Dining Out Pet Peeves

Depending on the size of the restaurant, they may not have anyone available to answer the phone at all times.  It annoys me, too, but it wouldn't prevent me from going there.

Even if you were in a wheelchair and you wanted to make sure they were open for lunch on Saturdays?

lately i've eaten at a lot of "order-at-the-counter" places. and there's some sense to the practice in terms of streamlining the process. the peeve part is when you don't get a clue (like a sign saying "order here") that you're in such an establishment. 

RE- The open for lunch for a handicapped customer... If I called and got no answer, I would probably consider that "an answer" and not go to the place, rather than go and find that they didn't answer because they weren't open !!

As was mentioned in the original list which started this thread, it drives me crazy that some restaurants don't post their hours on their website.  That has to be one of the two or three most likely reasons someone would even go to your website.  Why not post it?  Just ridiculous!

Al - it became a peeve when we found out later they WERE open.  We ended up eating at a real ****hole next to the hotel rather than push the party in question 4 blocks away to where they wanted to eat for their birthday.  

buffetbuster


As was mentioned in the original list which started this thread, it drives me crazy that some restaurants don't post their hours on their website.  That has to be one of the two or three most likely reasons someone would even go to your website.  Why not post it?  Just ridiculous!

I wonder how much this omission is due to poor website planning/design? The owners aren't sure what their hours will be or don't have any easy way of changing the hours if they post them on the website, so they just omit the info & hope people wil call?

rainyday6


Even if you were in a wheelchair and you wanted to make sure they were open for lunch on Saturdays?

Well, no...nothing that specific.  I was responding to a general complaint about a general happening.  Being that I am not in a wheelchair (which as near as I can tell is completely irrelevant to the complaint) I have no answer as to how I might respond in that exact situation.  Why does being in a wheelchair come into the equation, anyway?  Is it somehow harder to pull into the restaurant parking lot due to being wheelchair-bound?  I'm afraid I don't quite understand.  Everyone I know in wheelchairs finds it no harder to pull into one parking lot than another, so I think much like the first post a pertinent detail might be missing here....

Edit:
And having read the few posts after, I see that in fact I was correct.  You never mentioned in your original complaint about not answering the phone that you were walking with someone in a wheelchair and wanted to find out if the restaurant was open on a Saturday.  Now that we have all the information (although I hate to assume, since you've required three posts thus far to explain what you were actually complaining about), I can see where it would affect your decision whether to go there or not.

Out of curiosity...did you call just once and decide against going because they didn't answer, or did you try several times in case they were busy rather than closed?

It was annoying w/o the wheelchair involvement.  It became more annoying with the wheelchair involvement, as well as other details.  But I stand by my original complaint, that if they don't post their hours and don't answer the phone, that is annoying.
 
1.  No one had a car; we were all staying at the same hotel.  The municipal bus with a wheelchair lift only came once every 2 hours on Saturday.
2.  Birthday girl very large with broken femur in oversized rental chair and no pre-booked wheelchair van scheduled that day.
3.  Restaurant supposedly fabulous and unique.  Worth a copious amount of elbow grease pushing Birthday girl up a fair grade 4 blocks, if food and libations were waiting.  Not worth it if we immediately had to push her back on empty stomachs with no alcohol.
4.  I was hitting redial right up until we ordered at the crappy place.
 
Anyway I'll peeve my way and you can peeve your way.
  

I think it's annoying when they don't have a website & they don't have their menu online.

stricken_detective


I think it's annoying when they don't have a website & they don't have their menu online.

Why a restaurant goes to the trouble of creating a website & then doesn't have even a sample menu on it always boggles my mind! A lot of them also omit the hours/days they are open.

^^^yes! What is the point of that?

My best friend did sales for Ameritech Small Business for a long time & she would share stories of customers who hadn't even CONSIDERED being listed on the internet, let alone having their own website. Once it was explained to them, the business owners could see the value of it, because "what if?"

What if someone is having company & needs X? How will they find you? A lot of them would say, "Well, I'm listed in the Yellow Pages!" but I can't remember the last time I used an actual phone book.

One website we have for our area, foodspot.com makes a good effort to have most places listed & their menus online. The prices might be different, but at least you can get a ballpark & see what you might like to have.

Especially for The Contingent, it's good for me to see what they have so I can make a plan.

Bringing some nice sort of bread to your table, along with some ice cold,  rock hard butter!

You hand your check card to the cashier to pay your check and she says "Sorry, we are strictly cash only." (happened to me today)

That drives me crazy - do they keep that stuff in the freezer?  That is the quickest way to ruin a nice warm piece of bread or a roll.
 

cavandre


Bringing some nice sort of bread to your table, along with some ice cold,  rock hard butter!

I hate when the waiter/waitress tears the top inch of the straw wrapper off of my straw before bringing it to me.

Uhhhh... you touched my straw!  A fly could have landed on it!

I also don't like when they remove most of the paper and only leave an inch on the top part that isn't in the drink.

Please let me unwrap the entire straw the way that I want with my own sticky fingers.

mar52


I hate when the waiter/waitress tears the top inch of the straw wrapper off of my straw before bringing it to me.

Uhhhh... you touched my straw!  A fly could have landed on it!

I also don't like when they remove most of the paper and only leave an inch on the top part that isn't in the drink.

Please let me unwrap the entire straw the way that I want with my own sticky fingers.

Haha, I agree!

I saw this list by a restaurateur of 100 things that servers should never do - Part 1 & Part 2.  From the list, it is evident that informed people in the restaurant business are well aware of their customers' peeves.  That's another way of saying that his list has most of the peeves that we've listed in this thread.

There's a blog discussion here, with this great line:

This entire list could be summed up in two sentences: "All the folksy crap you did at Applebee's? Drop it."

My peeve is waiting.  The worst was over 20 years ago while at a place in Knoxville.  I was waiting for the check and it did not arrive.  I finally spotted my waitress BS'ing with some friends in the back of the restaurant.  My group got up and slowly prepared to leave - she still didn't come.  So we slowly walked out of the restaurant.  When we got home, I called the restaurant manager and told him what happened and why we left without paying.  I gave my name and address and told him to send me the bill.  He never did.

the straw thing reminds me of a friend who used to turn the straw upside down in the drink so i could have a sip from the clean end!

JRPfeff


I saw this list by a restaurateur of 100 things that servers should never do - Part 1 & Part 2.  From the list, it is evident that informed people in the restaurant business are well aware of their customers' peeves.  That's another way of saying that his list has most of the peeves that we've listed in this thread.

Did you read through the comments? There's over 450 of them...but some are really interesting. It's an interesting perspective of how some feel like he's touching on all the right points but others feel that he's going WAY too far and would never eat at a place with all those rules. I for one agree with most of his list but it is a tad pedantic don't you think?

Some of the funny ones:

"I would love to get a job at your restaurant just to break as many of your rules as I could before I got fired and caused a scene on the way out. This would include telling many customers that they were my favorite to touch inappropriately and giving specials with no prices."— Joe Ricchio

"So very grateful for this useful little list. Yes, at the end of Rome, they argued over points of order and bits of manners. I find the entire list comic, surely it’s Swiftian humor? Please admit it! A joke, right? About distraction, about what we think matters, in a world gone made…? Is he a conceptual artist, dealing with our innate shallowness? No? It’s not a joke? Oh dear. The world is out of joint, we know that. Pardon me, if I rain on the parade, and find this entire business of codes for waiters deeply, deeply sad. And fatally smug." — Rollo Baskin


"Good luck staffing your new restaurant. With humans." — Cate Sullivan

"Mr. Buschel obviously wants to provide gracious, civilized service, something I haven’t run into since I was in France. To all you people who go to restaurants to interact with the staff: Denny’s is open all night." — SleepsWithCats

"Here is my list: Things That Are Very Easy 1. Making a list of of stuff that works in some situations and not others. 2. Running a restaurant into the ground. 3. Hiring teenagers that don’t care about your list. 4. Getting self-important people to agree with you if you tell them that everything in life should go their way." — Spence

"#101 Always know the origin of the pepper in the pepper mill. Is it Malabar? ( Malabar pepper allergies are serious ). Is it Tellicherry? Was it grown on an easterly or westerly sloping hillside? Nothing can devastate a patron’s life more than the humiliation of having to inquire, particularly when they are waiting to enjoy their amuse-bouche accompanied to the lilting sounds of a delightfully muted flugelhorn. And if the patron does find herself in this victimizing and potentially life-threatening position, then for God’s sake do not refer to her as maam. A simple Imperial Royal Highness, Empress of Table 22 will do." — Matt
"If my friends and I were to demand an amuse-bouche for every infraction of a waiter at your restaurant, would there be any room for the main course?"— sam

Here's a waiters take on the list:
http://www.slashfood.com/...imes-takes-on-service/

It really bugs me when the server shows up at my table to take my order and he/she has several facial piercings.....and I'm not talking fast food restos.

Hey we had one the other week with 42 tattoos and this week our waitress only had 11 tattoos.

EatingTheRoad

mar52


I hate when the waiter/waitress tears the top inch of the straw wrapper off of my straw before bringing it to me.

Uhhhh... you touched my straw!  A fly could have landed on it!

I also don't like when they remove most of the paper and only leave an inch on the top part that isn't in the drink.

Please let me unwrap the entire straw the way that I want with my own sticky fingers.

Haha, I agree!

 
I don't like it when the servers pick up the glass or cup by the rim to fill it up. It's not like the servers have cooties, but you just don't know what those fingers were recently touching.

Why did the waitress last night at the Tilton Inn, NJ have to give me a dirty look when I asked for some more ice water?!?

Just say "sure", instead, okay?!???

buffetbuster


As was mentioned in the original list which started this thread, it drives me crazy that some restaurants don't post their hours on their website.  That has to be one of the two or three most likely reasons someone would even go to your website.  Why not post it?  Just ridiculous!

Worse is when the days/hours on the web site are wrong.

MiamiDon

buffetbuster


As was mentioned in the original list which started this thread, it drives me crazy that some restaurants don't post their hours on their website.  That has to be one of the two or three most likely reasons someone would even go to your website.  Why not post it?  Just ridiculous!

Worse is when the days/hours on the web site are wrong.

One of my favorite haunts keeps changing their hours and days of operation - I just know to call before I plan a visit there.

too much NOISE...hey I'm only 49 (not 79) but every place just seems so noisy now.

ellen4641


Why did the waitress last night at the Tilton Inn, NJ have to give me a dirty look when I asked for some more ice water?!?

Just say "sure", instead, okay?!???

I'm on meds that make me drink mass quantities of water, so if I'm planning on being there awhile, I ask for a pitcher, for me, up front. I hate when they fight me on it. It saves them time from having to check my glass. I once went through 4 glasses @ Friday's. Save us all time & me from being thirsty, bring me a pitcher when I ask for it.

1. No salt and pepper on the table
2. Delivering my overpriced ice tea but not bringing sugar/artificial sweetner
3. Leaving just enough paper on the straw so it's sitting in the drink getting wet

 

I have a brand new one.

I had lunch at a New Orleans style restaurant that I'll post about tomorrow.

Pet Peeve:

I asked the waitress if they could make a Sazerac Cocktail.

Her answer:  Sure

I watched her from my table.

Fill glass with ice.  Pour in Jim Beam, sweet and sour and a little more Jim Beam.  Garnish with lime and serve.

Although it didn't taste bad, it was NOT a Sazerac!

No bitters, no sugar cube, no Sazerac!

All she had to tell me was no.  Do Not Lie!

Edited to add...  And she had the nerve to charge me $9

We need a rant forum.

After taking a survey of 6 different internet sites for a Sazerac recipe (The all are fairly similar except for the quantities of the various ingredients, and none of them included Jim Beam or sweet and sour):
 
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 oz rye whiskey
1 dash absinthe
2 dashes Peychaud bitters
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 twist lemon peel
 
1/2 teaspoon absinthe, or Herbsaint
1 teaspoon of simple syrup (or 1 sugar cube or 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar)
4 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
1 small dash, a scant drop, of Angostura bitters (extremely optional)
2 ounces rye whiskey.
Strip of lemon peel
 
3 oz rye whiskey
3/4 oz simple syrup
Peychaud bitters to taste
absinthe or absinthe substitute
lemon twist for garnish
 
2 oz. Rye Whiskey (Old Overholt or Sazerac Rye is preferred)
½ oz. Simple Syrup
5 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
2 dash Angostura Bitters
¼ oz. Herbsaint (Pernod can be used as a substitute)
1 Lemon twist
 
1 teaspoon absinthe, Pernod, or Herbsaint liqueur
1 teaspoon sugar, 1 sugar cube, or 1 teaspoon Simple Syrup
1 1/2 ounces rye whiskey
3 dashes Peychaud's Bitters
1 lemon peel twist
 
1 sugar cube
2 ½ oz. rye whiskey
2 dashes Peychaud's Bitters
1 dash Angostura bitters
absinthe
lemon peel

Looking at those recipes I figure that only ingredient she may have had was the lemon twist.

But, she used a lime wedge.

The drink sounds like a killer.  I'll probably hate it, but I really want to try one.

I have a new peeve.  When it's MY birthday and due to family bickering there is a "misunderstanding" about who is to pay the bill, and I get fed up and pull out my own card and pay for the whole thing and someone bitches afterward that I tipped too much.  

Marlene... try ordering a Ramos Fizz these days. Blank stares are in abundance.

mar52,

I had the almost opposite experience in ordering a Sazerac Cocktail at a Maxie's Southern/Cajun restaurant recently.  My waiter apologized in advance that they were out of Peychaud's Bitters and asked if I still wanted the cocktail.

If you enjoy anise flavor the Sazerac is a very good cocktail.  I love them.

Jim

Would Ouzo work?

MilwFoodlovers


Would Ouzo work?

Let's find out.

I've got the Peychaud and the rye, in fact I could make some up for a future WSM Smoke Day jello shot!

Why wait that long? 

Here's an interesting take from the servers POV:
http://www.rd.com/your-am...you/article169699.html

What You Need to Know About Tipping
20. If you walk out with the slip you wrote the tip on and leave behind the blank one, the server gets nothing. It happens all the time, especially with people who’ve had a few bottles of wine.
—Judi Santana

21. If you say, “Don’t worry—I’m a really good tipper,” that always means you aren’t.
—Chris

What Else We’d Like You to Know
22. When you say, “I’ll have the pasta Alfredo,” it tells me two things: You aren’t interested in trying new things, and you don’t eat out much. Restaurants put this dish on their menus because it’s “safe,” it sells, and it’s cheap to make.
—JR

23. At one restaurant where I worked, the salads were made up to three days earlier. They were sitting on a tray with a thousand other salads in the refrigerator. The waiters went back, grabbed a plate and some dressing, and handed it to the customer.
—Jake Blanton

mar52


I have a brand new one.

I had lunch at a New Orleans style restaurant that I'll post about tomorrow.

Pet Peeve:

I asked the waitress if they could make a Sazerac Cocktail.

Her answer:  Sure

I watched her from my table.

Fill glass with ice.  Pour in Jim Beam, sweet and sour and a little more Jim Beam.  Garnish with lime and serve. 

Although it didn't taste bad, it was NOT a Sazerac!

No bitters, no sugar cube, no Sazerac!

All she had to tell me was no.  Do Not Lie!

Edited to add...  And she had the nerve to charge me $9

We need a rant forum.

 
Jim Beam does produce a rye whisky. 

Tedbear


I can add one:
Restaurants that allow children to run amok.  By not requesting parents to restrain their kids from committing mayhem in the establishment, the restaurant management is allowing the dining experience for large numbers of people to become soured. 

Yes, I know that it is difficult to approach parents on this issue, but why allow that kid to annoy large numbers of people?  Isn't it better to take a chance at offending just the negligent parents than to chase large numbers of people out of the restaurant?

It's NOT difficult to approach parents on this issue. I do it all the time. Sometimes I even get applause from other patrons!
Conversely, when we sit near a family where the children are well behaved, my wife makes it a point to go to their table and compliment the parents AND kids on their good behavior. Back in the late '50's someone did that to us and it stuck with my wife ever since. Pass it forward!

Amen brother!

 As someone on the other side of the order pad, One of my biggest peeves is someone who says they are allergic to something when they are NOT. I recently had a woman order jambalaya with no onions ( I'm VERY allergic says she) when I told her that sorry but the stock-sauce was pre- prepared with onions in it she said well, thats okay if they are in the sauce, I just can't have large pieces!!  what the heck!?? 

AHI MPLS


 As someone on the other side of the order pad, One of my biggest peeves is someone who says they are allergic to something when they are NOT. I recently had a woman order jambalaya with no onions ( I'm VERY allergic says she) when I told her that sorry but the stock-sauce was pre- prepared with onions in it she said well, thats okay if they are in the sauce, I just can't have large pieces!!  what the heck!?? 

Sounds like my mother-in-law...claims that eggs upset her stomach, but has never said no to quiche, soufle, layer cake or any cake with eggs in it.

I have two of them and the first one is rather silly:

1) I know I am younger but I hate it when I am called "tiger", "sport", or any of the other cutesy nicknames when I am out eating alone. With no disrespect intended I find female servers are the most egregious when it comes to this. For some reason though it doesn't bother me when male servers call me "buddy" or "bro"...weird I know.

2) When I can clearly hear the conversation of a table all the way across the room. I mean really people, we are indoors there is no reason to shout. There is a little thing called indoor voices.

I really dislike when the "smells" of a server are strong, whether it be perfume, shampoo, lotion...and especially cigarette smoke. I hate when you can tell they just got back from a break. It can really ruin a meal if it's strong enough.