It looks like Americans’ spirits are up — or at least the sales of spirits to Americans are up, as a new survey shows that people are buying more beer, wine and liquor when they go out to eat. [More]
Travel Channel Host: Yelp Is A Forum For Uninformed Morons To Take Down Restaurants
By December 3, 2012
Since the first food critic bashed a prehistoric cook over the head with a rock, chefs have been trying to appease these evaluators, some of whom had the pull to sink an eatery with a few nasty words. So what happens when not only everyone becomes a critic, but when the place they post their criticism becomes a go-to source for finding grub? [More]
Waitress Gets Crafty, Creates Sippy Cup For Adult Who Spilled Drink
By November 16, 2012
Anyone who has ever spilled a large drink at a restaurant knows how humiliating it can be as everyone flees the spill and then dives in to mop up the mess. But is it a good or bad thing when the waitress brings you a replacement drink with a lid secured by tape? [More]
Is It Ever Acceptable For Waiters To Be Unpleasant?
By November 13, 2012
The “snooty waiter” who looks down his nose with disdain at his customers is a character that has been trotted out on film and TV too many times to count. But while we may not blink when we see this well-known caricature on screen, it’s a different story when that same snob is taking your lunch order. [More]
Would Chipotle Be The Same With Drive-Thru Windows?
By October 25, 2012
To many Chipotle customers, part of the reason for going to the restaurant chain is that you get to watch your burritos and bowls made to order right in front of you, but the company apparently needs to bring in new customers and thinks that adding drive-thru windows might help. [More]
Denny’s Is Really Hoping You All Want To Chow Down On Hobbit Food
By October 23, 2012
Given the runaway success of the three Lord of the Rings films, marketers are banking that Peter Jackson’s return to Middle Earth with the first part of The Hobbit will be equally lucrative. Which is why you’ll soon be seeing an actual Hobbit tie-in menu at Denny’s. [More]
Some Residents Claim Pay-What-You-Can Panera Is Hurting Neighborhood
By October 3, 2012
Over the last couple years, the folks at Panera have slowly been expanding their pay-what-you-can Panera Cares eateries beyond the initial experiment in Missouri. But the latest Panera Cares, located in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood, is drawing some jeers from local residents who say the restaurant is attracting an undesirable element. [More]
Why Don't More Women Dine At Hooters?
By September 13, 2012
The new leadership at Hooters — long deemed a restaurant for people who are afraid to be seen at a strip club, and who haven’t figured out it’s cheaper to just eat at home and watch cable TV — says it’s tired of being a mostly-men joint and wants to make the eatery more appealing to those not drawn in by the allure of women wearing tight T-shirts. [More]
Potty Training Your Kids At The Restaurant Table Might Possibly Upset Nearby Diners
By September 5, 2012
Whatever you might think of mom’s breastfeeding their young children in public, there are generally laws protecting those women. The same can’t be said for potty training your kids in the middle of a restaurant. [More]
Restaurant Gets Around Foie Gras Ban By “Gifting” It To Customers
By July 16, 2012
The list of clever end runs around California’s recent ban on the sale of foie gras continues to grow. First it was the restaurant that claimed exemption from the law because it’s in a national park. Now comes an eatery that says the ban doesn’t stop a business from giving foie gras away to customers. [More]
Am I Supposed To Tip At An Event With An Open Bar?
By July 9, 2012
When most people go to a bar, they take care to tip the bartender and/or the wait staff. But for many people, that courtesy seems to go out the window when someone else is picking up the tab, as guests assume that the tip has also been taken care of (or just don’t think about it at all). But are they making the right assumption? [More]
Massachusetts City Considers Ban On Large Sodas At Restaurants
By June 19, 2012
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has found an ally in his battle against sugary soft drinks, as the mayor of Cambridge, Mass., announced last night that she’s also considering a ban on large sodas served at the city’s restaurants. [More]
Waiter Kindly Lets Cook Know That He Has A Tendency To F*&k Up The Eggs Benedict
By June 11, 2012
Think of all the times you may have complained to restaurant servers that your food was prepared poorly or incorrectly. Then think of all the times in a single day that same server has had to take complaints and re-do orders back to the kitchen. At least one waiter out there decided to put his feelings in writing. [More]
Diner Demands $100 Gift Card To Not Post Negative Yelp Review
By May 29, 2012
We’ve written before about companies offering free stuff or discounts in exchange for positive online reviews — or for removing negative comments — but a restaurant in California says a disgruntled diner tried to use the threat of a scathing Yelp review to squeeze a $100 gift card out of the eatery. [More]
What Peeves You Most When You Eat At A Restaurant?
By May 23, 2012
Most of the time when you go out to a restaurant, you’re not only paying for food, but also for service and ambiance. So even if the meal was perfectly prepared, there are still plenty of things about which diners feel justified to complain. [More]
Study Claims 1 In 3 Restaurant Servers Discriminate Against Black Customers
By April 25, 2012
We’d like to believe that when we go into a restaurant, the waitstaff will treat everyone at the table equally (which may be a good or bad thing, depending on the server), but a new survey claims that more than one-third of servers admit to providing inferior service to African-American customers, and more than half say they’ve seen other servers treating customers poorly based on race. [More]
Culinary Bill Shock: Beware The Secret $275 Truffle Pasta Special!
By April 9, 2012
There’s a small, innocuous-looking cafe on Madison Ave that you may find yourself considering on your next meander through New York City. Watch out, says BoingBoing, whose Rob Beschizza wandered into the place on a lark, you’re about to get socked with hidden charges. How bad could it be? Behold: [More]
Statistical Evidence You Should Just Stay Home And Eat In On Valentine's Day
By January 25, 2012
Valentine’s Day doesn’t just suck for singles who don’t want to be reminded of their singlehood. It’s also a pain in the tuchus for couples scrambling to find a dinner reservation, sometimes at a restaurant with ridiculously marked-up menu “specials.” Thankfully, statistics have come to the rescue to show that you should really just stay in and avoid the hassle. [More]
