We go to Olive Garden because it’s one of the only places in our city that you can fill up on salad.
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Really? Few places with an AYCE salad bar?
In my market OG is running TV ads for AYCE chicken wings, shrimp and something else for $15.99. I interpreted this as a sign of desperation.
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My biggest pet peeves are ultra dark interiors, too light typeface on menus or silly font styles, specials that are only spoken, flying bugs, hard butter, stale bread baskets, menu items “swimming” in sauce when I ask for a light hand or on the side. Otherwise, it’s all good. 
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My number one is Bad Service. Im not asking to be waited on constantly. Just come by the table now and then . Yes please I would like another glass of wine. Lol . The food is secondary to me . I go out to eat for the service.
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Hard butter, yes!
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I don’t like touchy/feely waitstaff who touch you when talking to you. There was one manager who knew one person at the table, and constantly had his arm around my shoulder, to the point that I almost asked him to cease and desist. And my wife’s name is not “Sweetie” or “Dear”.
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I guess I am fortunate in that I rarely run across bad service while dining out and if I know specific waitstaff I ask to be seated in their section (when possible).
Happens surprisingly often.
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There is an infuriating riff on this, in which a younger male server addresses an older male guest as “young man”.
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I’m glad I don’t get mad at servers calling me… well, anything that’s not specifically meant to be an insult. But then my PIC calls me ‘young lady’ all the time, and I’m neither.
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Had a slightly weird experience recently where I took my 16 year old son out to dinner at a local slightly fancy restaurant as a treat when his dad was out of town. At the end of the meal the server came with the check in a small leather(ette) folder and handed it to my son, who looked completely startled. Clocking the startled look the server asked “Would you prefer to split the bill?”. I said I would be getting the bill for both of us, thanks. My son and I are still not sure what happened there. We think we clearly stand out as a mother-child pair. But perhaps not? Anyway, automatically handing the bill to the person who appears to have a Y chromosome in their genetic makeup is not ok in my book.
Postscript: my son didn’t know whether he felt more alarmed by the fact that I might have been mistaken as his date or that he didn’t have enough money in his bank account to even split the bill!
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I reeeaaallly dislike being called ‘chicka’! I’m old enough to be the waitperson’s grandmother, thank you. I’ve never had a female waitperson address me that way. Maybe I should turn it around and call them ‘chico’ or ‘muchacho’ to a male wait person. Camarero would be ineffective.
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Well, it’s not like the server must have a certain mens rea in order to be offensive or inappropriate. I mean, waiter greets female guest with “Hey, Dude, nice beard!” Would the motive matter?
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That’s hilarious!* I would’ve been startled as well. You either look fantastically young, or your son very mature, or… hmmm. Most places my PIC and I dine at tend to put the bill in the middle of the table — just to be on the safe side 
*and also very sexist, and making random assumptions.
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When my sister was working and dining out for business lunches (usually with male colleagues) the waiter would often bring the bill to the man even though the meal was on her expense account. It’s a little presumtuous in this day and age to assume the man is going to pay for the meal.
I also remember going out with a boyfriend in the early 2000s who was 15 years my senior. When the waiter came around to take our drinks order, my partner left to use the washroom. I ordered a glass of wine for myself then the waiter asked what my father would like to order. I told him I don’t know since he’s not here right now, but my partner would like a beer. The waiter’s face turned as red as a beet and made sure not to make that mistake again.
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One of my colleagues rolled around laughing and said “You cougar you!” She said apparently there are currently some movies featuring couples where the woman is much older than the man, so maybe the server thought I was emulating Anne Hathaway or Nicole Kidman from those movie roles.
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That was a great comeback from you! My partner has been mistaken as my father as well, but we think it’s because he’s bald, even though he’s only just over a year older than me. I do look a bit young as I’m very short, but I do not dye my hair. I don’t know how servers can perceive me as the daughter of my husband or the girlfriend of my son when I have a bunch of grey hair just sticking out in full view!
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Doncha know grey is the new black?
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It’s more upsetting when your father is mistaken as your partner.
Montreal servers have made this error a few times when I’ve been out with my dad. I suspect May Dec relationships are more common than Father Daughter dinners at some of the nicer restaurants in town.
I now, preemptively, mention something that makes it clear my dad is my dad, as soon as we’re seated.
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God help any server in nyc who makes any kind of relationship assumptions about a younger woman with a much older man 
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