rockandroller

Yeah, that bare hand action is really gross and you should have said something to the manager. I would write them a letter.

Try this: http://nymag.com/nymetro/food/features/n_10216/ Basically, it's the old hubris story of being hoist on one's own petard.

Capri also sells by the slice FYI. I prefer to order a whole pizza from them because their traffic is sporadic so I have no idea how long the slice pizzas have been sitting. Also I can't just stop at 1 slice.

Thanks, Michael, sounds interesting.

One of the best that's already mentioned is server "yo-yo." Teenagers are notorious for doing this ON PURPOSE and at one restaurant, I flat out refused to take any more tables of all-teens and told them they could fire me if they didn't like my request, after a particularly bad table. The table, if you're interested, was 6 youths on "all you can eat ribs" night. Yes, it's a complete nightmare. I can't remember the particular math but I think the standard dinner included 4 bones plus the sides. Re-orders (the "all you can eat order) came out as 2 additional bones at a time. Most people, after eating a salad, a baked potato, a veg and 4 bones can maybe do 1 more side order, maybe 2 max and then they're full. Well, each of these people had between 4 and six re-orders a piece, and each of them would not order with another person, they waited til I had gone to ring up a re-order, then flagged me down to put the next one in. As they were all entered different times they didn't come out together either. It was all I could do to service my other 3 tables with a LOT of help because all I was doing was running back and forth from the kitchen to the table to the dish with dirties, back to the line to pick up more bones, etc. In addition, they were drinking PITCHER after PITCHER of iced tea, to the point that we ran out and I had to brew more. I would say they went through 5 pitchers of iced tea. They had a fairly big bill and I brought back the change, and was finally able to turn my attention to my other tables. I was really curious what they would tip given how much I was running around, and I was hopeful that despite their age, they could see how much of my time they had monopolized, and maybe left me all the change as it was a number of dollars. They left me 30 cents. I RAN out of the restaurant and confronted them as they got in their car. I threw the money on the ground and said they should keep their lousy 30 cents and be ashamed of themselves, and that if they ever came back, someone else would have to wait on them. I told them I hope they all ended up in customer service jobs. My other favorite story is the kids' soccer team I waited on. This was at a mexican place I worked where you immediately had to "chip" the table when people sat down (put down chips & salsa). When I came in for my lunch shift, they told me ok, we have a party of THIRTY coming in, they're a soccer team and some of the adults/coaches/parents, but mostly kids. I was told there would be 3 people handling the party but the other 2 weren't there yet. So I had some people help me set up by chipping the tables, we all worked to get water and pitchers on the table, etc. Naturally, the other 2 servers did not help. 1 did not show up for work, the other didn't come in til after the party left, like 2 hours later. When they arrived and got sat down, the adults told me that they had decided it would be MUCH EASIER FOR THEM if EACH CHILD and adult got their OWN, SEPARATE CHECK. *dies* THIRTY CHECKS! That way, they could just give their child the money and avoid confusion. Ok, fine. So you can imagine handling a party of 30, by yourself with whatever help you can cobble together from other servers, with constant re-chipping and new salsa and refreshing of water, as well as food order and delivery for the whole party. THEN doing 30 separate chits for every single person. It took FOREVER. They were really loud and left a horrible mess (they were fairly little kids), chip crumbs so bad and salsa smeared everywhere that they closed the section, which meant this was all I got for lunch service, my station was closed. They left me those little religious pamphlets about why God and Jesus don't believe in tipping and how you should help people out of the goodness of your heart. I sh*t you not.

I haven't been a server in over 30 years, so when I was paying in cash was more common than using a credit card. However, the reason many servers ask is not about the tip, but rather about getting to the register/station/whatever. If you are not expecting anything back, they can put off haveing to ring it up for a little while if there is a bottle neck at the register. Many restaurants make all the checks go thru one station and if there are several checks being processed and the server doesn't have to get your change back to you right away, they can process the credit cards and return them and process yours when they have more time. As a guest, I normally pay in cash (or leave the tip in cash) and if I don't expect change back I tell the server that when they pick it up. ← Actually, the reason is because about 8 jillion times you just say "I'll be right back with your change, OK?" get no answer and then go around the corner to get your bank out and make change, even though it's only $2.65 or whatever, and when you get back, the guests are gone, OR then THEN say, "oh, you can keep the change." It can take several minutes when you're getting credit cards and making cash change for several checks, and you just wasted my time. So we're trying to determine if we need to take the valuable time to actually make the change, instead of doing so and then finding out the only reason someone had to do you a favor and run your food for you because you were busy making change was because they didn't tell you to keep it, or because while you were making change, they were leaving.

The "squatting" thing is very commonplace. Servers are told that if they do this, it makes the guests feel like you are informal and coming "down" to their physical level instead of standing 'above' them. "They" say that if you do this, they feel more comfortable with you, that you seem more approachable and 'just like them,' which means better rapport, which means better tip. It's all a game.

I'd like to echo the PP who said every day could be our last, so this is a good rule of thumb for everyone. I'll keep this in mind next time I am tired and considering going to one of the chains that surround me.

that's what we thought, too. Why would you put yourself through that awful experience twice. If she gets real skills in culinary school, she can go right to work.

Oh - to another previous poster's point, they also require you to ask every new table if they've been to the restaurant before. there are two different "scripts" - one for new customers and one for returning customers and you're supposed to immediately ascertain which your table is.

I had to respond to this one, as well as a few points that were made in other's posts. I wonder if any of you have waited tables, AND whether or not these are chain restaurants. I waited tables in a LOT of chains for a LOT of years, and I think there is a lot of irritation being caused by the waitstaff, and that the public is COMPLETELY UNAWARE that the management and corporporate "policies" of these chains DEMAND of their servers. There is ONE way to do everything right, and if you do it any other way than that, you actually get in trouble. Let me share with you a few of these things. 1. You are required to take people's orders in a particular pattern based on the seating at the table or booth. If the lady is not sitting in "seat #1," you have to take the orders in the wrong order and then go away and re-write the ticket before you present it or enter it. The kitchen plates up the orders based on Seat #1 being the first seat to your right as you stand and face the table, for example. So if you were sitting on the left at a 4-top, you would be seat 4. I would have to take your order and make sure I knew that was Seat #4 when I wrote it down, then take all the other orders in the right order. Then, when I enter it into the computer or re-write the ticket, I'd have to take the time to enter everything in the correct order. You get in trouble if someone runs your food and the food for seat #1 is not actually for the person sitting in seat #1. 2. Pepper mills and cheese graters are always in extremely short supply. It's not the waitstaff's fault that there may be only one, or perhaps 2 and one is broken or missing, and that the management will not buy another one. Everyone has to share what's available. If you take the mill and leave it on the table, the other servers get pissed at you when they go to find it where it normally lives and it's not there. they would march up to the hostess and ask who has table #X and then go find you, probably in the middle of another duty, and tell you to PLEASE GO GET THE PEPPER MILL OFF TABLE X AS MY PEOPLE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR IT FOR 5 MINUTES NOW. You have to share everything, while still trying to provide the customer what they want. The only way to do this is to grind it for them so you can put it back immediately, lest you face the wrath of other servers. And let me tell you, you don't want that. 3. In chain restaurants, you get into big trouble if you do not approach a table within 30 seconds of sitting down to welcome them and ask for their bev. order. Professional people come in and surreptitiously pose as customers and do "shops" of restaurants, and they grade the server on all the steps of service, and this is the first one. You get docked points if you don't, for example, greet them within 30 seconds, remove empty plates as soon as they are empty (they call it "cleaning as you go"), BRING the dessert tray out to them INSTEAD of asking if they've saved room for dessert (you actually aren't allowed to ask - you have to bring the tray as they say once the customer SEES the dessert, they're more likely to order it), etc. You get in trouble if there are dirty/empty plates or glasses on the table. You're told to clear them immediately, as people finish. 4. The glance of disapproval if you don't get an app, or if you don't get alcohol, or another round of drinks, or if you ask to split an entree, is because a server is "graded" on their check average per table. At the end of the night, the computer report will tell you how much you averaged per person at each table. When the number is low, the management yells at you and tells you you have to get your check average up; this is done by pushing the extras, and hard - apps, alcohol/refills, add-ons like mushrooms or onions or loaded potatoes and desserts. Obviously you have the right to get what you want, but sometimes in the middle of a busy, stressful service when you've been taken to task for a week straight because of your low check average, it's hard not to flinch or show disappointment when another table just wants to get the most inexpensive item on the menu, only water to drink and they want to split the entree. You can actually get let go for low check average. These are just a few off the top of my head.

I don't open the thread til I've caught up and watched the episode either, for what it's worth.

I'd love to come if I'm not traveling somewhere for work. I vote for a meal at Reza's! http://www.rezasrestaurant.com/ (I don't know how to embed links, sorry)

Well, "put in charge of" seems to be relative. That Heather that won last year's contest, as I understand it, isn't exactly an exec chef at the place she's working. She sounds more of a "specialty" chef.

We were laughing like hell at the "cassoulet" thing. I too think he thought it was French for casserole. HAHAHAHAHA. Why is this better than Julia not knowing what ahi tuna is or how to make creme brulee. Every time Julia doesn't know something, the other girls make it this HUGE DEAL like she said "what's an onion" or something. I mean, just TELL HER THE ANSWER or SHOW HER HOW TO DO IT and move on! Mr. Sous Chef doesn't know what a cassoulet is? I'm nothing but an amateur home cook and my husband was a line cook in chain restaurants for several years and we both knew what it was. Come ON.

I agree; that was clearly a move by the producers and a completely unnecessary one. That was just sh*tty and served no purpose.

My husband and I thought the thing on her chin was a cold sore/herpes simplex this whole time. I don't know that I buy the hot oil story. But it doesn't matter since she's finally gone. I thought she was a horrible person and a really bad cook. Why was Rock so upset about the trash? I mean, it's like the producers suggest to certain people that they completely overreact if there's something they don't like; first Melissa with her weird personality change and now Rock flipping out because they had to sort through what looked like some REALLY CLEAN trash, if you ask me. It was just bottles and cans, I didn't even see food in there at all. And even if there was, so what. Frankly, I'd rather sort through trash than do all that fish cleaning/gutting, but I'm not a chef so what do I know.

I agree. The more they try to make this "outrageous" with these type of conceits, the more I dislike it.

Doesn't anyone else think Aaron is a hypochondriac/drama queen? I've seen the previews about him collapsing too, but I just think this whole crybaby thing is an act.

Hi all, bumping this thread up because I will be in nashville on 6/22 and am looking for a good place for lunch as well as a decent store (how's the farmer's market?) as I'll be driving to middle TN where there is NO decent food to be found for the rest of the weekend. I'll have access to a fridge and microwave. Every time I make this trip I never have time to see Nashville and this time I do, but I'd love to spend the time foraging for some grub (preferably sustainable/locally grown and even more preferably some places that serve food from the same origin) instead of doing touristy things. I'll have about 6 hours there, I may want to eat when I first get there (a late breakfast/mid-morning) and then again before I leave around 4 or 5 with a visit to a store or some other places in between. I've added some of the suggestions in this thread to my "Nashville" document I'm making, if anyone has other suggestions or places eG people would be welcomed even for just a cold drink, let me know. Thanks!

Great pix/descriptions as usual. I just joined the convivium last month so am looking forward to future outings!

We were SCREAMING the same thing at the TV last night. If anyone knows how to cook eggs, it's a short order cook at the waffle house! Honestly, we decided they must have completely left some huge chunk of something on the cutting room floor. There was absolutely NO explanation or reason for them completely shunning the waffle house chick. She had to have said something nasty to them or they had to have gotten together to decide to exclude her as a group, it just didn't happen accidentally. Think about it: what do you have to be able to do when you're cooking: Produce food as ordered, prepared correctly, served attractively as quickly as possible. I know waffle house isn't a gourmet restaurant but the lady HAS to be able to really slam out food quickly, which is a much-needed skill in this kitchen, you just have to teach her to cook different food than what she's already cooking. You still have to know how to cook to get eggs to-order done right, to have table's meals all come up at the same time, etc. Why the cold shoulder? And we thought it was really obvious that the girl who was responsible for the cuts on the red team chose Tiffany, even after she said there was no way she was going home, because she saw her as her biggest competition on the team. Anyone else think so? But why do they bother with the obvious/buffoon characters like the crying-jag-asian-cowboy-retirement-home-cook? I mean, IMO, THIS is a guy that has no place on the show. Not the short order cook.

Hee. While we do have a lot of good restaurants here, the one thing we're really lacking in is good, inexpensive places to grab a quick lunch. Every day my co-workers and I find ourselves going over the same maybe 4 or 5 choices, it gets really boring. And none of them are super choices either. They're just the ONLY choices.

Hi all! I wanted to thank you for your great suggestions. It was a hectic trip but I did manage to hit a few of your suggestions. The first night in DC, we went to Dukem for Ethiopian. We weren't crazy about the Ethiopian wines, too sweet/weird for us. We thought the food was very good, I just find I'm not a fan of this kind of food in general. It's kind of like Indian food to me - lots of sauces and spices and lots of GI troubles later. But it was a great choice as it was indeed very casual and we enjoyed the atmosphere a lot, and the prices were great, we got a lot of food in the combination platter. This was my 2nd time trying Ethiopian and I think it's just not for me, but I would definitely recommend the restaurant. We had to work all day and night the next day in preparation for our meeting, so my dining companion went out and picked up three small pizzas from Matchbox. This was a great recommendation and we absolutely chowed down on all three til almost nothing was left. We got one with sausage, onion, portobellas and red pepper, another with chicken, pesto, artichokes and roma tomatoes and the last one your basic pepperoni and mushroom. They were all outstanding, I wish we had a pizza place this good and with these kinds of toppings near where I live (Cleveland). I was stuck eating hotel food nearly the rest of the trip/all other meals with the exception of grabbing a couple of suprisingly delicious sandwiches at Potbelly (we don't even have that in Cleveland). Finally when my meeting was done on Thursday, even though I was exhausted, I made us struggle out to keep our reservation at Obelisk, which was suggested by a foodie friend of mine. It was outstanding. A very tiny place (36 covers I think?) and the service and food were great and the prices can't be beat. 5 course prix-fixe for $60. There was so much good food here I can't remember everythig we had, but they had artisanal cheeses, house-cured meats, the food just kept coming and coming and it was all wonderful. I finally got to try Wagyu beef as my entree, which was divine, and companion had grouper, which was excellent. I particularly remember one of the desserts we got was a dense chocolate cake surrounded by a mint sauce. The mint in the sauce was so fresh, I felt like I was a rabbit eating it right out of the garden. Amazing. And it was very casual and informal, everyone from suits to jeans was there and everyone was enjoying it immensely. I just wanted to thank everyone again for their suggestions and report back on how great it went.