Europeans are shaming American tourists for making this common travel mistake at restaurants
ByCaroline Cubbin
Published July 11, 2025, 4:31 p.m. ET
413 Comments
A trio of traveling Americans were just looking to tuck into dinner — but their entrees came with an supersized side portion of European enmity.
The table trouble began when TikTokker @black_sherlock made the apparently egregious error of showing up at a restaurant in pretty Porto, Portugal for a 6 p.m. supper — earning the hungry Yanks unlimited refills of scorn.
After wondering why they were the only people at the lovely spot, locals and other self-appointed experts were quick to pile on.
In the comment section of a post that has so far received more than 1.2 million hits, many viewers insisted that only tourists eat at that hour, with everyone else waiting until much later in the evening.
Later dining is a fixture in many southern European countries like Italy, Spain and Greece.
“Italy here. The only place where dinner is served at 6:00 pm is the hospital,” commented one user.
“I’m surprised you could even find a restaurant open at that time,” a commenter joked, while another ribbed: “They probably thought you were having a late lunch.”
“At least nobody has to deal with their obnoxiously loud conversations,” one continental meanie mocked — referencing the American affection for mindless chattiness in public spaces while abroad.
Northern European dinner hours typically align somewhat closer with the North American average, as noted by several replies. “You just missed all the Finns,” one joker joshed.The dumped-on diner quickly realized his mistake — with his group doing their best to enjoy the solitude.
They were interrupted only much later on by a family with a baby, who arrived just as he had signed the bill.
Despite the sea of exasperated Europeans in the comments, a few fellow countrymen came to the man’s defense.
“I’ll never understand why Europe eats so late. I don’t want to eat just a few hours before I go to bed,” declared one stubborn American.
This TikTokker’s viral mishap is just the latest in a long string of American embarrassments overseas, arousing the apparently easily-irked Europeans.As The Post previously reported, one woman was slammed over her efforts to mirror the regional dining style, which sees the fork stay in the same non-dominant hand throughout the meal.
Americans are known for passing their cutlery between their hands before and after cutting food, in what’s also known as the zig-zag style.
Before long, she was slammed with critics calling her and other Americans ‘primitive.’ One user even said that watching the whole affair was “worse than nails down a chalkboard.”
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Another common American faux pas that Europeans often gripe over is our alleged insistence on inordinately oversized luggage.
The steep hills, cobblestoned streets, and plenty of stairs that tend to make up many European cities can suitcase schlepping painful for locals and tourists alike — and create a racket that disturbs residents.