Every restaurant in Rio is obliged by law to serve the clients a glass of filtered water upon request for free, which could help alleviate the thirst of those travelling on a budget.

However, one should ask for 'Água da casa' when wanting the free water, since a request for 'Água sem gás' or simply 'Água' can be understood as bottled mineral water, which is almost always not free.

Most of the times, a restaurant that has live music will charge an extra fee besides the 10% called 'couvert artístico' - This fee is meant to pay the band, is supposed to be paid, and it's not optional, as long as it was clearly stated on entrance that it would be charged.