What bothers you most about a restaurant?

[Gifted Gourmet]

3. My biggest pet peeves in restaurants - pierced lips, eyebrows and nose rings.  Ooooh, pieced tongue - waitstaff can lisp and spit on you at the same time.  Perfume-oye!

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Have I got a thread for you, daracooks!

[sockii]

Poor service is definitely my #1 reason not to go back to a restaurant, no matter how good the food is. I'll gladly instead choose to go somewhere that the food is decent and I know I won't leave cranky about the way I was treated (or in some cases ignored) while dining.

Biggest service peeves would be...

-- Being seated quickly, but then having to chase someone down to get a menu after being ignored for 10 minutes.

-- Being taken to a really undesireable table when plenty of better tables are available/unreserved, and then getting attitude like it's some HUGE favor or outright impossible to let me sit anywhere else.

-- No apologies offered if a waiter screws up an order, or any offer of compensation if I now have to sit and wait twenty minutes for my correct entree while my dining companions chow down.

-- Attitude and/or condescending service in general.

-- Being treated oddly if I happen to be dining alone. I happen to LIKE eating out on my own sometimes--it lets me focus on the food more so than the company, sometimes I just want a quiet meal out where I can read a book and enjoy a nice meal. I cannot count how many times I've been treated like this is some horrible abnormality (*gasp*! A woman! Enjoying eating on her own!), or with some weird over-concern from the waiter like I must have just been stood up on a date or something.

-- A waitperson who has to bitch to the customers--in detail--about how lousy his/her day has been. I'm sorry for you, but just get me my drink and shut up, please, thanks.

-- Having good service during most of a meal but then having the server go MIA when it's time to get the check

Edited May 25, 2005 by sockii (log)

[Busboy]

Something that really sends me around the bend, as Mrs. B will attest, is when food starts coming out before the wine is served.

[twiggles]

I am actually surprised by the amount of high end restaurants that serve you great food but then finish things off with the crappiest tea you can imagine. The last time this happened was at Morton's, $50 for a steak followed by a 5 cent tea bag in a cup of hot water...

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yes! this is a big issue of mine, too! This has happened to me at a few high end NY restaurants.

[Jaymes]

Nobody's mentioned the one where they take your dirty knife and stick it on the tablecloth when removing the first course. I want a new knife, dammit, is that so hard?

That's my pet peeve as well. And its cousin, the "You better hang on to that," as they give you back your dirty fork.

[Jake]

Nobody's mentioned the one where they take your dirty knife and stick it on the tablecloth when removing the first course. I want a new knife, dammit, is that so hard?

That's my pet peeve as well. And its cousin, the "You better hang on to that," as they give you back your dirty fork.

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Agreed. Even worse is the dirty looks I often get when I politely say "I'd prefer to have a new set of cutlery with the next course please."

I don't do this all the time, it depends on the meal. However, I ALWAYS do this when my first course includes shellfish as my SO is deathly allergic and it would be easy to forget when sharing some of my second course.

I loathe, loathe, loathe lousy service of any kind. I shall be polite and courteous to my server at all times and expect the same back. Good service will get me to return every time. We went to a new (to us) mid range place the other night, a bit out of our way. Service was good, for drinks and apps but there was a loooong pause after that. While I couldn't tell what was going on, it was clear (to me) from the managers actions and the servers harried looks that something was wrong. Our server appeared with two glasses of the wine we had been drinking with our apps, comped, apologized for the delay, said only that there was a problem and that our meal would be up in about 10 minutes. Inquired if that was acceptable to us or if we would prefer to return another evening. We assured him it was fine, thanked him for the wine, had a lovely enjoyable dinner. That is great service, the comped wine a nice extra. He handled their problem professionally and efficiently and I will return again. I did, of course, show my appreciation both in the tip and a word with the manager on the way out.

[sandra]

waitstaff that play deaf, dumb and blind....

[detlefchef]

Nobody's mentioned the one where they take your dirty knife and stick it on the tablecloth when removing the first course. I want a new knife, dammit, is that so hard?

That's my pet peeve as well. And its cousin, the "You better hang on to that," as they give you back your dirty fork.

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Agreed. Even worse is the dirty looks I often get when I politely say "I'd prefer to have a new set of cutlery with the next course please."

I don't do this all the time, it depends on the meal. However, I ALWAYS do this when my first course includes shellfish as my SO is deathly allergic and it would be easy to forget when sharing some of my second course.

I loathe, loathe, loathe lousy service of any kind. I shall be polite and courteous to my server at all times and expect the same back. Good service will get me to return every time. We went to a new (to us) mid range place the other night, a bit out of our way. Service was good, for drinks and apps but there was a loooong pause after that. While I couldn't tell what was going on, it was clear (to me) from the managers actions and the servers harried looks that something was wrong. Our server appeared with two glasses of the wine we had been drinking with our apps, comped, apologized for the delay, said only that there was a problem and that our meal would be up in about 10 minutes. Inquired if that was acceptable to us or if we would prefer to return another evening. We assured him it was fine, thanked him for the wine, had a lovely enjoyable dinner. That is great service, the comped wine a nice extra. He handled their problem professionally and efficiently and I will return again. I did, of course, show my appreciation both in the tip and a word with the manager on the way out.

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It never fails that a problem can become a complete asset if the situation is handled well. Your experience was actually made memorable (for a good reason) ultimately by the fact that the kitchen screwed something up and they made an effort to make it up to you. Had the meal simply gone off without a hitch, you may have forgotten about the place sooner.

[Fritz Brenner]

3. My biggest pet peeves in restaurants - pierced lips, eyebrows and nose rings.  Ooooh, pieced tongue - waitstaff can lisp and spit on you at the same time.  Perfume-oye!

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lisp and spit? do you know anyone with a pierced tongue?