Most places I know that don’t take reservations, do on Mother’s Day. If you can’t supply that basic service, you may be filled today, but I won’t be there tomorrow. I always thought restaurants tried to shine during big events, hoping to attract new loyal customers, rather than worry about the bottom line. I’m not in the business, so I don’t know.
My oddest encounter happened at a local bbq/steak chain when my wife and I ordered an appetizer and a burger to split. I asked if we could get the burger cut in half and was told they were unable to do it. I asked why, as no other place has ever said no…ever, and was told it was against the law. I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she meant health code or something (maybe it is, I don’t know). I asked about the law, and she said it was because they didn’t have the ability. I asked about the quesadilla we ordered and whether it would be cut. I was told it would be, so asked if they could just use the same utensil to cut my burger. She said it could only be used for quesadillas, so I paused, gave up, then just asked if I could have a knife…
Maybe…maybe they didn’t have a proper prep area or something to cut the burger, but this was a rather large place, that serves a variety of food, and does not seem to care if you split entrees, appetizers, etc., but whatever, they can’t cut a burger.
The thing places need to realize is that years…YEARS later, when we drive by that restaurant, the kids, or my in-laws, or someone will bring up that story. If they had a legitimate reason, they blew it in the explanation.
It reminds me of when my ex tried to order a grilled cheese sandwich in a diner. The waitress told her that she couldn’t as they were out of bread. But would she like a tuna sandwich instead? Long story short, they were out of grilled cheese bread but had plenty of tuna bread. My ex finally ended up ordering a tuna sandwich. Grilled. With cheese. And hold the tuna.
Some places use “Texas” bread for grilled cheese sandwiches, which is sliced about twice as thick as sandwich or thin sliced bread. They also use that Texas bread for French toast. However, the regular thin bread slices work very well for grilled cheese sandwiches.
We went to a mediocre burger restaurant near our house a few months ago, ordered burgers for ourselves and a PB&J for our 2-year-old daughter. She was cranky and hungry and we were doing everything we could to keep her quiet until the food came (yes, you kid-haters, we were successful, and yes, we would have left if she’d start fussing, now shut up).
Finally the food came. Her PB&J bread was moldy.
I got the server’s attention, and her eyes widened in horror and she whisked my daughter’s food away–and I whisked my daughter outside as she began freaking out about how the waitress stole her sandwich. We walked around and I comforted her until we could return inside and placate the kid with french fries.
The waitress told us they were out of one of the ingredients, so we had to order something else more expensive for our daughter. When the check came, they’d charged us for the more expensive meal.
We haven’t been back there since, but every time we pass, my daughter asks why they gave her a moldy sandwich.
For quite a while, Red Robin sold their signature bacon-egg-and-cheese burger for less than their bacon cheeseburger – prompting some customers to order the former with a sensible “hold the egg.” Other customers simply ordered the bacon cheeseburger – at which the occasional server would point out the smart option, possibly for a bigger tip.
I haven’t been to a Sbarro’s in a long time. But for a while they had a plate of spaghetti for $2, and you could get meatballs on the side for $1 each. Or you could get the spaghetti and (2) meatballs for $5. It took quite a bit of arguing with the cashier to get her seeing things my way.
Maybe this is regional? I’ve never seen this done in any restaurant I’ve ever been to, and it would at least lead me to post on Yelp that the restaurant systematically shortchanges its customers, which is technically illegal, but good luck getting a cop to give you the time of day about it.
I seriously doubt that even the maximum possible $0.99 would make up for the stink I would make to the staff, the fact that I would not leave a tip at all after I pointed out that I was being shortchanged and the restaurant still tried to keep more than the bill, and that I would never return to such a shady business again.
But was it the waitress who made up the policy? You’re taking it out on the wrong person. Then again, if anough waitresses get fed up with it, the owner would have little choice but to lose that policy.
Hard to distinguish between whether the establishment is shortchanging me or the waitstaff are.
Either way it’s extremely petty theft, and I’m not exactly quick to anger, but I’m hardly going to be thinking of the well-being of the person who shortchanged me.
That is bizarre. Why didn’t they just present a rounded-off bill in the first place? There are food service operations that do that. They price their items so that the bill always comes out to a round figure, including any taxes.
Good point, Ascenray - that would be all fair and square, as long as the price you pay is the price that was listed.
I’m still curious where this is happening since I’ve never seen anything like it.
Has anyone besides MrDurden and dougie_monty seen this bring-the-bills-but-not-the-coins change practice?
“Nice” restaurants are the kind that require reservations all year round. They’re set up for that. People expect to have a reservation before they show up. People don’t stand in line to get in. That’s a different business model.
A place like Cheesecake Factory, however, doesn’t have that model. People line up to get in. And there are always enough people in line to fill their house. Why should they allow someone to jump the queue by phoning in?
Those restaurants that make an exception for Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day, well, great if it works for them. But if it’s a place that knows that they will have enough business regardless, then it makes perfect sense to refuse to take reservations. Would you try to make reservations at McDonald’s? No, because that’s not how they operate. Same with Cheesecake Factory.
Re: short-changing–I don’t understand the complete freak-out some people are having over this issue. You were going to tip the waiter anyway, so just consider the change you were shorted part of the tip. If the foregone change made such a huge percentage difference in the tip that you think the waiter is now getting too much, then (i) you had a cheap meal, so don’t complain, and (ii) you are a cheap bastard who probably doesn’t tip enough (personally I never tip less than 5 bucks no matter how cheap my meal is).
Yeesh almighty. Life’s too short to stress out about stuff like that.
Re: “we don’t sit late-arriving people”–I’ve never seen that policy. I think the poster who mentioned that may be mis-translating the common policy of not seating incomplete parties.
That is, if you are a party of 6 and only 4 are in the restaurant now, many restaurants make you wait up front for the other 2 to arrive. But I’ve never seen a restaurant seat the 4 and then tell the 2 to fuck off when they show up.
My contribution: I used to regularly eat lunch at a Chinese place that (i) charged the same amount for egg drop soup and hot and sour soup if ordered separately but (ii) charged a dollar more for a soup substitution in a combo meal. I think it was basically just a way to get another buck for what I considered the far superior soup, so whatever whatever.
The “nice” restaurants that I’m talking about are not places like Sardi’s. We’re talking about places like Legal Seafood. Entrees of maybe $15-20. One year, a day or two before Valentine’s Day, I must have called about 6 places before finding one that wasn’t already fully booked.
There’s a Mexican place near my house. The setup is you order food, take a number, then go get it when they call you. When you’re finished there are signs everywhere telling you to bus your own tray. Plates go here, silverware goes there, cups go there. No waitresses.
Which would be fine, but there are signs about tipping everywhere. Signs at the table, handwritten, saying “Tips appreciated!” Signs at the register saying “Tipping is not a city in China.” Huge signs with arrows pointing to the tip jar.
Pretty off-putting, even more so when there’s not even wait staff and you’re busing your own table.