Gospel for Restaurant Owners/Mgrs/Waiters

[Beach Runner]

52 (a) Know how to pronounce every item on the menu. For example, it's "brusKetta," not "bruSHetta."

101. Don't ask, "Was everything great?" It puts customers on the spot. Do they say lie and say yes, even though everything might not have been "great"? Even at the best of restaurants, relative to the reputation of the restaurant, everything on the menu probably won't be great.

The above is my pet peeve. There are several restaurant chains where the server asks that question. They seem surprised when I answer them truthfully.

 

[beachmouse]

One of my top three. Any waiter worth their salt should be able to deliver the order without having to ask who gets what. You took the order, you entered the order, you know who's sitting at position 1. Kills me, and, makes me question if it's your first day as a waiter.

And even restaurants that use a different person to deliver the food itself should have a system so that the food runner can see the check and know what goes where.

 

[wrobert]

Is Maryland Clam Chowder pretty common around here? I asked a server at the Boathouse what it was the other day, I was familiar with New England and Manhattan, and he had to go find out. Not knowing the menu and not knowing what I ordered drives me crazy.

 

[scooterbug44]

Good restaurants not only train their staff to know their menu and their regular's preferences, they have them try the food and have menu tests so they can answer customer's questions.

The "who's food is this?" drives me nuts - unless people have changed seats, there is no reason not to know what food goes where.

 

[Camellia]

Server Not Servant

 

[scooterbug44]

Server Not Servant

Most of this falls under "having basic manners" - yet I know there is a very good reason why they all had to be explicitly stated.

I think I might have been guilty of some of the minor ones, but most of them would get me smacked by my dining companions.

#13 and #15 are my favorites on the list - and I see it around here all the time:

"Never attempt the old; Do you know who I am? Anyone who is ignorant enough to try any variation on that question should have a trap door open under them and they should never be seen or heard from again."

"Don?t be a name dropper to curry favor. No one really cares who you know or how important you think you are, especially when they?re in the weeds."

If you have to tell them who you are, you aren't that important - and everyone in Sowal also knows the owner. :roll:

 

[SHELLY]

Server Not Servant

Good stuff--although I didn't see anything about the ignorance of cellphone use in restaurants, which in my book is HUGE. <Yeah, yeah, yeah, spare me the moral outrage...I know for a fact that everyone yakking on their cell in a restaurant isn't a heart surgeon on call; a sole surviving child of a mother on life support; or the Secretary of Defense>

I know several people who are or have been waiters/waitresses who've taught me the way of how to conduct myself in a restaurant over the years.

One of the funniest "customer antics" I've witnessed happened about 2 years ago in a restaurant in Atlanta. Two gentlemen dressed in business suits were enjoying lunch at a nearby table. They asked for separate tabs. One man slid a $5 bill under the saucer of his coffee cup on his side of the table, got up and said "Ready? Let's go." to the other man. The other guy kinda moved in slow motion, drawing out his wallet and fiddled with the napkin and such and said to the other guy, "Go ahead, I'll catch up." As the first man rounded the corner and went to the cashier's desk, the guy at the table slipped the $5 bill out from under saucer across the table and slipped it under his saucer on his side of the table. Cheeky move, sport!

 

[beachmouse]

Charles Morgan on how the customer isn't always right:

Harbor View by Charles Morgan - The Beachcomber Newspaper - Destin, Fort Walton Beach - Entertainment, Nightlife, Restaurant Guide, Dining, Music, Editorial,

 

[ShallowsNole]

I guess I don't mind the "who's having the shrimp?" question as much because, invariably, after we order, either Fuzz or I don't like the direction we are facing and we switch places. Now that I know it's an issue, I will start doing it on purpose.

 

[scooterbug44]

I guess I don't mind the "who's having the shrimp?" question as much because, invariably, after we order, either Fuzz or I don't like the direction we are facing and we switch places. Now that I know it's an issue, I will start doing it on purpose.

Definitely not a problem if you switch places, but when you order going around the table and don't move it just seems sloppy. Simple fix as most of the time it is because a runner is delivering the food and your waitstaff is not there when it is delivered.

I know LOVE it when the owner/manager stands up for their staff and doesn't give in to the rude customer - but I also know that they can't do it frequently because that stupid customer then pitches a fit and badmouths the establishment.