, it's chaotic and forced and feels completely out of place.

Drink selection is really poor, they got 3 beers, a few sodas and some lemonade. I was expecting more from a traditional Czech restaurant. It's more of a scaled down bistro if you ask me.

Prices are quite high also, at least higher than the restaurants in the middle of Prague Castle and I don't feel they are worth it. I recommend going once to sample all the fuss about their reimagined traditional cuisine, but I can't find any reason to...