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It makes me crazy that when I order a beer, they never bring a glass to serve it in. Sorry, I don't want to slug down a beer out of a bottle when I'm at a restaurant!!
- Not having real cream and sugar available if I order a coffee.
- Not having condiments readily available, or not getting enough.
- Menus that are difficult to read. The best ones I've seen are simple one-page bright white card stock with basic black lettering in a decently large typeface.
- When drinks have no price listed. I'm going to start a policy that, if a menu item isn't priced, then I get to decide what I think the price should be, not the restaurant.
- When the soup/salad isn't served well before the main course.
- I'd like to do desserts sometimes, but many of the serving sizes are WAY too huge, and there's a huge lack of variety. I'm not a big chocolate or cheesecake fan.
- When, like the other posts, the food isn't really that special. I like looking forward to getting something new or different or just done with a different spin.
I have had the appetizer dilemma a few times, but it bugs me the most when I am at dinner with multiple people. Sometimes I order appetizers as my entree (instead of an entree). I always ask them to please bring mine out when they bring everyone's dinner out, so I don't eat alone before anyone else has anything (leading me to feel like I should offer to share even though it's my dinner, as they are hungry and saying "oh, that looks good!") and also so I'm not just sitting there when everyone else is eating dinner. I'd say about 30% of the time, they bring my appetizers out right away instead of with my party's entrees as I requested.
Maybe if it could be mentioned politically correctly when you order that the tip will be based on your meal arriving with the entrees of your dining companions - the server would get the message and put in bold letters to the kitchen that your dish is an entree. It is most probably the chef and food preparers in the kitchen that are at fault. A sticky situation either way because you don't want to send the food back but yet you want to eat with your dining companions.
I often like to save a last sip of wine for a few moments, or a last bite of something delicious, just to savor the experience and draw it out a little, especially if I'm also engaged in a delicious conversation. There's nothing worse, at such a moment than to have a busboy or server snatch away that last morsel without asking if I'm done.
Second worse? Asking me every few minutes if I'm done. No, darnit, I'll be done when I'm done!
Hahaha, that is pretty bad. I've had that happen. The last one, too, but that is plain annoying. The first is borderline heartbreak.
My biggest pet peeve is when a waiter does not write down our order. Is that trying to show off or something? I understand sometimes thins are messed up in a kitchen and I don't typically make a big deal of it. But if its bc the waiter decides not to write it down, I'm pissed. I also feel very restricted in ordering, i.e. not making order too complex
Lousy service is my number one complaint. I hate chasing down the server to get refills or if I need some help with something. Funny how they always get REAL friendly when they bring the check so you give them a nice tip though.
Number two is screaming kids and adults who make as much noise as screaming kids. I was in a restaurant yesterday and a guy at a table near us was singing country western songs right along with the background music..........at the top of his lungs !
Number three is waitresses who get too chummy. I have had them sit down at our table and take our order, or just chat. If I wanted her company I would have invited her out for dinner.
Number four is food coming all at one time. Soup and salad should arrive first, then the main meal. The server always blames it on the kitchen for getting it all out at the same time, but I think the server should control that.
On the flip side, when I do get great service I not only tip way over the norm, but I make sure the server gets a "Thank you for the excellent service " from me, and I tell the manager too. But that happens way less than I would like to be able to do it.
Oh man. My biggest annoyance when eating out is not what you were thinking, I'm sure, op. My biggest annoyance is my DH who absolutely ALWAYS dominates the server with all kinds of questions from how is business to who they are dating. We spend more time talking to the server usually than we do eating.
It's typically my environment...Unkempt tables/floors, kids running around and/or screaming...those are my biggest pet peeves.
One other pet peeve that I have is getting the check on the table before I'm done eating. I personally find that very rude and inappropriate.
Occasionally, waiting very long for a waiter/waitress to appear is another annoyance.
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