I’d ask the waiter if there were any other options and see if the SO would like one of those. Some restaurants will be willing to do that but it is not always possible for them (depending on many issues).
If the restaurant cannot make something the SO likes then ask the SO if they will settle for something that is available or if they’d like to go somewhere else.
In Chicago (where I live) there are usually restaurant rows with numerous restaurants one after another and within easy walking distance. Making a switch to a different restaurant can be relatively easy. But not all places are like that and switching may be difficult at best.
If the SO is adamant that they want nothing on the menu (especially considering it is an expensive place) go home and cook something quick or order take-out. Give the SO a raincheck for a different restaurant in the near future that they will like.
The SO does seem picky though. It seems uncommon to find a menu where you want absolutely nothing. Especially from a place you have seen their menus and they seem fine and then arrive to find you hate all the things.
I am a picky eater (largely a texture thing as well). I could come up with way more than six items but I’d find something to eat on nearly any menu. I am very adept at picking out stuff that I don’t like.
When I was a kid I was an extremely picky eater. My step dad who has competence in next to nothing couldn’t help but pick out a restaurant where there was nothing for me. It was maddening. Like it’s not that fucking difficult. So I am very sensitive to this issue. I try very hard to accommodate vegans, vegetarians, gluten frees in my group.
Yeah, I have to amend my first reply, where I mentioned “known food aversions.” As there appear not to normally be any, I wouldn’t be annoyed at myself, but somewhat annoyed at my dining companion, but would do my best not to dwell on it and excuse myself and go somewhere else. I would think the nice thing to do as the guest is just to suck it up. I know I would, but, like I said, I can’t even think of six things I wouldn’t like to eat if my SO were buying me a nice dinner at a nice restaurant. (Or even otherwise. Hell, I’d have surströmming again if my wife took me out for it.)
It turned out to be a little pot-pie sort of thing made with smoked chicken, with a single large gumball-sized turnip and some cooked greens (roasted in an oven, not burnt). It was absolutely great, but I had no idea what I was getting into exactly- didn’t know what a pithivier was, nor did I know if a hakurei turnip was a variety, or a preparation of some sort.
I’d ask what a pithivier is. Having been told (I just looked it up), I’d try it. But in general if the problem is that you don’t understand the menu – just ask. I’d probably ask the person who I was eating with first; and if they didn’t know either, ask the server.
If you are looking online and deciding and the menu makes no sense then probably best not to go there. Especially if it is expensive and especially if you are not adventurous when it comes to food.
If you are at the restaurant then the waiter absolutely should be able to describe the dish in an understandable way.
“What are haricot verts?”
“Green beans but they charge $5 more for the fancy name.”
Probably not - although it wouldn’t exactly be because I’m picky. Because I would try it under certain circumstances - if it’s on a buffet or if I’m on a cruise ship or if I was at someone’s house for dinner and that’s what they were serving. All circumstances where I won’t end up paying for two dinners if I can’t stand it.
To be fair, they’re small skinny green beans bred to be harvested while still very thin. I charge more for them because they take longer to pick (and I sell them as “filet beans”, not “haricot verts”), but they’re worth it, they’re delicious.
$5 extra for a single-diner portion isn’t mostly due to the beans having cost the restaurant more, though. I don’t charge that much more for them.
If you don’t speak at least Restaurant French are you allowed to go to such an establishment? Don’t we have laws against this sort of thing? Is this the sort of return I get for my campaign contributions?
Yeah, that definitely describes different ways different people eat. I’ve definitely ordered stuff on a menu that I didn’t have a clue as to what exactly it was, but didn’t care, as it takes me outside my usual “ordering zone,” and I’m the type of person who likes that. Many, perhaps most, people don’t.
My BiL was preparing to take his first trip to Japan (many years ago now). So, he asked a Japanese co-worker (she was born and raised in Japan) to order take-out Japanese food from a local Japanese restaurant (a pretty nice one too) so he could know what to expect and what he would like while he was in Japan.
He ordered the steak and ate nothing else (yes, I spoke with her, she was kinda miffed about it). I wish I was making that up.
He is a meat-and-potatoes guy to the end. He’ll eat pasta (basic Bolognese sauce and spaghetti…even different pasta types seem to bother him) and on rare occasions fish (cooked). That’s about it. Sadly, most of his kids have picked up that habit too. Only his wife is somewhat adventurous when eating out.
This makes going out to dinner with the extended family very limited. We simply have to pick a place with steak on the menu which he almost always orders and is always the most expensive item by a noticeable amount (or near enough).
I’m surprised this question got so many responses relatively quickly (I almost typed “answers” instead of “responses,” but quite a few of them were not answers to the question but criticisms of the premise).
I can see that posting about my little thought experiment was a mistake on my part. Feel free to carry on as you wish in the thread, it no longer seems to be about what it started to be about, and so be it.
Well…you listed four options then asked two questions unrelated to those options with some commentary about limited menus. Not sure what you wanted an answer to.
I went to Emeril Lagasse’s restaurant in Orlando, Florida back in 2000 and there was nothing on the menu that interested me even a little. This isn’t a dig on Lagasse, I just didn’t find anything I really felt like eating. So I ordered the fried calimari appetizer and ate that for dinner while my friends enjoyed their food. If placed in a similar situation again I’ll order something and just live with it.
My gut response is “tell the waiter you have to leave”. It kind of seems like the air was sucked out of that balloon; better to move on and find somewhere you’ll both enjoy. You are dear for trying to plan a special birthday night, though.
You say he’s not picky - and that might be what set off the derailment- so I have to ask if , in your opinion this was odd for him? For instance, did you see anything on the menu that you’ve seen him eat/ enjoy before? Either way, I will stick with my response.
BTW, please, anyone who has a picky eater in their life, do not ask for special accommodations(excluding allergies / religious practices) on their behalf, either in public or private.