Max Altstadt — Restaurant in Dresden

I was visiting Dresden, and I wanted to visit a nice place to eat, have some coffee and have a good time with my parents. We found Max, and we decided to have 3 cups of coffee, as well as 2 burgers.

We ordered the coffee. We could not find the regular tap water on the menu. I asked if she can bring non-mineral “tap” water. I did “not” expect to be charged for tap water, because we are already ordering food and drinks.

After coffee, I ordered a doppelburger with 2 beef patties, and a vegetarian burger. Server asked if we wanted ketchup, but she did not tell us whether it was “extra” or not. I used a cell phone with Google Translate to translate the German menu to English. I did not see an indicator of tap water or extra ketchup.

Although I showed her on the menu with my finger the doppelburger, and told her clearly it was the “double burger”, my burger came with 1 beef patty. I sent it back.

We asked for 1 more glass of tap water, and, she brought 1 more glass for each person.

When I saw the check, we were charged 1.80 Euros for each glass of water and 2 Euros for tiny amount of small ketchups they gave with burgers (that already came with fries).

The 2 servers were rude and cold. She came to bring the check, and we were charged 7.4 Euros extra (5.40 Euro for water and 2 Euros for ketchups), despite their mistake with my double burger order, and despite making us wait an additional 15 minutes.

They lost my tip altogether. This place is not tourist friendly. I do not advise anyone to go there. This is the first time in my life that the restaurant can charge a fee for tap water (it is not bottled water) or ketchup that usually comes with burgers and fries.

Making a mistake with the order is not nice. It requires an apology already. And, they are not competent. They definitely need lessons to learn about how to treat customers. (They were obviously lacking...

Food was OK, service was NOT. We were there for breakfast. Why we're unhappy: The lady that seated us was rude, however our (main) waitress was very nice. After we were seated, they would not clean the leftovers from the previous guests for a very long time, until we specifically asked them to do it. The waitress that took our order was not the one that served us. Multiple different people served our orders and they were all quite confused, bringing the wrong things or bringing us something they had served us already. Although the orders are taken digitally, some orders were wrong - e.g. we ordered extra bread and were brought the wrong type after specifically being asked what kind we want. One cup came with lipstick on it, but was replaced after we asked. One coffee was already spilled all over the cup and saucer when it arrived. We asked for an ashtray, the waitress went for it and we never saw her again. So we asked another one. I found the food to be OK, but the group I was there with was...

Nice location and atmosphere. Went there with some friends just for a couple of drinks. They were tasty but it took forever till they got served. What really destroyed my impression and upset me was the service. It was definitely under all critics. First of all we weren't welcomed as we entered. Our waitress was totally indifferent, sometimes even a bit aggressive. We asked if a table was free and she answered : yes but it's dirty... (ehm, excuse me, aren't you there to clean it?). Ok, then she pointed us another table. Her service was really passive and a bit arrogant. I can imagine, maybe she was tired but if I go out and pay for a service, I deserve a normal attitude, at least neutral. Anyway, I hope it was just this one particular waitress. I wouldn't really recommend this place, because there are many other similar cafes around, but if you still go there, I hope you get a waiter with a better...