Originally Posted by Paula_Miller
While in most cases my complaints could be considered petty I think a restaurant that presents itself as perfection should deliver on it.
Indeed, when I asked my waiter at Tetsuya's if
mrs. gleff and I could see the kitchen last month, he replied "Of course, whatever you'd like, it's your night."
True service means accomodating preferences and requests of guests, rather than sticking to and forcing your own routine on guests.
Granted, my request at Tetsuya's was simple, but the response was "of course!" It wasn't "let me see" or worse "let me see" (never to be spoken of/responded to again).
If you'd like wines paired with your meal, and that isn't part of a restaurant's usual offerings, a fine establishment should arrange that for you.
If you are asked to order all courses up front, but express a preference to wait to order dessert, again a fine establishment will accomodate that preference. (A key, though, is that if you have such a preference is does need to be expressed.)
As for the frozen salmon, I would expect the waiter's response when asked to be something like "It's one of the chef's interesting presentations and many of our guests enjoy it. If you'd like to try it and don't like it, I'd be happy to bring you something else instead. Would you like try it, or can I offer you perhaps X or Y?"
I don't expect this everywhere, but a place of the caliber of the French Laundry I certainly do. At their price point there are plenty of restaurants that will offer such service.