Secrets a Restaurant Server Won't Tell You
Never Go To A Restaurant 15 Minutes Before Closing Time
Even though the restaurant is still open for business, the nightly cleanup has already begun in the kitchen when there's only 15 minutes left until closing time. The cooks/chefs are tired and the order will be cooked right away then placed under the heat lamp. While late visiting restaurant patrons are chatting over soup and salads, the dishwasher is spraying harsh cleaning chemicals in the immediate vicinity of the already cooked meal.
Avoid Eating Out On Holidays And Saturday Nights
These are the busiest times for restaurants. The sheer volume of patrons pushes the kitchen staff beyond their limits and almost guarantees that food will be less than stellar.
Complain Nicely And To The Right Person
Servers sometimes do get food orders wrong. Cooks/chefs don't always cook food as specified. They are human. When a food order is not up to par and a complaint needs to made and food re-cooked, complain nicely and to the right person.
The server did not cook the food and has no control over how the food is cooked. To become irate at the server and launch into a personal attack against the server is a guarantee your food will be returned with some form of adulteration. The server will exact covert vengeance on the rude restaurant patron by dropping the steak on the floor or spitting in the food.
Use The Server's Name To Get Their Attention
Most restaurant server's will introduce themselves on the initial visit to the table, or at least be wearing a nametag. Get the server's name and use it to get their attention during the course of the meal. Snapping fingers, whistling or yelling a cutesy name to get a server's attention will only irritate the server.
If It's Not On The Menu, Don't Order it
Special orders do upset the cooks/chefs. By ordering something that is not on the menu, you are forcing the cook/chef to prepare something they are not accustomed to preparing and the results will most likely be unsatisfactory.
Splitting One Entrée
The amount of food on one entrée makes it feasible for many dining couples to split an entrée. That's acceptable and the server will gladly bring an extra plate, but let the extra request end there. Requesting extra soup bowls, salad plates, or lemons and sugar to make a glass of lemonade is a little over the top.
Request A Favorite Server
When you find a server you like, always request to be seated in their section. Tell your friends to do so also. This makes the server look indispensable to the restaurant owner and the grateful server will take extra good care of you.
Increase The Tip If You Hang Out After The Meal
If you and your dining guests would like to hang out and chat at the table after the meal, the server won't mind, as long as the tip is increased to make up for the money the server is losing by not being able to sit another group at that table.
The Dreaded Tip
If you can't afford to leave a tip, you can't afford to eat out. Servers make the bulk of their income in tips and sometimes those tips have to be shared with other restaurant personnel who have assisted you during the visit.
To get great restaurant service and an unadulterated meal, treat a server as you would want to be treated and stay away from the restaurants on Holiday and around closing time.
Published by Georgia Lund
Georgia Lund is part of the ever increasing group known as the Sandwich Generation, being caregiver to an aging parent and young grandchild. Georgia enjoys gardening, has over 30 years of gardening experienc... View profile
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23 Comments
Post a Commentsprings1 you are a huge khunt
Excellent article! Sending you some page love!
Interesting how much Springs has to say about dining out, but has 0 published articles since joining AC in 2006.
"If you can't afford to leave a tip, you can't afford to eat out."
I 100% agree, but I also feel if you can't give good service, you shouldn't get a good tip. By not getting what the customer wants you aren't giving good service.
"treat a server as you would want to be treated"
You don't treat a customer as how you'd like to get treated as a customer. Don't you want what YOU WANT for YOUR MONEY? Do you like paying for things you don't have to? Don't you want your server to make you happy by getting things for you that you like without feeling like it's a burden?(a request for more than an extra plate is asking you to climb a mountain or something it seems).
Very lazy and uncaring server you are!!
"That's acceptable and the server will gladly bring an extra plate, but let the extra request end there."
This sentence is so RUDE, INCONSIDERATE, and truly shows LAZINESS in a server. It's YOUR JOB, YOUR JOB, YOUR JOB, TO GET THE THINGS THAT THE CUSTOMER ASKED FOR, PERIOD!! You are making a tip and that is the incentive to do all of that work.
No, I won't let the request end there and NOBODY SHOULD HAVE TO.
"Requesting extra soup bowls, salad plates, or lemons and sugar to make a glass of lemonade is a little over the top."
I really don't understand why it is such an issue(except for LAZINESS) for the customer to save money on something other than the service itself? Don't you use coupons? WHY not save money if you can if the restaurant is giving it to you for free? There is NOTHING wrong with it, NOTHING!! You are lazy!!
"Avoid Eating Out On Holidays And Saturday Nights"
I agree more about the holidays than than Saturday nights. I don't agree with this, because if nobody dined out these times, the servers wouldn't have any money to make.
"Use The Server's Name To Get Their Attention"
I agree 100% not to yell or be mean or anything like that OF COURSE, but at times I can't remember the server's name. Saying it once when you are thinking about what you want and reading the menu, you aren't concerned about the server's name. You are thinking about what you want.
"Never Go To A Restaurant 15 Minutes Before Closing Time"
I agree 100% with this. If the place is closed, the workers would like to go home.
"Requesting extra soup bowls, salad plates, or lemons and sugar to make a glass of lemonade is a little over the top."
While I have NEVER done that myself, I don't see ANYTHING wrong with if the restaurant doesn't charge, WHY not take advantage of the free stuff? I bring extra bread home and condiments home. It's the server's job to please the customer and to me, if the customer does that, they have more money to TIP you with, so I look at it in a positive light. The more money they save on the food and drinks, the more money they have to tip you with.
WHY if they want this, do you think it's not your job to GO OVER the top? This is your job as a server to please the customer by getting the items they asked for. You sound LAZY and UNCARING, as well as aren't thinking about saving a little over $2(average price for a soft drink, tea, lemonade), you can have $2 more in the tip. Isn't that better? It's YOUR JOB to get them these things. QUIT COMPLAINING about doing YOUR JOB!!