There are a handful of places where I or we are regulars. It’s nice to be recognized.
I don’t mind being recognized, but I don’t want to fall into ruts with what I order. I don’t tend to eat out often enough to fall into patterns.
If it gets to this point, then it’s a problem. I do like that there are a few places that, when I walk in the door, there’s always a Diet Coke, very little ice because it hurts my teeth, already waiting for me before I even sit down. But I agree, if they figure “Well, things are pretty backed up, but Sigmagirl will understand if she gets shitty service because she’s a regular.” Well, I do understand, but I expect them to try as hard to please me as they would any other customer.
I’ve really only had 2 places that recognize me. One is a tiny local teriyaki restaurant, where the lady knows I’m not into their salad but love the gyoza, so she skips the salad and sometimes doubles the gyoza for free 
The other isn’t a restaurant, but the local butcher shop. Being a regular there ended up having a perk today, when I was a doofus that brought the wrong credit/debit card to pay for my order. I asked the guy that was helping me to hang on to it and I’d be right back to pay, but before I even started my car the owner came outside with my bag and said something along the lines of “I’ve seen you here a thousand times. Take it and pay me whenever it’s convenient”. I really can’t say enough good things about that shop!
I’m cool with it if I’m actually a regular. “Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name.” However, I don’t like being recognized on my 2nd or 3rd visit, especially if there are large gaps between those visits. Then, it’s a little bit creepy.
It depends on the place.
The coffee shop, tiny specialty fast food place? Great!
A restaurant? Not so much.
But I don’t tend to go places so often that I get known that way. However, from the other side of the coin I can tell you what some regulars want/how they take their coffee seven years since I’ve worked in food. For some reason I glom onto some things that way.
You know you’re going to a restaurant too often when you go there for your birthday and they chide you for not going to a more upscale place.
My ex-wife (we’re still friends) has a lot of personality and during our marraige always made a point to introduce us to waitstaff by name. Our combined first names make a commonly recognized celebrity name, so the second time we have the same waiter/waitress, we are known by name. But I can eat at the same place 100 times and they will never know what I’m going to order because even I don’t know until I look at the menu.
It can seem unfair if you don’t get the recognition you think you might deserve. My soccer team has been frequenting a Bertucci’s restaurant after our games for at least 15 years. Our home field is in a town that’s bit of a culinary desert, so this place is still the only reasonable option (that also has a liquor license). We’re there once or twice a month from April through November. But because it’s a chain with both a high number of servers and a high turnover of said servers, we never get recognized as regulars who are easy-going and very good tippers. They see a group of 4 to 12 middle-aged women come in. Maybe a little muddy or smelly if it’s been a rough game. Sometimes it’s obvious that they expect us to be over-demanding and under-tipping. We speculate that if we had instead had a nice family-owned place to go to for all these years, we would be like family now to them, instead of sometimes getting the cold-ish shoulder from the Bertucci’s staff.
When in town I generally have breakfast 6 times a week at a casino in Carson City. Probably have oats, coffee, and wheat toast 5 of those times. Sometimes the waitresses just walk by my table and say, “You having oats?”
I’m getting close to being a regular at our local Sushi place.
I recognize all of the serving staff. Maybe half of them recognize me.
It’s kind of nice. They serve me a bit quicker than when I was an unknown. Two of the staff are particularly good, they always welcome me back, ask if I want tea “as usual”, and get my orders through quick.
The SO and I frequent one place every 7-10 days, and we’re recognized each time. But it’s only our two most frequent waitresses that I actively enjoy. Both are sweet, engage us in conversation a bit, and most importantly - are good at their jobs. We tip 40-50% to our regular servers, and 25% to the nonregulars. I’m very demanding (not in tone of voice, but I like lots of different condiments and creamer and splenda, all of which are not on the table), so I tip accordingly. Every now and then we’ll get a dessert of a bowl of soup comp’d. We were there just last night, and another waitress tried to steal us while one of our regulars was on break - at this point, word’s gotten around about what good tippers we are, I suppose.
I really don’t like being considered a regular. I try as much as possible to go to as many different places as I can and make it a point to vary my order so nobody can catch onto me.
Monday I went to a diner I’d never been to before. I wound up talking with two of the waitresses for a couple of hours.
Now I won’t go back because after a single dining experience I’m already a regular. I don’t think I know how to not be engaging.
When I’m working in or around Mansfield, Louisiana (which is MOST of the time) I eat at the same place EVERY DAY, I order “off menu” and my order NEVER changes (I am on a VERY restricted diet, Doctors orders). The staff at the El Giro Mexican place starts cooking my food when they see me pull into the parking lot and I’m friendly with all of them, I like it this way.
My order:
Grilled chicken breast covered in Pico and Queso, beans, 2 chicken fajita tacos on Corn tortillas with Cilantro and onions, 20 chips with Salsa and iced tea (unsweet) = 1259 calories and awesome!
Unclviny