“do not stack dishes in an upscale restaurant”–do not worry that will never be an issue for me.
“Most nice restaurants pour a bit of the wine into your glass for you to taste first if it’s a bottle for the table.”
Yes, if you are ordering by the bottle restaurants do that. But, it is for detecting a wine that is off not a wine you don’t care for because you ordered something you didn’t know about. IMO, it would be unfair to to have the restaurant “eat” the cost of a bottle of wine just because you weren’t loving it.
“I’m a camel, I drink a lot of water” Me, too. Unless a restaurant has superb staffing and a “water guy”, I love restaurants where they put a carafe of ice water on the table. I like a lot of water.
The “wine thing” does not apply to higher end restaurants. I have often made note of house wines in better restaurants as they are usually not names you have heard of but are quite good. Of course trying to source them usually leaves you empty handed as they are all sold out.
I am talking about your local restaurant where you might go on a week night for a salad and a glass of wine. Not a chain restaurant but not Del Posto either. These restaurants do not have sommeliers and their wine by the glass is just awful.
One time at Friendlies (ice cream place) it was packed, and we waited and waited for our food. Waited and waited and waited. Finally the waitress came and delivered…a bill.
My DH was quick witted: “Does this come with the fries I ordered?”
She must have been loving life that night.
I agree that a situation like this can throw the whole experience off … it may not be a huge deal, but still disappointing when you’re looking forward to enjoying a meal together. Sorry, @mom2collegekids - I know you’d much rather have had breakfast at the same time than a freebie.
I’m always interested in restaurants so I’m learning from this thread. Here’s something I’ve never understood - why does it take so long to get the check at coffee shop-type places? I don’t mean at a place where there’s some ambience. I mean at Friendly’s or IHOP or Perkins. The service can be great up to that point and then - poof. It’s very consistent so I feel as if there’s a reason.
" I mean at Friendly’s or IHOP or Perkins. The service can be great up to that point and then - poof. It’s very consistent so I feel as if there’s a reason"
because the server does not want to turn the table, they want you there so they can work less. yes I know they make tips so the more customers the more $$. but for many servers they want to slow down the workload…you are occupying the table so they do not get a new party.
@redpoodles I’m sure you were trying to be funny with your pizza story, but were you really afraid that “the mafia” was going to shoot you such that you and your H felt compelled to run away? This guy sounds like that “Soup Nazi” from Seinfeld or the restaurant that used to be in Boston’s Faneuil Hall where the waitresses were intentionally rude-like it was his “schtick”. I’m Italian and my mom and her folks were from NYC and have eaten at any number of “real” Italian restaurants and never once worried about “the mafia”. Honestly.
@sseamom Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend. He was definitely a character. If you read the obit I posted (#47) you can see I’m not alone in my assessment. I certainly don’t think the mafia is hanging out in any other Italian restaurant I’ve been to. But that one…stands out. Don Michele and his pizza are not forgotten, even now. We all still talk about it.
Also, I don’t think it was a “schtick.” I think it was his genuine character.
“Most nice restaurants pour a bit of the wine into your glass for you to taste first if it’s a bottle for the table.”
Yes, if you are ordering by the bottle restaurants do that. But, it is for detecting a wine that is off not a wine you don’t care for because you ordered something you didn’t know about. IMO, it would be unfair to to have the restaurant “eat” the cost of a bottle of wine just because you weren’t loving it."
I’ve been with people who have said the wine did not meet their approval. No questions asked and another, different wine, brought to the table. I doubt they toss the bottle - they probably put it behind the bar and serve it by the glass.
Before the holidays we were out with friends and had to wait at the bar for our table to be ready, I ordered a prosecco and it was awful. I told the bar tender and he tossed it out and I ordered a Pinot Grigio instead. I didn’t pay for the first drink.
I wouldn’t send back a glass or bottle of wine just because I don’t like it, but if there is a true flaw in a bottle – such as if it is corked or oxidized – I will send back the bottle or glass. There are lots of flaws that fall short of “vinegar” that warrant a return of the bottle. It is not appropriate to send back a bottle or glass just because it is very disappointing.
At a fine restaurant with a professional sommelier, it is perfectly appropriate to say, “Hey I think there is something wrong with this bottle; will you taste it?” That’s the preferred course, in fact. It is much more polite to ask the sommelier to taste the wine if you think it’s bad rather than just send it back.
@HarvestMoon1 I guess at places like that, the best bet is to get the grapefruit/vodka cocktail. I’m not much into wine but family members are and a restaurant with a poor wine list would fall down the list of options for them for sure.
" There are lots of flaws that fall short of “vinegar” that warrant a return of the bottle." Yes, you are correct, @nottelling. A wine can be improperly stored leading to it being off without it being bad. You and I are in agreement I think.
If I am ordering wine by the glass I would ask for a taste if I didn’t know the wine, and I would ask for a glass from a new bottle, but I wouldn’t ask for a different wine just because I didn’t like the taste. No different than if I have ordered an entree I was not too keen on, I wouldn’t send it back and ask for another dish at their expense.
I have mixed feelings about servers who don’t write down orders. Some servers are amazing and can remember every little thing. However, many cannot remember custom orders (no cheese, no onions, different sauce, etc)
I imagine that restaurants like “the look” of a server who can just mentally record an order, but if the order(s) end up wrong, that looks worse.
At a certain price point, one of my pet peeves is when the waitstaff has to ask “Who ordered the xx?” when bringing out the food and figuring out who ordered what. Write it down if you can’t remember.
I assume that the not writing down of orders is a management edict, not necessarily a server choice.
I don’t count Friendly’s as a restaurant. I would wager that many have closed because of their awful service. I stopped going there over 20 years go. I couldnt stand the awful service, almost consistent wrong orders…and the filthy condition of the restaurants.
Most servers can’t remember without writing things down. I am usually annoyed when they try. There was a local casual chain here (since gone out of business) that started off really good then tried to go more upscale–one of the things they changed was that they obviously started to insist that the waistaff not write things down. What had been a nice casual pasta place where you could reliably get a decent meal became a place where they’d probably mess up your oder 25% of the time.
That was a pretty big “thing” for a while–servers not writhing things down. It seems to have passed around here, which is good IMO.
Funny story. I worked on the interior design of a high end restaurant and dh and I went there shortly after it opened. The food was great, but the staff was still getting the hang of things. We order I meal we both dig in. It was yummy. About half way through the meal, I remember that some ingredient was supposed to be part of my meal and it wasn’t there. And the more I think about it, I realize that whatever it is I’m eating it is some other entree entirely from what I ordered. Since i was delicious, I didn’t complain, but I really didn’t realize until I had eaten at least half of it.
“when your steak/chicken/fish lands, cut it, make sure its cooked properly.”
Some steak place asks you to do this right when they deliver your entrees and ask you then if it is to your liking. Del Frisco’s I think?