smmoravec
4/7/2016 14:21 EST
I have been here in Odessa for two weeks and spoiling myself eating out at great restaurants every night. The woman I am dating is very cost-aware, which I really like, but I have to smile every time I get the bill, no matter what restaurant we are at. $30-40 for two people at a posh five star restaurant is nothing. I go to the store and get some eggs, butter, bell peppers, mushrooms...stuff to make breakfast with and some bottled water. 80UAH...is that even computable to dollars? $4-5 maybe? It's insane how cheap eating here is. I love it!
Meet kkmail, had lunch and then visited his house. He pulled up to the dropoff in front his house where the beach starts. Maybe 100 yards from the beach and a area designated to be a park in front so no one will ever spoil his view. He turns me around and tells me to guess which house is his. LOL!!! Yeah...it has a decidely American look to it. Beautiful house, pool out in front with a nice builtin outdoor barbecue. Inside is gorgeous, wood work and stone stairs going to the upstairs. His 4 year old son has a jetted tub...talk about spoiled! LOL! And yes, his wife is gorgeous too...
Looking for to the BBQ this summer and meeting the rest of ya'll.
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Russophile
4/11/2016 07:17 EST
smmoravec, glad you are enjoying your stay in Odessa. I am also glad you enjoy eating at the 'posh' restaurants. I used to eat there, too. Now, there are 4 restaurants within a 10 minute walk of my home that serve (in my opinion) the best food in Odessa. At each of them I can eat all I want plus dessert and a drink for less than $5. I ate out 11 times last month (alone and with others) and the total cost for all of that was only $60. I don't want to demean your experience; I just want to give the readers the full range of possibilities here.
My grocery bill for the entire month was $150. I could eat a lot cheaper but I am no great cook, so I buy a lot of pre-packaged stuff that I can just throw in the microwave. You could eat a lot cheaper here. My Engineering Student friend gets a stipend from the university to cover all her meals for a month. She gets $32 to feed herself for the entire month and she eats quite well.
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smmoravec
4/11/2016 10:24 EST
I have to say that this is probably one of the things I love most about Ukraine. The woman that I met knows all of the restaurants in Odessa very well. She took me to the whole gamut of them...from cheap to posh. I appreciate that she did that because it showed she was not trying to gouge me. But at the same time, even the "cheap" ones were good and kept clean. It amazes me how we would always get great service. Maybe because I am an American and they expect a good tip (which i always leave), but lately, I have been mistaken repeatedly for being Russian or Turkish. It is kind of cool....I guess my VERY limited Russian and my demeanor is becoming localized. I need to wear more black to blend in better...LOL!
I send photos every time to my kids when I eat out. They get jealous...it is not possible to eat at five star restaurants like that in the U.S. At least, not for normal middle class folk. Love the food, love the service.
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LuvSlav
4/11/2016 16:06 EST
I know that in the US most restaurant workers get paid slave wages and truly rely on their tips to pay the bills so I always tip 15% of the bill (unless the service was really bad then I prorate it accordingly). What is the proper amount for a tip? When I lived in Asia for so many years they frowned on giving a tip because the tip is always included in the price of the meal. So what's the proper answer for Ukraine.
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smmoravec
4/11/2016 16:24 EST
Tipping in Ukraine is 10%. I would always tip 20% because that was what I was used to, especially having slaved as a dishwasher in a restaurant as a teenager and seeing how waitresses worked their butts off and got stiffed a lot.
My first few trips, my interpreters would get upset when I left a big tip. They said the waiters/waitresses didn't deserve it. For me, I appreciated the phenomenal service and food I would always get. One interpreter that really "got" Americans explained it a little differently to me one time. She said that when I, as an American, would leave a big tip, it would be viewed as haughty and arrogant. I never really thought about it like that.
But, what the hell, let them think that. I still tip 20%...and I tip the guys at the guys station who fill my tank and the bell hop at the hotel who hauls my luggage and the cab driver who gets me safely to my destination...sorry, I think of it as helping the local economy. At this guys are working and not asking for a handout. I respect that.
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extremevx
4/11/2016 16:30 EST
I used to tip like that also, but my wife would get angry at me and think it's arrogant and says it makes people think that I think I'm better than them. So when she doesn't know, I tip like an American. I didn't know it was 10%. My wife tips then on what she thinks they deserve, not on a percentage of the tab. She will give 25 grivna wether the tab is 100uah or 1000uah. To us americans she is being stingy ans ungrateful for the excellent service. But what I have learned is that's it more of a cultural difference. I think maybe in odessa and other bigger cities where they are used to foreigners it may be more aligned on paying a percentage. But here in nikolaev it seems it just a flat rate they pay in a tip no matter the cost of the meal.
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LuvSlav
4/11/2016 16:43 EST
I like the way your lady thinks. If it's actually an insult to give them more then I don't want to come off as a jerk while trying to be generous or helpful. As they say, "when in Rome."
For me, money is more of an inconvenience than anything else. I don't want money. I want food, or clothing, or a fun night out or whatever. Once I start thinking how many hours I had to work to pay for x, y, or z it completely ruins the fun of it for me. That's why I just give whatever amount of money I'm comfortable spending that day to my lady and tell her where we're going and what we're going to do there. Let her hassle with paying for this or that. I just want to enjoy the day.
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Russophile
4/14/2016 08:31 EST
There is one restaurant near the City Garden that I used to eat at regularly. I never eat there now. I usually leave about a 10% tip. But the last time I ate there, When I received the bill I could see that the waiter 'padded' the amount. When I asked him to explain, he said, "The last time you were here you didn't leave a big enough tip". I don't mind paying for good service, but I draw the line when the waiter starts calculating his own tip!
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