Paris Do Not Eats - Half a Tea Time in Paris

Copain and I spent Sunday meandering around town until I requested that we stop for a bit to rest and have a tea (preferably with something to eat!).

While we would generally aim for the less expensive quartiers, we happened to be near St Paul and I wasn't in the mood to walk for another 20 minutes for a normally-priced thé au lait.  St Paul it would be, but we would have to make a concession and share something instead of getting one each - d'accord, sans problème.


We arrived at Le Bistrot à Pains, 2 rue de la Verrerie, 75004 Paris and decided to share the Thé Gourmand - a tea with some fun sweets on the side for 5 Euros.  There is usually always enough tea in the pot for two cups and the sweets included 2 mini-macarrons and 2 mini-financiers. Parfait.

Le problème: When our tea arrived, the pot was only half-full of water.

We thought it bizarre and Copain promptly got up to request a bit more.  On peut avoir un peu plus s'il vous plait, Madame? Now guess what Madame responded with...

I'm sorry but I cannot give you anymore water because you ordered the Thé Gourmand. You see, a regular tea already costs 5 Euros and includes a full pot of water but since you got the tea with the sweets included you can only have half of a pot of water.  

Since when is water not free in France, the country where the carafe d'eau is de rigeur in ALL restaurants?!

I was flabbergasted.  Needless to say, I will not be going back to Le Bistrot à Pains where even water has a price tag.