A couple were left outraged after paying almost £12 for a cocktail that had just one big shot and giant ice cube in it.
Rhianna Fynes was out celebrating her boyfriend Daryl Creedy’s 31st birthday.
They decided to treat themselves to a posh dinner.
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The pair went to Hawksmoor in Dublin.
Nail tech Rhianna, 29, ordered a Cold Spell from the restaurant’s festive menu, which set her back more than £12.60 (€14).
But when the drink arrived in a short glass with a giant ice cube, she felt like she’d been duped.
There was just a small cocktail in the glass.
“My jaw dropped when I took the ice cube out,” Rihanna, from Dublin, told What’s the Jam.
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“The cocktail sounded sweet. It’s the kind of drink I like.
“When the glass came out and I saw the height of the glass and the size of the ice cube, I knew straight away there was going to hardly be anything in it.
“There were about four sips in there.
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“It’s crazy. It’s just madness. It’s a joke and a rip off. Dublin is getting worse.
“Every time I had a sip the ice cube hit me in the face.”
The menu says the drink consists of Fords gin, blackberry, lemon, honey and rose water.
Rhianna says although she was annoyed, she decided not to complain to staff because she didn’t want to ruin Daryl’s birthday celebrations on Sunday (8 Dec).
She said: “I wouldn’t mind so much if it was a nice gin but I looked it up and it’s about £20 a bottle.
“Even if they put water in it or something to make it look like more.”
The pair’s bill came to £132.56 (€160) for one cocktail, two steaks, two portions of chips, mash and gravy and stuffing.
Rhianna said: “It’s so unfortunate because the good was amazing and the steak was so good.
“I can’t fault the food and the price for that was pretty standard.”
A Hawksmoor spokesperson said that the Cold Spell cocktail is 85ml of liquid before it’s shaken and there is no mixer so it’s a “pretty strong drink”.
They also said that the large ice cubes “enhance the experience” and that if a customer is unhappy with their drink, they do their best to make it right for them.
Pal Carol Brown said: “If everyone stopped paying this much they’d soon have to drop their prices.”
Another added: “I’d be up to the bar asking where’s the rest of it.
“That’s daylight robbery.”
Others argued that Rhianna had paid for the amount of alcohol in the drink which is usually around 100ml.
Ronnie said: “You’re paying for the amount of alcohol, not the size of the glass.”
Another added: “Cocktails are measures. Without ice it would be the same amount of alcohol.”
Someone else said: “All cocktails are measured exactly to 100ml of liquid, pour that into a martini glass and it will be full to the brim.”
Rhianna added: “People are saying that it’s right for the measurements.
“I don’t know anything about measurements but I know that’s scabby.”
A Hawksmoor spokesperson said: “The Cold Spell cocktail is 85ml of liquid before it is shaken, of which 50ml is liquor, and the rest is lemon juice and honey syrup.
“All relatively full-throttled ingredients in terms of flavour. There is no mixer such as soda, tonic etc.
“So it is a pretty strong drink.
“Many standard drinks such as Sours, Margaritas etc. work to roughly this ratio and contain around the same amount of liquid.
“We serve most of our straight-up drinks, those without ice, in either a martini glass or a coupe and most of them contain between 75 and 95ml of liquid.
“I.e 10ml either side of the Cold Spell before they are shaken and/or stirred.
“The large ice blocks are very popular with our guests and in fact are often requested for classic cocktails such as the Old Fashioned, 65ml of liquid, and the Negroni, 75ml of liquid, as they melt more slowly and therefore chill the drink and keep it colder and stronger for longer.
“The glass we serve the drink in is 12oz which is the same size as a standard bottle of beer.
“Serving this drink to fill that glass even half way would involve a drink twice as strong with over 100ml of alcohol in it which would be expensive and, some might think, not particularly responsible.
“The ice cubes themselves cost us €0.70 a pop and that pushes up the price of the drink.
“We believe the large ice cube enhances the experience and, by and large, our customers are prepared to pay a small premium for the high quality glassware and ice.
“We regularly benchmark our prices against what we believe to be the best venues in Dublin for cocktails.
“While we are definitely not the cheapest, we believe our cocktails are some of the best in town and feel the prices we charge are fair.
“If a customer is unhappy with their drink and they let us know about it at the time, we do our best to make it right.”
