If you eat out, I need to talk to you!

Hey ATS’ers! I’m a server in the dining room of a pretty nice bar and grill. We have 20 beers on tap and a nice bar. We have a great menu, all fresh foods, from pizza and wings, to NY strip and homemade pasta dishes.

Business is at a low point right now, and it’s got me thinking…again. I enjoy my job so I’m always looking for new ways to do it better, and earn more money!

I figure every little bit helps, and maybe you guys can help me out. When you’re out to eat---the whole experience, not limited to service---Tell me what makes you happiest? What are your pet peeves about dining out? And, when it happens; what makes you spend more money than usual/intended?

Feel free to tell us about any of the restaurant horror stories that I’m sure you all have!
Thanks a lot buddies

reply to post by MidnightSunshine
My findings were that the best service comes from one who is himself or herself and is centered in their heart. To serve yet you know you are equal not below or above the client.Respect every bodies privacy know when to inter-react and when to be invisible.The best servant is the one who learns a little of every person. That is what I did and it worked great for me.

reply to post by MidnightSunshine


Be honest and genuine with the costumers, I too often see servers offering up fake affection for their jobs and customers.

Attention to detail and paying attention to the customer needs. servers are not all the same and nither are your customers.

I went to dinner with my elderly father just two days ago, the hostess sat us at the farthest table from the entrance. I asked the hostess to seat us nearer to the door and restroom, her response was "I have to seat you here due to server table rotation rules set by the restraunt". We left and spent 150.00 at a more understanding business....

Originally posted by MidnightSunshine
Hey ATS’ers! I’m a server in the dining room of a pretty nice bar and grill. We have 20 beers on tap and a nice bar. We have a great menu, all fresh foods, from pizza and wings, to NY strip and homemade pasta dishes.

Business is at a low point right now, and it’s got me thinking…again. I enjoy my job so I’m always looking for new ways to do it better, and earn more money!

I figure every little bit helps, and maybe you guys can help me out. When you’re out to eat---the whole experience, not limited to service---Tell me what makes you happiest? What are your pet peeves about dining out? And, when it happens; what makes you spend more money than usual/intended?

Feel free to tell us about any of the restaurant horror stories that I’m sure you all have!
Thanks a lot buddies

The best servers I have ever had are the ones that can balance attentiveness and the diners need to eat in peace.

I hate it when every five secs I get asked mid bite hows everything, learn to pick up on the peoples signs that they are ready for more, empty glass pushed to the end of the table, menus put down.

The opposite of course is not coming by enough, I know its a delicate balance, but master it and you will be the best server.

That and actually try the food and beers from the place you work at, in all sales and service product knowledge is key, come up with some genuine recommendations based on your actual likes and dislikes, not just what they want you to push.

reply to post by MidnightSunshine


Snagged me in....dirty filthy hands and stray hairs.More
:The dreaded cough on the meal as being served....waiter says"excuse me,here are your Romney noodles"

reply to post by ancientthunder


UGH Staying invisible is no easy task when it's slow. When it's nice and busy you're always on the floor...

Thanks for the advice

Business is at a low point because the economy is at a low point; people don't have the money to eat out. If you need to feed your family and your strapped for cash, are you going to spend 40+ dollars on dinner?

With that being said, I'm a vegan which makes eating out very difficult; I suggest providing vegan and vegetarian options for your customers as it is very hard to find restaurants with decent vegan options. Not to mention, if there aren't many other vegan/vegetarian restaurants nearby, you will likely draw in a large crowd of vegetarians and vegans.

reply to post by MidnightSunshine


For me, the basics are all that matter the most such as listening to the requests of customers, taking an order correctly and having nice manners.

I have a wife who always gets me to ask the waiter to give a very small portion if we having more than one course. I have yet to go to a restaurant that actually listens to me when I say this and sadly the result is always a meal that my partner will not completely finish. Then she is grilled on why she did not eat the plate clean.

Long story short, it can actually mean avoiding a brilliant restaurant if my appetite is not big enough to eat my own meal and the half she leaves.

The minute a waiter says "was there something wrong with your meal" even if the meal tastes amazing but she cannot manage the whole plate that is the place scored off the list sadly as she feels like she has offended them.

Remember there is only so much you can improve, eating out is a luxury these days with the lack of money floating around.

I don't tip. I don't believe in it. If she don't make enough money, she can quit. I don't tip because society says I have to. If they really put forth the effort, I'll give them something extra. But this tipping automatically, it's for the birds. As far as I'm concerned, they're just doing their job. Say I order coffee, all right, and she only fills my cup up a total of three times, but I wanted it filled six times. You might say she's too busy. Well I say the words "too busy" shouldn't be in a waitress's vocabulary. These ladies aren't starving to death. They make minimum wage. I used to work minimum wage, and when I did I wasn't lucky enough to have a job that society deemed tip-worthy. Don't the people working at McDonald's bust their ass just as much? You don't feel the need to tip them though. They're serving you food, but society says "Don't tip these guys over here, but tip these guys over here." That's nonsense. I'm very sorry the government taxes their tips. That's screwed up, but it ain't my fault. It would appear that waitresses are one of the many groups the government screws over on a regular basis. Show me a paper that says the government shouldn't do that, I'll sign it. I'll vote for it. But what I won't do is play ball. This non-college crap, I got three words for that: Learn to type. If you're expecting me to help out with the rent, you're in for a big surprise.

Who knows? Come onnnnnnnn...........

reply to post by RobertF


OMG I would kill our host if he did that!! What an Idiot...

Hey thanks for your help

Originally posted by SeriousIndividual
I don't tip. I don't believe in it. If she don't make enough money, she can quit. I don't tip because society says I have to. If they really put forth the effort, I'll give them something extra. But this tipping automatically, it's for the birds. As far as I'm concerned, they're just doing their job. Say I order coffee, all right, and she only fills my cup up a total of three times, but I wanted it filled six times. You might say she's too busy. Well I say the words "too busy" shouldn't be in a waitress's vocabulary. These ladies aren't starving to death. They make minimum wage. I used to work minimum wage, and when I did I wasn't lucky enough to have a job that society deemed tip-worthy. Don't the people working at McDonald's bust their ass just as much? You don't feel the need to tip them though. They're serving you food, but society says "Don't tip these guys over here, but tip these guys over here." That's nonsense. I'm very sorry the government taxes their tips. That's screwed up, but it ain't my fault. It would appear that waitresses are one of the many groups the government screws over on a regular basis. Show me a paper that says the government shouldn't do that, I'll sign it. I'll vote for it. But what I won't do is play ball. This non-college crap, I got three words for that: Learn to type. If you're expecting me to help out with the rent, you're in for a big surprise.

Hmm..hmm..hmm...gotcha!

Trolling with Tarantino quotes i see.

I would answer you with the response given in the movie but thatd probably be a TOS ban on me.

If it's slow, maybe just do cool stuff?

Ask the people casually what they usually order and what they have never tried.
Serve them what they have ordered.
Come back a bit later and say "oh, here's a small sample of x and y that I want you to try out", and let them share them among themselves.
Leave them paper & pens to review what they got, if they wish.

Or people who drink beer, just go "you guys like cheese? Oh great! Just a sec!", and come back with a few cubes of tasty cheese.

Slightly less business, more "dude, relax and enjoy our place".

reply to post by benrl


Hey, I had to do quite a bit of editing there, give me some credit. I believe in you, go for it.

I get asked mid bite hows everything

reply to post by benrl


YA know, I really think they do that on purpose seems like it anyway. I try not to check in mid-bite, but when it does happen, I hate it...very uncomfortable.

Thanks for posting

If I am asked too many times in too short a time how the meal is, especially if I am in the middle of a conversation, my standard reply is "it can't be too bad; I haven't found any rat droppings or toe nail clippings YET. Most times the annoying ones don't come back until called to get the bill.

My standards for judging a new, or even an often visited, restaurant are...

1 - Courteous and prompt service. I usually try to visit in off hours so as to avoid the rushes.

2 - good quality food for a reasonable price. And that includes having the items actually look and taste as described. After all that is most often what gets me into a new restaurant in the first place. The worst offenders are the barf burger bars like McDonald's and booger king. I have never gotten a sandwich from one of those rat traps that even closely resembled their ads on television.

3 - cleanliness of both the establishment and the staff. Cleanliness is judged on two levels. One is the general condition of the establishment and the second is whether they actually do a good and timely job of cleaning off the tables after diners leave. I have been to places where the wait staff and the food was good but the bus boys looked and acted like such slobs I lost my appetite.

reply to post by DestroyDestroyDestroy


Actually I'm broke as a joke at the moment, and I did. I should of taken the 40 bucks I spent tonight and put it towards a bill, but I didn't. When I'm broke, I'm depressed, when I'm depressed I don't feel like cooking, and don't give a shat. So today I said F it...Theses kids haven't done much of anything fun lately so we're goin out. lol It was fun

AND Thanks for the great advice about my vegan customers. I don't know how much of an impact i can have on any menu changes, but I will be figuring out exactly what we do have to offer, should I be asked. That's very important, thank you so much!!

This is just an observation from a Brit.....

I think that what I hate the most about eating out in the US is the fact that the waiting staff are in your face continuously, due to the fact that they are doing their hardest/utmost to impress you with their service in order to get the best and biggest tips they can from diners.

Obviously this is understandable due to the wage that these people receive from their employers and rely on tips to make up their pay...

But here in the UK, when you go out for dinner you hardly ever notice the waiting staff due to the fact that they don't have to rely on tips to make up their wage, and plus the fact that over here in the UK you don't have to tip unless you feel that the food was good or the service provided from the waiting staff was of a good and friendly service.....

Personally I feel that the dining experience in the US is somewhat spoilt by over the top waiting staff. The amount of times I have been in conversation with waiting staff in the US when I am trying to eat with a partner or a friend really pisses me off. I am out to enjoy my food and conversation with the person I am dining with. I am not going out to spend money in a restaurant to talk to a member of the restaurant staff unless I am ordering food, saying please, thank you, check please and goodbye.

But I suppose that's the difference in cultures isn't it?

But I will add one more thing which may be useful. If you are a waiter/waitress and you identify a customer coming from the UK, then do the less that you can for them, don't go over the top, if they want to talk to you then they will call you over........

That may help..........

You owe me three bucks for that knowledge...haha

Originally posted by SeriousIndividual
I don't tip. I don't believe in it. If she don't make enough money, she can quit. I don't tip because society says I have to. If they really put forth the effort, I'll give them something extra. But this tipping automatically, it's for the birds. As far as I'm concerned, they're just doing their job. Say I order coffee, all right, and she only fills my cup up a total of three times, but I wanted it filled six times. You might say she's too busy. Well I say the words "too busy" shouldn't be in a waitress's vocabulary. These ladies aren't starving to death. They make minimum wage. I used to work minimum wage, and when I did I wasn't lucky enough to have a job that society deemed tip-worthy. Don't the people working at McDonald's bust their ass just as much? You don't feel the need to tip them though. They're serving you food, but society says "Don't tip these guys over here, but tip these guys over here." That's nonsense. I'm very sorry the government taxes their tips. That's screwed up, but it ain't my fault. It would appear that waitresses are one of the many groups the government screws over on a regular basis. Show me a paper that says the government shouldn't do that, I'll sign it. I'll vote for it. But what I won't do is play ball. This non-college crap, I got three words for that: Learn to type. If you're expecting me to help out with the rent, you're in for a big surprise.

Who knows? Come onnnnnnnn...........

edit on 24-9-2012 by SeriousIndividual because: (no reason given)

DUDE, I make $2.83 an hour ComeOn

lol I skiped ahead and saw that that is a movie quote, what? pulp fiction?? Anyway if that's how you feel too then that's your choice.

Long story short, it can actually mean avoiding a brilliant restaurant if my appetite is not big enough to eat my own meal and the half she leaves.

reply to post by XXXN3O


Huh...I've been asked here and there over the years to lessen a portion or two, I never realized actually doing so correctly could make or break me. AWESOME advice, thanks!!

reply to post by davethebear


I will second that. Us brits just want to be left alone when we are eating! The fact that a member of staff routinely has to ask if everything is ok bugs me in itself. If there was a problem, they'd know about it, now sod off and let me eat!