Meals that take far longer than they really ought to.

This and when the waitstaff has you sit for 1/2 hour before bringing menus, water or bread.

When the offer is made to clear plates before everyone at the table has finished eating. Terribly rude!

Restaurants that put tables too close together.
* Servers end up squeezing between tables, which means diners inevitably get a faceful of the server's posterior.
* Coats, purses, etc., take up space on banquet seats, so the stuff of the person next to you ends up in your personal space.

Restaurants with thoughtful craft beer lists where the servers have no clue about beer basics.

When you have a reservation & aren't seated in a timely manner.

Long waits between courses.

When busboys start to clear the table while diners are still eating.

I don't know, I like it, keep the table clean.

When I'm at a business dinner at a decent restaurant, I will properly place my knife and fork together on the plate to indicate I am finished. Please do not interrupt to ask if I'm finished.

Also, at a decent restaurant, do not even think about bringing a plate out at a different time from the rest of the plates at the table. I'm paying a premium price for your staff to understand timing.

I'm very laid back about restaurants otherwise, and after having eating plenty of street food around the world, there is very little a restaurant can do that will phase me.

+1,2,3...:)

Pouring the wine without asking first. I'm perfectly capable of pouring my own wine and like to remember how much I have had!

This was actually a blessing in disguise for my girlfriend and I not too long ago.

Went to what had been out favorite high end place in town, ordered drinks, 45 minutes later no bread, hadn't been back to take our appetizer order. Ended up flagging down someone for the check and going to a place we hadn't been before.

The 2nd place is now our new favorite restaurant. :D

The booths designed for Biggest Loser contestants whee there's a huge gap between the bench and table. I am far from dainty myself, and hate having to lean way too far in order to have my face in the vicinity of the table and reduce the chance of accidentally dumping food onto my lap because I'm clumsy enough to miss my mouth a surprising amount of the time.

Are they just asking you, or are they asking all parties at the table?

As proper formal dining service usually looks down upon clearing any individual plate until everyone has finished. Unfortunately, not everyone follows the signal of putting their fork and knife together, or not everyone does it properly. Just have your fork and knife in a reasonable proximity to one another is not enough to be unambiguous, so long as there remains some food on the plate.

Having worked in a restaurant, there are plenty of times when I've been deceived by someone unknowingly putting their fork and knife a little too close. So sometimes it's best to check. Same with nearly-empty wine glasses.

They are usually asking just me, even though my knife and fork are usually on the empty plate already.

Surely a knife and fork placed together at 5 o'clock is the indication you've finished? ;)

The time of day does not seem to matter. It still does happen — and my name is not Surely.

I give up. I will just throw in the white towel — er...I mean napkin...

Here in Thailand the waiters hand over the menu and then wait at your table to write down your order.
I invariably have to ask: "can I have 5 minutes to read the menu?"

At up-scale restaurants they will invariably take away forks, knives, plates as soon as you finish something.
The worst is the butter knife and small bread teller disappearing minutes after you consumed some bread during dinner :mad:

+1

Getting less menus for the table than there are people seated. I guess this is more common outside the US but I've had it happen in some ethnic food restaurants here. It's even more annoying when you see they've got a whole stash of menus sitting there. Just give me my own menu, if anything it will help your turnover time.

TIPS=To Provide Prompt Service! Asa former waiter some of the things that provide good
service and at the same time encourage to request when the return are:
1. First,GOOD EVENING!, with a smile.
2. When the do order a drink notice if anyone is left handed, then when coffee is ordered
" Would you prefer you coffee on the left side" in most cases they will say no, but it shows up on my tip TRAY.
3. If they drop silerware, don't pick it up, leave it and return with a clean fork or what ever they dropped. Then they can't wonder if I brought back the same fork!
4. Always serve wine or water glasses by the stem, never from lip of the glass.
5. Never pick a customers plate until everone is finished.
6. We were taught to notice the dress,helps to determine if the do want a before ordering, wine with the dinner and perhaps an after dinner drink.
7. Putting all that aside the worst tippers where TEACHERS,DOCTORS, and LAWYERS!!
8. But I made it a point to give the best service possible.
9. Best tippers- Blue Collar workers,
This approach help me support my family of six during my last two years in the Engineering program at CalTech. I missed the GI bill by seven days.
Beat Wishes to you all.

That's the norm in China too. Lucky for me my order isn't usually correct anyway...that's where it has helped to read the characters.

Lazy servers who would rather guess than go get an answer. I have some food allergies and I'll ask if an ingredient is in the soup and they say they don't think so. I ask if they can find out for sure and instantly they know it is not there. I will never order that item as I won't chance it. Smart servers say 'Let me find out' and go to the kitchen for verification.

The other pet peeve is low booths since I am short and would like to be able to see what is on the table.

Food allergies aside, my main peeves are:
1) Not coming over to take a beverage order as soon as possible or at least putting down glasses of water in places that still do that.
2) No condiments on the table, yet no offer when the meal arrives.
3) Disappearing for the entire meal because they really don't want to know that the cook spilt the shalt shaker in your stew or the steak has the consistency of shoe leather when you had ordered it rare.
4) The server is nowhere to be seen to order an additional drink/refill.
5) The server asking if you're "done" instead of the correct and much more polite way "May I take your plate?"

#4 above really perplexes me due to the fact that tips are calculated on percentage and #4 is such an easy way of increasing their tips through a few additional beers or even a single glass of wine.

So just had a meal that managed to check off several peeves:

1) walk into restaurant and tell the hostess one person. "Oh ma'am you'll have better luck at the bar." Explain I don't want to sit at the bar. "Okay I have a table available right this way.". Then why did you just tell me I'd have better luck at the bar.:rolleyes:

2) Get seated, waitress comes eventually and I order a drink and an appetizer. 10 minutes later she comes back and I order dinner (soup to start, and an entree with a side salad). 5 minutes later out comes appetizer and soup (okay fine, I'll eat soup while appetizer cools for a moment). Except that 2 minutes later comes the rest of my meal. So I finish my soup and start on the appetizer as waitress walks up and fails to notice everything basically came at once. At least acknowledge this shouldn't have happened but nothing. She did apologize that my drink still wasn't here - it was being remade.

So I eat part of appetizer and then part of my soup, and start on my now lukewarm entree, and 3) finally over 30 minutes later, and after I am finished eating, I get something to drink - because remaking a margarita really takes 15 minutes.

Guess I should've taken the advice from the hostess and gone to the bar - at another restaurant.

I generally don't hesitate to tell the server or whoever is delivering my food that I'd really prefer they take my entree back until I'm ready for it. They tend to listen. :)

I was met with a shrug when I said something to the person delivered it. Basically no one there cared last night. I should've taken the hint when I was being seated.

I've had this happen a couple of times when I've been dining alone, but never when I'm with other people. Kind of feels like some places really want to get rid of lone diners fast so they can reuse your table for more lucrative customers.

I HATE when you mention an allergy, confirm they understand, and then your food comes with your allergen all over your plate. Allergies are not a joke!

And it's a shame too because the OP was ordering alcohol, an appetizer and an entree so they sound fairly lucrative. It's not like they got water, a sandwich and worked the crossword for two hours.

Plan was to order more than one drink too - their loss.

It may sound crazy but when my wife is back in England and I do my traveling bit, I actually prefer to sit at the bar.

Pet peeve is similar - I get the soup salad and entrée all at the same time. But at the bar I ALWAYS get my drink first. In fact I check the menu while I am drinking.

If I'm by myself, I generally prefer to sit at the bar too, in that I can usually get a little conversation with the bartender while I'm there.

I prefer a table when I'm by my lonesome as I like the extra room. I can spread out my paper or a book and have my phone all at arm's reach, I don't want to feel like I'm encroaching into other's space.

Sometimes I like the bar sometimes I don't. I'm short so my legs dangle in tall chairs, which I can deal with some of the time, but other times is highly uncomfortable to me. Thursday night was one of the evenings, but I shouldn't have to explain to a hostess that.

I find it kind of depends on the place, and the atmosphere. Walking in through the door set on sitting at a table, I've sometimes changed my mind and taken a seat at the bar instead.

1,2,4 and 5 happened yesterday as the server was in complete disarray. So the bartender started filling in on the drink orders, dessert orders, grabbing dishes off the table.. excellent service provided by the bartender. The waitress however was peeved. Well.. then get over here and serve us.:-:

Based on the rest of your story, maybe she knew you'd have better luck (service, not seating availability) at the bar!

My pet peeve is when they wipe down the table in front of me. I know they use the same ever-dirty towel all shift, but SEEING it happen right in front of me just screws with my appetite.

As for service, I hate when they use smartphones for my order. I've seen the at more casual restaurants the past year. I get the experienced wait staff who are great at service but need 20 minutes to poke my order through, or the young staff who whiz through my order but lack experienced service skills. My peeve is this digital transition.

few from me

when i order hot tea and they dont ask about or bring milk/creamers

almost empty place and they bring in a noisey family with kids and seat them next to folk enjoying a quiet meal

and i went to this place once and the server blurted out how about 2 glasses of xyz and some xxx to start with ...erm how about no

Indeed, but I think restaurants do that to consolidate the area that needs to be looked after. Of course, it's a double-edged sword, as if the variable is too loud/meddlesome other customers may complain/not eat there in the first place, whoops!

yeah i understand they need use one section , but surley when its slow leave a gap between customers , shouldnt be hard to know a couple might not want to sit next to a family with 4 rowdy kids

At lunch today friend was telling me about a bad experience he had Friday night. Took a group of 8 out and they were given a booth meant or 6. When they complained, the response was the booth fits 8 - "see that group fits." Of course they do, there's 6 kids in that group.

"Can we sit at the table across the aisle that's meant for 8." No, that section's closed, so no waiter.

So they ask for the manager. Manager repeats, that section's closed. Why can't the waiter just serve this table? Because I'm about to seat another group at that table. But I thought you just told me that section's closed.

So they got to sit at the table.

When they were getting ready to leave, they saw the hostess bring a group of 10 to that original table for 6, and flee before that group could protest.


Restaurant was the same one I mentioned above. :rolleyes:

Exactly. I have asked to be moved in such circumstances, and on the rare occasion when I am offered resistance by the server, maitre 'd or manager, I have said, "Fine, then we'll be leaving." I should note, too, that we only go to restaurants where such nuisances are neither expected nor should be tolerated. In a so-called "family restaurant," this would be the luck of the draw. However, we avoid such establishments like plague.