They can take measures to ensure that the carts presented to customers upon entrance are clean. I’m not talking about picking up a stray one from the parking lot.
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Plasticware that is totally insufficient to the task. This was triggered by a dpork at KFC that wouldn’t pierce the chicken enough to hold it in place while I cut it. (I was able to eat the mashed potatoes with it, but only because they were the consistency of pudding.)
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Worse yet, real butter not even an option.
I ate at Waffle House last night. OK, it wasn’t in NJ. I don’t think there are ANY in NJ. This was the northernmost one on 95, on the MD/DE border. Good, satisfying, cheap food. SUPER nice waitress. Packed me a large coffee to go, no additional charge. And the coffee is actually quite good!
But, no butter. Instead I got “Whipped Spread”. I ate it anyway.
Golden Corral is another offender. I don’t get it. Carbs galore, lots of fried stuff, and yet, no real butter. What, do I have to start carrying butter with me to certain places?
Can’t figure out if it’s a cost-cutting measure, or because they feel (wrongly) that butter isn’t “healthy.”
My other HUGE pet peeve. No prices on online menus. Immediate turn-off. Most recently this happened with Cucina Noveau in Marlboro.
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AND they don’t serve dessert. Most likely so they can turn tables faster.
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Which reminds me: asking if I want cream or milk with my coffee. I always say “cream”, yet have never actually gotten cream. Half & half is not cream.
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How about tiny water glasses! Don’t do this if you aren’t going to give us a carafe for the table!
Shout out to that Mongolian BBQ in Edison. They give these itty bitty stainless steel glasses BUT a big pitcher of the same construction. The water is nice and cool! A+
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I’ll admit I’m a butter guy. Even “fine dining” where they give you a plate of evoo, even if it’s seasoned and delicious (Fernandes has an excellent oil and reduced balsalmic dip) If you are serving bread, I want butter as an option.
(FYI as much as I love Waffle House they have the worst home fries, I avoid them for that reason. I need good tater’s with my breakfast)
Oh, yes, another peeve: calling olive oil “EVOO” or (even worse) “Italian butter”.
Bad sound systems annoy me. I can live with most choices of music, but if a speaker is shot and there’s an electric hum accompanying The Electric Light Orchestra it is indicative of management that doesn’t really care. To wit, one of the speakers at The Rumson House in the bar doesn’t work. I’d never heard “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac a capella before, but when one of the stereo speakers is busted, that’s what you get. Lindsay Buckingham purged again.
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Hey wait!!! You went to The Rumson House? I don’t recall reading a review? Do tell !!!
Burger night only. I must say, it’s a damn good burger.
See, I told you that burger night would have been a good option @NotJrvedivici
@coldbeer70 if you don’t mind me asking, what was your all in after tax n tip?
Well…started with a Hendricks martini, a cheese platter, prob two glasses of wine and wrapped it up with a Jameson’s, wife was prob one drink behind me and the tab was $120. The burger special is $25 with salad and a glass of wine and more fries than you can eat, truffle fries, or goose fat, or some other concoction, and I’m a fan of the burger. Nicely aged blend.
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Fake butter is pretty inexcusable, but what bothers me more is when a place gives you those tiny packets of maple syrup. They are not even maple syrup, but “breakfast syrup” which is what “frozen dairy dessert” is to ice cream. It is a challenge to find maple anywhere in the ingredients.
Of course I am not expecting 100% Vermont maple syrup as it is pricey, but those little packets are tacky. There should be a bottle on the table or they could at least bring one over. At least without a label, the chemicals and artificial flavorings are out of sight and out of mind.
There is nothing more disheartening to have a plate of delicious pancakes ruined aesthetically by being plated with packets of fake butter and fake syrup.
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Or when restaurants do not update the pricing on their menus and you are reading prices from 2014.
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Cracker Barrel was the only breakfast chain here to use any maple in their syrup.
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I’ve only been to CB a few times while traveling. I actually like that spot and I’m not a huge breakfast fan. I wish one was near me.
I’m not sure if anyone mentioned this, but why can’t a server at least give you a thumbs up, a wave, a wink, a slap on the ass, a punch in the head, a kick in the nuts, or something to acknowledge that they will be with you at some point in the future? Holy shit! It isn’t too hard! Just do something to show me that I’m not a freaking ghost. I realize being a server can be a very demanding job, but just throw a quick message over. Rant =over
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I can assure you restaurants don’t care about your health. The reason they do this is to save money. 100% I used to work at a well know restaurant locally when I was a kid, and they would take left over butter from bread baskets and melt it down for lobster butter. I was 17 when I started and didn’t quite realize how this was so wrong. I was young and very dumb. Today this place probably would be shut down in a heartbeat…if anyone knew about it.
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You can always go Goodfellas Tommy to Spider. “What am I a mirage? I’m on your pay no mind list.”
I used this once in a Mexican restaurant but it sailed right over the poor girl’s head as she barely spoke a lick of English.
