Wesley Morton, this week's chef profile, was impressed by the service in London restaurants. It's an issue that aggravates so many of Washington's European chefs: the difficulty of training wait staff to the level that's the norm on continental Europe where waiting is a job to be proud of. In France, Spain and Italy, many of the restaurants are owned by the waiter. Waiters in Europe melt into the background. The best ones understand that service should be unobtrusive. In the US it seems that pride in the job is instilled through an assumption of equality with the diner. Waiters are encouraged to act as friends-for-the-evening of the strangers paying for their services.

These are some of my personal beefs:

• I don't need to know a wait person's name any more than they want to know mine. I gave one of my more generous tips to the waitress at the now-defunct Red Sage who said, "Hi! My name is Maureen and I'm going to be your obsequious waitress for the evening." She probably didn't endure as long as the restaurant...
• Plates shouldn't be whipped away as soon as they're empty. Waiters should wait until the last diner at the table has finished otherwise early finishers feel uncomfortable at having eaten too fast and slower eaters feel bad at having eaten too slowly. Dining isn't a race. Besides, taking one plate away ahead of the others won't clear a table any faster than leaving it there until all diners have finished. 
• I don't want my water glass filled up to the brim after every sip. Wait until I've almost emptied it. Jugs are intrusive. Pourers are intrusive. The problem is, water-pouring-busboy is not a job that exists in Europe - waiters do it. But if you have the job, you have to justify it. At the expensive of the diner's peace.
• I don't want to be asked if my food is satisfactory. I'll tell you if it isn't. I particularly don't warm to "How are you ladies/guys enjoying your meal?" - especially for a table of women.
  
• I want to ask for my bill when I'm ready for it, not have it delivered as my plate is being removed.  That makes me feel rushed to leave.

And I really don't like any of this when I'm expected by most wait staff to pay a 20 percent tip. On the sum at the bottom of the bill to boot, not on the pre-tax figure which is the one that ought to be the basis for the calculation.

Do you have any service gripes?

4 Comments

1. Lisa McCormack

   Talk about feeling rushed ... How about plates being whisked away while you're still eating? More times than I care to remember, I've had to say "Excuse me, but I'm not finished." Or they grab your plate, which is clearly not empty, while asking, "Are you finished?" It's infuriating. Another personal beef is when the entrees are delivered while everyone is still enjoying their appetizers. The only upside to that is enjoying the shocked look on the waiter's face when you state the obvious: "Excuse me, but we're not ready for the entree."

2. Liz

   Hear, hear - on all your Chew on This observations - in addition "good choice, madam" grates. The waiter's endorsement of my menu choices is very intrusive as far as I am concerned. I trust my own instincts and I acknowledge my own mistakes!!!!!
   
   I'm heartily sick of my plate being whipped way before my companion has finished eating, plus all the other things you mention.

3. JB

   Waiters think they're stars. At one high end restaurant, ours said, "My specials tonight are xxx and xxx and I really recommend my xxx" till one of us said, "That's great. But actually we're here to eat the chef's food, not yours."

4. Karen

   One of my pet peeves (along with the plate clearing) is the waiter who inquires "are you still working on it?" There must be a way to signal to the waitstaff that the table can be cleared. Once upon a time, if you placed your knife and fork neatly across the plate, that was enough.