Originally Posted by
elusive1
2. Eclectic restaurants that do not have any standard items on the menu. Very often out of a party of six, one person at least will be someone who has no interest in the eclectic menu. This is more of a suggestion I suppose, but if I were the owner, I would have one old fashioned dish out of every main group. Really hate to push the Goat Ossobuco on Grandpa.
I disagree for two reasons. First, it is your responsibility to choose a restaurant that suits the tastes of your party. This is very easy today, given the availability of menus on the web. Second, the sadist in me rather likes the idea of "punishing" those who have such developmentally retarded palates that they refuse to eat anything other than well-done steak and macaroni & cheese. My best friend's ex-wife was one of those types, and she ruined literally
every group dinner outing either by making the process of choosing a restaurant too tedious to be worthwhile or by passive-aggressively sulking when she couldn't find anything by Chef Boyardee on the menu. (Lest anyone think I'm being unreasonable, I'm not talking about restaurants where Andrew Zimmern is taping his show-- just classic Continental or New American, seafood, Japanese, Mediterranean, etc.)
Originally Posted by
BamaVol
1. Putting specialty domestic beers under the "Imported" heading.
The problem is not the grouping of the beers, it's the naming of the lists. It should be "Drinkable beers" and "swill". And the pricing should be reversed to punish those who prefer swill.
Originally Posted by
emma69
I guess I view brunch somewhat differently then - brunch is what I eat when I was too lazy to get up in time to eat breakfast at the normal time, but can't wait till lunch for food because I am hungry NOW! A nice 'event' brunch (like a wedding brunch, or at a high end hotel where it is their 'thing') is something very different from just 'brunch' which is simply a meal too early to be rightfully lunch, but too late to be 'breakfast' - it is also why I find it odd that places 'start' brunch at 12 noon (defeats the purpose!) I have brunch most weekends, normally in the comfort of my own kitchen!
What? I wouldn't think of going to brunch until maybe 13:00 or later. In fact, I am often one of the last to be seated at brunch, sometimes around 15-16:00. Perhaps this is a NYC thing.
Originally Posted by
elusive1
Servers who without asking, top off my coffee. Thus destroying my perfect balance of cream and coffee.
I absolutely hate this, for a slightly different reason as I drink my coffee black. My
neko jita requires that my coffee be close to room temperature to be drinkable. In a diner (the only restaurant where I drink coffee during a meal) that usually means that I don't even begin drinking my coffee until I am nearly finished with the main meal. As soon as I get a third of the way down the cup, the server inevitably attempts to top it off with boiling coffee, making the whole thing undrinkably hot again. And since diner coffee is already too thin to begin with, I can't throw an ice cube in it to cool it down.
Originally Posted by
JerryFF
Adding hot spices without specifying on the menu. Neither my wife or I like, or can tolerate, hot dishes and avoid them when possible. It should not be necessary to have to ask about every item whether it is "hot".
If these dishes are traditionally prepared very spicy, then this is your problem. Don't complain when your vindaloo irritates your hemorrhoids. However, I agree that a surprise application of Scotch Bonnet peppers to a tuna salad warrants some advance notice.
Originally Posted by
jdanton
Restaurants with flash websites with music, that don't work on mobile platforms.
+1,000,000
And for a few of my own:
1. Wine glasses filled beyond halfway.
2. Dropping off the check before I ask for it. The most insulting instance was receiving the check with the appetizers.
3. Whisking by and plunking a bottle of ketchup on the table sometime between ordering and receiving the meal. Don't insult my good taste by assuming that I am one of those unwashed heathens who put ketchup on anything that contains meat, eggs, and/or potatoes.
4. Failure to check up on me shortly after I receive my entree, in case I have a problem with it or might require something else such as a condiment (but not ketchup!
).
5. Clearing plates that have utinsels on them and failing to bring replacement utinsels. Also, removing my dirty utinsels from the plate, placing them on the bare table, then clearing the plate.