When I was visiting Prague, thanks to the Honest Guide Guy, I was prepared for this and I ordered "100 grams of Ham". They refused to sell to me by a specific weight. They insisted I'd have to pay to whatever it weighted. I told to them "Then sell me around 100 grams, I don't care if its a bit more" . Then, they again refused. They told me "pieces are pre-cut" , with the whole piece and a knife in the hand, hahaha. So I just walked away. Crooks.
@Armament Armed Arm not much more because they are overpriceed, so the locals won´t eat there. The people who buy there do it because they don´t want to look around and just want to eat something. And looking at the video, they give people so much food that they would need like 300-400% more customers to make as much money.
2 года назад+119
Im so embaressed i was duped by these guys like... 4 years ago. There was somewhat of a line, and four VERY agressive "salespersons" in the stand. I asked for a hundred grams, they said there was a minimum requirement and started stressing me out, almost shouting at me. Instead of just walking away, i said "ok" - and left with a f-ing bucket of ham (enough for a family of four), like 27 euros (!) poorer. I have never felt so foolish. Chucked it all in a bin and left, because i was so angry. Hope these guys burn in hell.
@Armament Armed Arm of course, they make more money this way, although the price per kg is always the same. If they gave out just normal sized portions, they would need about the 3x of clients every day. Also, it's much easier and less effort selling 600 g to one person than to 3 different persons (with 200g each). So, although it's very sneaky and disgusting, it works out economically.
I feel so validated by this video - went to Prague in 2018 and was charged an exorbitant amount for a potato pancake + cabbage in a similar area. I walked away feeling like the change was wrong, queried it, then found myself in a bit of an arguing match with the vendor about the lack of clarity on weight charging. Excellent work 👏👏
I remember being a student and ordering this ham, thinking 100g is the portion size. Got half a kilo of meat and a price that was way outside my price range. Walked away, they shouted something behind me, I kept walking end of story. What are they going to do? Call the cops? And say what? I didn't eat anything.
So do I understand correct? Petr Hejma, the mayor of Prague 1, used his position and power to sell ham in the most central and expensive per square meter part of the country for 80 eur per day exclusively without any competition on behalf of children charity organization? And he is still holding his position after that? Since his political party accepts it it means they are all share a lot more corrupt schemes.
This is small potatoes compared to the real corruption schemes with multi-million turnovers. It's a _modus operandi_ of all political parties in pretty much all Slavic countries, it's just the extent that varies... Unfortunately, the citizens themselves are trying to skim little something-something here and there so they don't see anything egregiously wrong with it as they themselves would probably do far worse if given the chance.
@@zwerko I am mostly impressed of impudence of mayor's and his political party's action, not amount of the money they make with this misuse of power. Try to rent similar area in Old Town Square, see how much it cost. But not for mayor and his friends, especially as long as they use kids and charity. Disgusting.
Since the planned economy doesn't work, people are left to fend for themselves. There's a saying from those times: "Who doesn't steal, steals from their own family." I sincerely hope it will diminish significantly with time and effort, though...
@djindivik Which is like 95% slavic or have been under slavic *rule*. For the West, countries like Romania, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania... it's all USSR.
@Tom Foster Same with the Barcelona. We also went to Tarragona and other places nearby and whole day ticket for all major sites in those towns woudn't cover single entrance fee to sight in Barcelona.
I've been to that exact same square and those exact same street food things and I actually had an argument with the employee over the amount of food I was being given. I was given a huge portion and when I politely asked to have a smaller portion I was denied. I was told that's the portion and that's it. In the middle of the argument I'm sure I was insulted in Czech. After some shouting, I eventually got the quantity I wanted. Many of the Czechs that run 'tourist targeted' businesses are actually quite unpleasent and don't deserve the money they get. There are nice people out there but they're not the majority.
@@melius0 reading your comment made me lose brain cells. jUSt THrOw aWAY f0oD lOLz instead of just getting what you need and paying the appropriate amount.
Also GOLDER RULE OF TRAVELING: Any establishment in the view of or a short walk from major touristy landmark is suspect by default until proven otherwise beyond reasonable doubt. Doesn't matter if it is Old Town Square, Acropolis or Tower of London.
@@user-mi4yc7pr3x not at tourist hot spots. In every tourist city you have at least 1 guy out of 5 try to scam you with overpriced food. Its the same in berlin. If something is in a tourist guide its most time even worse ( with very few exceptions). People visit berlin and eat a döner kebab at a special location for 5.50euro. As berlin guy i can say the döner there is nothing special. Its basicly a rip off / almost a scam because you get a tiny döner. Ive seen the same in pisa, rom, nice, monaco, paris. If you walk to one street next to the tourist spots you find almost everywhere better or the same food but cheaper.
Acropolis is visible from most of Athens, even from many suburbs, just like all highly placed monuments like Christ in Rio or Burj Khalifa. The real golden rule is : if you don't see any locals sitting there, it's a bad sign.
@@Turtle1631991 even in the tourist zones, you can see several shops and vendors visited regularly by locals and others that are obvious tourist traps, even side by side to each other.
frankly, this guy deserves to be awarded the highest civilian award of Czech republic. He is so much concerned in making Prague the utopian tourist place sustainably. Kudos !!
When I was in London and trying to grab some street food as I was leaving I walked up to some Philippine food stand. I was almost out of money since I was leaving the next morning and was going to be with family for the rest of the day and didn’t need to worry about paying. So when I was talking with the owner and realized I didn’t have enough he said it was fine and that he would give me a half portion. I think he was very generous with his definition of half and the meal still filled me up and it was only around 4-5 pounds. All around it was a great way to end off my trip there, lots of friendly people!
Can attest, as a Filipino myself we are generally generous in portion sizes when it comes to meals :) you can get a full sized meal even for just $1-2 here in various restaurants, whether fast food or not.
Ive just come back from Prague and this stand has actually doubles their efforts now. They now also sell some potato/gnocci, bacon, onion and cheese dish from a large pot. I chose to have some of that as I assumed it would be a cheaper street food option than the ham. Again they did it by weight which i didnt realise and after I paid 400kc i realised what had happened. Couldnt believe it. Be careful.
1:12 loved that attitude of that woman who's enjoying her pizza in her own world without any worry of being videotaped. Edit: it is langos and not pizza what she is eating, as mentioned in the comments. Wasn't aware of langos. Thanks!
i think she is eating a langos with garlic creme :D but yeaah i liked that too ^^ first i thought maybe she is a karen and will stand up soon but nope ;D
Generally its a good rule of thumb to stay away from places that A: Are obviously visited by all the tourists. B: Are right next to some fancy church or in the middle of a popular square. Don't be a lemming, ask the locals what they think is worth checking out.
@@kendernicklas7524 Or if you don't just talk to any locals on the street who look nice to you and ask them. You might not always get a perfect recommendation this way, but a local will rarely send you to a tourist trap. Plus its a good way to connect with the local culture a bit instead of just staring at old buildings.
Visited by tourists is fine. But if it's almost ONLY visited by tourists, that should be a red flag. It means the locals don't think it's worth going to, and it is likely a tourist pitfall.
@@jeffsmith9351 Yeah, thats why you really cant rely on tripadvisor ratings because people will just follow the herd like on most social media and give 99% of their attention to the same 5 locations.
@@DooDee0608 its not racist if its a fact, im white and youre right, expat is what white people call themselves so they dont say immigrant, it s a little pathetic tbh
I thought I was the only one! I visited Prague about 8 years ago around Easter and ended up paying 12 euros equivalent for cheese and potatoes (tartiflette, basically) - when the price was marked as being 2.5 euros or something. Outrageous. Thank you for the video!
Back in 2012 I was ripped off by the "Old Prague Ham" scam. It looks great. But when you are eating way too much food for too much money the taste isn't very good. I did try to ask for less but they essentially said they had already cut the ham off the wheel. I have had a nice slab roast pork in another Czech town for a couple of dollars. Thanks for going after the vultures guides!
@@irondasgr Absolutely, nobody can force you to buy something in EU, no matter how corrupt the place is. I am baffled by people who allow scams to proceed place even after they realize that they are getting ripped off.
@@ussvmehar7352 I am usually trying my best not go into pointless conflicts if they can be avoided, but I have zero problems with going into conflicts with scammers....my mood is already ruined when they try to scam me, there is no way in hell that I am going to give them money. And if they try to touch me, the best they can get is getting police called on them for assault.
Gonna be honest, last time I was in Prague, the whole city really felt like a tourist flytrap. 20 tiny corner stores all called practically the same thing located more or less 3-4 per street selling ridiculously overpriced stuff like water bottles etc. very deliberately towards tourists. Bunches of "Enticing looking" candy shops with ridiculous pricings "A hand and a leg/kg" There are many more examples, but it generally felt like there were hundreds of "small businesses" that sold the exact same mediocre goods for far too much money that looked a bit too similar to each other, pretty much as if they were owned by the same scummy companies trying to lure in dumb tourists by having posters in English and stacking storefronts with exactly what a tourist might want to buy. ...Also, restaurants had pretty much the same exact menu to the point where it didn't matter which one you went to. There were a few really nice places with good beer though. Beautiful old city, but some aspects of it are quite blatantly predatory.
Been there twice. First time with my brother, second time with my wife. We went to a restaurant that was on a very popular spot so I already feared it would be expensive. The waiter was drunk "because tourists keep buying drinks for me!", and very friendly. He offered some welcome drink and of course it turned out that you had to pay for it. He made a few suggestions of what we should eat and drink and I asked him how much it costed. My wife acted insulted: "NOT HERE! This country is so cheap, we're not going to act difficult about prices!" Alright, fine my dear! 🙂 We had those pork knuckles but they were made in an awful way, nothing like the first time that I had it. We also had some cocktails. The bill was close to €50. Yeahhh from that moment on we DID look at the prices before ordering anything, haha! Those very similar menus we also noticed indeed. Shops with very similar items; I guess you've never been on vacation in Asian countries? It's even far worse there than in Prague but I do agree with you.
I see what you mean, but it sounds like you only visited a 100m radius between the square and the bridge. Because that is where all those trash stores (candy, souvenirs, chimney cake, CBD, absinthe etc.) are. If anyone is dumb enough to be surprised that he’s getting ripped off in there, he deserves it. I just spent 5 days there and probably just scratched the surface and still I think your statement is a gross exaggeration. The rest of Prague was wonderful and what you speak of is really only in one tiny concentrated area 🤷🏼♂️
Honestly, this could be avoided if tourists just went to non-blatant tourist traps. 9/10 times you can find the same food/drink/whatever just around the corner in a family ran restaurant for the price it should be.
I don't know how much you've travelled, but i can say that from my experience, it's very time-consuming and boring to tell apart scams from more traditional food places, in a country you've never been to and know close to nothing about.
@@arthur_4902 hasnt been that hard for me. Just search reviews, takes 10 seconds to know if it is bad or good. And dont go to the main street when searching for something.
Some people claim that you're scaring tourists away from Czechia. I completely disagree! These videos make me feel *more confident* about visiting there and other places too! Scams happen everywhere and tourists are targeted because they often don't know better. Scammers don't care when you say "I'll never come back!" Another tourist will take your place. These videos equip people with the knowledge to recognise and avoid these scams, plus it gives them courage to argue or walk away when a scammer becomes aggressive. Scammers will lie and say things like "This is normal" and "You're stealing if you don't pay." As a last resort every tourist should learn the local language word scammers fear most: "Police." Learn phrases like "Let's go to the police station to resolve this" or "Somebody call police!" Many scammers will run away in fear when you say this. Thank you Janek and Honza for your hard work! You teach valuable lessons even for those not travelling. Scammers target locals too! Especially now that tourism has drastically reduced around the world...
@@glennwatson3313 It is not the guy talking about the problem that scares You away. The problem is scaring you away, so if they get rid of scammers and tourists traps there will be nothing to worry about
When I did volunteer work in a position that scammers wanted to manipulate, "who is paying you?" was always the signal that the person I was dealing with was a scammer *and* a psychopath. They legitimately could not conceive that someone would be trying to help people.
or maybe they are like working people who need to like work their asses 8-12 hours a day to earn the living and they can't concieve someone can have so much free time to be working for free
@@wilhelmu We dealt with that, too. Honest workers would actually follow our instructions to accomplish their goals legitimately because it was less work and they had help. Scammers trying to exploit the project for free advertising for other scams could not conceive that people can sincerely want to make the world better.
I have been to the same stall in 2019. First time in Czech Republic, I had no clue how much was a portion, or what it was. There was a sign 100g for x amount (using x as I don't remember). I thought, ok I'll try it first, so I said "Can I get 100g please". The guy literally shouted at me and shooed me away saying you need to buy at least 10 Euros worth. Then I saw him sell a plate worth 16 euros to an American woman. He just quoted some amount in Czech krona and the woman said how much is than in Euros, and he went 16. She was startled a bit initially but paid the money.
@@ApenstaartjeYT Yes, because euros are also accepted at many places in Prague. And a lot of tourists are touring many Schengen countries in the same trip so already have euros and can spend them directly in Prague without exchanging them. I did the same, as I traveled to the Netherlands and Germany just before and had some spare Euros which I spent in Prague. So at a lot of places, you can ask the price in euros.
Can confirm, same hapened to me back in 2017, and don't dare to tell them that they just gave you too much because they will just start to shout and insult you in Czech obviously
The main issue is that foreigners are given too much food and are therefore charged up to 5 times more than what someone who lives there/speaks Czech would have to pay. The fact that they’re told that the amount that they’re given is a regular portion when asked is also a problem.
I mean, not really? Americans especially ARE likely to want a bigger portion. Also, you can ask for less. Like those ppl with $30 hams like like they just took the rack with them. If I was shown that I would immediately ask for less lol
There is also the part where the guy cuts a slice and the scale reads 100g exactly. Janek exclaims, "Wow! You knew how to cut 100g exactly! I've never seen that before!" Implying the that scale itself is rigged.
@@JookySeaCpt I don't think so, if you cut and weight things for a living it's fairly easy to do so. Tampering with scales is highly illegal and can cost your entire business and really hefty fines. Scales have to be certificated and anyone can ask to see it.
I almost got into an actual fight with these guys last time in Prague. I ordered and they tried to charge me by weight and I started arguing because a few years ago the sign advertising the price was out front saying one price but they would later argue that price was per ounce, totaling over 10x as much when they rang it up. I remember being so hungry and agitated and getting into a yelling match with these assholes
Man they are totally fucked up. We have metric system, we dont even use ounces :D And every market or city fair is 100% that you gonna find something similiar. They actually must specifie how big (how many gr) should be their portions, theres laws onto that. But in real life it mostly looks like - Hams stand - Ham 100gr - 100czk+disheh+bread+paperbag+towels etc. But I´m sure lot of them are actually hustling with weights
Instead of doing that, you could, like any normal person, have asked for the price beforehand, then declined and walked away.. No yelling involved, whatsoever.
This video ranks up with the best of RUclips content. Great work(!) and very worthy cause of protecting the public. The journalistic value is clear by your overall findings.
We were in Prague few years back and got scammed few times. It was beautiful city but the scamming part was horrible. This channel is the only reason why we would go back. Now we have a guide :)
I was there during Christmas a few years back and really wanted to taste this, but also had my first shock of Prague. I didn't have much appetite, so i asked for just 100 grams, but they served me a "portion" of 300 grams, and said they don't serve less. I said no, and then I left. What felt really bad, was that most people around me were served oversized portions, and no one could have it, so they would all throw away the leftover food in the bins. And you could clearly see the bins full of some very good and fresh ham, and as fate would have it, a lot of people who weren't fortunate enough that Christmas, were digging up the bins. This was a shock to me, and I couldn't buy an oversized portion, even though I really wanted to have ham that afternoon.
Yes, they could make an honest buck but they prefer to make a little more by being dishonest. I was right there the year before the coof and had a great lunch in the restaurant just behind those idiots, about the same price but an actually great meal with full service. Sadly that place closed down...
@@cagedtigersteve But what if you are travelling alone? Or you and your family/party got meal for each already because you couldn't predict this situation with overweight food?
If you see you are served such a large portion you just shouldn't pay or maybe offer some of it to other tourists. Seeing meat being wasted makes me sick, since it means an animal has been killed for nothing.
If someone from London says something is expensive, then definitely listen to them lol London isn't cheap by english standards, but atleast it's not 50 euros for some pork lol
Got back to London from Paris recently (I'm a Londoner, I just look foreign), got into a black cab as it was only a short ride and we had luggage's, the black cab driver, he almost missed our turn which we had to practically yell to tell him to turn, and after arriving, charged us by card which is mounted inside the taxi, and after the payment went through, he said to us "You need to pay, the machine doesn't work", and held up his own Square machine and kept the door locked, I showed him the transaction on Monzo on my phone and said to him "I know you get better rates on Square but we've already paid", he lowered his machine and we got out of the car. We were mildly annoyed, didn't really think much of it, then it dawned on us later that this guy probably does it to every tourist, we kicked ourselves a little for not taking down his details. While you despise scammers from your own country and propped up honest street food stands of London, just know that we get our fair shares of chancers, black cab drivers especially known for that.
@@RegulareoldNorseBoy It’s a fairly easy journey, I travelled by train from Malmö in Sweden back to Leeds in the UK and it can easily be done in less than 24hrs
A good fatty "bůček" is nothing to sneer at, but if they sell it as ham, that is just plain wrong. That's like ordering an espresso and getting a batch brew. They're both from the same source, but treated (and priced) very differently.
Every single city needs a man like you to champion the honest businesses who provide services that offer value for money to tourists and local people alike . Long may you continue to shine a light on greed and corruption . Stay safe though , because people have a habit of doing whatever it takes to protect their interests . Even corrupt officials .
In 2014 my wife and I spent a week in Prague. Thankfully, we had some friends who had lived there for several years and provided us with with some tips about where to eat and what to avoid. Needless to say, the touristic hot spots where the priciest, and we were shocked and amused the same time about HOW MUCH pricier the food was there. By the way, Prague is a stunning beautiful city which has so much more to offer apart from the crowded spots. Just get yourselves a Metro Ticket and go explore!
Well, at least they did actually give as much meat as the price indicated. There are scams where eg. oranges are listed by price per kg, except the "per kg" bit is either very small print or not even mentioned. The locals know that this is the price per kg., but tourists may think that's the price per orange. So the tourist pays for 3 kg worth of oranges, but only gets 3 oranges. This sort of scam was more common before the Euro, but it's still happening.
At first I was thinking it's overpriced and just slightly dishonest, since it's by weight and then the mayor's charity scam comes out. Damn! Good investigation!
I am a foreign person living and working in Prague and I can say that in bars and restaurants in Prague, sometimes I have been treated in a different way than the locals. Unfortunately if you don't speak Czech sometimes happens to wait for your meal to be served for 50 minutes while the other tables are being served because they are locals even though they arrived at the place later than you. Also sometimes if there is a big company of foreigners sitting in a bar and having a lot of drinks, at the end happens to be charged for more drinks than they order...
There is standard menu in restaurants, which can take some time to cook and there is daily menu, which is something they have already prepared, if you don't know about this, then you can wait long time. But 50 minutes is really extreme, it happened to me only once in my life that I waited so long time and they forgot about us back in the day, we had to say something and our food was on the table in few minutes. If you wait 50 minutes, then just don't visit such restaurant again.
@@Pidalin thank you for your reply, it was lunch time when this happened and all the tables ordered the daily menu and we asked 3 times for our meals to the waiter and at the end he was annoyed
That's interesting because usually it is the other way around in touristy places,. The moment they hear Czech they will treat you poorly because they can't rip you off. I am sorry you were treated badly. Some people in Prague are rightfully sick of over tourism. Especially the bad kind. But that does not excuse crap manners.
@@Turtle1631991 Yes, I can confirm, they are mostly angry when there is some Czech in tourist places, they wait for rich American pensioners, not for you or me. :-)
Before the pandemic, I went to Prague fairly often. I got taken by those guys one time. I viewed it as an expensive lesson learned! Good for you guys exposing them for being the rip off that they are!
Haha I got scammed at this place too! Didn't realise immediately that the price was crazy because of the different currency. Took me a second to realise the guy had sold me for 16 euros of cheap disgusting ham with a piece of bread!! Started a proper french scandal at the guy who called me crazy but still gave me some of the money back. 🤣
Was at the same spot too. I just said fuck you and left. Prague has been the worst experience in terms of tourism. They were all either scamming or just negative and aggressive. Even worse than France
We got stung by this scam at that exact stall in November 2019. They also loaded up the plate with fat and when I complained, was told it was "traditional" style with lots of fat. Love Prague but wouldn't fall for these guys again. Thanks for highlighting these scams, you do great work.
I'm too much of a swabian in my heart. When I visited Prague for the first time, I asked a friend from Pilsen about the prices in thr Czech Republic, googled important information and just gone besides the tourist zone with my map - and I was fascinated by the beauty of the city and it's very cheap prices for beer and roasts. Besides one time in Augsburg, I never ate a Sauerbraten with Knödel and Sauerkraut wich tasted so good.
@@caccioman Šváb nebo šváb, to je otázka? There you notice, that Bohemia was for nearly a millanial part of the HRE. An old german word for cockroach is "Schwabenkäfer" (Swabian beagle) 😂
@@caccioman Musím poděkovat! Jen moje babicka se mnou mlivila česky. Because of that my vocabulary is very limited to conversations you have at home. 😅
I thought the same. At least you're getting your meat for the announced price. I would eat and save some for later. Edit: Some folks complained that the piece they were served was composed mostly by fat. Not ok, then.
I am surprised you never covered this before. I found myself in that situation few years ago. When I told the guy that was much more expensive than advertised (the concept of price by weight was completely unknown to me) the guy at the counter just got mad at me and didn't even explain how it worked. After watching his reaction, I just told him that I didn't have enough money and just walked away.
@@ifuzegaming Nope, I study Islam, I own two Qurans, and that was a direct statement of fact about the grooming/raping gangs. Feel free to check it out for yourself. Oh, and your racism is showing. You immediately insist I am white and male, as well as racist etc.
You're doing the right thing and the world deserves to know how corrupted this is, but at the same time, this makes me worry about your safety. Stay safe, and as you gain popularity and recognition, it will be easier for these thugs to go after your loved ones and family.
A high school classmate of mine visited Czech republic and Poland (from South Africa). He said he liked Poland more, partly because of stuff like this.
Around 4 years ago I dodged this exact Prague "scham". They asked me what I wanted, I said I wanted a small portion of ham because I didn't eat much. Then they offered me extras like coleslaw and I told them I just wanted to try them. He conveniently hid everything they were taking out behind the counter so I couldn't see the portions. And then basically he exposed all that food at the same time he asked for payment, which totaled I believe 41-43€ (for 1 person). I immediately told the guy I didn't have that much money on me and asked if they accepted card payments (I had seen they had a warning they only accepted cash). He told me no and pointed me to the closest ATM (an EuroNet machine), to which I walked to, never to return again.
the police will write a report and nothing will happen. three days later the person who filed a report will have an audit by the tax revenue service, or the business standards board, or the banking regulatory commission, or.... you get my drift
I mean our prime minister is stealing milions and lot of people still voted for him... so yeah it is hard to convict politic in our country...and I know it is a shame.
Wow, those are insane prices. I was in Lisbon this week and a Bifana (pork sandwich) and small beer came to £3. Now that's gotta be some of the best value street food in all of Europe.
you cant really compare a scam to that. and to your statment , you can get a proper meal and beer in CZ for £4 (not a sandwich) eastern europe ischeaper than PT if you dont get scammed , greece is probably cheaper too , many have good prices
as someone from the US who enjoys a proper BBQ and Beer, i would like to join in with you and apologize.. im astonished that they dare charge these prices for what is likely the world's worst pork... basically charcoal on some bread.
@@delete300 Um... I live two states over form you. And I've driven through the panhandle... (Then again, the state I live in in Arizona, so, not much room to talk, either.) Yeah, I know the mayor has a nice little con going. But you forget, "Prague ain't Dallas." You're not playing by Texas rules, and you don't have home field advantage, either. So, yeah, you could TRY to open a BBQ Pit Style restaurant if you want. However, if it even appears you're cutting into the Mayor's little con, I'm going to guess you're going to get visits from everyone starting with the inspectors and ending with the police. You can try to stand your ground, but that's going to be one rough fight that everyone's betting against you. If you were a long time resident, eh, sure. But you're going to be looked at like some dumb yank trying to shove your will around on everyone else. And the mayor is definitely going to work that angle as well. It's like competing with the mob in Las Vegas or Chicago.
I enjoy travel, and I believe it's good for a person to get out of the comfort of one's own country and culture from time to time, but one aspect of travel that I find exhausting is the 24/7 being on guard against getting scammed, gouged, etc at every turn. It's not everywhere. Australia comes to mind as a place I didn't feel I had to have my guard up all the time. India on the other hand... From the minute you get off the plane until the minute you're back on the plane. I don't have the energy to deal with that anymore.
I had your India experience when travelling through Nth Africa, Morocco in particular. It was totally exhausting to be truthful and after a couple of weeks had had enough and got a ship over to the South of Spain. Sure, a different country but so so much more relaxing and chilled.
Thanks for your work, from the bottom of my heart! In 2019, my first international travel, I was charged 20 euros for a two-person portion. Almost had a heart attack, but thought it was normal. Since then, this episode is wedged in my throat. Thanks again, dude, for helping new travelers and keeping Prague safe! Greetings from brazil.
I didn't let them fool me with that ham: I asked for a small chunk, they tried with a large one and I said NO, SMALL! All tourists gotta be a little street-Smart.
This reminds me of the pay by the weight sea food restaurants in Rome. A tab will easily run in the 2 - 3 hundred of euros for two people. And tourist are always the target.
Or the “sit down” espresso in the middle of Venice which costs 13 Euros as opposed to standing price of 1 Euro. As a side note, I found the 1 Euro standing espresso a nice loophole to get a great product and pay for using a toilet at the same time.
When I went to Prague for the first time years ago I went to this exact food stand and basically had to get in a confrontation with one of the employees when they tried to get me to pay for what was basically a portion big enough for 3 people.
@Mr. Foxo Didnt you watch the video at all? This is EXACTLY how they try to scam people. They serve a portion way too big and then claim it to be the "portion size". Obviously with these prices the more they sell, the more they make money...
@@Ex0rz This is of course a bit dodgy, but when approaching a food stand a normal person would first have a glance at the price list. There it is clearly stated that you're paying by weight and therefore you should ask for a piece of an approximate weight/price which you're willing to pay for and not let them decide. If you are not satisfied with their choice, you really only have yourself to blame and no right to complain.
@@mdzrrrr So the thing is they don't tell you it's by weight. There was one small sign that had a price for a rational amount (think it was 100-200grams but can't remember) and you assume this is what you are getting until they tell you the price and you then find out it's by weight. At least when I went 6 years ago this was the case. But also in general anywhere you go where things are sold by weight they certainly ask you how much you want first before cutting the portion.
@@misterinternational I understand, and I know that it really should not have to be necessary, but if you feel that things are unclear you really have to ask instead of assuming.
@@mdzrrrr don't you understand that it's a freaking scam? They don't say it's by weight, and they serve bigger portions than they should. Some people have also commented that even though they knew it was by weight, the people at the stall refused to cut a smaller portion with various excuses.
Thank you for doing this. Every tourist that avoid that place is a work well done because A - it's just wrong to scam people and B - every person who gets scammed involuntarily keeps them in business. I have been expat myself in Greece until recently and I took special care not to frequent tourist traps and overpriced joints, I did not want to harm local economy that way. I found some wonderful family owned tavernas tho :-)
Seeing these videos I am so grateful that whenever I go to Prague, I am meeting with our Czech friends who always take us to places that they themselves would go to. I never felt ripped off when there.
I've got into a fight with those bastards. I kept telling him that I did not want anything more than 100 and he ignored me. Lads, don't fall for this shit. Keep yer money. Just leave
I'm visiting Prague in next 5 days and was planning to check out some local street food but after seeing this, I'm highly doubtful. Thank you so much Honest Guide for saving our pennies.
Yup, I got involved with this near the famous clock. Luckily, I "won" the battle. I said something like I wanted 100g, and was told no, we cut it, and then you pay based on the weight. I think in broken English they said something like "normal is 300g or so." I was looking for a snack, just a small taste, so I said no thanks and walk away.
Kevin, I mean technically 'winning' would be them cutting you a 100g portion as requested and selling it to you by weight as advertised. You learning of their scam and walking away could probably be considered a draw at best.
The funny thing is you haven't said anything wrong about the quality of their food (others said it here anyways), so they cant really say that you want to ruin their business - just the tourist-scamming part. Not to mention the charity cover which goes deep in this case with the mayor...
0:17 I got scammed right there for some cooked Ham my first time in Prague many years ago, just like at the Euronet ATM (once only, thank God) and lastly also at the Pirate-themed candy shop. Needless to say I'm glad I found this channel after that trip and that I'll definitely be following all recommendations for my future times coming back to the beautiful Republic that is Czechia :) Also, I'm totally not surprised to hear lots of Italians when you went around asking prices, as I fell for that exact same place as an Italian myself and met many more during my meal there. I guess that place really lures us Italians there with the beautiful looking and smelling ham xD
Oh god, when Janek mentioned that the guy asked "who's paying you?" I completely lost it. These crooks are so deep into their Eastern (tourist) scam world that they cannot belive that anyone genuinely opposes this without being paid to do so by opponents. It even perfectly resembles Russian state responses to any accusations "it's just paid actors of the other side". It's a funky kind of paranoia.
I'm from Croatia which is a extremely touristy country, coastline especially and I absolutely hate when I see newspaper articles about tourists getting scammed or overcharged or anything like that since I believe that reflects negatively on the whole nation. On the other hand some people hear that Croatia is cheap, which is true to some extent but superb fish at a superb restaurant in a fancy coastline town will cost you a lot, like really a lot. On the other hand again I live in out capital, Zagreb, and I must say I've never heard of anyone getting scammed like this here and I am very happy for it.
@@PetraKujundzic From my own experience: In a two week holiday/road trip through HR, starting Zadar, down to Makarska and back up, not a single person tried to scam us (although there would have been chances). Everyone we met was helpful and trustworthy, it was great.
@@fluffigverbimmelt I'm very happy to hear that. Only instances I know of are in night clubs, when prices are not properly displayed and all of a sudden there are some really good looking girls around your table ordering most expensive drinks on your tab. If you don't go to sleazy night clubs you're ok. Festivals and regular clubs are fine.
It has nothing to do with "East" and "West". Scammers exist in every country. I lived in Vienna for a long time, I rememeber getting a potentially deadly food poisoning in 2010, from old meat that some racist guy gave to me at a tiny pub. I was just lucky to be a few days in hospital. They see that you are a foreigner and some of them treat you with disdain (especially the low IQ, unhappy people) and others treat you with respect (usually the more intelligent ones). You can find that + corruption in any country of the world.
Am from London, Been to the exact same spot when I visit Prague, had the same experience but never realised that I was scammed until now, you should also do a video on the bars and nightclubs, when you pay for drinks they don’t give you change back as they will just pocket how ever much it is as a tip, had an argument with the bar staff as they had just done exactly that, they gave it back in the end as they didn’t want a scene to be caused, have to be careful in these cities, many scams going on.
You should do more videos about food scams!! 😲 Here in Madrid there is A LOT of this kind of restaurants, wich sells “typical spanish food” and then they sell you the worst frozen paella you can get, and then they charge you exorbitant prices. This reaches a point that in emblematic places like the Plaza Mayor, if you are a local you know that you cannot enjoy any food in the square because each one is a tourist trap… Normally you will see that all the terraces are empty, and if they are not is because they are foreigners. It is sad because I hope that tourists do not go back to their country believing that this garbage is really our typical food
Near the Plaza Mayor, my favorite places to eat was the Vaca Argentina and Vaca Dos. I also liked the Himalaya Indian restaurant. I've gotten sick from the Spanish food in that area throwing up for a few days so I avoided it. I also frequented the TGIF restaurants and KFC. On a 3 day weekend, drove to France to the Languedoc region to enjoy good food. Some Spanish clients took us to restaurants where the food was good but these places were more out of the way and harder to find. It's too bad because the places with the nice architecture are some of what tourists want to see but the tourist food traps give them a bad lasting impression of the local food.
Podrías hacerme recomendaciones de restaurantes buenos con buen precio en Madrid (y de ser posible en Barcelona)? Voy a ir en 2 semanas y he estado viendo estos videos para prevenir lo mayor posible ir a estos tipos de lugares que cobran de más. Saludos de México!
When I was in Prague for the first time, they scammed me too. I cannot forget this giant portion of a disgusting dish with cabbage and bacon for 7 years already)) That does not negate my great love for Prague. I hope the borders with Russia will be open and I will be able to come again.
WHAHA! I fell for that trick in Prague, indeed with that ham! The biggest part was fat and the rest was injected with very salty water to make it heavier. They decided how much they cut off for you. Some customers got angry and walked away Of course those sellers didn't care; they sell loads anyway. If I remember correctly, I paid €16.
I live in the UK... There's also a MAJOR difference of prices between the South Coast, London and the North. Up here in the Midlands, it's much cheaper than London
3 years ago I ran into something similar in Moscow, I just wanted to have a quick dinner in Yaroslavskaya station before I board my train, and I bought 2 sashliks and a beer for something like 1800 rubels in the station cafe. It was a pricey experience! - Of course, they knew I was a tourist as I was speaking English :D
Travel within Europe is extremely easy and cheap. I missed my flight home from Prague to Gothenburg, 90 minutes later I was on an airplane to Kopenhagen and then the train home.
London is definitely expensive, especially in the busier parts of it. So when a Londoner says sht is overpriced, you know for sure that its in scam territory of overpriced.
Thank you Honest Guide. I've been in Prague many times already. And honestly I was also victimised by that store the first time I went to Prague. Until my Czech wife told me it's a ripped off.
The endless amount of scams, tricks and traps from the many people who dehumanize tourists has made certain that I will never travel anywhere unless it's someplace other people don't usually tend to go. Fortunately, you can still have some pretty great experiences as a traveler that way. Arguably better, if your goal is to connect with locals, travel on a budget and / or experience "the real country" etc. For all the touristy places, photos, anecdotes and travel vlogs are more than good enough for me. Not only do I have no interest in having to constantly watch out for criminals and cheats, but I also can't enjoy myself in places where so many of the locals have the attitude of having to "endure" tourists (and often for good reason). I'd rather be a curiosity than an eyesore.
This man is single-handedly dismantling the Czech mafia and corrupt politicians. On camera. We need more people like these everywhere.
Do not forget his partner camera man.. They are doing this together even that Honza is not in the videos, but behind them :)
I was just thinking thw same. My city needs guys like these two
@@lecisko e
They need security.
I digress… we need to hire them bodyguards
When I was visiting Prague, thanks to the Honest Guide Guy, I was prepared for this and I ordered "100 grams of Ham". They refused to sell to me by a specific weight. They insisted I'd have to pay to whatever it weighted. I told to them "Then sell me around 100 grams, I don't care if its a bit more" . Then, they again refused. They told me "pieces are pre-cut" , with the whole piece and a knife in the hand, hahaha. So I just walked away. Crooks.
@Armament Armed Arm not much more because they are overpriceed, so the locals won´t eat there. The people who buy there do it because they don´t want to look around and just want to eat something.
And looking at the video, they give people so much food that they would need like 300-400% more customers to make as much money.
Im so embaressed i was duped by these guys like... 4 years ago. There was somewhat of a line, and four VERY agressive "salespersons" in the stand. I asked for a hundred grams, they said there was a minimum requirement and started stressing me out, almost shouting at me. Instead of just walking away, i said "ok" - and left with a f-ing bucket of ham (enough for a family of four), like 27 euros (!) poorer. I have never felt so foolish. Chucked it all in a bin and left, because i was so angry. Hope these guys burn in hell.
@Armament Armed Arm of course, they make more money this way, although the price per kg is always the same. If they gave out just normal sized portions, they would need about the 3x of clients every day. Also, it's much easier and less effort selling 600 g to one person than to 3 different persons (with 200g each). So, although it's very sneaky and disgusting, it works out economically.
@ same situation here man ahahaha, July 2018, hope this video will help tourists now
Can we all go in and destroy them on Google maps?
As a Norwegian, I think it's pretty great that you get free ham for the price of a beer.
My man trolling like a native Trollan
American here in Seattle, same.
Følernnn. Kvær gang æ e i Polen te familien min e æ skolert over forskjellen på priser. Det er jo sinnssjukt
Go get your salary in Czech crowns and you'll see :)
that right? dude got hooked up for cheap!
I feel so validated by this video - went to Prague in 2018 and was charged an exorbitant amount for a potato pancake + cabbage in a similar area. I walked away feeling like the change was wrong, queried it, then found myself in a bit of an arguing match with the vendor about the lack of clarity on weight charging.
Excellent work 👏👏
I remember being a student and ordering this ham, thinking 100g is the portion size. Got half a kilo of meat and a price that was way outside my price range. Walked away, they shouted something behind me, I kept walking end of story. What are they going to do? Call the cops? And say what? I didn't eat anything.
Epic
Based
Lol yeah don't fall for this shit
more should do this. that way they have to ask how much first XD
I will never, and have never eaten from a place that weighs its plates - and you pay per portion.
So do I understand correct? Petr Hejma, the mayor of Prague 1, used his position and power to sell ham in the most central and expensive per square meter part of the country for 80 eur per day exclusively without any competition on behalf of children charity organization? And he is still holding his position after that? Since his political party accepts it it means they are all share a lot more corrupt schemes.
This is small potatoes compared to the real corruption schemes with multi-million turnovers. It's a _modus operandi_ of all political parties in pretty much all Slavic countries, it's just the extent that varies... Unfortunately, the citizens themselves are trying to skim little something-something here and there so they don't see anything egregiously wrong with it as they themselves would probably do far worse if given the chance.
@@zwerko I am mostly impressed of impudence of mayor's and his political party's action, not amount of the money they make with this misuse of power. Try to rent similar area in Old Town Square, see how much it cost. But not for mayor and his friends, especially as long as they use kids and charity. Disgusting.
Since the planned economy doesn't work, people are left to fend for themselves. There's a saying from those times:
"Who doesn't steal, steals from their own family."
I sincerely hope it will diminish significantly with time and effort, though...
@@zwerko Bulgaria is a great example of that.
@djindivik Which is like 95% slavic or have been under slavic *rule*. For the West, countries like Romania, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania... it's all USSR.
When someone from London one of the most expensive cities in the world is saying the street food is overpriced, then there are problems.
@Tahir That's a surprise actually, there are tons of airports near the North Circular
@Tom Foster the price is the same for us Londoners. Beer costs £6, that is 180 CZK for a single beer!
@@dgibelli £6 for a beer is ridiculous. Just go into ASDA and smuggle a few instead.
@Tahir Ah ic, my mistake
@Tom Foster Same with the Barcelona. We also went to Tarragona and other places nearby and whole day ticket for all major sites in those towns woudn't cover single entrance fee to sight in Barcelona.
I've been to that exact same square and those exact same street food things and I actually had an argument with the employee over the amount of food I was being given. I was given a huge portion and when I politely asked to have a smaller portion I was denied. I was told that's the portion and that's it. In the middle of the argument I'm sure I was insulted in Czech. After some shouting, I eventually got the quantity I wanted. Many of the Czechs that run 'tourist targeted' businesses are actually quite unpleasent and don't deserve the money they get. There are nice people out there but they're not the majority.
if you didnt want to eat it all you could have trown it away.
@@melius0 DID YOU JUST THROW AWAY THE MONEY
@@melius0 the reason they are asking for a small portion is so that no money thrown away
@@melius0 Thatd be a waste of food and money
@@melius0 reading your comment made me lose brain cells.
jUSt THrOw aWAY f0oD lOLz instead of just getting what you need and paying the appropriate amount.
Also GOLDER RULE OF TRAVELING: Any establishment in the view of or a short walk from major touristy landmark is suspect by default until proven otherwise beyond reasonable doubt. Doesn't matter if it is Old Town Square, Acropolis or Tower of London.
Hey come to Romania please. Everything is cheap. Even in center
@@user-mi4yc7pr3x not at tourist hot spots. In every tourist city you have at least 1 guy out of 5 try to scam you with overpriced food. Its the same in berlin. If something is in a tourist guide its most time even worse ( with very few exceptions).
People visit berlin and eat a döner kebab at a special location for 5.50euro. As berlin guy i can say the döner there is nothing special. Its basicly a rip off / almost a scam because you get a tiny döner. Ive seen the same in pisa, rom, nice, monaco, paris.
If you walk to one street next to the tourist spots you find almost everywhere better or the same food but cheaper.
Acropolis is visible from most of Athens, even from many suburbs, just like all highly placed monuments like Christ in Rio or Burj Khalifa. The real golden rule is : if you don't see any locals sitting there, it's a bad sign.
@@teiher "in close view then" basically I was thinking of the whole area if you walk from Acropoli station to Monastiraki
@@Turtle1631991 even in the tourist zones, you can see several shops and vendors visited regularly by locals and others that are obvious tourist traps, even side by side to each other.
frankly, this guy deserves to be awarded the highest civilian award of Czech republic. He is so much concerned in making Prague the utopian tourist place sustainably. Kudos !!
"Frankly"
@@jamesmcinnis208 "frankly" 😈
When I was in London and trying to grab some street food as I was leaving I walked up to some Philippine food stand. I was almost out of money since I was leaving the next morning and was going to be with family for the rest of the day and didn’t need to worry about paying. So when I was talking with the owner and realized I didn’t have enough he said it was fine and that he would give me a half portion. I think he was very generous with his definition of half and the meal still filled me up and it was only around 4-5 pounds. All around it was a great way to end off my trip there, lots of friendly people!
Can attest, as a Filipino myself we are generally generous in portion sizes when it comes to meals :) you can get a full sized meal even for just $1-2 here in various restaurants, whether fast food or not.
because london is the greatest European city and no other city comes close. FACTS.
Big king meal is 3 pounds and would have filled you up pretty neatly, then again that would be less healthy.
op kors pilipino generosity mate!
5 pounds is enough for a cheap dinner. It's not like ridiculously cheap lol.
Ive just come back from Prague and this stand has actually doubles their efforts now. They now also sell some potato/gnocci, bacon, onion and cheese dish from a large pot. I chose to have some of that as I assumed it would be a cheaper street food option than the ham. Again they did it by weight which i didnt realise and after I paid 400kc i realised what had happened. Couldnt believe it. Be careful.
What’s the food place called? I can’t find it
@@nadxc8590 its in the old square and you’ll se the stands
1:12 loved that attitude of that woman who's enjoying her pizza in her own world without any worry of being videotaped.
Edit: it is langos and not pizza what she is eating, as mentioned in the comments. Wasn't aware of langos. Thanks!
i think she is eating a langos with garlic creme :D but yeaah i liked that too ^^ first i thought maybe she is a karen and will stand up soon but nope ;D
its not pizza , you should try make langos at home its so good man
Not a pizza, it's a Langos (fried bread, with toppings like: garlic, sour cream, and cheese)
Ah yes the liberation of eating when hungry
I came to the comments to find this.
I feel that woman in my soul. Good for her.
Generally its a good rule of thumb to stay away from places that A: Are obviously visited by all the tourists. B: Are right next to some fancy church or in the middle of a popular square. Don't be a lemming, ask the locals what they think is worth checking out.
If you have a native friend there, ask them for recommendations
@@kendernicklas7524 Or if you don't just talk to any locals on the street who look nice to you and ask them. You might not always get a perfect recommendation this way, but a local will rarely send you to a tourist trap. Plus its a good way to connect with the local culture a bit instead of just staring at old buildings.
Visited by tourists is fine. But if it's almost ONLY visited by tourists, that should be a red flag. It means the locals don't think it's worth going to, and it is likely a tourist pitfall.
More than half of all people are complete lemmings and have neither the desire nor the capacity to change
@@jeffsmith9351 Yeah, thats why you really cant rely on tripadvisor ratings because people will just follow the herd like on most social media and give 99% of their attention to the same 5 locations.
You guys are extremely valuable to the foreigners, expats, and locals as well, thank you for trying to keep Prague amazing as it always is 👋
expat is just a term for immigrants to feel better about themselves, you're an immigrant, not an "expat"
yeah thanks to them I had the best of times when I visited Prague
@@eyzmin don't want to sound racist or something
But most people who called themself expact is white people
@@DooDee0608 its not racist if its a fact, im white and youre right, expat is what white people call themselves so they dont say immigrant, it s a little pathetic tbh
HOW??? he didn't say anything worth hearing. less food cost less, more food cost more.
I thought I was the only one! I visited Prague about 8 years ago around Easter and ended up paying 12 euros equivalent for cheese and potatoes (tartiflette, basically) - when the price was marked as being 2.5 euros or something. Outrageous. Thank you for the video!
1:16 the lady eating the whole pizza without cutting it is amazing lmao
God, i wish that were me
I think it's a Lango.
How did you notice this
@@12thstreetrag how did you not?
that's Langoš tho
Back in 2012 I was ripped off by the "Old Prague Ham" scam. It looks great. But when you are eating way too much food for too much money the taste isn't very good. I did try to ask for less but they essentially said they had already cut the ham off the wheel. I have had a nice slab roast pork in another Czech town for a couple of dollars. Thanks for going after the vultures guides!
As a Texan pitboss, i would like to apologize. Meat and beer should be a happy unifying experience, not a scam. Shameful practice on there behalf
You should have simply and calmly answered "So now eat it yourself because this is not what I wanted..." We have always the choice.
@@irondasgr
Absolutely, nobody can force you to buy something in EU, no matter how corrupt the place is. I am baffled by people who allow scams to proceed place even after they realize that they are getting ripped off.
@@puzzlingcentaur many people are innately polite... To realise immediately and snub.... That is how the scam goes on and on..
@@ussvmehar7352
I am usually trying my best not go into pointless conflicts if they can be avoided, but I have zero problems with going into conflicts with scammers....my mood is already ruined when they try to scam me, there is no way in hell that I am going to give them money. And if they try to touch me, the best they can get is getting police called on them for assault.
Gonna be honest, last time I was in Prague, the whole city really felt like a tourist flytrap.
20 tiny corner stores all called practically the same thing located more or less 3-4 per street selling ridiculously overpriced stuff like water bottles etc. very deliberately towards tourists.
Bunches of "Enticing looking" candy shops with ridiculous pricings "A hand and a leg/kg"
There are many more examples, but it generally felt like there were hundreds of "small businesses" that sold the exact same mediocre goods for far too much money that looked a bit too similar to each other, pretty much as if they were owned by the same scummy companies trying to lure in dumb tourists by having posters in English and stacking storefronts with exactly what a tourist might want to buy. ...Also, restaurants had pretty much the same exact menu to the point where it didn't matter which one you went to. There were a few really nice places with good beer though.
Beautiful old city, but some aspects of it are quite blatantly predatory.
Any well visited city can be a rip off if you’re not paying attention
it's called money laundering lol those stores dont care if people buy from there or not because they are fake
...if the beer is good then not much else matters!😏🤗
Been there twice. First time with my brother, second time with my wife.
We went to a restaurant that was on a very popular spot so I already feared it would be expensive.
The waiter was drunk "because tourists keep buying drinks for me!", and very friendly.
He offered some welcome drink and of course it turned out that you had to pay for it.
He made a few suggestions of what we should eat and drink and I asked him how much it costed.
My wife acted insulted: "NOT HERE! This country is so cheap, we're not going to act difficult about prices!"
Alright, fine my dear! 🙂
We had those pork knuckles but they were made in an awful way, nothing like the first time that I had it. We also had some cocktails.
The bill was close to €50.
Yeahhh from that moment on we DID look at the prices before ordering anything, haha!
Those very similar menus we also noticed indeed.
Shops with very similar items; I guess you've never been on vacation in Asian countries? It's even far worse there than in Prague but I do agree with you.
I see what you mean, but it sounds like you only visited a 100m radius between the square and the bridge. Because that is where all those trash stores (candy, souvenirs, chimney cake, CBD, absinthe etc.) are. If anyone is dumb enough to be surprised that he’s getting ripped off in there, he deserves it. I just spent 5 days there and probably just scratched the surface and still I think your statement is a gross exaggeration. The rest of Prague was wonderful and what you speak of is really only in one tiny concentrated area 🤷🏼♂️
Honestly, this could be avoided if tourists just went to non-blatant tourist traps. 9/10 times you can find the same food/drink/whatever just around the corner in a family ran restaurant for the price it should be.
I don't know how much you've travelled, but i can say that from my experience, it's very time-consuming and boring to tell apart scams from more traditional food places, in a country you've never been to and know close to nothing about.
@@arthur_4902 hasnt been that hard for me. Just search reviews, takes 10 seconds to know if it is bad or good.
And dont go to the main street when searching for something.
If the mayor of owns the stalls, there is a bigger problem than the decisions of individual tourists.
yes a scam is completley legitmate because of options and free will
You're saying that like most people plan their trip and go to obscure places in country they're traveling, lmao
Some people claim that you're scaring tourists away from Czechia. I completely disagree! These videos make me feel *more confident* about visiting there and other places too!
Scams happen everywhere and tourists are targeted because they often don't know better. Scammers don't care when you say "I'll never come back!" Another tourist will take your place. These videos equip people with the knowledge to recognise and avoid these scams, plus it gives them courage to argue or walk away when a scammer becomes aggressive.
Scammers will lie and say things like "This is normal" and "You're stealing if you don't pay." As a last resort every tourist should learn the local language word scammers fear most: "Police." Learn phrases like "Let's go to the police station to resolve this" or "Somebody call police!" Many scammers will run away in fear when you say this.
Thank you Janek and Honza for your hard work! You teach valuable lessons even for those not travelling. Scammers target locals too! Especially now that tourism has drastically reduced around the world...
He is scaring me away.
@@glennwatson3313 It is not the guy talking about the problem that scares You away. The problem is scaring you away, so if they get rid of scammers and tourists traps there will be nothing to worry about
Fr! I feel like I don’t know what places I can eat because I risk getting scammed.
When I did volunteer work in a position that scammers wanted to manipulate, "who is paying you?" was always the signal that the person I was dealing with was a scammer *and* a psychopath. They legitimately could not conceive that someone would be trying to help people.
or maybe they are like working people who need to like work their asses 8-12 hours a day to earn the living and they can't concieve someone can have so much free time to be working for free
@@wilhelmu We dealt with that, too. Honest workers would actually follow our instructions to accomplish their goals legitimately because it was less work and they had help. Scammers trying to exploit the project for free advertising for other scams could not conceive that people can sincerely want to make the world better.
@@wilhelmu Scammer cope. Go back to your call centers and your All You Can Eat buffets and your "for kids" "charities"
Stop calling everything "psychopath"
Out of curiosity, what kind of volunteer work was it that you had to deal with scammers often?
Not only is it ridiculously overpriced, it is burnt to shit
The guy at 1:00 payed 23£ for some
charcoal with bread on the side. lol
Also the days czech word would so obviously be dřevěné uhlí.
and therefore carcinogenic
no burnt to shit... thats the crispy layer mate. but yeah. its Overdone by some
Imagine someone from say Texas trying to eat there? Hahaha they'd probably die considering how meat culture is in the US.
I have been to the same stall in 2019. First time in Czech Republic, I had no clue how much was a portion, or what it was. There was a sign 100g for x amount (using x as I don't remember). I thought, ok I'll try it first, so I said "Can I get 100g please". The guy literally shouted at me and shooed me away saying you need to buy at least 10 Euros worth. Then I saw him sell a plate worth 16 euros to an American woman. He just quoted some amount in Czech krona and the woman said how much is than in Euros, and he went 16. She was startled a bit initially but paid the money.
The American woman asked how much it was in €? Not $?
@@ApenstaartjeYT Yes, because euros are also accepted at many places in Prague. And a lot of tourists are touring many Schengen countries in the same trip so already have euros and can spend them directly in Prague without exchanging them. I did the same, as I traveled to the Netherlands and Germany just before and had some spare Euros which I spent in Prague. So at a lot of places, you can ask the price in euros.
@@ApenstaartjeYT euro and dollar are basically 1:1 so its not that hard to understand how much it is worth
Can confirm, same hapened to me back in 2017, and don't dare to tell them that they just gave you too much because they will just start to shout and insult you in Czech obviously
I asked for 200grams and got it no problem. I don't see what the problem is here.
I'll be honest: "Tourists get bigger portions" is a lot less sinister than I thought this was going to be.
The main issue is that foreigners are given too much food and are therefore charged up to 5 times more than what someone who lives there/speaks Czech would have to pay. The fact that they’re told that the amount that they’re given is a regular portion when asked is also a problem.
I mean, not really? Americans especially ARE likely to want a bigger portion. Also, you can ask for less. Like those ppl with $30 hams like like they just took the rack with them. If I was shown that I would immediately ask for less lol
@@migsy1 yes but u GET MORE MEAT
There is also the part where the guy cuts a slice and the scale reads 100g exactly. Janek exclaims, "Wow! You knew how to cut 100g exactly! I've never seen that before!" Implying the that scale itself is rigged.
@@JookySeaCpt I don't think so, if you cut and weight things for a living it's fairly easy to do so. Tampering with scales is highly illegal and can cost your entire business and really hefty fines. Scales have to be certificated and anyone can ask to see it.
I almost got into an actual fight with these guys last time in Prague. I ordered and they tried to charge me by weight and I started arguing because a few years ago the sign advertising the price was out front saying one price but they would later argue that price was per ounce, totaling over 10x as much when they rang it up. I remember being so hungry and agitated and getting into a yelling match with these assholes
Man they are totally fucked up. We have metric system, we dont even use ounces :D And every market or city fair is 100% that you gonna find something similiar.
They actually must specifie how big (how many gr) should be their portions, theres laws onto that. But in real life it mostly looks like - Hams stand - Ham 100gr - 100czk+disheh+bread+paperbag+towels etc. But I´m sure lot of them are actually hustling with weights
@@krystofcisar469 Is it even legal to sell by ounce in CZ? Because I don't think it is.
@@Turtle1631991 Of yourse it isnt. Would be nice to pay for liter of gasoline and get a gallon no doubt. But it´s just not happening.
@@krystofcisar469 You must be fake Czech. Otherwise you would never say that. Obviously they would make us pay for gallon and give us a liter :-D
Instead of doing that, you could, like any normal person, have asked for the price beforehand, then declined and walked away.. No yelling involved, whatsoever.
This video ranks up with the best of RUclips content. Great work(!) and very worthy cause of protecting the public. The journalistic value is clear by your overall findings.
I was just in Prague for a few nights and loved the city. The Honest Guide videos helped me tremendously. Thank you for your videos.
We were in Prague few years back and got scammed few times. It was beautiful city but the scamming part was horrible. This channel is the only reason why we would go back. Now we have a guide :)
I was there during Christmas a few years back and really wanted to taste this, but also had my first shock of Prague. I didn't have much appetite, so i asked for just 100 grams, but they served me a "portion" of 300 grams, and said they don't serve less. I said no, and then I left. What felt really bad, was that most people around me were served oversized portions, and no one could have it, so they would all throw away the leftover food in the bins. And you could clearly see the bins full of some very good and fresh ham, and as fate would have it, a lot of people who weren't fortunate enough that Christmas, were digging up the bins. This was a shock to me, and I couldn't buy an oversized portion, even though I really wanted to have ham that afternoon.
Yes, they could make an honest buck but they prefer to make a little more by being dishonest.
I was right there the year before the coof and had a great lunch in the restaurant just behind those idiots, about the same price but an actually great meal with full service.
Sadly that place closed down...
You can get 300 grams and share it with your family.
@@cagedtigersteve But what if you are travelling alone? Or you and your family/party got meal for each already because you couldn't predict this situation with overweight food?
So you just took away some homeless person’s Xmas meal 😹
If you see you are served such a large portion you just shouldn't pay or maybe offer some of it to other tourists. Seeing meat being wasted makes me sick, since it means an animal has been killed for nothing.
If someone from London says something is expensive, then definitely listen to them lol London isn't cheap by english standards, but atleast it's not 50 euros for some pork lol
The cost of beer was 2 pounds though, in London it would be 7.
@@vonder7 yes but elsewhere in prague is like half, or almost, price for a beer
the guy was charged 11£ fro 300g of roast ham and tap beer. That's not expensive at all by London standards
Got back to London from Paris recently (I'm a Londoner, I just look foreign), got into a black cab as it was only a short ride and we had luggage's, the black cab driver, he almost missed our turn which we had to practically yell to tell him to turn, and after arriving, charged us by card which is mounted inside the taxi, and after the payment went through, he said to us "You need to pay, the machine doesn't work", and held up his own Square machine and kept the door locked, I showed him the transaction on Monzo on my phone and said to him "I know you get better rates on Square but we've already paid", he lowered his machine and we got out of the car.
We were mildly annoyed, didn't really think much of it, then it dawned on us later that this guy probably does it to every tourist, we kicked ourselves a little for not taking down his details. While you despise scammers from your own country and propped up honest street food stands of London, just know that we get our fair shares of chancers, black cab drivers especially known for that.
Fair play coming over to London to show the difference between the two prices 👍👍👍
@@marekkelin1181 she flew to glasgow.. how dares she.. ☺️😬
@@fly89 She went by train tbf
There are plenty of scammers in London.
@@chrisg38 she took a train from Sweden ?
@@RegulareoldNorseBoy It’s a fairly easy journey, I travelled by train from Malmö in Sweden back to Leeds in the UK and it can easily be done in less than 24hrs
It's even worse, last time when I was in Prague, around a month ago, and I bought it there, half of the ham was in fact pure fat, not meat.
Dude you can't change how does ham looks like ok
Silly Slavek, didn't you know that was the standard portion of fat on your plate? Tsk tsk
@@tekken.universal2343 They can control how much meat vs. fat they cut off and give to a customer
A good fatty "bůček" is nothing to sneer at, but if they sell it as ham, that is just plain wrong. That's like ordering an espresso and getting a batch brew. They're both from the same source, but treated (and priced) very differently.
Well, fat weigh a lot less than pure meat, so it is not that big a problem.
You should make a shirt that says "Dishonest Ham". Maybe "Old Prague Ham Scam."
scam ham is good :)
Allow me to build upon your Idea if I may. Old Prague "SC(H)AM"
no, please no
"200 grams is not a portion"
Every single city needs a man like you to champion the honest businesses who provide services that offer value for money to tourists and local people alike .
Long may you continue to shine a light on greed and corruption . Stay safe though , because people have a habit of doing whatever it takes to protect their interests . Even corrupt officials .
I wish more cities had guys like you covering all these details. Just great content.
i agree, maybe they could cash on that and create similar crews for different places, it is sure handy for visitors
In 2014 my wife and I spent a week in Prague. Thankfully, we had some friends who had lived there for several years and provided us with with some tips about where to eat and what to avoid.
Needless to say, the touristic hot spots where the priciest, and we were shocked and amused the same time about HOW MUCH pricier the food was there.
By the way, Prague is a stunning beautiful city which has so much more to offer apart from the crowded spots. Just get yourselves a Metro Ticket and go explore!
All the locals told me to avoid the street food cars.
Love how this just proves their points
Yeah avoid but ONLY in the center
Well, at least they did actually give as much meat as the price indicated. There are scams where eg. oranges are listed by price per kg, except the "per kg" bit is either very small print or not even mentioned. The locals know that this is the price per kg., but tourists may think that's the price per orange. So the tourist pays for 3 kg worth of oranges, but only gets 3 oranges. This sort of scam was more common before the Euro, but it's still happening.
I got this experience some years ago. Said it was too much and was told it was a standard 'portion'. I walked away.
Exactly what i did when it happened to me. They wanted to charge me 27€ for the fattiest piece of pork i had ever seen in my life.
At first I was thinking it's overpriced and just slightly dishonest, since it's by weight and then the mayor's charity scam comes out. Damn! Good investigation!
I am a foreign person living and working in Prague and I can say that in bars and restaurants in Prague, sometimes I have been treated in a different way than the locals. Unfortunately if you don't speak Czech sometimes happens to wait for your meal to be served for 50 minutes while the other tables are being served because they are locals even though they arrived at the place later than you. Also sometimes if there is a big company of foreigners sitting in a bar and having a lot of drinks, at the end happens to be charged for more drinks than they order...
There is standard menu in restaurants, which can take some time to cook and there is daily menu, which is something they have already prepared, if you don't know about this, then you can wait long time. But 50 minutes is really extreme, it happened to me only once in my life that I waited so long time and they forgot about us back in the day, we had to say something and our food was on the table in few minutes. If you wait 50 minutes, then just don't visit such restaurant again.
@@Pidalin thank you for your reply, it was lunch time when this happened and all the tables ordered the daily menu and we asked 3 times for our meals to the waiter and at the end he was annoyed
That's interesting because usually it is the other way around in touristy places,. The moment they hear Czech they will treat you poorly because they can't rip you off.
I am sorry you were treated badly. Some people in Prague are rightfully sick of over tourism. Especially the bad kind. But that does not excuse crap manners.
aatsatis konstantinoula pou exeis xtipisei kai meneis praga
@@Turtle1631991 Yes, I can confirm, they are mostly angry when there is some Czech in tourist places, they wait for rich American pensioners, not for you or me. :-)
That lady in the back holding & eating the entire pizza is my spirit person 😂
that what I noticed too 😂😂😂😂
it´s a langos not a pizza. they are eaten like this when you are on the way...
@@kinggeedorah8953 Oh, got it, thanks :). Langos or not I would have eaten it the same way.
@@kinggeedorah8953 it's a pizza and eating like a cow
@@shmooveyea ist not pizza its called langos
Before the pandemic, I went to Prague fairly often. I got taken by those guys one time. I viewed it as an expensive lesson learned! Good for you guys exposing them for being the rip off that they are!
The guy who owned the business is the city mayor. That just show something how dirty the city is?!
@@ghosthdel3098 Well not the city mayor, just "mayor" of the city district....
@@martinkarasek5939 from which party?
@@maciekziobrzynski6910 don't know, don't care
Haha I got scammed at this place too! Didn't realise immediately that the price was crazy because of the different currency. Took me a second to realise the guy had sold me for 16 euros of cheap disgusting ham with a piece of bread!! Started a proper french scandal at the guy who called me crazy but still gave me some of the money back. 🤣
Was at the same spot too. I just said fuck you and left. Prague has been the worst experience in terms of tourism. They were all either scamming or just negative and aggressive. Even worse than France
We got stung by this scam at that exact stall in November 2019.
They also loaded up the plate with fat and when I complained, was told it was "traditional" style with lots of fat.
Love Prague but wouldn't fall for these guys again.
Thanks for highlighting these scams, you do great work.
I'm too much of a swabian in my heart. When I visited Prague for the first time, I asked a friend from Pilsen about the prices in thr Czech Republic, googled important information and just gone besides the tourist zone with my map - and I was fascinated by the beauty of the city and it's very cheap prices for beer and roasts. Besides one time in Augsburg, I never ate a Sauerbraten with Knödel and Sauerkraut wich tasted so good.
Tell them you are a schwab, it will amuse them (obv means cockroach ;)
@@caccioman Šváb nebo šváb, to je otázka?
There you notice, that Bohemia was for nearly a millanial part of the HRE. An old german word for cockroach is "Schwabenkäfer" (Swabian beagle) 😂
@@nicolasmarazuela1010 l did not know that, dakujem pekné
@@caccioman Musím poděkovat! Jen moje babicka se mnou mlivila česky. Because of that my vocabulary is very limited to conversations you have at home. 😅
Honestly, I'm not so disturbed about the portions than the background stuff about renting, charity and major. Great work as usual guys. Take care!
I thought the same. At least you're getting your meat for the announced price. I would eat and save some for later.
Edit: Some folks complained that the piece they were served was composed mostly by fat. Not ok, then.
@@imalrockme well somebody has to get the fatty part
@@tavish4699 or sell it as something else for people who like alot of fat
I am surprised you never covered this before. I found myself in that situation few years ago. When I told the guy that was much more expensive than advertised (the concept of price by weight was completely unknown to me) the guy at the counter just got mad at me and didn't even explain how it worked. After watching his reaction, I just told him that I didn't have enough money and just walked away.
"There's overpriced food in London?!?. Well let's go check it out!"
That was epic!
Did you encounter the Pakistani Muslim grooming gangs?
@@scottdoesntmatter4409 No but I did just encounter another angry racist stereotyping white man
@@ifuzegaming Nope, I study Islam, I own two Qurans, and that was a direct statement of fact about the grooming/raping gangs. Feel free to check it out for yourself. Oh, and your racism is showing. You immediately insist I am white and male, as well as racist etc.
@@scottdoesntmatter4409 you critique me for calling you racist then call me racist? that alone make me disregard anything else you have to say
@@ifuzegaming Wow. You really don't see it.
You're doing the right thing and the world deserves to know how corrupted this is, but at the same time, this makes me worry about your safety. Stay safe, and as you gain popularity and recognition, it will be easier for these thugs to go after your loved ones and family.
A high school classmate of mine visited Czech republic and Poland (from South Africa). He said he liked Poland more, partly because of stuff like this.
Poland is quite nice. Cheap Germany
@@nineteenfortyeight Poland is Poland.And not a cheap Germany.
@@amedeohembersin3182 Alright, alright, we will call Germany "expensive Poland" 🙂
the guy literally flew to london to check their food prices. Legend as always!
Around 4 years ago I dodged this exact Prague "scham".
They asked me what I wanted, I said I wanted a small portion of ham because I didn't eat much. Then they offered me extras like coleslaw and I told them I just wanted to try them. He conveniently hid everything they were taking out behind the counter so I couldn't see the portions. And then basically he exposed all that food at the same time he asked for payment, which totaled I believe 41-43€ (for 1 person). I immediately told the guy I didn't have that much money on me and asked if they accepted card payments (I had seen they had a warning they only accepted cash). He told me no and pointed me to the closest ATM (an EuroNet machine), to which I walked to, never to return again.
43€? Holy crap
Smooth evasion, eh
Boss move.
randomly got this recommended to my feed, love the content. need more honest people in the world
How come the Major, can continue running this business? Are no one denouncing him to the Police for being fraudulent?
He has been a major since 2020 and I don't think people knew.
the police will write a report and nothing will happen. three days later the person who filed a report will have an audit by the tax revenue service, or the business standards board, or the banking regulatory commission, or.... you get my drift
I mean our prime minister is stealing milions and lot of people still voted for him... so yeah it is hard to convict politic in our country...and I know it is a shame.
Wow, those are insane prices.
I was in Lisbon this week and a Bifana (pork sandwich) and small beer came to £3.
Now that's gotta be some of the best value street food in all of Europe.
you cant really compare a scam to that. and to your statment , you can get a proper meal and beer in CZ for £4 (not a sandwich) eastern europe ischeaper than PT if you dont get scammed , greece is probably cheaper too , many have good prices
Go to turkey for cheaper prices and amazing food
@@orkunbartn197 oh you get scammed there too. Just mostly not with food.
As a Texan pitboss, I would like to apologize. Meat and beer should be a happy unifying experience, not a scam. Shameful practice on there behalf!
as someone from the US who enjoys a proper BBQ and Beer, i would like to join in with you and apologize.. im astonished that they dare charge these prices for what is likely the world's worst pork... basically charcoal on some bread.
@@Honeypot-x9s I'm so down to go out there and open across the square! What beautiful state are you from?
@@delete300 You might have problems with the Mayor, if you do.
@@jackielinde7568 now we ain't violent people but we stand our ground. The mayor is a scammer using a charity as a disguise! I doubt he'll show up
@@delete300 Um... I live two states over form you. And I've driven through the panhandle... (Then again, the state I live in in Arizona, so, not much room to talk, either.)
Yeah, I know the mayor has a nice little con going. But you forget, "Prague ain't Dallas." You're not playing by Texas rules, and you don't have home field advantage, either. So, yeah, you could TRY to open a BBQ Pit Style restaurant if you want. However, if it even appears you're cutting into the Mayor's little con, I'm going to guess you're going to get visits from everyone starting with the inspectors and ending with the police. You can try to stand your ground, but that's going to be one rough fight that everyone's betting against you. If you were a long time resident, eh, sure. But you're going to be looked at like some dumb yank trying to shove your will around on everyone else. And the mayor is definitely going to work that angle as well. It's like competing with the mob in Las Vegas or Chicago.
Thanks
I enjoy travel, and I believe it's good for a person to get out of the comfort of one's own country and culture from time to time, but one aspect of travel that I find exhausting is the 24/7 being on guard against getting scammed, gouged, etc at every turn. It's not everywhere. Australia comes to mind as a place I didn't feel I had to have my guard up all the time. India on the other hand... From the minute you get off the plane until the minute you're back on the plane. I don't have the energy to deal with that anymore.
Who in their right mind would ever want to go to India? While I'm sure good people exist for the most part there culture is all about scamming people.
I had your India experience when travelling through Nth Africa, Morocco in particular. It was totally exhausting to be truthful and after a couple of weeks had had enough and got a ship over to the South of Spain. Sure, a different country but so so much more relaxing and chilled.
@@tilerman you ever go in algeria ?
Thanks for your work, from the bottom of my heart! In 2019, my first international travel, I was charged 20 euros for a two-person portion. Almost had a heart attack, but thought it was normal. Since then, this episode is wedged in my throat. Thanks again, dude, for helping new travelers and keeping Prague safe! Greetings from brazil.
I didn't let them fool me with that ham: I asked for a small chunk, they tried with a large one and I said NO, SMALL! All tourists gotta be a little street-Smart.
I could eat that much ham but I would not come back at those prices.
People need to act as they would in their own country, ie stop trying to be best friends with everyone and stay neutral.
I wish there's a HONEST GUIDE for every country. Can you turn this channel into a franchise? lol
Universal rule seems to be: Don't go to the tourist spots. If it's in a guide, it does not reflect the culture people live in and is overpriced.
This reminds me of the pay by the weight sea food restaurants in Rome. A tab will easily run in the 2 - 3 hundred of euros for two people. And tourist are always the target.
Or the “sit down” espresso in the middle of Venice which costs 13 Euros as opposed to standing price of 1 Euro.
As a side note, I found the 1 Euro standing espresso a nice loophole to get a great product and pay for using a toilet at the same time.
@@ondrejsedlak4935 1 euro is cheap for a coffee and a toilet to dump some 💩
When I went to Prague for the first time years ago I went to this exact food stand and basically had to get in a confrontation with one of the employees when they tried to get me to pay for what was basically a portion big enough for 3 people.
@Mr. Foxo Didnt you watch the video at all? This is EXACTLY how they try to scam people. They serve a portion way too big and then claim it to be the "portion size". Obviously with these prices the more they sell, the more they make money...
@@Ex0rz This is of course a bit dodgy, but when approaching a food stand a normal person would first have a glance at the price list.
There it is clearly stated that you're paying by weight and therefore you should ask for a piece of an approximate weight/price which you're willing to pay for and not let them decide. If you are not satisfied with their choice, you really only have yourself to blame and no right to complain.
@@mdzrrrr So the thing is they don't tell you it's by weight. There was one small sign that had a price for a rational amount (think it was 100-200grams but can't remember) and you assume this is what you are getting until they tell you the price and you then find out it's by weight. At least when I went 6 years ago this was the case. But also in general anywhere you go where things are sold by weight they certainly ask you how much you want first before cutting the portion.
@@misterinternational I understand, and I know that it really should not have to be necessary, but if you feel that things are unclear you really have to ask instead of assuming.
@@mdzrrrr don't you understand that it's a freaking scam? They don't say it's by weight, and they serve bigger portions than they should. Some people have also commented that even though they knew it was by weight, the people at the stall refused to cut a smaller portion with various excuses.
Thank you for doing this. Every tourist that avoid that place is a work well done because
A - it's just wrong to scam people and
B - every person who gets scammed involuntarily keeps them in business.
I have been expat myself in Greece until recently and I took special care not to frequent tourist traps and overpriced joints, I did not want to harm local economy that way. I found some wonderful family owned tavernas tho :-)
We need a guy like him in every city
i lovd honest guide and so does everyone
hope you video makers of honest guide become more known around the world to stop any scam in the world
Seeing these videos I am so grateful that whenever I go to Prague, I am meeting with our Czech friends who always take us to places that they themselves would go to. I never felt ripped off when there.
I've got into a fight with those bastards. I kept telling him that I did not want anything more than 100 and he ignored me. Lads, don't fall for this shit. Keep yer money. Just leave
Ki esi as min ton plirwnes. Ton plirwses?
To the lady that was eating the whole pizza on the background you're my spirit animal. You go girl!
Actually it's a Langos not pizza.
I'm visiting Prague in next 5 days and was planning to check out some local street food but after seeing this, I'm highly doubtful. Thank you so much Honest Guide for saving our pennies.
Y’all are the best! The world needs more people like you, working to make your home a friendlier and happier experience for visitors.
Yup, I got involved with this near the famous clock. Luckily, I "won" the battle. I said something like I wanted 100g, and was told no, we cut it, and then you pay based on the weight. I think in broken English they said something like "normal is 300g or so." I was looking for a snack, just a small taste, so I said no thanks and walk away.
They can't scam experienced eaters 😁
Exactly!!!!!
I mean, this is the normal way to do it, isn't it. Ask for the price, then decide.
Kevin, I mean technically 'winning' would be them cutting you a 100g portion as requested and selling it to you by weight as advertised. You learning of their scam and walking away could probably be considered a draw at best.
you guys are doing right things to do not only for the tourists but also for the local. cheers!
The funny thing is you haven't said anything wrong about the quality of their food (others said it here anyways), so they cant really say that you want to ruin their business - just the tourist-scamming part. Not to mention the charity cover which goes deep in this case with the mayor...
0:17 I got scammed right there for some cooked Ham my first time in Prague many years ago, just like at the Euronet ATM (once only, thank God) and lastly also at the Pirate-themed candy shop. Needless to say I'm glad I found this channel after that trip and that I'll definitely be following all recommendations for my future times coming back to the beautiful Republic that is Czechia :)
Also, I'm totally not surprised to hear lots of Italians when you went around asking prices, as I fell for that exact same place as an Italian myself and met many more during my meal there. I guess that place really lures us Italians there with the beautiful looking and smelling ham xD
Oh god, when Janek mentioned that the guy asked "who's paying you?" I completely lost it.
These crooks are so deep into their Eastern (tourist) scam world that they cannot belive that anyone genuinely opposes this without being paid to do so by opponents.
It even perfectly resembles Russian state responses to any accusations "it's just paid actors of the other side".
It's a funky kind of paranoia.
That type of paranoia is alive and well in the US also. Unfortunately.
I'm from Croatia which is a extremely touristy country, coastline especially and I absolutely hate when I see newspaper articles about tourists getting scammed or overcharged or anything like that since I believe that reflects negatively on the whole nation. On the other hand some people hear that Croatia is cheap, which is true to some extent but superb fish at a superb restaurant in a fancy coastline town will cost you a lot, like really a lot. On the other hand again I live in out capital, Zagreb, and I must say I've never heard of anyone getting scammed like this here and I am very happy for it.
@@PetraKujundzic From my own experience: In a two week holiday/road trip through HR, starting Zadar, down to Makarska and back up, not a single person tried to scam us (although there would have been chances). Everyone we met was helpful and trustworthy, it was great.
@@fluffigverbimmelt I'm very happy to hear that. Only instances I know of are in night clubs, when prices are not properly displayed and all of a sudden there are some really good looking girls around your table ordering most expensive drinks on your tab. If you don't go to sleazy night clubs you're ok. Festivals and regular clubs are fine.
It has nothing to do with "East" and "West". Scammers exist in every country. I lived in Vienna for a long time, I rememeber getting a potentially deadly food poisoning in 2010, from old meat that some racist guy gave to me at a tiny pub. I was just lucky to be a few days in hospital. They see that you are a foreigner and some of them treat you with disdain (especially the low IQ, unhappy people) and others treat you with respect (usually the more intelligent ones). You can find that + corruption in any country of the world.
Am from London, Been to the exact same spot when I visit Prague, had the same experience but never realised that I was scammed until now, you should also do a video on the bars and nightclubs, when you pay for drinks they don’t give you change back as they will just pocket how ever much it is as a tip, had an argument with the bar staff as they had just done exactly that, they gave it back in the end as they didn’t want a scene to be caused, have to be careful in these cities, many scams going on.
You should do more videos about food scams!! 😲
Here in Madrid there is A LOT of this kind of restaurants, wich sells “typical spanish food” and then they sell you the worst frozen paella you can get, and then they charge you exorbitant prices.
This reaches a point that in emblematic places like the Plaza Mayor, if you are a local you know that you cannot enjoy any food in the square because each one is a tourist trap…
Normally you will see that all the terraces are empty, and if they are not is because they are foreigners.
It is sad because I hope that tourists do not go back to their country believing that this garbage is really our typical food
Near the Plaza Mayor, my favorite places to eat was the Vaca Argentina and Vaca Dos. I also liked the Himalaya Indian restaurant. I've gotten sick from the Spanish food in that area throwing up for a few days so I avoided it. I also frequented the TGIF restaurants and KFC. On a 3 day weekend, drove to France to the Languedoc region to enjoy good food. Some Spanish clients took us to restaurants where the food was good but these places were more out of the way and harder to find. It's too bad because the places with the nice architecture are some of what tourists want to see but the tourist food traps give them a bad lasting impression of the local food.
Podrías hacerme recomendaciones de restaurantes buenos con buen precio en Madrid (y de ser posible en Barcelona)? Voy a ir en 2 semanas y he estado viendo estos videos para prevenir lo mayor posible ir a estos tipos de lugares que cobran de más. Saludos de México!
When I was in Prague for the first time, they scammed me too. I cannot forget this giant portion of a disgusting dish with cabbage and bacon for 7 years already)) That does not negate my great love for Prague. I hope the borders with Russia will be open and I will be able to come again.
This didn't age well.
Lets hope the borders open peacefully, and not the other way…
Exactly. Although I wrote that message in other realities, when the borders were closed due to a pandemic.
The thumbs down must be from the ham sellers
Ham sham.
WHAHA! I fell for that trick in Prague, indeed with that ham!
The biggest part was fat and the rest was injected with very salty water to make it heavier.
They decided how much they cut off for you. Some customers got angry and walked away Of course those sellers didn't care; they sell loads anyway.
If I remember correctly, I paid €16.
They tried this on me, I laughed and walked away when they told me how much - I could have bought a whole pig for that much
I live in the UK... There's also a MAJOR difference of prices between the South Coast, London and the North. Up here in the Midlands, it's much cheaper than London
It’s also raining like crazy ;)
@@vonder7 I loved the rain there as because of it the land is the greenest I've ever seen anywhere. Miss the nature in UK..
3 years ago I ran into something similar in Moscow, I just wanted to have a quick dinner in Yaroslavskaya station before I board my train, and I bought 2 sashliks and a beer for something like 1800 rubels in the station cafe. It was a pricey experience! - Of course, they knew I was a tourist as I was speaking English :D
Normal price for that would be ~800
Street food in places like london and paris (only places I know well enough to judge) is also expensive but this is just a step above.
0:59 23,30 Euro for a piece of charcoal :D
Yeah for sure that's burnt steak😂
well it escalated FAST when the mayor of Prague part steps into this business... Good job exposing them!
5:17 can we just appreciate how he cut exactly 100g just judging by eye?
Thanks!
I enjoy and appriciate these videos so much, i even watch the whole ad for you guys😂
1:17 i love that lady eating the entire pizza at once :O
It's not pizza as far as I can tell. It is probably langoš - flat fried piece of risen dough covered with garlic, ketchup and cheese.
Traditional Czech langos. Or not traditional. 😅
Yeah, I think it's Langoš as well.. :D
@@selpet1476 Traditionally they much smaller, as far as i remember, lol
@@Turtle1631991 shhhhhhh its a pizza
"Let"s go check it out"
Nah he isn't just gonna jump on a plane and g- oh my lord..!
Travel within Europe is extremely easy and cheap.
I missed my flight home from Prague to Gothenburg, 90 minutes later I was on an airplane to Kopenhagen and then the train home.
@@iamagi im just making a point that he actually did take the effort to go there.
London is definitely expensive, especially in the busier parts of it. So when a Londoner says sht is overpriced, you know for sure that its in scam territory of overpriced.
Thank you Honest Guide. I've been in Prague many times already. And honestly I was also victimised by that store the first time I went to Prague. Until my Czech wife told me it's a ripped off.
Let’s get him 1 million subscribers guys 🥃
To be fair, I was there last summer and they asked me if the amount was okay. Did get about 300gr tho. But us being with 3 persons it was fine.
The endless amount of scams, tricks and traps from the many people who dehumanize tourists has made certain that I will never travel anywhere unless it's someplace other people don't usually tend to go. Fortunately, you can still have some pretty great experiences as a traveler that way. Arguably better, if your goal is to connect with locals, travel on a budget and / or experience "the real country" etc. For all the touristy places, photos, anecdotes and travel vlogs are more than good enough for me. Not only do I have no interest in having to constantly watch out for criminals and cheats, but I also can't enjoy myself in places where so many of the locals have the attitude of having to "endure" tourists (and often for good reason). I'd rather be a curiosity than an eyesore.