true, y’all haven’t been rude ever since the geese decided to stay down here all year.
Are Restaurants Where The Staff Is Deliberately Rude To You, But In A "Fun" Way, A Thing Outside US?
I remember reading about a Chinese restaurant in London that was famous for its rude staff.
Googling around, it looks like it was called Wong Kei, but it reopened under new management.
Exceptional service should not be noticeable at all, meaning not in a way that interferes with your fine dining experience. I would be very surprised to see “rude service” in a description of an acclaimed world-class restaurant. I haven’t run into it personally- on the contrary I have witnessed staff courteously and professionally deal with even somewhat demanding customers.
I don’t know if this is an American attitude, but I don’t want to meet people or talk to anyone when i go out to eat. I barely want to talk with the people I know. It sounds like the opposite of fun.
Actually there’s was well known chinese restaurant in London called Wong Kei which was notorious for its rude waiters. Its new owners have apparently ditched the rude staff, which seems a shame!
I’ve always heard the stereotype that French waiters are naturally rude, to the point people from cultures that are naturally polite literally are incapable of handling it.
I guess I wasn’t too clear, but I meant that the reason I think that I have noticed Americans in particular sometimes seem uneasy at being seated at a table with strangers is because it is an almost totally unknown practice in the U.S. at least from my experience.
I am no way trying to denigrate Americans who travel abroad as standoffish or aloof, as that is not the way that I feel at all, in fact the vast majority of the time it is just the opposite.
In Spain I know of a place where the owner picks people’s meals for them, but it’s famous for the superb food, the bossy owner and the fact that so far nobody has been unhappy with the guy’s choice.
You don’t have to. I’ve shared tables with people with whom there was conversation (sometimes despite language barriers), others where it was like the cafeteria at school where just being elbow to elbow with someone didn’t mean you had to admit to their existence. And very often when there was conversation it was started by a little child: those are perfectly likely to do that from another table, if they feel like it.
PS: is it just me or… Wong Kei is a homophone of Wonky?
Joke name too?
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I can honestly say I’ve never been to a place like that in South Africa.
It’s out of the ordinary for most “traditional” restaurants, but not unusual for teppanyaki places. Unless you’re there with a large-ish party, chances are you’ll be seated with people you don’t know.
They tried it with Crabby Joe’s, and people liked it as a novelty, but the gimmick wears thin. Eventually people just want to order their food. You don’t go to a restaurant to have fun with the waiter.
The French reputation for rudeness is historically deserved but it’s not what it once was; they’re as polite as anyone else now. Interestingly, I have heard it theorized that this may be because, among other things, of there being a lot of immigration from North and West Africa, from cultures where politeness to guests is expected behaviour.
I doubt that I’d go to a place like that. When I go out to eat, I want my servers to be attentive and invisible, if that makes sense. I’m not at the restaurant to make new friends with the workers. I want a nice meal with my dining companion(s) and I don’t want to have to flag down someone for drink refills or whatever.
Ages ago, when I was hugely pregnant, my husband and I went to JoAnn’s Chili Bordello in Jacksonville. The waitresses all wore old-timey undergarments in keeping with the theme. I had no problem with that, but when one looked at my belly, then looked at my husband and said “Oh, you naughty boy!!” I thought that was a tad out of line. Maybe I was hormonal, but I wasn’t amused.
I’m not a snob - I just want to be pampered a bit without feeling like I need to socialize with a stranger who wants a big tip.
I should go in my 14th century German dress =) [medieval and renn recreationist, I have clothing from ancient celt, Roman, Byzantine, Hun, German non-wench, Elizabethan English, classic Hollywood film type bar wench …] I even have my own knife, fork, spoon, napkin and salt cellar …
Working on Saami next, need some reindeer hides - have the boots already, mrAru bought me a pair last time he was in Tromso Norway =)
I can vouch for the Wong Kei in Soho. Used to go there as a teenager in the late 1980s. Exactly as Phil Jupitus described it on QI. Good food, communal tables, free tea and hugely rude waiters.
They would definitely love you there! I hope you are able to go one day, it’s a hoot.
Yeah, I said “Paris” to myself and sniggered. I have been there though in the eighties and as we were broke we ate at Vietnamese restaurants where the staff were fairly nice. I believe what RickJay says about things having changed.
Yeah, no, I’d have no interest in that.
The communal tables in Europe, though, are a lot of fun. Mrs P and I had a great meal once at Caen where it was a big table and we could all talk.
Back in the early ‘90s, when Ed Debevic’s was a big thing here in Chicago, several of my colleagues and I would go to lunch there from time to time (it was very close to our office). One day, I was there at lunch with three female colleagues, and we had the typical sassy Ed’s waitress. Most of their wait staff wore lots of buttons (flair 
) on their uniforms, and she had a button that read “Eat More Π” (the Greek letter "pi’).
As she was taking our order, I noticed the button, and commented, “Eat More Pi, that’s cute!” She gave me a playful smack on the shoulder, and replied, “Dirty old thing!” I blushed furiously, given that I was with three women. Yup, that was Ed’s. 