My Restaurant Pet Peeves - Part 5

It’s time for the final installment of my restaurant pet peeves blog series! It has felt really good to get all these pet peeves off my chest, but I’m not quite done yet. My last category of restaurant pet peeves has to do with restaurant policies and practices that detract from enjoying the experience of eating out. Let’s end my pet peeves rant now!!

The bar at our favorite Peruvian restaurant Selva Grill

Who knew so many things about eating out at restaurants annoyed me so much? It has taken me five, count em, five blog posts to work my way through all of my restaurant pet peeves, making this blog series my longest by far. But truth be told, there are many more things I love about eating out at restaurants than I dislike. I could do a separate blog series about all of those things, but it would pretty much read like contrasting “likes” for each of my pet peeves, so no point in going that route!

Despite all of my pet peeves, a significant majority of my restaurant experiences have been positive, rewarding, and enjoyable. It’s usually the case that everyone is working their hardest to make the customer experience as excellent as possible, from the host/hostess to the servers to the cooks to the managers to the owners. And I truly appreciate all the hard work that goes into creating a rewarding dining experience! It’s also true that in most cases where things go wrong and a restaurant doesn’t deliver, they do what they can to address the problem and rectify it. Which is all a long way of saying, my pet peeves are just that and nothing more – a long list of things that irritate me when eating out, but that I rarely encounter.

All that said, all restaurants should make sure they avoid the following policies and practices that only serve to annoy and irritate customers!

• Not managing reservations properly. When I make a reservation, I always honor it and make sure we arrive either slightly before our reservation time or right on time. If I’m going to be late (usually due to unanticipated traffic issues), I’ll call to let the restaurant know so they hold our reservation. In my view, managing a reservation properly means being seated within 5-10 minutes of the reservation time. If it’s going to be longer than that for whatever reason (which I understand might happen sometimes), I expect to be notified of the situation instead of being made to wait without explanation. There’s one restaurant that Laurie and I love, but that sometimes struggles to manage their reservations properly. It’s not unusual to wait 15 minutes or longer past your reservation time to be seated – it’s really annoying. One visit, we actually waited over 30 minutes to be seated, without explanation, and once we were seated, they put us in an empty annex/party room alone without any other patrons – unacceptable! In those situations, the restaurant needs to make things right by comping drinks or an appetizer (which didn’t happen in this case). Communication by the host/hostess is key here when things go wrong and isn’t difficult to do.

• Dirty utensils, dirty wine glasses, dirty tables, dirty bathrooms, dirty floors, dirty anything. Is there anything more important than cleanliness in a restaurant? If they can’t provide clean utensils, clean glassware, and clean bathrooms, why would I believe the kitchen is clean, staff hands are washed regularly and properly, and food is handled safely? In general, if I see a dirty dining room or bathroom, it’s highly likely I’ll never return again. For more minor issues (like dirty utensils or glassware for instance), I’ll just make the server aware and ask for clean ones but even then, my Spidey sense is elevated and I’m more attentive to the condition of the place, and the food as well. 

  
  

• Restaurants that don’t properly acknowledge special occasions. OK, bear with me on this one. It’s not my position that a restaurant is obligated to do anything special when you are celebrating a special occasion at their establishment, especially if you offer that information to your server or host yourself without them asking – a simple acknowledgement of the occasion on their part is sufficient. But if they specifically ask if you are celebrating a special occasion or ask that question when you are making a reservation, then they should acknowledge the occasion with a nice note, or a gratis cocktail or desert. Otherwise, why ask the question?

• Loud dining rooms. This has become more of an issue the older I get, but really loud dining rooms are a particular pet peeve of mine. Whether it’s the volume of the music, the acoustics of the space, or tables placed too close together – I find it really difficult to enjoy the dining experience when I can’t hear what my fellow diners are saying. Many of the newer, fine dining restaurants seem to be taking this issue into account when designing their dining rooms, but too many restaurants seem to be oblivious to this issue. And yes, I get it – some places like sports bars are just going to be loud, so I have nothing to complain about there. But for other eating establishments and especially those that claim to offer a finer dining experience, I shouldn’t have to ask them to turn down their music so I can converse with others at my table.

• Restaurants that include a pre-set gratuity on the bill. Many restaurants include a gratuity on the bill for larger parties of 8 or more guests – I don’t really have a problem with that. But some restaurants include a pre-set gratuity (usually 18-20%) as a standard practice (our community clubhouse restaurant does this), and I don’t like it at all. First, I’ll decide on the tip amount based on the service I receive, thank you very much! I think it’s a bit presumptuous to force a customer to pay a particular amount for service, regardless of whether the service might merit it or not. Even worse is when the restaurant doesn’t disclose the practice up front, or in clear and plain language on the menu. Too often, it’s hidden on the bill and if you don’t know about the policy, it’s highly likely you won’t see it and pay two tips. Restaurants need to stop this predatory practice and leave the tipping to the customer.

  
  

• Restaurants that don’t have mobile credit card readers. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never liked giving my credit card to some random server and having them disappear with it for 5-10 minutes while they run it for the bill. Call me paranoid, but I’ve had my credit card information stolen too many times under those circumstances (four times to be exact) to trust anyone with that information. Which is why I absolutely love mobile credit card readers where the server runs your credit card at your table right in front of you using a mobile card reader – it’s safe, it’s secure, and it’s convenient. More restaurants should do this! 

  
  

Whew! I’m exhausted! But I definitely feel better now! Now it’s your turn – what are your restaurant pet peeves, and do you have any that I haven’t mentioned yet? Let me know!!