I have to hand it to you that this is one of the most unusual "tips" I've ever read. Besides wasting water, I've found most restaurants are on a lower level (not a great distance for the water to travel) and have hot water running through the pipes so often for the kitchen that there's no lag time in getting warm water out of the tap in the lav. I can't even think of a public lav I've been in where I've had to wait for hot water. I do agree it's good to wash your hands though.


Other tips: Regular table salt doesn't do it for me, so I bring my own mini grinder filled with sea salt into a lot of mid-tier restaurants.

When you bring your own bottle of wine, the corkage is often waived if you share with the maitre'd or sommilier and also order a second bottle of their list.

If I've ordered a bottle of wine and can't drink it all, I bring the unfinished bottle home. I'm not really sure what legal restrictions are on this - and I'm sure they vary from state to state - but some restaurants I frequent recork the wine and put it in a bag without my even asking. At others, I just walk out with it. Carry it in your trunk - at least in California.