glenn

We went to [..] on Friday night, Jersey City's latest addition to the downtown restaurant mess. We asked the waiter what he recommended. He said he hadn't the slightest clue because he never tasted anything other than the freedom fries. And then the service went downhill. As you might suspect, the food was as bad as the service. Next time I'll get the canned diet coke instead of the fountain, which was all syrupy, and have the mushroom pizza instead of pepperoni.

You can't beat the mousaka. Well, at least for the price. And the club sandwich is dreamy. And of course, the ambience of an ancient diner and a friendly staff that looks like they've been working there since it opened.

Good news. For me, anyway. The Flamingo got a reprieve, it was on the 6:00 news tonight. Our esteemed mayor caved in to the pressure and said something like the Goldman Sachs employees don't live in his zip code anyway.

Don't know about the profitability, but they're sure gonna have a big tax write-off. They invested $5 million for expansion according to the Times article (don't know where they expanded to). They did so based on assurances from Lefrak that they were gonna sign a long-term lease.

Yes, the one in Newport.

I'm surprised no one's commented on Foodmart's loss of their lease announced 3/25 in the NYT (you need an account to view the whole thing). JC is a Target kinda town. I kinda have mixed feelings. When FM opened (5 or 6 years ago?) it was hailed as having one of the finest and largest fresh fish selections in the area in addition to having several aisles devoted to Asian food. It attracted shoppers from all over, especially NYC because of its proximity. I dunno if I woke up to how filthy the place was or I just started noticing it, but as a result, I stopped shopping there several months ago. I thought it was a nice touch having birds flying around, but then I woke up and realized those droppings gotta go somewhere. But I can't help but root for the little guy; hiss hiss to Lefrak and Target. (If you wanna see the whole transcript and are too cheap to pay the $2.95, email me.) [on a not so related note, I find egg foo yung to be the best food to hail at the movie screen when the picture gets blurry beyond recognition.]

I dunno, I don't think I agree. What if the party wants to give a bigger tip than the service charge, not entirely unheard of. However, the practice should always be to verbally inform the person paying that the tip's included. On the other hand, that's not always possible -- sometimes the server doesn't know who's paying and/or the table can be in the midst of conversation and it would be rude to interrupt. But it should always be the policy to circle the service charge. There was just an incident at the place I work at where a customer left a tip on top of the service charge, amounting to a 42% tip. The server said she circled the service charge. I called the customer, and he didn't notice it was circled (judging from the amount of drinks, I can see why), and I ended up refunding the tip.

I'm 95% sure - in the US, the credit line is programmed to print even if a service charge is included. I would think you'd need a pretty advanced POS system to get it not to print.

How shocking :))

Roz, I assume the new fee structure applies to any restaurant that needs an outdoor cafe license. I don't know where back gardens fit in the scheme of things, though logically, you'd think they wouldn't need a license. But it seems logic rarely has anything to do with nyc government.

Slow night? I should also mention the reason for the 1 month reprieve. According to the Restaurant Association, there is a lawsuit (I forget by what group) arguing that the law is illegal. Their basis is that a restaurant has no control whether someone lights up. Frivolous stuff, but it caused the delay in enforcing the law.

True, but you'd have to be crazy to permit smoking just because there's no fine. A warning will ensure that the health dept. will return in the near future along with possibly a full blown inspecition. As for outdoor cafes being a reprieve, it comes at a heavy price. Our fee will be just under $20k while last year it was $6k. I'm curious to see how many places won't have an outdoor cafe this year as a result of the insane fees. And between us, I'm enjoying seeing our manager chain smoke outside -- she's never in the restaurant any more, a benefit for everyone, staff and customers.

Just refer them to me.

No. Strike 5.

I was all set to diss yet another lousy dinner in JC last night, until I read the front-page article in today's NJ section of the Times. (But I will anyway). Very interesting stuff – though the next Williamsburg?? I dunno about that. I was glad to see Marco & Pepe’s get some good press, though the crowds are sure to start flocking there now. And jeez, I didn’t know the new chef comes from Danube and Bouley. Uncle Joe’s (or Maxwell’s, Jr., as I call it), also got a lot of well-deserved press. And a rekkid store where I can finally find MY music in JC would have been unthinkable only a few years ago (on Brunswick). But what the heck does “slightly swanky” mean? That’s what they called the 3-month-old (or so) Merchant Bar. Though some trendies might call the décor minimalist, I call it desolate and uninspiring, just like the food and service. So there are some new places to try, though there hasn’t been a shortage of that in the past year. However, the possibility of Starbucks on Erie St. doesn’t bode all that well (the next Hoboken?, yuck!). On the gotta try list is Madame Claude (though the Times is not all that inspiring by waving the flag for the $5 crème brulee, Metropolis Ground (a coffee shop) and Ria’s Café. Last night. I honestly don’t know why I torture myself by giving Presto’s chance after chance. I always say that I’ll never step foot in that place again every time after dining there. The “problem” is they have damn good pasta, which is what I was in the mood for. But it’s a small place (about 30 seats) and the service stinks. But I figured the rain would keep the masses away. Wrong. As usual, there’s no hostess (Saturday night at 8 for chrissakes!) manager or owner to be seen, and the staff was just ignoring us as we stood there like idiots waiting to be seated. So we sat down at the only available table, still dirty from the previous diners. After 5 minutes I had to grab the busser to tell him, HELLO, clean the table and bring menus. It was sweltering hot in there too. We sat another 5 minutes. They always have specials but they never voluntarily tell you about them – some sort of secret sales tactic I guess. I hate studying the menu, which I have memorized anyway by this time, w/o knowing the specials. We had enough. Got up and walked out. THIS WILL BE THE LAST TIME, I SWEAR! After previously having a not so great experience at the 1-month-old 95 Greene, I figured they deserved another chance. And it was only a few blocks from Presto’s. Talk about different realities!! 8:15 PM, Saturday night, and there were 2 people at the bar and ZERO dining customers! And it was nice and cool, a refreshing change. The two of us sat down at a 4-top by the window. The menu was completely boring even though the prices seemed to demand more imagination. The one and only interesting item was an appetizer, which frankly, sounded gross. Pastrami dumpling!! But I tell ya, with the sauce, it worked, we loved it. The entrees were piss-poor. The sauce for our dishes, pork and halibut, tasted like it came from a can. The pork was a crummy cut, or was spoiled. Service was good (whattaya expect, staff outnumbered customers by 4 to 1!), up until dessert. 5 minutes after sharing a flourless chocolate cake that was left in the microwave too long, I was told they had a problem with the espresso machine and it would be a few minutes longer. No thanks. I was offered a free coffee, but passed. I honestly don’t foresee JC becoming the next anything, at least for years to come, but I’ll keep the faith and the searching.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding... how is the restaurant paying tax on the service charge? Of course, they're passing along the tax they collected from the customer, but there's no inocme tax paid by the restaurant on service charges. Or do you mean the payroll taxes that the restaurant pays? Edited after light bulb went lit up.

I don't know about the rest of the country, but in NY, a service charge (as opposed to a tip) is subject to sales tax and an establishment is required to pay the tax to the state. I won't pretend to understand the logic, but I would guess it has something to do with tips are THEORETICALLY voluntary while a service charge is not.

Tipping in Australia starts at 10%. I forget the amount, but waiters make a much higher wage than in the U.S.

Nevertheless, it won't be in the Times online edition til next week at the earliest (judging from past performance).

The NJ section is about a week behind getting online. Whattaya expect, this is NJ! BIGTIME congrats, Nick!

Here's a previous discussion about scales. I ended up getting the Pelouze as a result of this discussion, though I don't recall the price and if it was within your monetary restraints.

I was there in spirit and thinking of you guys eatin' those mushy dogs. I stopped off at Steve's kosher style deli and had 2 excellent dogs (and a chopped liver sandwich). But... $15 with no tip and no Bud.

I'll do my best. Meeting with MRS. BIG BOSS late afternoon, so we'll see. If I can't make it, you can have my dozen dogs.

have fun everyone, I can't make it. With the rain and all, I'm sure I wouldn't make it til way too late.

what's your point? I just threw that one in because I thought you liked it. Me, I wouldn't be caught dead in there. I knew Rosie would throw in Augustino's. And what about that place under the viaduct that I thought sucked moosemeat that everyone else seemed to like, are they still around?