…please bring EACH of us one COMPLETE ORDER. It seems whenever my wife and I go out for a meal and order the same
item, they think we want one to share. Even if I try to
say very clearly, as in “We EACH will have …”, where you would think that two meals were implied, they bring us one,
as if we’d said “We’ll both have…”!
What gives?
I don’t know why that would be the case. I’d think most servers would ask right then and there: one or two entrees?
But at the same time, is it that difficult to order one thing and then have your wife order the same thing when the waiter gets to her? Surely those 10 seconds you’re saving here and there are more than cancelled out by the 10 minutes you have to wait for a second meal to come out.
I’d like to tack on a related gripe, if I may. My husband and I sometimes DO order an entree to share. We always ask for a second plate. They never bring it. That’s fine, it’s probably hard to remember. So we ask them again when the food arrives. Invariably they bring out a plate more appropriately sized for a child’s teaset than anything I could actually put 1/2 an entree on. What am I supposed to do with that? Is it a coaster? I have a massive plate of pasta to split up here and you give me a plate the size of the palm of my hand???
Sometimes I think it would be worth it to just let the food fall off the edges and make a big mess, just so that maybe they’ll understand the concept.
Oh, and speaking of which, you know how you get a short stack of pancakes automatically when you order an omelette at IHOP? But they come on a plate about 1/2 inch smaller in diameter than the pancakes themselves? ANd we’re supposed to pour syrup on there?? What gives?
I went to IHOP once and they did that to me. Actually, the pancakes were my main course, so a got a teeny plate with gigantic pancakes, a teeny plate with two strips of bacon, and a teeny plate full of fried potatoes. How that was more reasonable than one big plate for everything, I have no idea. I made sure to make a huge sticky mess with the butter and (lots and lots) of syrup. The waitress came by and asked if everything was okay (she kept eyeing the huge mess). I just poured on more syrup and told her that everything was just right.
You’re getting the plate I asked for! 
When we go out, most of the time my son gets chicken fingers and fries. It almost always comes in a plastic basket thingy, rather than a plate, and there is no way to cut them up to cool off (he prefers to eat them with a fork, instead of with his hands).
I always ask for an extra plate, just a small one like they bring when people are splitting an appetizer, and I almost never get it.
It might be that a waiter won’t bring a big plate to those who shares meals because he thinks he’s being screwed out of a tip.
I think it is strange that a waiter would assume that someone is going to share one meal. Do you order for your wife or something? When my wife and I go out the waiter asks her what she wants and then he asks me what I want. Not much confusion there.
And folks, if you don’t get what you want from a waiter then insist. If he refuses after that or goes to slowly then don’t tip him.
Marc
I’m confused as to how a waitperson could think you only wanted 1 entree if you don’t specify that.
Do you order and say something like “We’ll have the chicken in mooseball sauce?” To me, that’s the only way I might assume a shared entree.
In all the years I’ve eaten in restaurants with dates/husband, I’ve never had that phenomenon occur. I’m honestly trying to figure out why it would. (When we do order a shared entree, I usually say “We’re going to split an order of goose eyeballs. Can you bring two plates with the entree?”)
Zette
I was just thinking the same thing. Even as a waiter I have never assumed that a couple ordering the same thing wanted to share it unless they specified it. Im not saying it doesn’t happen, just not to me.
Do you have the recipes for these? 
My beef is with servers who take their sweet time bringing take-home boxes. When I eat out, I’m usually alone, and I like to get a large entree to take home and finish the next day for lunch. It’s not intended as an insult to their food, and I’ve even known to get dessert and coffee afterwards. So why do they assume it’s an insult?
Robin
First, shoot 1 moose and 1 goose…
My gripe is after dinner. My SO is not big on sweets, he usually only eats ice cream and that only occassionally. So if I decide that I’d like some dessert after our meal he usually has a drink. No matter how much we insist that the dessert is just for me, they ALWAYS bring an extra fork “so we can share.” Now I understand that a lot of people do share desserts, but damn if we’ve said 450,000 times that we’re not going to share and then you bring an extra utensil and make that comment then that means you weren’t paying attention to me. No I don’t normally decrease the tip (unless the rest of the service has been sucky) but it is mildly annoying.
Also, there is a restaurant we used to frequent, that during the early part of the week, does a bang up job on the food. Absolutely delicious and ample servings, way more than I can eat in a sitting. Why do I not take the leftovers home? Because they only way they package the remainder is in an ALUMINUM FOIL SWAN! I’m an adult eating in a supposedly classy, definitely high-priced restaurant and you’re giving me a frickin’ foil swan to take my leftovers home in. It’s impratical, ugly as hell and I feel like a dunce carrying the damn thing. And yes, I’ve asked them before if I could have a simpler, neater package and they have not been accomodating. Well guess why we haven’t been back?
You folks really have some hangups Pit rants just aren’t as meaningful as they once were. I have thought about starting a rant about it but hijacking this one just seemed more appropriate.
mornea said:
Maybe out of the 100 people who say they don’t want to share the dessert, and then aren’t brought a utensil, 99 of them then decide “oh, maybe I will take a fork. That just looks so GOOD!” So you’re the odd one out. Believe me, people change their mind about this ALL the time, so you as a waiter get screwed if you don’t bring out a utensil for everyone.
Whenever i go out to breakfast with my best friend, we are always asked if we want separate checks.
Whenever i go out to breakfast with my father, they always put the check on his side. The second bothers me far more than the first.
javaman, I think your problems will be solved one of two ways:
or (if you really like to order for her)
When I go out for a meal with my mother, as I do once in a while, servers often assume we’re a couple because she looks so much younger than she is. I don’t have a problem with that - it’s flattering to both of us - but god help the waiter that puts the check next to me instead of in the middle of the table. Mom is likely to chew on him or her for an embarrassingly long time, saying things like “for your INFORMATION, this is my SON, not my HUSBAND - and anyway, where do you get off assuming blah blah blah…”
The fact that more than half of the time I am the one picking up the check doesn’t deter her at all. It’s the frimpin’ PRINCIPLE of the thing!
Or, “we’ll have two orders of the veal picatta with the fettuccini”.
Exactly.
[sub]And thanks for that subtle way to correct my horrendous spelling of “fettuccini”. I knew it was wrong, but couldn’t get it out right.[/sub]
I order for my wife all the time (though, of course, she gets to decide what she wants) and we’ve never run into a waiter that assumed we were sharing an entree.
Either you’ve just had bad luck with waiters or you are, despite your intentions, ordering in a way likely to mislead.
I don’t see the problem with the extra fork at dessert. It is just an attempt at convenience (both for the waiter and for you, should you change your mind; maybe you’ll want him to try a bite to see if it tastes weird to him as well).
The most amusing/terrifying fact I observed in my experience as a waiter: some people get really neurotic about food. Add being out in public, and the exchange of money for good and services, and certain folks are on the edge of hysteria.
Not that it’s all that common - you just remember the head cases.