The Devil's in the Restaurant's Details

[eunny jang]

Aw, harsh crowd.

Clumping salt is just a fact of nature.  I live in an area that is very humid and it is inevitable and is no reflection upon poor or mismanagement of FOH.  That is not an indication that the heavens opened up and flooded your salt shaker either.  The rice can only do so much, and don't really look attractive, IMHO.  But why fault the entire restaurant for what Mother Nature does?

I thought of another peeve:  dirty ash trays.  This is more when I'm out for cocktails and not so much so with dining as I don't sit in any smoking sections.  But if I did, that would bug the heck out of me too.  Clean them up!  I really dislike when I watch a tender dump the ashes and cig remains, but don't wash or wipe it down!!!

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Re: clumpy salt - a little humidity is one thing...a shaker-shaped pillar of salt that would stand alone even out of the shaker is another, disgusting, thing.

Re: dirty ashtrays: wholeheartedly agree, but it squicks me out when I see someone wipe down an ashtray and then tuck the bar rag back in his apron, like he's going to use the same rag for something else <shudder, shudder, shudder>

[LaurieB]

The salt on the right is one of my little peeves. The orientation of the room kind of directs it.

Laurie

[jgarner53]

When the smell of the deodorizing disinfectant overpowers any smell of food. I can't stand strong-smelling cleaning products, and the industrial Lysol some of these places use makes it seem like they had to swab down the whole place (floors, walls, ceilings, food) with the stuff. Makes me turn around and leave because I'm wondering, "Good god, what died in here that they had to use so much disinfectant?"

[Moopheus]

Typos and grammatical errors in the menu. Fortunately I usually don't have my red pencils with me when I eat out.

[beans]

Re: clumpy salt - a little humidity is one thing...a shaker-shaped pillar of salt that would stand alone even out of the shaker is another, disgusting, thing.

Re: dirty ashtrays: wholeheartedly agree, but it squicks me out when I see someone wipe down an ashtray and then tuck the bar rag back in his apron, like he's going to use the same rag for something else <shudder, shudder, shudder>

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A shaker shaped pillar of salt is still the work of mother nature. (how does that come out of the holes?) Nothing disgusting about it. Some water in the air, some salt that likes to stick.

Re: same rag: They do [reuse that same rag]. Continuously dipped and rinsed in a tub of industrial degreaser designed for restaurant use or a diluted hot water bleach formula.

So many chemicals the general public just is not aware of....

Suffice it to say, unless you bow down and lick the flooring, those germs on a table, or ashtray are safely killed which the health departments closely monitor. Temperature (and yes they do invasively stick that thermometer into the water), and strength (how well and accurately it was mixed by the service staff providing the cleaning along with the serving) are monitored and unless you want your resto to close down, you do what is required by health sanitation laws.

Thank you EcoLab. Thank you local health departments.

Pishaw to those that assume the worst.

We are not all germ ridden filth promoting employees. If so, then we'd not have a job to return to in order to earn our income.

Edited September 24, 2004 by beans (log)

[herbacidal]

I don't get it -- if you are sitting at a two-top, the salt is going to be on the left of the pepper to one of you, right?

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For a deuce, you'd put it off to one side of the table such that when each individual diner turned towards it, it would be on the right.

Comprende?

[StudentChefEclipse]

Typos and grammatical errors in the menu. Fortunately I usually don't have my red pencils with me when I eat out.

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This is a phenomenon I used to only see in small, family-run operations. It seems to be spreading though, like a rash. Wish I had an ointment.