Annoying Restaurant Trends

1-25-2008 @2:42PM Lee said... Three pet peeves: 1) having to ask the price of the specials, 2) being greeted as "Hi, guys" by a wait person 40 years our junior, 3) clearning the plates of those who have finished before everyone at the table is done. In Europe, wait staff, even in informal bistros, maintain a professional distance and would never dream of greeting diners with, "Hi guys, I'm Brian and I'll be your server today."
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1-25-2008 @3:13PM tim said... I don't know why, for the most of you, complain about a server being too attentive or prices. You coming to a restaurant to be taken care of. You didn't want dinner at your house which means no cooking ,cleaning or working required. Stop the bitching. Also don't shoot the messager! What I mean is, if you were quoted at a 45 min wait, and were sat at 55 min, please son't take it out on your server. If you don't want us to top your wine because you feel your drinking too much say so. I didn't know that you can't say no! Oh by the way, get off the phone, and if you speak more than one language please don't speak in tongue. Both of these really annoys servers and we can't help you as good as we like because we feel discomfort because your being an ass
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1-25-2008 @3:19PM Jimmy said... I love people that complain about being served, I have been in the restaurant business for over 25 years from NYC to Fla., when I go to a restaurant and am spending $150 for two people, I want to be pampered and to have the wait staff as well and managers to make sure I'm happy, I want to know the specials and be offered bottled water, I have the right to have have tap water but in some places like Ft, Lauderdale Florida the water is God awful! Your right about being interupted and rushed but you also have the right to ask for a manager and to leave less of a tip to send a message, these people are just trying to make a living, they are running all day sometime doing double shifts to survive, do you think they want to kiss your ass and listen to you complain about prices?? As waiters we catch all the BS for everything, if the food isn't to your liking, we hear it, if the drinks aren't strong or full enough we hear it, then you want to see a manager to get something for nothing and guess who hears it later?? Then when you do get stuff off the bill and your ass kissed you leave a crap tip even though it really wasn't the servers fault, the chef gets his pay the manager gets his, the waiter get screwed! So before you write stupid ass things like this, try walking in our shoes! Poor baby doesn't want to be offered fresh pepper, go to Burger King and have it your way!
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1-25-2008 @3:40PM marina selby said... The # 1 most annoying restaurant trend is when the waitstaff asks ,"How is everything?" and you have a mouth full! This happens frequently and it's not difficult to gage when a patron is not chewing!!! I've actually been to restaurants where the waitstaff proceeded to approach then backed off upon assessing the the situation. To me that is the ultimate in restaurant etiquette.

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1-25-2008 @3:48PM Digger O'Dell said... I DO like fresh ground pepper on my salad, and on my steak and my potato. I'd prefer to have a pepper mill on my table, second choice is to have someone serve it. If you want to earn a $0.02 tip, just offer pepper at the tables around me, but fail offer it to me.

OTHER GRIPS:
1. Food Servers who go on break for 15 to 30 minutes without having a substitute. "I'm sorry, Sir, you're not my table. You'll have to wait for Carlos to return."
2. Food servers who spend all their time talking with friends at another table and can't be bothered to replace a fallen fork, or bring a forgotten item. I've had both of these happen, in supposedly "good restaurants."
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1-25-2008 @8:16PM joshua said... I'm a server in the industry and i say we should have an article written about the "ANNOYING GUEST TRENDS" One thing is be aware that i understand you are still there needing something but depending on what station I'm working in... I have about twelve other people who need something too. Patience is a virtue. Also just because you eating during lunch time and not dinner doesn't mean I'm working any less...so make sure you're not tipping any less either.
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1-25-2008 @4:27PM Audrey said... I hate when restaurants say "seasonal" vegetables even though they're always the same no matter what the season... can't they just say broccoli, zucchini, squash and carrots... and why is it that brussel sprouts are never in season?
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1-25-2008 @4:05PM Butch said... Novelle cuisine (if it isn't mispelled it deserves to be). I once at a restaraunt supposedly noted for its great food. HA! I ordered the Breast of Veal stuffed with something and pine nuts with asparagus and red potatoes on the side. The Veal had no flavor and I finished it in three bites, there was one dwarf red potatoe and two half stalks of asparagus. I thought ,"That's a great appetizer, but where's my dinner?' But dinner it was and at a very hefty price! I relayed this story to a friend of mine and hes laughed saying that I didn't understand the concept of Novelle Cuisine. He told me that I wasn't paying for the food as much as I was paying for the "Ambiance". He further stated he found the establishment to be a rather fine one and eats there on a regular basis. He got a little perturbed when I pointed out that Ambiance equals atmosphere which equals air which I can breathe for free anywhere and someone would have to nuts to pay for it. Moral of the story, give me my hard earned money's worth of a decent sized well cooked meal and drop the pretenses.
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1-25-2008 @4:11PM richard said... Being called "you guys" when we are old enough to be the grandparents of the servers and over friendly servers are ever so annoying.
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1-25-2008 @4:25PM Walter said... The price of a cup of coffee Thanks to Starbucks, Too many restaurants now charges $2.00 + for a cup of coffee. Hopefully with Starbuck's experiment of the $1.00 cup of "JOE", things will turn around.
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1-25-2008 @4:26PM Kathy said... Is anyone else offended by wait personnel coming to the table and giving a cheery "Hi Guys"? I once said-"I am not a guy" and the girl disappeared and sent another person over! We are girls, females, ladies-NOT GUYS!
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1-25-2008 @4:29PM Walter said... I do not think it is chic to have to wait to be seated when it is obvious there are empty tables available. I mentioned this to the hostess, and we were seated immediately.
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1-25-2008 @4:50PM Nikki said... LOUD MUSIC at dinner or lunch! Enough already. I am aware this may not bother everyone but if you are wearing a hearing aid, even the best digital ones won't make allowances for loud background music. A person with a hearing aid can not have a conversation because if you turn the aid up to hear what is being said by your companion(s) it amplifies the music to just loud noise and so you can't understand anything being said. I wish more restaurant owners/managers would be more considerate. There's just no need for such loud noise at any mealtime and to call it music, that's a disgrace. I have refused to go to really nice places I'd love to be able to frequent because after suggesting they lower the music they failed to do so. Those people don't deserve my business. Now that the baby boomer generation is coming on strong I wonder if this might change. We can only hope.
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1-25-2008 @4:54PM meg said... I have served for a few years, and believe me i do NOT want to tell you our special. I do NOT want to top off your glass every 5 minutes, and i NEVER ask if you want change or not. Serving is a very difficult job, and when its good, its SO good, but when i can not get tips worth my time spent at a table, it really hurts. I do not go out to eat if i can not tip my server at least 30%, and i wish others would as well. i don't understand how people think that a $5.00 tip works for any total bill. I have a baby, i have bills, i am an excellent server! I want tipped according to my SERVICE! that is my job. my job is not cooking you food, not making your drinks....so please address complaints to the appropriate person....geesh....people
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1-25-2008 @4:57PM Bill E. Boy said... My biggest gripe is waiter/waitresses (yes, they should still be called that) who #1 interrupt my personal conversation and #2 refer to me and others as 'you guys'. #1 - You are there to wait on me so shut-up and WAIT until there is a break in my conversation. #2 - I'm the person with enough money to be buying the meal and not serving it. I'm not your buddy and only my friends and family refer to me as 'you guys'. Like it or not, when I'm dining, even if it's Chili's or The Olive Garden, we are not equals - I'm the customer whom you serve so try treating it that way and maybe you can earn a decent tip. Get it? The tip is not an automatic - it's called a gratuity.
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1-25-2008 @4:59PM Jeff said... My biggest complaint, and it happens at every resturaunt, is when you get a menu and it has food splattered all over it...I use to work for a couple of high end resturaunts and they always trained the employees' to wipe down menus in their down time. Their is nothing more digusting than when you first sit down at the table and have to pick off old, crusty food to read the description of the dish 8)
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1-25-2008 @5:27PM Irene said... There are some things that servers do have control over. I also worked as a server and a bartender, so I'm familiar with these.

Don't ask if the person wants change. If you take the check, the person will tell you "thank you, that's fine" if he wants to keep the entire thing. Otherwise, just bring the change.

During the pre-shift briefing, ask questions about the specials. Or at the very least, know who you can go to with those questions that are inevitable.

Pour the wine properly. If the party at the table orders a bottle, 1/4 to 1/3 is a good start. I usually end up telling the server that *I* will pour. That's because they don't know how.

Any restaurant worth its snuff should consider mini-decanters for wine. There are a couple of steakhouses that do that here in Vegas. That way, you get the equivalent of a full glass of wine, but can pour it at the volume you want instead of hassling with a full glass that you can't swirl and enjoy.

And for those servers who told everybody to stay home if we don't like the service. You can be sure that if we are presented with that attitude when we're at your restaurant, we will. Or go somewhere else.
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1-25-2008 @5:41PM Joe said... I HATE the auction! That's when the food is brought to the table and the server has to hold up a plate and announce/ask, "Prime Rib with baked, Sea Bass with spinach," etc. His/her job is to know who ordered what, dammit. Is that too much to ask? Drops me from 20% to 10% tip every time.
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1-25-2008 @5:55PM carolyn said...
What irks me the most at fine dining restaurants is the corkage fee.
Seems there is a contest on to see how much higher they can push it.
Twenty-five dollars to uncork a bottle of wine that I brought in is absurd.
If they offered decent wine selections at reasonable pricing, it would not be necessary to bring wine in in the first place. And then, they have the audacity to charge 20% gratuity (parties of 6 or more) on top of the $25
corkage fee, which now bring the popping of a cork to $30. Thieves!!
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