An anonymous survey of chefs across the country revealed insider tips about how to get the best value when eating out, as well as some other things that might curdle your appetite:
* Wine is marked up at least 2 and a half times what you could buy it in the store
* Don’t order the chicken or the pasta. The dishes are the most overpriced on the menu relative to their ingredients’ cost, and are often the least interesting.
* “Vegetarian” and “vegan” are open to interpretation. One time a cook saw another pour lamb’s blood in a vegan’s primavera.
* If you’re the kind of diner who keeps sending dishes back to the kitchen “to get them right,” you may become a target of revenge. “Someone once ran a steak through a dishwasher after the diner sent it back twice. Ironically, the customer was happy with it then.”
* Of all the fast food joints, chefs prefer Wendy’s.
Have you worked in a kitchen? What tips can you slop about what goes on behind the flapping doors? Sound off in the comments.
25 things chefs never tell you [Yahoo! Green] (Thanks to James!)
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Been there done that….
There are good places and bad places to eat in terms of cleanliness and service but the same rule applies to both. Don’t be a dick about your order and tip accordingly.
Example – “The unwanted regular”…
I come in regularly, sit by myself yet feel the need to refuse a smaller table and insist on a bigger table for four. I know I get complimentary soup OR salad, yet I insist on both. My bread is free as well but I want it hot and when I’m feeling froggy I insist on garlic bread that is not even on the menu nor offered. I only drink water, never order and appetizer and no matter what my main course is it must be modified in some way shape or form. As if his constant bullshit wasn’t enough this a-hole would end up leaving a tip consisting of the leftover loose change from whatever his total bill was or if we’re lucky a crisp clean dollar bill. $19.45 = 55cent tip… $25.99 = $1.01 tip….you get the point….
We let this slide 3 times because well….you know….three is enough to recognize a pattern.
Result – Now I partly blame the mgr for allowing this to happen because to him it was just another lunchdinner ordered…and besides he was always too drunk to care…but that’s beside the point.
We would routinely puntkick his bread from one side of the kitchen to the other and if you could get the loaf into the oven without it hitting the kitchen floor it was your turn to choose which “a la mode” we would execute. My favorite was the kitchen floor dribble with the accidental stomp. OR….Bring the loaf of bread into the bathroom with you for a well timed number 2… I know what you’re thinking and No we did not use number 2 on it. We just let it marinate in the john until we were done… Garlic bread? Sure! everybody pull back real hard and hock one into the cup to prepare the garlic, butter and oil spread. Needless to say, we were happy campers when this douche ordered anything with lots of sauce.
Then there’s the famous “Baked scallops sauteed in white wine, lemon and butter”….
We do nothing to it at all….he sends it back because it’s too buttery!…mind you he just polished off a loaf of garlic bread! So we take it back and have them whip up a new order…very little butter. How’s this sir? “the scallops are too dry take it back”! Well we wanted to make sure we got it right this time soooooo…. This batch, we have every single member of the staff spit in his dish and to ensure a moist scallop, the sous chef takes a well timed leak into the pot….. I present the plate to him holding back the laughter and the tears and walk away. I go back one minute later for the million dollar question….”It’s fantastic, by far the best dish I’ve had here…my compliments to the chef!…oh and be sure to let him know I’ll be back for the same dish next week!”
If you have to change the dish or need to make multiple modifications to your order……order something else!
Rule of thumb…..Don’t fuck with people who serve or prepare your food!
They didn’t mention that a lot of kitchens get their ingredients from places like Sysco foods, and may come in a box either pre-cooked or at least pre-packaged to the point that you wouldn’t want to pay what you’re being asked to pay for it.
After all, if all the restaurant is doing is cutting open a plastic pouch and putting some grill marks on a chicken breast, is that really REALLY worth $14?
Not trying to pick on Sysco. There are many other food suppliers doing the same things.
Lets do the NUMBERS, people.
One relative is a waitperson for Applebee’s…. makes more in a week than I make in two weeks, and yet popular web discussions want me to believe these people think I expect too much when I try to get them to visit my table after the food gets randomly dropped (dropped by servers, not by the waitperson)? “Who gets the pasta?” (The wait person knows, but they aren’t there, serving the food!!). I asked for my meat to be medium rare and it arrives grey inside…. but I should NOT send it back?? Then why ask me how I wanted it to be cooked, if grey is only the allowable outcome?
Another relative is a sous chef…. he blows more money on alcohol and recreational drugs in a week than I earn in a month, but hey, all restaurant staff CLEARLY honor me with their presence, so I should suck it up?
Another relative has earned $400 in a single NIGHT as a waitperson, no special event, just a pricey restaurant.
No need to cop an attitude, waitpeople.