What irritates you the most at restaurants?

#101
#101
crusse10 said:
It gets tricky when not everyone at the table is eating salad. Then it becomes "do I force the one guy to watch everyone else eat, or bring entrees more quickly so he can also eat?"
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You bring the entrees out when everyone is done with the soup/salad round.

Unless one person is being really slow with their salad.

You don't rush the rest of the table to appease the one guy who skipped that course.
 
#102
#102
malinoisvol said:
#1. If the bathroom is dirty, not just a paper towel or two on the floor, but dirty, I will not return. (Except for my favorite burger place in Arkansas which I couldn't find this past weekend.)

#2. Pink chicken.

#3. An employee walking out of the bathroom without washing their hands.
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#3 reminded me of this...

There is a restaurant on Captiva called The Green Flash. The bar is on the right as you walk in and there is a huge mirror on the wall behind it. Well, it looks like a mirror. When you go into the men's restroom and stand at the urinals, you find out its a mirrored window. I once watched an employee leave a stall without washing his hands and went straight behind the bar and started mixing drinks.
 
#103
#103
BRTiger said:
You bring the entrees out when everyone is done with the soup/salad round.

Unless one person is being really slow with their salad.

You don't rush the rest of the table to appease the one guy who skipped that course.
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No. Bring the entrees out when their finished cooking. Just don't be super slow about bringing out the salads.

All JMO IYAM.
 
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#104
#104
At the end of the day serve people like you’d like to be served.

Case in point wife and I went out last night, place wasn’t crowded and you could seat yourself. Waitress came to our table, said she was our server, put a carafe of water on our table and left. 10 minutes later she came back and asked if anyone had taken our drink orders. Well no, you said you were our server. Oh sorry we are slammed right now. There were 3 servers and maybe half a dozen tables. No need to lie, just say you went to smoke or were in the back on your phone and lost track of time. Rest of the evening went about as well. Wound up ordering my second drink from some other guy passing by.

I try to take it all in context, which is the economy must really be doing well for people to be hired that otherwise have no business being employed.
 
#105
#105
Well the entrees shouldn't be ready right on top of the soups/salads anyway... if they are, then that's a different issue.

Any fine dining restaurant should have that pacing down pretty well.
 
#106
#106
when you aren't quite ready to order when the waiter comes up with your drinks and then they are AWOL for 20 minutes.
 
#107
#107
Behr said:
#3 reminded me of this...

There is a restaurant on Captiva called The Green Flash. The bar is on the right as you walk in and there is a huge mirror on the wall behind it. Well, it looks like a mirror. When you go into the men's restroom and stand at the urinals, you find out its a mirrored window. I once watched an employee leave a stall without washing his hands and went straight behind the bar and started mixing drinks.
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You deserve to drink pee for not eating at the Mucky Duck.
 
#108
#108
malinoisvol said:
#1. If the bathroom is dirty, not just a paper towel or two on the floor, but dirty, I will not return. (Except for my favorite burger place in Arkansas which I couldn't find this past weekend.)

#2. Pink chicken.

#3. An employee walking out of the bathroom without washing their hands.
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#109
#109
crusse10 said:
Here's a question to others in or near the service industry. What do you do in this scenario? A lady regular who comes in roughly weekly, maybe twice every 3 weeks. She sits at the bar with her friend, they order 2-3 beers each, and sit for about 2-3 hours. Has never tipped more than $0.40 (yes, 40 cents). How many visits does it take before you can no longer treat her needs as a priority over anyone else you are taking care of? And do you communicate with her at some point? Like every bartender absolutely hates her, moreso for taking up prime real estate during the dinner rush than anything
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Sounds rough. You could offer her and her friends some free shots and then sick the cops on her when she leaves, assuming she drives.

* obviously this is not to be taken seriously.
 
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#111
#111
DrRosenRosen said:
I find it funny people in this thread want folks to present their servers with a hand book for their desires. I want to see someone sit down and say to the server:

"Hey there. Hope all is well. I just want to make sure you're aware of how I like to eat dinner. I expect you to write down my order and not try to memorize it. Then, I'd like my app and salads served in a timely manner. Within 3 minutes of finishing my salad, I want my entree to be served. The entire time I'm here, I also expect my sweet tea to never get below half way finished. Also, when I'm down to my last bite, I want my check delivered while you're bringing another tea to the table."

I'm sure that'll go over well.
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Uh.... you forgot to tell them to always show me ... uh I mean you, a dessert menu after the last entree is finished. 😁😁😁😋
 
#114
#114
VolunteerHillbilly said:
I need to get down there. That said, serving up pee to your out of state guests is about as old Florida as it gets.
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Was talking about the Mucky Duck. Don't know how long its been for you, but that dude that owned it originally, sold it. The new owners are British and its just way too "touristy".

Don't get me wrong, its nice and they have done a good job, its just doesn't have that personality that it did. Hurricane Charley didn't help with the landscape either.

I hardly ever get over that way unless its by boat, and the Green Flash is easy access.
 
#115
#115
Oddly, my favorite place in that general area is the British Open Pub in Bonita. Meatloaf wellington, pot roast pastie, chips and gravy... so good.
 
#116
#116
VolunteerHillbilly said:
Oddly, my favorite place in that general area is the British Open Pub in Bonita. Meatloaf wellington, pot roast pastie, chips and gravy... so good.
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Funny I've been here 20+ years and have been to Bonita maybe 3 times. Once to a special dinner before the Grand opening of Roy's, got to meet him and talked briefly... That was really cool to me. The other times were to that place on the beach on the right as you come into Bonita from FMB. Forget the name.
 
#117
#117
Sounds like Docs. I never spent much time at Bonita Beach. I went to barefoot beach many times and our former neighborhood owned little Hickory island, which was a good beach until they cut down the "Australian " pines and started an unstoppable erosion situation.
 
#118
#118
crusse10 said:
It gets tricky when not everyone at the table is eating salad. Then it becomes "do I force the one guy to watch everyone else eat, or bring entrees more quickly so he can also eat?"
Click to expand...

In 1970 in Chapel Hill NC, I worked at a fine dining steakhouse as a tableside meat cutter. I appeared immediately as the manager/host seated the guests and a busperson placed icewater, but before the waitress took drinks, salad, and side orders. For those who were only having a salad, it was my job to also ask when did they want their salad served. Usually, but not always, the person selecting a salad only, sees it as their entree and it should be served with the other entrees. Sometimes one person would want theirs served early when everyone else got a salad but another person in the same party would prefer to wait for entrees. So I had to ask and note it on the ticket. Every seat at every table had a number and it was easy. I'd platter up all the cut meat with a doneness toothpick and table/seat number, and the marked ticket and the head waiter would take it to a staging counter and then get the waitress preped to take over. Then he made sure the flatware/utensils were right and waters/tea were full and correct plates served to each seat. He was over all the wait staff and did the training.

So, after the waitress was prepped she knew to confirm salad orders and when and took all the side orders and seafood orders. The head waiter would also now know what other utensils to place to which seat, like the cracking tongs for snow crab legs as the waitress prepared the drinks and early salads.

The manager/host, head waiter, and anyone else who had to be in a dining room constantly scanned to see who looked as if they needed anything. And then either the head waiter or the waitress would take care of it. Quietly. Boy did we get reamed if the manager saw anyone looking around frustrated.

But, there were no booths, only tables so it was easy to see what was happening and move around tables. The main room was huge and the two side rooms had six tables each we could have tables seperated or arranged however.

EZ PZ and I don't ever remember anyone ever complaining the half a year I worked there. Not even about doneness, or anything. We split all tips except big ones given specifically to a particular person. I got a $50 tip for cutting a 32oz (exactly) steak one night.
 
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#119
#119
My favorite steak place is Sperrys. All enters come with choice of a preared salad or a visit to their small but sufficient salad bar that hosts a few customer favorites in addition to the usual retinue. Everything else is ala carte. They have a very generous happy hour including inexpensive bar bites from 5-7 weekdays, after which the bar generally quickly turns over to diners and neighborhood regulars. They have a core waitstaff that knows the regulars by name and face and they generally make the customers feel appreciated.
 
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#120
#120
Orangedogsrule said:
In 1970 in Chapel Hill NC, I worked at a fine dining steakhouse as a tableside meat cutter. I appeared immediately as the manager/host seated the guests and a busperson placed icewater, but before the waitress took drinks, salad, and side orders. For those who were only having a salad, it was my job to also ask when did they want their salad served. Usually, but not always, the person selecting a salad only, sees it as their entree and it should be served with the other entrees. Sometimes one person would want theirs served early when everyone else got a salad but another person in the same party would prefer to wait for entrees. So I had to ask and note it on the ticket. Every seat at every table had a number and it was easy. I'd platter up all the cut meat with a doneness toothpick and table/seat number, and the marked ticket and the head waiter would take it to a staging counter and then get the waitress preped to take over. Then he made sure the flatware/utensils were right and waters/tea were full and correct plates served to each seat. He was over all the wait staff and did the training.

So, after the waitress was prepped she knew to confirm salad orders and when and took all the side orders and seafood orders. The head waiter would also now know what other utensils to place to which seat, like the cracking tongs for snow crab legs as the waitress prepared the drinks and early salads.

The manager/host, head waiter, and anyone else who had to be in a dining room constantly scanned to see who looked as if they needed anything. And then either the head waiter or the waitress would take care of it. Quietly. Boy did we get reamed if the manager saw anyone looking around frustrated.

But, there were no booths, only tables so it was easy to see what was happening and move around tables. The main room was huge and the two side rooms had six tables each we could have tables seperated or arranged however.

EZ PZ and I don't ever remember anyone ever complaining the half a year I worked there. Not even about doneness, or anything. We split all tips except big ones given specifically to a particular person. I got a $50 tip for cutting a 32oz (exactly) steak one night.
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50 bucks in 1970 would be what today ? Bet that made your night back then
 
#121
#121
crusse10 said:
And herein lies the problem. You'll be ok. Other people might not.
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I have to preface this with "back in the day"....

Folk saw eating at a fine restaurant as an experience.
We expected there to be a time for being seated, waters served and mixed drink requests taken. For a server to take orders for appetizers, salads, entrees and be eaten in that order. Common etiquette required we all wait to start our next course until everyone finished the current one. No one was not OK with it. We were there to enjoy each others company as much if not more than the food.

Of course there are those who are inconsiderate or just plain mindless who will linger over a salad, or those for who salad is rabbit food and all they want is to glom their steak at just the right temperature.
 
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#123
#123
Orangedogsrule said:
I have to preface this with "back in the day"....

Folk saw eating at a fine restaurant as an experience.
We expected there to be a time for being seated, waters served and mixed drink requests taken. For a server to take orders for appetizers, salads, entrees and be eaten in that order. Common etiquette required we all wait to start our next course until everyone finished the current one. No one was not OK with it. We were there to enjoy each others company as much if not more than the food.

Of course there are those who are inconsiderate or just plain mindless who will linger over a salad, or those for who salad is rabbit food and all they want is to glom their steak at just the right temperature.
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I think this is the way to go assuming it's delivered accordingly. If my entree arrives and you're still working on your salad, I'm not gonna just let it sit there.
 
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#125
#125
crusse10 said:
Here's a question to others in or near the service industry. What do you do in this scenario? A lady regular who comes in roughly weekly, maybe twice every 3 weeks. She sits at the bar with her friend, they order 2-3 beers each, and sit for about 2-3 hours. Has never tipped more than $0.40 (yes, 40 cents). How many visits does it take before you can no longer treat her needs as a priority over anyone else you are taking care of? And do you communicate with her at some point? Like every bartender absolutely hates her, moreso for taking up prime real estate during the dinner rush than anything
Click to expand...

You know she's waiting to be picked up, right? One of the bar tenders is going to have to bite the bullet for the team, take her home, show her a good time and she'll move on.
 
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