Sunday, 24 July 2011
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Dining Etiquette: The Awkward Moment When Everyone At The Table Gets Their Food But One Person
This past weekend, two of my best friends and I went to a restaurant in Manhattan called Max Brenner: Chocolate By The Bald Man. It’s an awesome place to go for dessert, but it also has good regular food. I wasn’t too hungry, having eaten the remnants of my half-eaten burrito throughout the afternoon. I guess this worked in my favor.
After waiting about twenty minutes for a table, the three of us sat down in the crowded city restaurant. Waiters and waitresses were bustling passed us with huge trays of food, drinks, and chocolately delicious desserts. We were given menus and I decided on the lemon chicken with cherry tomatoes and roasted potatoes. Kerry and Melissa both got a Greek Salad with feta, red onions, tomatoes, olives, hummus crustini and red-wine vinaigrette. Kerry also a side of chicken/bacon skewers.
Both of their salads, along with the skewers came out within fifteen minutes. My food, however, did not. The girls sat there for a good five minutes while we chatted, and never touched their forks. Finally, the waitress came over to our table.
“I am so sorry, but the food runner brought your chicken to the wrong table, and they’ve eaten half of it…so the kitchen has to completely re-make your meal. It should be out within fifteen minutes.”
The waitress looked like she was going to cry.
“Don’t even worry about it,” I said cheerfully, “I used to be a waitress; these things happen."
“Oh, okay, thank you. Again, I am so sorry.”
She ran off, trying to get to her other 100 tables of not-so-nice patrons I’m sure, and left us there in awkward silence.
“We’ll wait for you to get your food,” Melissa said after a beat.
“Yeah, we’re not gonna eat with you just sitting there,” Kerry agreed.
“Are you crazy? Guys, I’m not even hungry yet. Eat your food before the skewers gets cold and the salads get mushy, and I’ll talk. By the time this story is over, my food will be out.”
They finally started eating, reluctantly. Kerry offered me one of her skewers, but there were only five small ones on the dish, so I declined. Melissa put her piece of toasted bread with bruschetta on it in my dish (she’s one of those skinny girls who are forever dieting and anti-carb), so I ate that as an appetizer.
Eventually, my food came out, along with another apology from the poor waitress, who probably thought her tip was going to be cut in half because of the food runner’s error (clearly she didn’t know who she was dealing with).
A few minutes later, the manager of the restaurant came over to our table, apologizing for what had happened. We all told him not to worry, and then Melissa said with a wink, “It’s okay, just throw in a free dessert and we’ll forgive you guys. We all laughed, and the manager said, “Sounds fair to me. How about a free chocolate fondue?”
Do you know that man gave us a TWENTY-THREE DOLLAR chocolate fondue for free just got being fifteen minutes late with my food? I hope my food is given to the wrong table and makes things slightly awkward for me and my friends for a minute every single time I go out to eat!
Fyi, that fondue was amazing!
Have you ever had an awkward moment because your food (or your friend’s/date’s food) didn’t come out with the other dishes on the table? What did everyone do? Eat or wait? Insist or resist?
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About the Author
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- From: Jennifer
- Name: Jennifer
- About Me: I have had a love affair with food for as long as I can remember. Some people like to drink, some people like to party -- but nothing makes me happier than sitting down to an awesome dinner in a hip (or traditional) restaurant with my family and friends. And the more you get to know me, the more you'll realize that I would give you the shirt off my back, but never -- ever -- try and steal food from my plate! I can do mean things with a fork!
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Comments (41)
i can't believe i'm saying this, but... this post was pretty decent. it was pretty nice of you to just sit there while your friends ate and not make a big deal of it to the waitress. propzzz
That poor waitress!! I used to wait tables too, so I totally understand her situation. I'm glad everything worked out well in the end! :)
23 fucking dollars?! Oh wait. This was Manhattan.
I think you treated the situation with a lot of decorum and class. Your posts are improving, imo :)
I think it depends on who you're with. If I was on a date I would expect me or the other person to wait. But, with my husband or family I'd go ahead and eat and would expect them to eat. No reason for it to get cold!
well aren't you a saint?
I was going to congratulate you on your least offensive post yet, but then I read this:
"Eventually, my food came out, along with another apology from the poor waitress, who probably thought her tip was going to be cut in half because of the food runner’s error (clearly she didn’t know who she was dealing with).
Yes, you're SUCH a gracious and amazing person. My heart is completely warmed by this show of compassion.
It's a shame you didn't choke on that fondue. Then we'd finally be free from your mindless drivel.
yea...normally I just eat my food if someone else doesn't. I gets hungries.
While with an ex bf, we were with his mom, sister & aunt's at a slightly expensive Italian restaurant.. I ordered pasta, which the waitress swore wasn't spicy at all.. We get our food, mine just has that look of being waay too spicy but I take a bite anyway. Next thing I know, I'm choking & can't breathe because I'm pretty sure they put every pepper known to man in that sauce. Even his aunts agreed that it was too hot. I told the waitress that it was too spicy for me, & I ended up having to wait 15-20 minutes while everyone else ate. My food comes out & those.... jerks put pizza sauce on the pasta. I'm glad that it was $15 for pasta with pizza sauce..really. I could have made it myself..or just get a can of chef boyardee for a dollar...
In the end, they only charged us half for it, & gave us a discount on the dessert.. I was still pissed though. I expected an amazing pasta dish & ended up with a 5 year old's dinner. >_< I haven't been back since.
I have and it was really awkward. We were the only people in a fairly large chain restaurant and one of the girls didn't get any of her food. The food never came out even after we let the waitress know what was missing but we were still billed for it. It was sort of a downer on my friends birthday. =[
Please write more posts like these! I love Max Brenner's, and I also love when others are able to be sympathetic toward the waitress.
This happened to me last night, but it seemed to be a plethora of errors.
First my drink order was brought incorrectly, it was a simple order, water with no ice and one lemon wedge. It was with ice and no lemon wedge, ok no problem, just had him correct the error.
Then my friends food came out (2 of them one with a salar and a friend and I ordered the same thing I had, dry rub ribs, but I had a salad instead of fries) ok... waiting... waiting... waiting 15 minutes later, they had started to chow down, the waiter apologized says 5 more minutes.
And appears my Salad, with the wrong dressing.. alright, again I asked him to correct it.. Great.
Then came my ribs, which I specifically ordered without fries. I hate fries, I won't eat them, my friends wouldn't be eating them.. what a waste.
I was 2 ribs into my 4 rib dinner and the manager passes by, stops to ask us how we were doing and I gave a hesitant "fine". He questioned and then I explained each error, he apologized and did something I didn't appreciate he said "how can we fix this, what would you like us to do to fix it".. this is NOT my restaurant or my problem, HE needs to figure out how to fix it, not me.
After I shook my head and said "nothing" he offered a free dessert, great. Thanks I said.
Not the best dinning experience. Bummer.
@HopeWithinReach@xanga - We went to an Organic "Local" restaurant here and the Manager did the same thing. "How would you like for us to fix this?"
Pissed me off.
Mainly because the problem was that there were 2 CATERPILLARS that got sauteed in my SPINACH!! Gross!!
It makes you feel awkward, so you say "nothing" and then Nothing get done. No new plate. No discount. NOTHING.
I've had this happen a lot of the times when I've gone out with my bf. Not just to me, but to my bf as well.
Sometimes errors happen.
Though it always helps to have a waiter/waitress that is humbled and isn't mean about it either. It puts a strain on us if that's the case. Usually we understand if problems happen.
@HopeWithinReach@xanga - @Winter__Raven@xanga - I think they ask that because of a lot of other customers do have opinions how to fix their meal if something goes wrong. And like always, in that kind of setting, customer's opinions are higher than anyone else's. You shouldn't have to be shy about it, I'm usually not if a problem happens. I used to be shy, but I think suffering in silence is no fun at all. You feel all sorts of terrible about it. They really all aim to please you, that's the gist of it. If you're unhappy, you should at least tell them however awkward it is, believe me, it can be awkward but it makes you feel so much better after all.
@Winter__Raven@xanga -
Maybe it's a new trend? Gah, it was terribly annoying! You are exactly right, it made me feel awkward. I didn't want to say "Well you should comp my meal given that there where THREE mistakes made on the only three items I ordered and because by the time everyone was done eating, I was just getting my food!".
Yeesh.
max brenner is sooo expensive. and you got free dessert. jellyyy.
I actually went to Max Brenner the other day and the SAME thing happened to me!!!
You were really nice to the waitress, and I'm sure she really appreciated that.
ALSO. Free fondue from Max Brenner! AWESOME.
That was nice of you to be patient and understanding with your waitress. Free dessert is always nice.
I've had this happen before when eating with my family. We never eat unless everyone has their food, though. It's a rule. Even at the house, you wait until everyone is sitting at the table with their plates fixed before you take a bite.
Maybe my family is crazy, though. lol. We also don't use our phones at the table.
This just happened to me yesterday. Our waiter actually completely forgot one of our orders...
Lucky!!! My mum and I got free cocktails once because the waitress mucked up our order - we saved about £10 on the bill which was pretty awesome :)
At Red Lobster we usually offer you soup while you wait for your wait. Good job on a bearable post.
@the_rocking_of_socks@xanga - I get the feeling she's probably making up some of it.
There are some of her posts that I have not liked that much, but why are all of the haters reading her posts again and again? Are you masochistic or do you just have extra time on your hands. It's not like she makes you read her posts, so stop being so hateful. Spread love, not hate. You don't have to read her "mindless drivel."
Anyway, I enjoyed this post because it showcased Max Brenner: Chocolate by the Bald Man's great service. This means that the restaurant normally has an excellent service run. Also, including photos makes your blog more fun. I rarely include photos in my blog. I have to do that more.
Cheers.
@HopeWithinReach@xanga - He's not asking you how he should fix it. He's asking you how you'd like him to make it all better. He's being polite and offering up pretty much any option.