or should that be scams ?

Extra charge for use of knife and fork
Extra charge for well done, etc,etc.

Revealed: Eight dirty tricks Spanish restaurants use to overcharge you - The Local

Interesting law regarding "menu del dia", which I must admit I wasn't previously aware of.

What a rubbish article. After 15 years in Spain and literally eating hundreds of meals in varied restaurants, I have never come across any of these charges.

Neither have I after well over twenty, which is why I found it amazing.

This article appeared in El Pais a few months ago

They spoke to the waiter who added the fee for "muy hecho". Apparently it was just a mistake with the electronic billing system, she meant to add it as a note sent to the kitchen

The only one of those which is true is the bread supplement

I've never experienced anything like that either. But the local does like to exaggerate / sensationalise. Good job no other publications are like that.

Maybe,
However one of the bills clearly made a charge for cubiertos (cutlery) ?

Is not 'cubiertos' also covers? As in cover charge?

Yes, when listed on the bill in this way it means cover charge not cutlery.

Rosemary

I have never come across these charges either except for the bread charge occasionally. However, I have found it pays to check restaurant receipts and change.

So precisely what does cover charge refer to in a restaurant ?

I've seen it in pubs and clubs to cover the extra cost of live entertainment, but as for restaurants I haven't a clue unless it's for putting a cover on and setting the table which would seem about as silly as charging for use of the cutlery ?

I have no experience of it at all here and thought that it did not exist.

Rosemary

Cover charges in restaurants are usually for bread, olives, things like that. In spanish it is actually precio del cubierto and can be shortened to just cubierto on the bill.