excerpt:
“It’s the age-old question: Should I tip for takeout?After all, nobody sets your table, fills your water glass or listens to you whine about the spots on your butter knife. The kitchen does most of the work.
On the other hand, somebody goes to the trouble of packaging the food, utensils and napkins, and double-checking the order — hopefully — before ringing it up.
Understandably, opinions on the subject vary…”
excerpt:
“Calls continue to come in re garding customer concerns and complaints over common dining challenges. Challenge is polite lan guage for a whole parcel of often appal ling and outra geous situa tions.Because there’s usually some measure of “he said, she said,” some of these calls and e-mails are edited. The concerns still stand – and so, I hope, do my observations.
Loud, noisy restaurants
Why do restaurant owners equate dining, both fine and moderate, with frenzied? We frequently feel as though we are sitting inside a steel drum that is being played on our heads…”
source: “The bad aftertaste of dining out” by Joe Crea (The Plain Dealer, Jun.28,2006)
excerpt:
“Most bar patrons have severe misconceptions about the actual lives of bartenders—who we are, what we do and why we do it. Also, remember that the interaction between bartender and customer is a delicate one; it’s both an economic and a social relationship that has stood the test of time. Most other relationships in life are fleeting but, if managed properly, the partnership between drinkers and their bartenders is sacred.Consider this a pocket-size operating manual for our mutual good times. And, if these points are taken to heart, we can continue to raise our collective glasses and toast to our long, drunken future together.
So forget all those third-person fluff pieces you’ve read everywhere else. Here it is: the plain truth about bartending, from someone who knows.”
source: “The Barman Speaks” by Ryan Osterbeck (MetroActive, Jun.21,2006)
excerpt:
"When Nell Ingerman recently discovered that her favorite neighborhood restaurant — a Mexican place in Manhattan called Baby Bo's Cantina — had boosted prices and swapped enchiladas for wild salmon, she was outraged. She planned to collect complaints and present them to the manager.But she didn't have to. The restaurant's owner, Bo Quijano, emailed her and promised to bring the old menu back. He'd read a message she'd posted on a popular foodie Internet Web site called Chowhound.com. He even posted an apology, confessing that in a good-faith effort to improve the menu, "I simply got carried away."
To the chagrin of some restaurants and professional food critics, a lot of the most influential — and opinionated — advice on where to eat these days comes from Web sites and blogs…"
source: "Laptop Critics:Where the Web's Foodies Dish" by Steve Stecklow (Wall Street Journal, Jun.17,2006)
excerpt:
"What are some good foods to choose when dining out? Our forum members share some great tips and details of the good and not so good world of restaurant food. Find some favorites and alternatives right here!When going out to eat there are a lot of temptations to resist. Whether your at an a diner, restaurant, buffet, or a fast food place you must wisely choose your meals.
Do you choose your restaurants before going out so that you know they will have a healthy dish for you or do you pick from whatever options you have at that particular restaurant?"
source: "What Are Some Good Foods To Choose When Dining Out?" (Bodybuilding.com)
excerpt:
"John Collins and Nigel Pickhardt, who met 15 years ago waiting tables in New Orleans, have drawn on their experience to warn diners and restaurant owners about the dangers lurking beneath the tablecloth.Their self-published little handbook — "How to Burn Down the House" from Promethean Books — is a virtual how-to for waiters and bartenders interested in fleecing the customer, and an eye-opener for the hundred million of us who eat out every day. It starts with their own version of profiling."
source: "Restaurant Rogues – Authors Turn the Tables on Wiseguy Waiters" (ABC News, Jun.16,2006)
excerpt:
"From cozy first dates to power lunches to family brunches, ending the meal on a high note often hinges on an exercise in courtesy, etiquette and meeting expectations. The best way to cruise through the payment process is to iron out the details before you sit down, according to experts."source: "Quick guide to settle the dining check" by Helena Oliviero (Cox News Service, Jun.13,2006)
excerpt:
When I dine out with friends, I always seem to be the "loser" in the ordering sweepstakes. Do you have advice on ordering in restaurants?Over the years I've developed a handful of rules designed to protect myself from the most egregious crimes against food…"
source: "Tips for ordering when dining out" by Erica Marcus (Baltimore Sun, Jun.14,2006)
excerpt:
"About 80 percent of the complaints I get about restaurants from readers have to deal with how they're treated. Here's one example sent to me earlier this week:If I have a bad or subpar experience at a restaurant, what is the best way to handle it?"
source: "When complaints fall on deaf ears" by Michael Bauer (Between Meals, Jun.10,2006)
Update 6/14/06: A follow up post by Michael Bauer on the subject:
excerpt:
"Saturday's post about a reader whose letter went unanswered, sparked several responses from people in the business. The theme is: They want your complaints, they really do.As a restaurant critic, I feel like I'm straddling a line, with the restaurants on one side and the consumer on the other…"
source: "Complain at your own risk" by Michael Bauer (Between Meals, Jun.13,2006)
excerpt:
"So, it's no surprise that when it comes to making reservations, you double-click instead of dial. OpenTable, anyone?The subscription-based OpenTable online system connects diners to restaurants that opt to become available for online bookings…
OpenTable works best if your reservation is a routine booking. But for anything remotely special, complicated or in need of human intelligence or special accommodation, your best bet is still to call and talk to an actual, live, breathing person. And as a hostess, I'll tell you why…"
source: "Inside the House: Do You OpenTable?" by Nadya S. Nikiforova (DCist, Jun.7,2006)
Inside the House is a DCist feature offering an insider's view of fine dining issues by the hostess at a D.C. restaurant.
