U Zelené brány — Restaurant in Prague

I've been in Prague for a month now, eating and drinking my way near and far. I've had the "pečená Kácha" ( duck) with knedlíky ( dumplings) and zelo ( cabbage) a number of times... plus i used to live here... So not a rookie. I've been trying places to eat around my Airbnb and decided to stop by here.. despite the reviews.

The barkeep was straight faced but accommodating. I still remember some Czech so had no problems picking from the Czech only menu and ordering.

The plate of duck leg, which arrived on my table, was in no way 'baked...it was deep fried. It was crunchy, it was soaked in grease. All the items on my plate were bathing in a layer of oil. The dumplings were soaking all that stuff up. I've never seen anything like that. I asked the barman if it was deep fried and he said no it was baked. Not sure if they're looking for a cook, or if someone is just taking a shot at it in the back.... but they should be looking... hard. I surgically picked over the duck leg and left everything else to relax in the plate wide pool of oil. The beer, the ambiance and proximity to the tram stop was good. They accepted credit cards and ultimately it cost me under $13...so not coming back.

Enlarge my picture and look at all that oil...

I ordered just a beer. When I went to pay, I asked if I could pay by card, but the bartender told me I couldn’t because the minimum charge for card payments was 100 Kc. Okay, no problem. I didn’t see that, but fine, let’s pay with cash. So, I asked if I could pay in euros, and he said, “Okay, but only paper, no coins.” I was a bit annoyed, but I still gave him 5€. Initially, he asked if he could give me the change in crowns since he had no euros. I accepted (the only thing I could do), but he gave me 50 Kc (2€) as change for a beer that cost 45 Kc (about 1.80€), saying he didn’t have more coins. I accepted that I couldn’t pay by card, but at least give me the change in euros or at least give me the CORRECT change in crowns. Just AVOID this place; apart from that, I can’t accept that he didn’t give me the correct change, he was also quite unpleasant...

We showed up with 13 people and no reservation on a Monday night. The hostess/waitress seemed a little nervous about the size of our party and only spoke a little English, but everything was very nice. Everyone seemed to enjoy their food. The plates came out a bit staggered (between 20-30 min), but that was understandable given their small staff and no advance notice. I ordered/tried the spare ribs, the pork knuckle, and breaded chicken dishes. All were very good with big portions at reasonable prices (165 crowns). Tasty draft beers were 25-35 crowns...