Dining out May 29, 2005
“The murals in restaurants are on par with the food in museums.” -Peter DeVries
1) Do you enjoy eating out and why? Yes. A variety of reasons. When we eat out, we don’t have to cook, don’t have to plan a menu, don’t have to do the dishes. Plus, we get to eat something different than we normally do.
2) Where is your favorite restaurant? Three favorite restaruants come to mind, all completely different from each other, in every way imaginable, and in no way is this a complete list; it’s just what I come up with at the spur of the moment. In no parciular order: The Hobbit (seven course dinner, one sitting, get your choice of what they’re serving that night or you leave), Jalisco (one-off Mexican restaurant that mostly caters to the Mexican immigrants in the area; the food is authentic and fabulous), In-and-Out Burger (flame broiled, made-to-order burgers that are fabulous; small chain that we love to encourage).
3) What are your standards for tipping? If service is good/average we leave the standard 15% tip (Oops! Thanks Rachel. Um, 15%, as in more than 10). If service is substandar, less than that, on a decreasing scale, depending on level of service; sometimes tip is a well-earned penny), if service is above par, so is the tip.
4) Do you have one entree, appetizer or dessert that you specifically go out to get at a restaurant from time to time? Nope.
5) Describe a horrific experience that you had while dining out. There are two. a.) When I was a kid, I was a fussy eater. I was probably 8 or 10 years old. On vacation one summer with the family. In a diner. There may have been one (maybe two) other tables being served at the moment. Wanted a BLT, hold the mayo. The cook exploded. We could hear him shouting at the waitress. She argued back. He emerged from the kitched. He rushed to our table, and proceded to shout at me because BLTs always have mayo. Cased closed. I know we stayed. I don’t know what I ended up eating that day. Probably changed my order completely, but I wouldn’t bet on it one way or the other.
b.) Business trip in San Diego. There for a week. The only place to eat without driving some distance, and we didn’t have a car, was the restaurant attached to the hotel. Every single day the service was slow. Worse than slow. Horrid. Same waitress every day. The only waitress in the place; she was surley (to put it mildly). The last day, I’d had enough. We’d been sitting there for at least a half an hour. Finally she showed up to take our order. I mentioned that it would be nice if she rushed the order through, please, as we were in a bit of a hurry. Her response? “Well, then, you’d better show up earlier, hadn’t you?” My contribution to the tip? A penny. Everyone else felt bad, so made up for it. Grr.
rachel June 1
Seriously.. 1.5% or did you mean 15%?