The menu may identify a fish dish as one thing, but that doesn’t necessarily stop the cook from sending in a stunt-fish to take its place. The practice of baiting diners with an attractive-sounding fish and switching it with something less appealing may be more common than most people realize. [More]
restaurants
McDonald's Serves Up TV To Go Along With Your Burger, Fries And Regret
By 10.18.11
The McDonald’s corporate types must think the ambiance of their dining rooms may be a little lacking. Perhaps that’s why they are testing the McDonald’s Channel, a roundup of news and entertainment segments, tailored to each community, that will play as you succumb to the siren song of empty calories. [More]
Survey: We're Eating More Fast Food But Going To Restaurants Less Frequently
By 10.17.11
Personal budgets remain tight, so fewer Americans are dining out at full-service restaurants. But on the speedier side of the food service industry, fast food sales are up, according to new reports. [More]
Are San Francisco Restaurants Actually Pushing To Make 25% The Standard Tip?
By 10.14.11
Earlier this week, a writer for the San Jose Mercury News posted a story claiming that wait staff and high-end restaurants in San Francisco are behind a move to make 25% tips standard across the city. But is this actually true or just hype? [More]
The Right Way To Get A Bartender's Attention
By 10.11.11
If you’ve ever felt like you need to send off flares and sparklers in order to get a drink from the bar, bartender and bar culture author Rosie Schaap has some advice on things that will work to get served faster. [More]
Lime Mexican Grill Turns Arizona Immigration Controversy Into Marketing
By 9.28.11
Among the many hot-button debates of the last few years has been the state of Arizona’s controversial proposals to deal with the issue of illegal immigration. But while both sides of the debate take the topic very seriously, the folks at Southeastern restaurant chain Lime Mexican Grill have decided to have some fun with it. [More]
Heinz Rolling Out "Dip And Squeeze" Ketchup Packets
By 9.19.11
If you’ve ever cursed the gods for making ketchup packets both awkward and filled with too little ketchup, Heinz has heard your cry. They’ve started to roll out to a broader audience the “dip and squeeze” ketchup packets that have three times more ketchup and serves as both a dipping tray and a squeeze packet. I tried one this weekend. [More]
Scribbling 9/11 Joke On To-Go Container Is A Good Way To Get Fired
By 9.13.11
A bartender at a Houston-area restaurant is without a job today because he apparently thought it was giggle-worthy to leave a “Happy Sep” message — complete with cartoon plane about to hit the Twin Towers — on the to-go container of a Muslim customer. [More]
Restaurant Sues Dex Media For Making It Butt Of Leno Joke
By 9.12.11
It’s less than advantageous for a restaurant to be grouped with animal carcass removal companies. A Montana eatery suffered such an indignity two years ago in online and printed listings by by Dex Media, suffering a heavy hit to its reputation, even ending up as fodder for Jay Leno on his Headlines segment. The restaurant owner has sued for, among other charges, negligence, defamation and slander, and wants Dex to compensate the business for the money it spent building up the brand, as well as a TV commercial to set the record straight. [More]
Telling A Diner She Looks Pregnant Is Not A Good Way To Get Tips
By 9.8.11
Here’s a tip for everyone, but especially those in the food service field: Even if you’re pretty certain that a female customer is pregnant, you might want to not mention it, lest you end up stiffed on a tip and the recipient of an angry note. [More]
Only In LA: A Bottled Water Menu
By 8.31.11
In a land where image is everything, of course there’s a fancy restaurant with a bottled water menu. Yes, I’m looking at you Los Angeles, combination chimera, sphinx, harlot, and now, purveyor of “Vichy Catalán sparkling (1000ml), Spain, $12. Ancient water with an astonishing 3,052 milligrams per litre of Total Dissolved…” More like TDBS! [More]
California Considering Ban On Styrofoam To-Go Containers
By 8.29.11
Though many of the large fast food chains ditched Styrofoam containers many moons ago, there are still plenty of restaurants that continue to use Styrofoam for packing up to-go orders for customers. But a bill before the California State Assembly could put an end to that in the Golden State. [More]
Striking Restaurant Workers Accuse Owner Of Charging $8 For Bottles Of Tap Water
By 8.25.11
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]
Insulting Restaurant Staff On Twitter While You're Still In The Restaurant Might Get You Kicked Out Of Restaurant
By 8.17.11
Think of this as the counter-point to the earlier Twitter-related post. A diner at a Houston restaurant was given the boot after she decided to Tweet her opinion of the staff while she was still at the eatery. [More]
Restaurant Apologizes For Mistake With Free Chocolate Cake For New Mother
By 8.3.11
A little bit of kindness will get you far. A little bit of chocolate cake will get you even farther, as one restaurant manager, a husband, and his wife who had just given birth found out. [More]
Restaurant Just Says No To Children Under 6
By 7.11.11
Less than a year after a North Carolina restaurant made headlines by saying it would eject “crying, screaming, whining” kids, a Pennsylvania eatery has gone one step further and banned anyone under the age of 6 from eating there. [More]
"Suggested Gratuity" Calculations Can Incorrectly Include Tax
By 6.21.11
Whether your standard tipping policy is 10%, 15%, or 20%, the calculation is supposed to made on the bill’s subtotal before tax. After all, the taxman didn’t have a pleasant pairing suggestion or crack a wry joke. But at the bottom of some restaurant bills, the “suggested gratuity” included “for your convenience” is sometimes wrong, making the calculation after sales tax is added. Reader Mark spotted two of these recently. [More]
Bananas Foster Inferno Possibly Started By Inappropriate Pouring
By 6.16.11
An update on that flaming banana desert that engulfed a customer in flame story from earlier in the week: according to witnesses the waiter poured the alcohol on using the whole bottle instead of using a ladle. The flames then shot back up into the bottle and caused the “explosion of fire.” The diner who was covered in fire remains sedated in the hospital. [More]
