Doggy bag is a known term, but it’s used more in the third person and rarely used in the actual situation. It’s more likely to be –
–Could you please bring us a box for the rest?
–Could you please wrap this up?
–We’ll take the test to go, thanks
Etc.
As I’ve said before when this comes up on these boards this situation has a lot ti do with the economics of restaurant service in the United States. Restaurants serve large portions in order to make it easier for patrons to accept higher prices. The food is actually often a smaller input cost for a restaurant compared to other overhead.
“Doggie bag” having a negative connotation here (U.S.) because it’s “for dogs” is crazy talk. Doggie bag is just what it’s called, it isn’t implied that you’re taking the leftovers home to feed the dog, you’re taking it home because you paid for it and it’s perfectly good food.
Unless you’re at a very high end restaurant (or a buffet of course!) , there is no stigma in taking food home whatsoever.
Somewhere along the line the polite fiction of the doggie bag has disappeared. I haven’t actually heard the term in 20 years. People just ask for a take out box or a leftovers box. Nothing to be embarassed about, it’s just leftover food, not the restaurant’s silverware!
I had a birthday dinner at a first-rate gastropub when a tornado warning hit. It was for real, green sky, gusts and all. They moved us to the basement of this old brick building. Power was intermittent. The manager offered table wine to anyone who’d like some, but stated that it would be added onto the bill. It soon became clear that the waitresses had given up keeping tabs on who had what, so lots of people (including me) ended up drinking for free and eating Lays potato chips by the bag while a tornado missed us by a few short miles.
We are getting more of this here. I know of four high-volume or high-cost places now that will not accept reservations at all, or only for larger parties (6 in one place, 8 in another). I can completely understand; it must cost them a fortune in lost business and if they can fill their tables anyway, why go to the trouble and expense or running a reservation system? Other places take credit card numbers and charge you a no-show fee, or ring you and check you are still coming once or even twice. Whenever I ring to cancel a reservation the restaurant is always very very grateful, it mustn’t happen very often.
One high-volume Thai place near the city has a book on a stand outside the door. The floor manager writes your name, number of seats, and mobile number in it and gives you a numbered tag. You then go for a wander or a shop around the city and they’ll call or SMS you when a table’s ready. You do have to be pretty snappy getting there or it’ll go to someone else though.
Never. Of course here prices always include all taxes, so you are less likely to get the odd cents - menu prices are almost always in multiples of 50c or $1. And there is no requirement to tip, as waitstaff are paid properly by their employer.
I have eaten at hundreds if not thousands of restaurants across Australia over a period of 50 years, at all different price levels, and have never encountered this a single time out of the maybe 100 times I would have asked.
No longer, but clearly something of a taboo did once exist, or the term ‘doggy bag’ would not have come into existence.
I don’t think anyone’s suggested that it would cause problems, just that it would be a rather unusual request as opposed to North America where it is much more common and probably much more readily accommodated.
Whaaaaaaaaat? You know they used to put cut little cartoon dogs on the side of the bags, right? It’s jokey. Doggie bag never had a serious or pejorative context.
My husband and I ate at Hoffbrau tonight. The smallest beef serving was 7 ounces. The baked potatoes are two or three times what one serving for one adult should be. So usually we get a 10 or 12 ounce steak, split the steak and the potato, and order another non-starchy side. Most of the sides are starches, such as several potato dishes, mac’n’cheese, and corn. I think that we had a choice of salad or broccoli in that place, so we usually go with salad. Since the steak comes with two sides, splitting the potato and getting another non-starchy side means that both of us can have two sides, and have enough meat.
I’d love to see a menu with smaller entrees, because I enjoy eating out alone. But if I want to eat at Hoffbrau alone, then I’m going to have to ask for a box or leave about 2/3 of the meal on the plate.
Most places will put enough food on the plate to satisfy an active teenage boy. I don’t want or need nearly that much food.
I realize this was way back at the start of the thread, but I thought I’d answer it, based on my experience managing a Domino’s Pizza 20 years ago. The reason WE instituted the policy was that often toppings wouldn’t cook correctry if you put too many on one pizza (this was when we had a “any toppings, one price” special). Sounds ridiculous, I know.
And blame the the board software, when I put [****COLOR=“brown”][/****COLOR] that was the color it pooped out! :smack:
this post has been sienna’d by the siennaist? is that better? :dubious:
It’s becoming more & more common where I am in Australia for the staff to offer to put your meal in a container before you ask.. Usually when they bring the bill if there is a large amount left on a persons plate they will usually ask if that person would like to take the rest home.
Here in New England, too, even if it’s just a scrap or a few greens left from a salad with all the yummy stuff picked out. “Can I wrap that up for you?” is as much a part of the server’s script as “May I take your order”.
Yeah in Australia in the 1980’s you could only serve alcohol with food after midnight so your cover charge also included a spring roll or some other deep fried cat gut recipe.
In Utah, one of the last vestiges of our infamous wierdo liquor laws is that restaurants can’t sell alcohol without an accompanying food purchase.
Bars have no such restriction, but restaurants can’t legally, openly sell me a beer when I keep my friends company while they eat.
(Of course it’s easy to get around with a wink and a nod, as I can always just tell them I will be splitting a meal with someone else at the table or that I haven’t decided on what to order yet, and I will just have the beer for right now while I peruse the menu; Even though it’s technically illegal, it is easy to skirt these asinine laws.)
That reminds of what bars in Washington State used to pull. State law requires any place selling alcohol must also sell food. Some bars would do stuff like list TV dinners for $20, or charge $14 for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Obviously no one was stupid enough to buy this stuff, but it would have been sold to anyone who ordered it. The state liquor control board now requires the food to be sold at legitimate prices.
