Tips on how to get the best out of your restaurant visit from Phoebe Damrosch, author of Service Included: four-star secrets of an eavesdropping waiter
Has this happended to you? You walk into a restaurant and you’re greeted by someone who seems to be doing you a favor to seat you, or this one is a my pet peeves, they ask you to go to the bar to wait for your table – and this can be at least a half hour wait. Why do these happen? What goes on behind the scenes at a top-rated restaurant and how can we get the most out of a restaurant visit?
In an interview with Phoebe Damrosch author of Service Included: four-star secrets of an eavesdropping waiter she gave us tips on how to get the best out of your restaurant visit.
Don’t try to bribe the host. If there’s no table, there’s no table.
“Do you know who I am?” is a very unattractive question.
Don’t send something back after eating most of it.
Please do not ask what else we do. It implies that a. we shouldn’t aspire to work in the restaurant business even if it makes us happy and financially stable, b. that we have loads of time on our hand because ours is such an easy job, and c. that we are not succeeding in another field.
Consider storing your handbag under your chair where we won’t step on it.
We are happy to split your check, but it helps when you tell us up front. You’d be surprised at how complicated it can be to make changes on some scmputers.
Do not touch the waiter.
When you don’t like something, don’t get mad at your waiter. He didn’t make it
Kitchen Confidential meets Sex in the City in a delicious memoir by the first female captain at the Thomas Keller’s prestigious Per Se restaurant.
Service Included is the story of that year:
her obsession with food; her love affair with a sexy sommelier; and a voyeuristic glimpse into the highly competitive and frenetic world of fine dining.