complaint with restaurants (which dosen't make sense to me)

[Slowpoke Slim]

I just vote with my feet and my wallet.

Good food/service gets a good tip. Probably return visits.

Great food/service gets a great tip. Definitely return visits.

Bad food/service gets a bad tip and likely no return visit.

And I'm sure not going to argue with anyone in a restaurant. They're there to provide me with good food and good service. If they can't do that, there's really nothing to talk about.

If more people "voted with their feet" and stopped patronizing places with lousy service, a lot of these would self-correct by drying up and blowing away.

 

[Sigarms]

Kinda odd they did it once and then not 2 weeks later.

Many times over the years, we've taken my in-laws out to dinner and my in-laws didn't want the huge portions, so we always ask if they have smaller portions available. Inevitably the server will suggest the kids' menu, or they'll tell us they'll have the kitchen make a smaller portion and charge us the kids' menu price.

I guess if you make the server think they are solving the problem they are more apt to give you the lower price for the smaller portion regardless of the person's age.

For myself, it's pretty simple... Ask the server since they don't have a seniors menu if my 89 year old dad can eat off the childrens menu because the standard meal is so large that it kinds of ruins my dads appetite becuase he knows he can't eat even half the portion on the plate.

At the end of the day, if you have a table of 4 or 5 adults and one old guy wants to order off the kids (if they don't have a seniors) menu, it's kind of business smart IMO to allow that one person to order off the kids menu vs running the risk of having all the people walk out on you.

Did that one time (walk out) for a Italian resturant. The owner wouldn't allow one kids menu for my dad a long time ago, and I explained with 8 people in our group, he was probably looking at a $150 ticket with one kids menu for an adult, which IMO was worth doing for the business gained. He said no, and I walked everyone out on principal (my wife knew that about me before she married me LOL). That place went out of business, not sorry to see it go.

FYI, I'm not a pain in the butt to deal with having worked as a waiter myself in school. Any group with 4 or more goes on one ticket to make it simple for the establishment IMO.

I can't stand people who won't round up and pay their portion but instead have to save themselves $2 or $3 because they don't like to feel that they paid a penny more than what they owe when everthing goes on one tab to make it simple. Way I see it, the guy that offers to pick up the tab deserves to make a buck or two for the connivence given to everyone. Just love it when I see a waiter go around to a party of 8 handing out 8 individual bills to everyone and feel like shooting spitballs at the people LOL

 

[goeduck]

Some servings these days are HUGE. Not so much in the nicer places around here, but it is the case at some places for sure. The wife often takes leftovers home and I about can't finish mine sometimes. So does it pay for the restaurant to not have a senior menu (or let them use the kids menu)? Now they have to take the food in back and box it, or bring the box to the table...... that all takes time which is money. Not to mention delaying getting the table reseated with the next guests which means losing money.

 

[Sigarms]

Some servings these days are HUGE. Not so much in the nicer places around here, but it is the case at some places for sure. .

Thing is my dad weighs 87lbs soaking wet, and when he sees some of the serving sizes, he feels like he's wasting money.

 

[goeduck]

Thing is my dad weighs 87lbs soaking wet, and when he sees some of the serving sizes, he feels like he's wasting money.

I was raised the same way. Trouble is these days people were not and see no problem with wasting food. I take issue with that, particularly when meat is tossed considering everything that goes into raising it and getting it to the table.

 

[oosik]

I eat at buffets almost 100%. I can pick what I like and how much I want. I tip the waitress and leave the place happy. I KNOW I've never eaten at a place that cost $20 per person. For me - dining out isn't that good.

 

[Sigarms]

I eat at buffets almost 100%. I can pick what I like and how much I want. I tip the waitress and leave the place happy. I KNOW I've never eaten at a place that cost $20 per person. For me - dining out isn't that good.

I never heard of KW cafeteria before I moved to NC.

My wifes grandfather introduced me to that place as he was already living in NC, as he transfered down 20 years before as a minister. Place (K&W) seemed like a huge hit with "old people". My wifes grandfather pretty much had the same personality as my father and his brothers.

For myself, my wife over the last 20 years has made me a food snob with her cooking (before that I lived on boiling noodles of some sort as a single guy LOL). Some restaurants have these things called chefs, who actually learned their trade pretty well

 

[Richard]

I can't stand people who won't round up and pay their portion but instead have to save themselves $2 or $3 because they don't like to feel that they paid a penny more than what they owe when everthing goes on one tab to make it simple. Way I see it, the guy that offers to pick up the tab deserves to make a buck or two for the connivence given to everyone. Just love it when I see a waiter go around to a party of 8 handing out 8 individual bills to everyone and feel like shooting spitballs at the people LOL

We went out last night to see a play. Went to dinner beforehand (about 10 of us). The service at the restaurant was a bit slow....she let us know that she was doing all she could (waitress). Warned us that the food would come out as it was finished rather than all at once so some would eat earlier than others (doesn't bother me at all).

As I looked around she was the only one on this side of the wall, I had no idea what was going on with the other half of their floor plan.

Got my bill for $15 and appreciated how she kept at it.... yeah, was a bit slow, but she kept us informed. So I put $30 down for her. On leaving, the same girl was at the register ringing up someone else (that happened to be in our party of 10)

Come to find out that the only TWO people working that night....was the chef.....and herself. She was covering the entire restaurant (which I admit I only noticed about 4-5 other tables other than ours) Once I heard that I was pretty self satisfied that I'd left her a nice tip.....had you rated her/them strictly on "service" it would have been a fail.....but the fact that she kept us up to date and informed of what/when the food was coming, she was very attentive. Then to find out she was covering the whole floor, added a new dimension to the night from HER perspective.

 

[Sigarms]

We went out last night to see a play. Went to dinner beforehand (about 10 of us). The service at the restaurant was a bit slow....she let us know that she was doing all she could (waitress). Warned us that the food would come out as it was finished rather than all at once so some would eat earlier than others (doesn't bother me at all).

As I looked around she was the only one on this side of the wall, I had no idea what was going on with the other half of their floor plan.

Got my bill for $15 and appreciated how she kept at it.... yeah, was a bit slow, but she kept us informed. So I put $30 down for her. On leaving, the same girl was at the register ringing up someone else (that happened to be in our party of 10)

Come to find out that the only TWO people working that night....was the chef.....and herself. She was covering the entire restaurant (which I admit I only noticed about 4-5 other tables other than ours) Once I heard that I was pretty self satisfied that I'd left her a nice tip.....had you rated her/them strictly on "service" it would have been a fail.....but the fact that she kept us up to date and informed of what/when the food was coming, she was very attentive. Then to find out she was covering the whole floor, added a new dimension to the night from HER perspective.

That was a great waitress.

Honestly, the biggest thing that helped me later in life with my people skills (I know I'm bit gruff at times on online forums LMAO) was being a waiter at what I would consider a semi decent restaurant for the area when I was attending college. Most people tend to appreciate good service, and I found the one key to be friendly, but not too friendly, and always keep the drinks topped off. Oh, and working that business up north, no matter how old the woman, ALWAYS call her "Miss" LOL

At the time without a career just trying to keep a source of income, it was actually a pretty good source of income with the tips.

The one thing that will kill my tipping while eating out is looking at an empty glass of water for 10 minutes as the beverage is just as important as the food IMO.

 

[CobyRupert]

What doesn't make sense is my dad orderred the first time off the kids menu with no problem.

The second time, I was told he could not do it.

To me, if I'm working as a waiter or waitress, I'm going to follow company policy because that's the policy of the people paying me to do my job and I'm going to follow their policy, and it's not worth it to act like "big stuff" to lose my job over.

....but they don’t really pay the wait staff to do their job. Technically they usually pay some pittance, often not even minimum wage. Waiters don’t earn their money from the company, they earn it from tips from the customers; by good service and sometimes doing “extra” things that might not be part of company policy to get a better tip.

The flip side, is they want to increase the bill total as much as possible since the tip is usually a percentage. “Another drink?” “Dessert?”, “No, you have to order from the adult menu, it’s company policy”.

So, should a waiter try to get a better tip percentage on a smaller bill, or figure they’re going to get the regular percentage and try to up the bill total? Two different waiters, two different solutions.