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]
restaurants
Burning Bananas Leave Diner Covered In Flames
By 6.13.11
A family was helicoptered to the hospital with severe burns after a tropical dessert ended in tragedy. The waiter poured the 151 proof rum over the plate of bananas Foster, a treat consisting of bananas sauteed in butter and soaked in alcohol and often served over ice cream, and then lit it. The liquid fire then spilled onto several members of the family, leaving one woman’s body covered in flames as her dress caught fire. [More]
Diners and Employees at Marie Callender's Restaurants Abruptly Kicked Out
By 6.13.11
Marie Callendar’s may be known for warm pot pies, but patrons and employees of Marie Callendar’s restaurants in Washington got a cold bit of news last night: The eatery’s parent company told restaurant managers they needed to shut down and tell customers — some in the middle of their meals — to get out. [More]
"Breastaurants" Growing In Popularity Nationwide
By 6.10.11
Eating establishments known as “breastaurants” — which pretty much means exactly what you think it does — are gaining in popularity, as chains with names like Twin Peaks and Tilted Kilt compete with Hooters (which brings in about $1 billion a year in revenue) to offer “a different level of service and attentiveness” to their customers. [More]
How Booze Keeps Getting Served In Sippy Cups To Kids At Restaurants
By 5.23.11
We’ve had a few stories about toddlers accidentally getting served alcohol inside sippy cups by the waiters at big-name chain restaurants and wondered, how in the heck did that happen? According to what some restaurant insiders say, there’s a very simple and sad explanation. [More]
If You Wanted Real Bacon, You Should Have Said So
By 5.5.11
While Denny’s continues to celebrate the glorious festival of Baconalia, Robert encountered quite the opposite recently at a local restaurant. He ordered a Cobb salad that included, among other things, bacon. When it arrived containing imitation bacon, he complained to the waitress and was told that if he wanted real bacon, he should have specified that he wanted the real thing. [More]
Tips For Cutting The Bill While Eating Out
By 4.25.11
Just because we might not have hefty bank accounts doesn’t mean Americans are staying away from eating out at restaurants. So if you’ve got the urge to splurge on a meal away from home, take these money-saving tips into account and your dining out experience won’t have to hurt your wallet quite so much. [More]
Feds Crack Down On Restaurant Owners For Allegedly Employing Illegal Immigrants
By 4.21.11
Apparently some restaurants are in the habit of hiring undocumented workers to do grunt work, paying them in cash to avoid taxes. The feds are onto this brazen scheme, and put the smackdown on two owners of a restaurant chain based in Arizona and California, as well as their accountant. [More]
Mass. Restaurant Chain Fined $110K For Data Breach
By 3.30.11
A Massachusetts restaurant chain agreed to pay a $110,000 fine to settle a complaint that alleged hackers nabbed customers’ credit card and debit card info in 2009. [More]
How To Split A Restaurant Check
By 3.16.11
Are you going out to eat today? The Awl provides this helpful guide to splitting the check at a restaurant. Writer Neel Shah helpfully devises different rules for people over and under the age of 25. Or maybe for people who are or aren’t poor. Whatever the case, there’s a social contract involved, and if you only pay what you owe down to the last cent, you’re sort of a cheap jerk. Or under 25. [More]
Billboard Comes Down After Outcry Over Jonestown Reference
By 2.23.11
You know what puts me in the mood for Mexican food? References to ’70s suicide cults. I must be the only one, though, because an Indiana restaurant chain ended a billboard campaign after complaints about its Jonestown theme. “We’re like a cult, with better Kool-Aid,” the billboards read. “To die for!” [More]
NYC May Add Bar Codes To Restaurant Inspection Grades
By 2.23.11
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]
Seattle-Area Restaurant Refuses To Serve TSA Agents
By 2.22.11
Fed up with what he views as crappy treatment from the TSA, the owner of a restaurant near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has decided to put all TSA agents on his No-Eat List. [More]
How Not To Show A Restaurant That You're Annoyed :(
By 2.22.11
What’s more obnoxious than leaving a few pennies on the restaurant table as a tip to make a point? Try writing in a tip of two cents on your credit-card slip, then leaving a passive-aggressive note with a smiley face. [More]
Olive Garden Replaces The Uneaten Lasagna You Left Behind
By 2.17.11
Restaurants like the Olive Garden that serve immense portions are used to boxing up diners’ food and sending them on their way, sure. A fair amount of these boxes must be left behind, because people are forgetful. When Else filled up on salad and breadsticks and didn’t touch her lasagna, she wandered off without her carryout box. She called the restaurant to see whether her box hadn’t been thrown away. It had. But they had something even better forher. [More]
Restaurant Seats Us, Then Kicks Us Out For Being Late
By 2.16.11
When you’re late for your restaurant reservation, it’s well within the establishment’s rights not to seat you at all, or to make you wait until after customers who actually showed up on time are settled at their tables. Steven writes that he showed up late for his reservation on Valentine’s Day, but restaurant staff initially seated him and his companion. When they were about to order, a restaurant employee came and asked them to leave the table, since they had really forfeited their reservation and the restaurant had seated them by mistake. Steven didn’t just leave the table, he left the restaurant and dined elsewhere–and now isn’t sure how to follow up on the experience. [More]
Fast Food Calorie Counts Don't Stop Kids From Overeating, Either
By 2.15.11
A provision in last year’s federal health care reform bill requires all food-serving establishments with more than 20 outlets to post the calorie count of every item on the menu so customers know exactly what they’re getting themselves into. The FDA is taking nationwide an idea that some cities and counties had already put in place. It seems like a good idea in theory, but studies show that calorie counts on menus just make people say “ah, screw it” and order the same amount of food that they would have without the calorie posting–or more. A new study in this month’s International Journal of Obesity shows that children, too, fall into the same delicious caloric trap. [More]
Angry Restaurant Workers Secretly Tape Bosses
By 1.28.11
Some employees at a famous restaurant NYC’s Central Park got so fed up with the way they were being treated by their bosses that they took matters into their own hands and began secretly tape-recording workplace conversations. [More]
