Author Topic: Dining Out - Pleasurable or Painful?  (Read 38376 times)

Offline Kerry

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • BetterMost Moderator
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 7,076
  • ^ In pursuit of Captain Moonlite - 5 Sept 2009
    • Google Profile
Dining Out - Pleasurable or Painful?
« on: January 10, 2009, 11:36:05 pm »

Dining Out
Pleasurable or Painful?



Take the poll and tell us what your pet peeves about dining out are.

It's not so much poor food as hovering waiters, meager servings and sneaky surcharges that are leaving diners with a bad taste.

A guide released by the British consumer watchdog found the top gripes of restaurant customers had more to do with the overall experience than the bill of fare.

The most common complaints were of restaurants that encouraged tipping when a surcharge had already been added to the bill, as was the addition of unstated cover and bread charges.

The UK Good Food Guide also found that serving scanty portions ensures a customer will not return.

And while open salt and pepper bowls are appearing on the tables of fashionable British restaurants, they are a turn off.

"They may be in fashion but not knowing whose fingers have been in there already puts off customers,'' the guide says.

Sydney diner Greg Duncan, 29, eats out three times a week. He disliked "greedy restaurants that attempt to fit in two sittings per meal''.

"There is nothing more frustrating than turning up for your 8pm booking and having to wait half an hour for your table,'' he said.

"But my biggest general complaint about Sydney restaurants is paying $110 for a bottle of red that I know I can pick up for $30 at the local liquor shop,'' he said.

Mr Duncan said while giving a 10 per cent tip was standard, waiters shouldn't expect to get one if they were rude or incompetent.

A spokesman for Choice magazine, Christopher Zinn, said the standard of restaurants was generally high in Australia but it was important for owners not to rest on their laurels.

"Like any other business a lot depends on word of mouth,'' he said.

"That can make or break a restaurant.'

Elizabeth Carter, editor of The UK Good Food Guide, said dining out could be memorable for all the wrong reasons.

"Restaurateurs looking to raise their game this year could do a lot worse than listen to their customers' pet hates,'' she said.

"They're often simple mistakes that can be rectified.''


γνῶθι σεαυτόν

Offline David In Indy

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • Moderator
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 18,447
  • You've Got Male
Re: Dining Out - Pleasurable or Painful?
« Reply #1 on: January 11, 2009, 12:24:24 am »
Around here the problem isn't small portions. The portions are much too large. I always have to ask for a doggie bag and I end up bringing half of my dinner home with me. I suppose that really isn't a problem, but it mystifies me why they want to serve such massive amounts of food. :-\

Hoovering waiters can be annoying too, unless they are cute... and single! ;)

Dogs have owners. Cats have staff.

Offline Kerry

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • BetterMost Moderator
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 7,076
  • ^ In pursuit of Captain Moonlite - 5 Sept 2009
    • Google Profile
Re: Dining Out - Pleasurable or Painful?
« Reply #2 on: January 11, 2009, 01:00:04 am »
In Sydney, the really expensive restaurants serve a tiny amount of beautifully presented food, artistically structured like a miniature Tower of Babel, in the centre of a huge, white, bone china dinner plate. Not that I make a habit of eating at such places on my budget, but the last time I dined up-market (it was a special occasion), I literally ate the entire meal in approx 3 bites. And I'm still paying off the bill in monthly installments (Joke!). I'm lucky where I live, in the centre of Sydney's thriving cafe society. I'm only a walk away from Little Italy (though, come to think of it, that's where I got that posh, ultra-expensive, teeny-weeny meal) and the western annex of Sydney's gay ghetto, where there are lots of reasonably priced restaurants and cafes. I'm a creature of habit and usually gravitate to the same couple of places whenever I dine out (I prefer to do lunch, rather than dining out at night). Prices are under $20 and the portions are a good size; though, not so big as to need a doggy bag.  :D
γνῶθι σεαυτόν

Offline David In Indy

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • Moderator
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 18,447
  • You've Got Male
Re: Dining Out - Pleasurable or Painful?
« Reply #3 on: January 11, 2009, 01:28:02 am »
We have some of those restaurants around here too Kerry. Most of them are either located downtown or in the more ritzy areas of Indy such as Carmel, Zionsville and Broad Ripple. But I know what you mean about the "three bites and it's gone" deal.

Since Indianapolis is a Midwestern city, meat and potatoes tend to be the most popular types of fare around here and restaurants in this area often serve landlubber dishes, or surf and turf. We have lots of very high class steak restaurants, although there are other types of restaurants too. But the size of those steaks are unbelievable. I can't finish something that big!

I was watching a show on the Travel Channel called "Man vs Food" and Adam (the star of the show) sat down and ate a 72 oz steak, along with a baked potato, rolls and a salad in 29 minutes. I'll never understand how he did it. I have a difficult time finishing a 12 oz steak! :P

Adam is quite cute btw! :D



Dogs have owners. Cats have staff.

Offline ZK

  • BetterMost 1000+ Posts Club
  • ******
  • Posts: 1,206
Re: Dining Out - Pleasurable or Painful?
« Reply #4 on: January 11, 2009, 02:57:55 am »
My biggest grumble is lunch cafes that charge for water. I went to a sushi stand at a mall not so long ago with my daughter and we spent $20 on sushi and I asked for a glass of water for my daughter. That was fine they provided the water but wanted to charge me for a single glass of water. Hummpph water is free over here, aside from the washing of the glass there is no outlay for the restaurant.  I grumbled to the girl and we won't go back there

Offline Front-Ranger

  • BetterMost Moderator
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 30,288
  • Brokeback got us good.
Re: Dining Out - Pleasurable or Painful?
« Reply #5 on: January 11, 2009, 03:08:38 am »
My friend Adam can easily finish a 12 oz steak and then polish off the rest of my meal as well!!  ;D

"chewing gum and duct tape"

Offline David In Indy

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • Moderator
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 18,447
  • You've Got Male
Re: Dining Out - Pleasurable or Painful?
« Reply #6 on: January 11, 2009, 03:32:41 am »
My biggest grumble is lunch cafes that charge for water. I went to a sushi stand at a mall not so long ago with my daughter and we spent $20 on sushi and I asked for a glass of water for my daughter. That was fine they provided the water but wanted to charge me for a single glass of water. Hummpph water is free over here, aside from the washing of the glass there is no outlay for the restaurant.  I grumbled to the girl and we won't go back there

It's free over here too Matt. Lord have mercy, over here they continue to fill our water glasses until our teeth float. And it's all free! I can't even imagine being charged for a glass of ice water. That is unheard of where I live. People would balk at the very idea.

I'm so glad you spend so much time with your daughter. And one of these days I will try sushi. I don't like fish, but Amanda, Lee and you have ALMOST talked me into it. :)

Kerry? Have you tried sushi? How did you like it?
Dogs have owners. Cats have staff.

Offline jstephens9

  • BetterMost 1000+ Posts Club
  • ******
  • Posts: 4,327
Re: Dining Out - Pleasurable or Painful?
« Reply #7 on: January 11, 2009, 03:35:16 am »
My friend Adam can easily finish a 12 oz steak and then polish off the rest of my meal as well!!  ;D



I do not doubt that at all Lee from knowing Adam and yet he stays slim as a rail.

Offline David In Indy

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • Moderator
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 18,447
  • You've Got Male
Re: Dining Out - Pleasurable or Painful?
« Reply #8 on: January 11, 2009, 03:35:51 am »
My friend Adam can easily finish a 12 oz steak and then polish off the rest of my meal as well!!  ;D



:laugh:

I wonder if they are one and the same Lee?!

They have the same appetite at least, don't they?

Adam on the Travel Channel is a bit pudgy, but he looks very cuddly and huggable... like a teddy bear. I'd go for him. He has a cute personality too, which is very important.
Dogs have owners. Cats have staff.

Offline Kerry

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • BetterMost Moderator
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 7,076
  • ^ In pursuit of Captain Moonlite - 5 Sept 2009
    • Google Profile
Re: Dining Out - Pleasurable or Painful?
« Reply #9 on: January 11, 2009, 07:50:41 am »

Kerry? Have you tried sushi? How did you like it?


I don't mind fish, David, but I'm not a big fish eater. I particularly can't stand the smell of fish. Ooey-pooey! If I'm eating fish, it must be a non-fishy smelling, white-meat fish like Bream, Blue-Eyed Cod, John Dory or Swordfish. They're all non-stinky. I'm allergic to prawns so can't eat them. And I wouldn't want to, even if I could. They look and smell disgusting. I call them "cockroaches of the sea." I've tried eating oysters and muscles but just can't get into them. I resent paying big money for something that looks like someone's blown their nose in a seashell and put it on a bed of lettuce for me to eat.

Which brings me to Sushi. It's considered very trendy to be into Sushi here in Sydney. All the trendoids rave about Sushi. But let's call a spade a spade. It's raw meat. And what's worse, it's raw fish meat. Yetch! Having said that, however, I was swayed by some Sushi-loving friends some time ago, who sang the praises of a certain Sushi restaurant they knew, and convinced me to accompany them. So we went along to this very nice, up-market Sushi place (I couldn't believe the prices they were charging for raw fish!) and decided to give it a go. Part of the entertainment at this restaurant was watching one of the chefs prepare the Sushi. He was very entertaining to watch. He put on quite a show. But I didn't like what I saw. He was an elderly Japanese man, with none too clean hands and finger nails, who was not wearing rubber gloves! Ugh! The more I watched him, the more I wanted to barf! Needless to say, I convinced my friends to eat elsewhere.
« Last Edit: January 11, 2009, 09:57:05 am by Kerry »
γνῶθι σεαυτόν