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Ways Restaurants Try To Squeeze More Money Out Of You
By Phil Villarreal on March 27, 2012 11:15 AM
144 Comments
When you sit down at a restaurant, you're often engaging in a tug-of-war with the establishment to get you to fork over more money than you originally planned. Owners employ clever little tricks to get you to up the amount of your final check. More »
(KitanaOR)
Lose Weight By Eating In Restaurants?
By Meg Marco on January 10, 2012 12:45 PM
40 Comments
Ah yes. The dream. To lose weight while eating in restaurants and thus maintaining needed contact with other humans. Can it be done? According to one study, yes, it can. More »
How To Spot An Awful Restaurant In Seconds
By Phil Villarreal on September 16, 2011 10:15 AM
244 Comments
The worst time to realize you've chosen a bad restaurant is after you've placed your drink order. You're locked in to a financial commitment, so it's tough to justify uprooting and heading somewhere else. If you're careful to spot the signs of a bad dining establishment before you sit down, you won't find yourself in that predicament. More »
(Muffet)
Striking Restaurant Workers Accuse Owner Of Charging $8 For Bottles Of Tap Water
By Chris Morran on August 25, 2011 12:15 PM
55 Comments
You may remember the story from January of the employees at a swanky Central Park restaurant who recorded their boss allegedly threatening them if they joined a union. Now those same employees have come out with allegations that the eatery misled customers into paying $8 for bottles of regular old tap water. More »
Restaurant Turns Away Diners For Having Too Many Service Dogs
By Chris Morran on June 28, 2011 12:17 PM
349 Comments
Police were summoned to a Boston-area restaurant over the weekend after a group of 13 diners, including six with service dogs, were turned away by the manager for fear that so many canines could cause chaos. More »
800 NYC Restaurants Caught Trying To Hide Sub-Par Health Inspection Grades
By Chris Morran on June 15, 2011 11:35 AM
42 Comments
Last summer, the New York City Board of Health began requiring all restaurants to post the letter-grade results of their latest health inspections. But a large number of eateries with non-A marks opted either to not post their grade or post it in a spot where no one could see it. More »
NYC May Add Bar Codes To Restaurant Inspection Grades
By Chris Morran on February 23, 2011 10:15 AM
57 Comments
It's been about a year since New York City eateries began posting huge letter grades to reflect their latest health inspection results, but now the city's Health Department is thinking about adding bar codes that people could scan to get more in-depth info on that restaurant's specific results. More »
Should The Guy Always Pay On The First Date?
By Chris Morran on October 29, 2010 2:15 PM
274 Comments
It's nearly the weekend, which means at least some of you will be going out on dates, a handful of which will be first date. And in spite of all talk of gender equality, many people still think it's the man's job to foot the bill. More »
(jayRaz)
How Long Is Too Long To Linger After Finishing Your Meal?
By Chris Morran on July 9, 2010 1:31 PM
174 Comments
If you've dined out enough in your life, you've likely been on both sides of the waiting game... You're the one standing at the front of the restaurant, scanning the room for diners who seem to be wrapping things up. Or you're the ones sitting at the table, finishing up dessert or sipping your third cup of coffee, even though people are waiting for a table. More »
The Census Is Getting Weird With Its Marketing
surprise fear and surprise surprise, fear, and a ruthless efficiency to remind people to send back their forms. Oh, and they're ruining fortune cookies. I fully expect to be forced into a comfy chair soon, which all in all isn't a bad way to be tortured, so meh. More »
By Chris Walters on March 30, 2010 9:00 PM
73 Comments
"Nobody expects the U.S. Census! Our chief weapon is surprise!" A Seattle blogger posted a photograph of a fortune she received in her fortune cookie recently, and it looks like the Census is using 
24 Secret Menu Options To Dream About
By Phil Villarreal on March 4, 2010 9:33 AM
85 Comments
It's been nearly three years since Meg put together that epic list of every secret menu known to mankind, and now Coupon Sherpa is following up with 24 items you may not have known you could order. More »
(KitanaOR)
Is It Ever OK To Walk Out Of A Terrible Restaurant Without Paying?
By Meg Marco on March 1, 2010 1:25 PM
219 Comments
Reader C wants to know if it is possible for a restaurant's service to be so bad that you are justified in walking out. We're thinking he means "morally" justified because we're pretty sure you need to pay if you eat the food. More »
Jack In The Box's Free Wi-Fi Experiment Ended. Did Anyone Notice?
By Chris Walters on February 9, 2010 9:24 AM
16 Comments
Knowzy.com, the website that's been tracking which Jack in the Box stores were offering free Wi-Fi, reports that the restaurant chain has pulled the plug. The Wi-Fi offer came with the installation of HDTVs that displayed ads in the dining area, but those are gone too: "In mid-2009, the TVs and the Wi-Fi began disappearing. By the time McDonald's made their free Wi-Fi announcement in December, Jack had completely dismantled his Wi-Fi network." More »
(Photo: Giorgio Montersino)
Secrets Of Waiters
By Chris Walters on December 1, 2009 10:35 AM
144 Comments
Michelle Crouch at Reader's Digest has compiled another list of secrets that your waiter won't tell you. Some are just going to make you annoyed, like the waitress who lies for sympathy tips. But there are plenty of useful secrets on the list that might improve your experience the next time you go out to eat. More »
Let This Flowchart Tell You Which Chain Restaurant To Visit Next
By Chris Walters on November 30, 2009 2:52 PM
115 Comments
Sometimes it's hard to decide on a chain restaurant when you're going out to eat. Luckily, the blog Eating The Road has produced a handy flowchart. What I like best about it is it asks the important questions, things like "Are you Drunk? Do you want to be? Are you high?" And most important, "Do you mind flair?" More »
50 More Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do
By Meg Marco on November 6, 2009 3:20 PM
224 Comments
—>As promised, here is part II of the NYT "Stuff Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do" series. The list was written by a fellow who is opening a seafood restaurant in Bridgehampton, NY. We've grabbed the most debate-worthy of them for your enjoyment. More »
50 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do
By Meg Marco on November 3, 2009 3:06 PM
434 Comments
—>Over at the NYT there is a raging debate going on about restaurant server etiquette. We won't reproduce all 50 "do nots" here, but we did pick a few particularly debate worthy edicts. More »
How To Make The Most Of Your Fancy Restaurant Experience
By Chris Walters on August 27, 2009 1:30 PM
177 Comments
—>Frank Bruni, the outgoing restaurant critic at the New York Times, has used his last column to provide tips on how to get the best value out of your next fine dining experience. More »
Eat Out And Save
By Carey Alexander on June 30, 2009 4:30 PM
132 Comments
—>Eating out is one of the fastest ways to burn a hole through your wallet, but with a few tips from Five Cent Nickel, you can still enjoy a good meal without breaking the bank. More »
Sharing Restaurant Dishes Is Becoming Slightly More Acceptable
By Carey Alexander on February 28, 2009 8:04 PM
95 Comments
—>Good news thrifty diners, you're not the only ones asking to share dishes at restaurants these days. Thanks to the recession, it's becoming acceptable for everyone to split their dishes, and restaurants aren't complaining. "Now all bets are off," said David Pogrebin, manager of the snazzy French restaurant Brasserie. "People are not ashamed of being frugal." More »
