BenjaminTheBartender

Just came home from another busy night at work and of course have a few more of good examples of well manored slightly drunk guest.. - Just arriving at a packed bar, reaching over the bar, waiving a credit card/bill in your face and insisting they've been waiting to be served for half an hour. - Walking into the bar, thinking they'll get served faster if they walk up to the bartender and poke him on the shoulder (that guy actually made me laugh ) - Accidentally knocking over stuff e.g. bottles on a tray (which in it self I don't have a problem with) but then looking at you like you're too blame. Another funny story, I served 5 flaming sambuca shots one night and as I came to the table and started blowing out the flame, one guest reached for a shot still on fire and knocked over the tray, setting the entire table on fire I tried reacting as quickly as I could and folded the tablecloth and pounded it till the fire was out. The young lady then looked at me, smiled and said:"You reacted really quickly, good job...... But I think my purse is in there somewhere." Pointing to the charred pile in the middle of the table Server yoyo: 17 guests, 17 seperate checks, didn't informe me untill they were ready to leave, yikes! Depending on the quality of the restaurant, if it's a larger party, say more than 10 and everything on the plate is not stated in the menu, so it would take som explanation to understand why the certain ingredients have been but together with the wine, I normally walk behind the guests still talking after a 5-10 seconds of waiting an give them a subtle squeeze on the shoulder (if I can't catch their eye), works everytime for me. It all definately depends on the situation and the place, the example I mentioned is guests that look down on you as an annoyance to their evening and deliberately use any excuse to be impolite or ignore you completely when you try to contact them in any way. Racheld, you're welcome where I work anytime

I'm lovin' how this thread is turning out, much fun for me and my colleagues (who I gave a sneak peak ) Megan Kathleen, well said indeed, there were never any bad intentions behind this topic... And racheld, maybe I should have written "Looking forward to seek comfort and some sort of therapeutic effect in similar stories" or "Looking forward to vend my ever so traumatizing experience"? Busboy, I'm taking that story to work.... And giving you this thought to in addition, ever had a headchef that all of a sudden after sneeze during service was white under his nose? Not good in an open kitchen...

Sorry MichBill If this topic offended you, it was made entirely for waiters to share funny stories and courious experiences. All the post so far, like my own, are extremes, people who you see once in a while at the restaurant and their complete oblivion to the effect they have on the people around them, which actually sometimes make you crack a smile, but to understand the humour of the situation you would have to be a waiter. I've been active as a waiter/bartender for almost 11 years, so I DON'T make the beginnermistakes that you mention, soooo let's do this one more time: - The flow of the floor is being control even at the cafées I've worked at people are greated at the door, told which table they'll be seated at and that it has to be cleaned first so they should please wait at the bar for 2 minutes and as soon as you turn your back to get at tray they jump at the table to sit, worrying that it's a country of wild west laws and someone is going to just take it cause they're bigger (especially happens with tourists). - You can easily get my valuable services directed towards you without offending my delicate sensibilities with a simple excuse me or eye contact, not by yelling or being impolite or rude in any other way, but by treating me like a human and being polite as you would to any other stranger. - I'm glad that I have to wait till your conversation is done, then you're not only being impolite to me, but to those of the guests at the table, who are either hungry or interested in what's on their plate. I do apologize in case I've ever served you if I had the nerve to interrupt your enchanting flow of speech. - If I feel I can joke about people complaining at the end of their meal, I most likely have been at the table to ask if the food was satisfying before they finished. - Honestly, I don't mind going the extra mile for guests and I love being able to give extra service in any way, but if you look at it from a business point of view, between the extra time it took your waiter to clean the dirty table you sat at, explaining to you that yelling, screaming and waiving won't get his attention faster than a simple nod, waiting for your conversation to be done so he at least can get your obviously dehydrated companion a drink and then trying to keep a straight face through your whole "I AM paying your salary" and your "the food sucked even though I didn't tell you" speaches, he would have been able to sell the table 2-3 times and spend more time at the other tables for better service from which I can conclude that you do NOT pay my salary, you do on the other hand cause the demise of the entire restaurant (slightly exaggerated). I'm all about happy customers and good experiences and didn't mind travelling 4 hours a day to get to work at my old job, just cause the experience we gave people there was better. This topic was posted because despite the fact that there are waiters who actually like their jobs and carfe about giving good service, there are still customers that'll bring a crappy attitude to the restaurant. You pay me to serve you your drinks and food, I do not have to worry about if you had a bad day at work and want to take it out on me. Find a topic you like!

hehe, this turned out better than I thought, I normally kid around with my colleagues about these things, but it's really funny that most of the things are the same internationally. Here are a few more extreme examples from me (and yes, ALL of them has happened): - HEY!! OR HALLOOOO!!!! is not a proper substitute for excuse me, when trying to contact the waiter after 2 min at the table. - I'll second the unruly kids and up it with kids running in staff only areas e.g. behind the BAR - Lifting up my appron and CUPPING my groind (not making it better that it was a man). - Overexcessive flirting with the bartender only trying to get free rounds for her and her friends. And Megan Kathleen, I actually have a funny story on the whole littering in the restaurant subject. One busy saturday evening a young couple around 17-18 yrs showed up for a table reservation obviously on one of their first dates. After being seated and having their orders taken, the usual semi akward conversation started and after the first course a waiter notices something falling out of the young mans pocket and his face turning to stone (in the embarassed way). Being serviceminded the waiter goes to pick up the dropped item and return it to its owner but just before she's bends down, she sees that it a small rectangular shaped RED item and quickly walks by. It was, as you've all probably guessed in fact a condom, I'd definately like to see his face if you gave him the whole "don't be shy-I'll throw it out for you" speach The rest of the evening the young man of course spent trying to catch it with his foot and slide it under the table, embarrassed not only that the girl might notice, but that the waiter might as well. The night went on full of uncomfortable squirming and as they get up from the table, the young man's "fishing" not being succesfull, he obviously looked like he was walking straight into the most embarrassing moment of his life, just seing his facial expression when my colleague swept up behind him as they got up, putting her foot over the condom and giving him a subtle smile with a "Thank you and have a pleasant evening" was worth any tip he could ever have given, pure relief

Just read the thread about irritating server habits and although I agree that the standard of service in most places is just a little better than that at a fraternity party, I thought it would be funny to flip the question and ask everyone who has been working as a waiter what guest habits annoy them the most? Having worked as a waiter/bartender myself at both michelin starred restaurants and busy cafées and according to egullet tradition, I'll start myself ) - Sitting down at a dirty table (so you not want me to give you a good experience?) - Snapping their fingers or whistling! (I'm about to snap that finger off!!) - Talking while the menu is been presented (more so at upscale restaurants) - Informing the waiter that you, as a guest, do in fact pay my salary (Duh...) - Finishing the entire meal even after you've been at the table asking if everything was alright and then complaining that the meal was to cold, no cooked enough, etc. - Ignoring the waiter as he/she comes to the table to take your order. And just to finish off this round.. The waiter yoyo, a term I guess we invented at a cafe I worked at, meaning that the guest decides on another item they'd like after you've gotten the first one and repeating this 4-5 times e.g. "I'd like a large coke." and then when you return with the beverage "I'd also like a piece of pie" and when you return with the pie "and a cup of coffee." and so on and soforth.. Looking forward for some entertaining experiences )

thanks dsoneil, I'll start memorizing

I'm looking to improve my speed in the bar, I've started improving my cuts and setting up the bar differently, but does anyone have any rips or tricks that are good to know? Please feel free to post videos and pics, especially of how to make different cuts and handling the bottles. I'm not looking to become a flairbartender, but it seemed to me that certain ways of handling the bottles and presenting yourself make you look a lot more professional to the guests at the bar and they tend to take you more seriously, any takes on this? Looking forward to getting a little help to a very enthusiatic bartender

oh, and by the way, late places to eat: Vita at Store Kongensgade, I think is open till 2 and serves traditional danish food, no real gastronomic experience but still better than Mcdonald's and Rio Bravo which is also a low standard restaurant decorated in an old school AMerican western theme, but they're open till 5 a.m.!

Hey Emsny If you're planning on returning to copenhagen, Rasmus Kofoed is soon to open at REstaurant Kongens Have from what I've heard. I work close by and I've really enjoyed this thread to see people take on copenhagen and where they tend to go. Anyone coming hear from egullet feel free to e-mail at benjamin@er-go.dk, I'd love to give my best advice on copenhagen seing as this society has inspired me so much!

Awesome, I'll pick it up at the book store. Also, I e-mailed Herve This (the "father" of molecular gastronomy) he told me to check out pierre gagnaire's website where he sends his findings in the lab to pierre gagnaire and then pierre gagnaire cooks up a recipe incorporating Herve This experiments... It's definately worth checking out

We've looked at a couple of option that we might try to do at the end of the month and we're gonna take some photos and stuff. I have all the plans in my head and some of the stuff I know will work, but we're gonna mess around for a few days and then take some photos and I'll try to post them.. I succeeded in distilling a lavendersirup at home and it was completely clear and looked like water, but because I used dries lavender the scent was very strong.. The hot and cold gin fizz aounds amazing, I read about this guy in England who tried something similar but also had different textures, the way i remember it he would serve 3 shotglasses, one with fridge cold blueberries, one with warm apricot liquor and one with roomtemperature mangalore foam from a sifon, so one glass solids, one glass fluid and one with plasma.. What else did they serve at El bulli? I'm thinking of buying the new El Bulli book to get some inspiration, have you read it?

Other than what's already mentioned I'd recommend: Expensive: The Dining room on the 25th floor of Radisson Hotel, just ask for Casino Copenhagen and take the elevator up up up up Honestly I haven't heard anything special about the food, the restaurant manager is the daughter of one of the most famous chefs in Denmark and you can't argue with the view. Premisse in Dronningens Tværgade is definately one of the best places I have eaten besides have a really great head chef they have one of the best sommeliers in Denmark. If you're looking for classic french cuisine try Formel B on Vesterbrogade not far from Frederiksberg Have, really really good food but very classic, they also received one star and a rising star in the michelin guide this year. If you're looking to make a day of it take the train to Helsingør and a cap from there to Jan Hurtigkarl & Co. in Aalsgaarde, the owner Jan and His head chef travel to a new country every year and fusion it with french cuisine, this year they've been to japan and have one of the best chefs from Kyoto working there, not just sushi but different Japanese-French cuisine, amazing food and a fantastic view, call for further info 49 70 90 03 or check out www.hurtigkarl.dk they also have an english webpage Affordable: Luns is a very good restaurant as someone mentioned previouly in the thread or try FAMO in saxogade, former head chef Fabbio Mazzon from Michelin stared Era Oro teamed up with DAnish chef Morten Kaltoft, it has gotten pretty good reviews. For Lunch I prefer either Cafe Victor for the cosmopolitan atmosphere or try some of the smaller cafees in Strædet which runs parallel with Strøget For drinks try Hotel Fox at Jarmers Plads run by one of the best bartenders in Denmark or Al Mercante in Bredgade where the bartender who just won the DAnish Championship in Long drinks recides. Hopefully this will be of help Enjoy Denmark!!

How much are you looking to spend?

Thank you very much for the info, I was worried I wouldn't be able to use it at the restaurant BTW I was going to experiment with the height from where the drop is release compared to the water in order to see what the shape looks like, I'm thinking that if you release it a little higher the drop might look more like sphere than a drop before it hits the water, has anyone tried this? And I used to work with a chef formerly employed at the Danish Royal Ship and he told that when i e.g. poched eggs in water, he would spin the the water fast creating a "hole" middle and drop the egg in to make it round, it's called centrifugal force in Danish but I don't know the English word... Sorry...

Hey guys and gals First of, Ijusted started a molecular mixology thread that you guys are more that welcome to join didn't see this thread till now. Second, you might want to check out the sodium alginate thread, which is awesome for ideas on e.g. cape codder and such. I'm currently working with destilled juices and such and so far is seems to work, we're trying to make a non-alcoholic drinkmenu with flaours ot match the food at the restaurant where i work and so far the ideas look like this: - first course: mango, litchi and passionfruit juice distilled to look like clear water topped of with a lecithin foam of pine. -main course: a chocolate varietee cocktail split down the center of a cockail with one half made with dark chocolate, vanilla and chili and the other half a foam made in sifon of white chokolate, caramel, coffee and the whole thing topped of with a smoked oak mist. hopefully it'll work, but the is to design a cocktail that compliments the flavours in the food. - Dessert: I'm thinking of doing a cape codder style drink, with little pearls of a deconstructed drink in a martini glass Hope to get this discussion rolling BTW I'm working on an idea that I don't want to post yet, but if it works I'll post pictures and recipes, it's very fat duckish

Hey Everyone After reading this thread i decided I definately had to become a member of eGullet I've been inspired a lot by reading all of it. I currently work as a waiter a well acclaimed restaurant in Denmark (and am Danish myself, so please excuse the not completely flawless english) and have also worked as a bartender for a few years, long story short, I'm really getting into this new molecular mixology trend and all of the information on this thread has been very useful. I'm about to receive my starting kit and will start experimenting then, but before i have a few thoughts. First of all, not to be negative, but I've had contact with a Danish firm called Cavi-Art in the slim hope that the owner might help make these pearls that everyone here are experimenting with and he told me that the company holds the patent for using sodium alginate and calsium cloride to make these "pearls" both in Denmark and in the US and when they discover people making them at restaurants they either file a lawsuit or tell them to stop very very annoying to put restraints on newly developed technology especially since El Bulli and others have been doing this for years. I've started off doing the whole Gin Tonic with Agar gel on a frozen lemon chip, then topping off with baking soda and citric acid to create a fizzy feel in the mouth. worked pretty well and hopefully this next project will be a succes also.