When we go out to eat at a restaurant, I like to drink beer. I admit I am a bit impatient, and I want a beer soon, and I don’t want to wait on my second one. (No, I am not an alcoholic, it’s just the way I am. But if you insist I am an alcoholic, then… whatever.)
It’s been my experience that it takes 10 to 20 minutes from the time we arrive until I finally get a beer. So lately I’ve been in the habit of going to the bar and ordering a beer, even though we have a table. At some places the server has seemed a bit… “unnerved” about this. They seem embarrassed or pissed off. It’s just the way I roll, and I never fault the server. And I always give the server a nice tip. But I just don’t like to wait 10 or 20 minutes for a beer. Plus I feel I am saving the server some labor. So am I in the wrong?
I don’t think so. The server is there to serve. If s/he is worried that you are upset and will therefore not tip well, I suspect they can live with 60-90 minutes of uncertainty on that score. And if that’s the worst thing that happens to them that day, I suspect that will count as a really good day.
My husband does the same thing. Usually I get a table and he goes straight to the bar. We’ve been asked about it a couple of times, he just up front tells them he’s not waiting on a beer.
Not rude. 20 mins is too long to wait for a first beer. Usually we order beers as we sit down and open the menu, the drinks come a few minutes later (2-5?) and by then we are ready to order the food. I wonder what you’d be doing sitting at the table with no beer for 20 mins. Pretending to be interested in something?
The server is miffed because it now appears to the bartender that they’re not delivering prompt service to the customers. It kinda reflects badly on them a titch. Good servers don’t like that feeling. That said, you should NOT have to wait 20 mins!
If you can’t get your servers attention, even to just point at your beer to indicate you’d like another, then you shouldn’t feel badly about it.
Now if you’re pounding the first one down in remarkable time, and expecting every server to be right on top of it, that may be expecting too much. If that’s the case, just order two beers already!
I don’t see why the waiter would care. It’s quite common at busy restaurants when customers have to wait for a table to get drinks at the bar ahead of being seated and then bringing those drinks to the table.
Then again, if I have to wait twenty minutes for a beer, I’m not coming back when I know there are places that will bring me my drink in 3-5 minutes.
[tangent]I recently walked up to the bar and ordered three beers. Bartender brought my three, started my tab, then asked who I was with (so she could put their purchases on the correct tab). I was alone, and half-price-draft happy hour was over in 5 minutes.[/tangent]
Slightly OT: Some states don’t let people have more than two cocktails at once…beers probably don’t apply.
As to the original post. Others have said it all pretty much. Its possible the server feels he could get in trouble. Its not crazy to think a manager might go up to the guy and say “Why is your table having to get up and go to the bar to order? Are you not getting to the table on time?”
Yes, In PA you are only supposed to have one drink in front of you at a time, beer included. So, if you have half a glass and I tell the bartender I want to buy you a beer, they’ll give you a token of some sort to use for your next drink. I was a bad consumer.
I don’t understand the OP. (I don’t drink which seems to annoy servers.) It seems that their job is to serve an alcoholic beverage ASAP and keep them coming. That’s where the money is.
What sort of places don’t follow this important business model???
(My complaint is that everything is set up to stall the serving of the meal so that a maximum amount of hooch is served while waiting.)
Yeah, most restaurants I go to I barely get a chance to sit down before they’re asking what drink I want. If you know what you want I can’t imagine having to wait more than 5 minutes.
I think we are meant to assume that 20 minutes is an absurd exaggeration. If not, that restaurant had better have the best food in 20 miles to ever get repeat business (or be the only food in 20 miles). What I read between the lines is that the OP is really, really impatient. I don’t know if this manifests in other areas, or only in getting served beer, and I’m not going to hazard a guess. That said, if the OP handles it politely*, it might only be slightly off-putting, depending on how non-plussed the server is. If the OP is anything but polite, like saying to the server “I don’t want to wait 20 minutes for my first and subsequent beers”, then that is rude.
*I have met many people who thought they were being polite when they were really being outright assholes, so I’ll take any individual’s perspective as to whether or not said individual is being polite with a grain of salt, absent personal observation.
I’d wager a significant majority of restaurants with a bar area pool tips anyway, so even if the bartender can’t transfer your bar tab to the table and you have to close the tab after getting served, everyone gets paid out anyway and there’s no hard feelings.
Plus, if it takes 10 minutes to get a beer ordered from the server, that means you’re well into that pre-table beer and possibly on your way to a three-beer night, which means more revenue. Not a dick move at all on your part.
If the restaurant has a bar, by all means go up and get a drink! If they are a table-service only kind of place, however, it can be a little more questionable–depends on their service model.
Say the server brings your group some drinks while you are waiting to be seated. You get tired of the wait and want to leave but you still have to pay for your drinks. You haven’t even sat down yet and so you are not in their computer ordering system. So the wait staff has to enter you in and go through a lot of motions to get you your bill. You are mad because of the wait and don’t leave a tip. Or–because you don’t like the wait–you believe that the drinks should be on the house and you just leave. Yeah, you will get some push back on that type of service model.
I agree with you on the lag time to get a drink. It can be very frustrating, especially just getting the first one. The best thing to do is politely state the first time that your waiter comes by that you are really thirsty and could you please bring me a _____. Leave a little extra tip and put a “Thanks for the service!” on the bill. You Will Be Remembered when you go back–and will get that first drink much quicker.
If you are waiting 10-20 minutes then you are not wrong for the trip to the bar. That’s quite a wait. I used to go to a pizza restaurant that was always super busy, and there was always a wait for a table. I dug it because we could grab a drink from the bar and hang out there while waiting for a table.
If you’re actually really waiting 20 clock minutes from when you were seated until a first drink arrives, that’s a long time. But are you counting from when they seat you, or counting from some other event (like walking in the front door)?
