And Maestro is pretty much dead in the water in many countries, including the UK. There was the time we went to Kompaan brewery in Den Haag before a pre-Borefts tasting. Cash not accepted and no non-Dutch cards seemed to work. Poor old Kermis had to foot the entire bill. I don’t know what we would have done otherwise. Not so long ago, buying a train ticket from a machine, or topping up an OV Chipkaart, was a right pain - if they did take cash at all it was coins only. Thankfully, non-Dutch VISA & Mastercard cards seem to work (in most places) nowadays. .
I like going to places and discovering what the service stance is and how you pay. It makes each place/country different and adds to the pleasure of visiting new places.
Southern California is ‘tip central’ with over the top waiters and waitresses. Tobago the polar opposite, no charm school there yet for hotel or bar staff. Most of mainland Europe is fine, just like the UK, you rarely find a local serving anyway, usually an immigrant or student needing some dosh.
As for paying, I always try and use the local cash no matter where in the world I am. Although the US Dollar is handy when on a cruise liner if visiting small Caribbean Islands.
<*))))))><
Pretty much agree with everything that Chris says here, we’ve been visiting the Netherlands now regularly for the last 10-15 years always having a week off after Borefts. I would say that up until 5 years ago when you are someone like us who is used to using Credit Cards (purely to rack up Avios and the benefits we get from them) it was a pain, however I think that things have improved in the last few years and whilst Amex is still an issue, MasterCard seems to be accepted more and more and not just in the tourist areas.
Plus, for Brits at least, there are other reasons to use credit cards over debit cards. For one thing, there’s the Consumer Credit Act protection on purchases. And there are several Credit Cards that have zero loading or transaction fees on overseas spending whereas, last time I looked, there was just one debit card offering that - Metro Bank, and you had to go into a branch to open an account with them so I couldn’t be bothered. It can even actually work out cheaper to withdraw cash from an ATM overseas by credit card, even allowing for the cash advance interest (especially if it’s close to your payment date), than using a debit card. There are some fee-free prepaid cards but you have to load them up with funds in advance and they often offer a relatively poor exchange rate.
All of this is accurate 
In Austria, cash is the way to go. In 80%* of the times, there’ll be a Maestro terminal. In 60%* of the time, they’ll take Mastercard as well. In 55%* Visa.
*Felt percentages, not real data that is actually useful.
Hah, serving culture varies between the borders of the same country, Croatia included.
And it’s caused some pretty low ratings on otherwise very much solid places due to American tourists who expected to be pampered, and they ran into this specific character in Zagreb (who treats everyone the same and I can imagine people who don’t know him being put off), or the classic Dalmatian service down there. 
Bit sucked since we don’t get much place ratings but hey, in the end, the place’s own fault kinda.
Irrelevent in the context of your rating
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Yeah, the Western European tendency to not accept credit cards takes a lot of Americans by surprise - my cousin from the Netherlands would give my dad a look of horror every time he pulled out his credit card (even when the place accepted credit cards) but you get used to it. Actually one of my main shocks was finding out how widely accepted credit cards were in the Czech Republic.
I never really experienced outright rude service anywhere in Europe (except in North Yorkshire and I actually quite enjoyed that as an authentic Yorkshire experience) but I kind of knew what to expect - you should NEVER go to a European restaurant/bar and expect service at the speed you get it in the US. So yes, Americans should take into consideration that service will be slower, and possibly be considered less friendly and responsive than in the US where servers are more concerned with tips.
One thing to understand in the US is that there is a huge push for extreme friendly customer service (I call it the Chick-Fil-A effect where every employee is required to warmly greet every customer and reply with “My Pleasure” instead of “Your Welcome” or other replies). The servers can be reprimanded or even fired if they don’t act like your best friend. I fully understand the European distaste for this (and I agree) but that seems to be the norm any more. I’ve always found that the Northeast is the most extreme area for tipping, but anymore, 20% seems to be the norm everywhere (but most places 15% would still be fine).
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It is irrelevant according to the guy who does not like the content of my rating. You don’t think you are a little biased to make such a judgement?
I think the point is that it’s odd to criticise a shop for only accepting the currency of the country that it’s in. There’s no reason for a shop in Belgium to accept cash payments in anything other than euros, especially when all of Belgium’s neighbouring countries use the same currency.
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I am not asking a shop in Belgium to accept American dollars, nor would I expect them to accept US dollars like the rest of Europe. However most of the other places in Europe I have been to accept credit cards. If a shop does not accept credit cards, one would think that it would be on their website or their Facebook Page, but I could not find this information on either prior to going to this place. I had already picked out a handful of bottles at this place, when my wife pointed out this place had a small paper hand written note taped to the counter stating “cash only”. I tried to go to the ATM by the beer wall, but ran out of time and had to leave empty handed. Now that I am aware this policy in part of Europe, I will simply carry some euros with me. This is supposed to be a touristy town, so people from the US need to be aware of this policy. Actually my biggest problem was that I did not know about the cash only policy ahead of time. My grandparents used to carry around a fat stack of bills in the 1980s, but that has been a while ago, so I was not expecting this problem.
After I read your reviews, I got your point. The place you refer to in this post used to be the top 10 years ago. The former owner left the business and lives now in the US. To be honest, even in the past the service there has never been perfect (it has never been my fav place when I used to live in Rome, actually).
The problem is that when it comes to Rome (and Italy in general), you should use other websites/app as a reference. The italian scene is not so much into RB anymore. You visited 3 very good places (Macche is one of the best bars in Europe. period) but you missed a bunch of others that could have given you a different glimpse on the Roman/Italian beer scene like Luppolo Station / Be.Re / Hop&Pork / Birra+.
Next time you are in Rome (or here in Berlin) feel free to drop me a line. I will be more than happy to share some nice recommendation 
Hope you enjoyed the beer nevertheless.
“American life is based on a reassurance that we like one another but won’t violate one another’s privacies. This makes it a land of small talk. Two people greet each other happily, with friendliness, but might know each other for years before venturing basic questions about each other’s backgrounds. The opposite is true of Indians. At least three people I’ve sat next to on planes to and from India have asked me, within minutes, how much I earn as a writer (only to turn away in disappointment when I tell them). In the East, I’ve heard it said, there’s intimacy without friendship; in the West, there’s friendship without intimacy.”
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