Lamartine Cafe & Restaurant

I agree with other reviews, this place rips off tourists. Stay away! The friendly waiter talked us into «extras» that added tremendously to the bill. He showed us a collection of appetizer plates, then suggested that our party order a single plate to share, turned out to be big enough for 2 people and was incredibly overpriced. Rest of meal was OK but nothing special. Our family of 3 spent twice as much at that place as for much better meals in other restaurants.

I’m posting this here because somehow the listing for this place seems to have been totally deleted on TripAdvisor, and I’d posted there last year sadly with similar experiences! I’m annoyed with that, so I’m adding my voice here. Normally I wouldn’t take the time to do this, but this place really upset me. I’ve traveled in many countries around the world, and never gotten cheated as badly as here.
I went to Lamartine Café and Restaurant with a big multinational group from a conference a year ago, in August 2013, and my experience was much in line with the other review — basically a place to gouge foreigners. The same act happened, with the restaurant owner being really friendly and kind, then adding all of these sneaky extra costs (e.g., the menu showed a plate of six prawns, but the price listed was actually that for one prawn). The food was at best average and the service extra slow. Basically our whole table of maybe 12 people ended up paying $ 50 per person (which really ticked me off since all I’d eaten was a bit of bread, some tea, and a small bowl of mushroom stew). The dinner ended with one of my colleagues bravely arguing with the owner for 20 minutes about the bill. We finally gave up and paid the full bill. Then the owner or manager had the audacity to smile and shake all of our hands. I guess he thought he gouged us with impunity? Sorry, not in the age of the Internet.
Lamartine Café, if you read this, there’s a simple way to increase business long — term: be honest and open with any customers, regardless of country of origin, and serve good food. Don’t be deceptive — don’t make it sound like you’re promising a bunch of stuff, lure people in, and bomb them with charges. If you have excellent food and friendly, honest service, you’ll be getting five-​star reviews on Unilocal and TripAdvisor, and more people will flock to your restaurant. It is really that simple.