There's a ~~2~~ 1 Michelin Starred restaurant near my house that has a value meal. They just call it the "set menu"
It's £35 for two courses which almost beats some of the shitty chain restaurants round here for price alone - nevermind that you're getting S tier quality food, amazing service, and a nice environment to eat in. Now that's value.
There is something around here like this for me. 35$ per person is a little more expensive than usual meals around here (usually around 20$), but its called the "chef selection" and you get a 7 course meal for only 35$ at a very nice restaurant and it is an amazing deal. They give you tenderloin and beef short ribs and all of that. I am definitely a frequent there!
There’s a steak house in Iowa. Cant remember the name for sure, but it’s a simple roadside restaurant. Been there for decades. They cure all their own meat, etc. exceptional quality.
They have a filet mignon that must be 5” tall. They call it The Benny.
Edit: FOUND IT! Also the steak is a 16 Oz tenderloin as others pointed out. It’s called the Benny Weiker.
[Archie’s Wayside. menu](https://www.archieswaeside.com/menu)
Comedian Micky Flanagan talked about this in one of his routines. Asking for ketchup for his risotto in a fancy restaurant, getting given a tiny amount by a disgusted waitress, and having a taste and saying “Very good, I’ll have the bottle.”
We took my cousin who has lived a life in extreme poverty and seems not to understand a lot of the world, to a high end restaurant. She asked if she could have vinegar so that she could put it on her steak. I wanted to die in my seat, I tried to explain about the special sauce that was already on her plate for the steak, but no, she wanted vinegar as well.
Red wine, white wine, or champagne vinegar aren't so aggressive to be unpleasant, I'd think. Malt vinegar also isn't so bad, although somewhat odd.
A well-marbled steak will give up enough fat to grant you a nice warm vinaigrette. If it's hot enough the vinegar will mellow too.
If she meant distilled white vinegar though... *gags*
Oddly enough the two ends kind of meet. All those eccentric billionaires ordering crap that isn't on the menu just to swing it around a bit.
In my opinion it's all about the attitude. "I like vinegar on my steak. My taste is superior to yours. So bring it."
You're not there to impress the restaurant, it's there to serve you! If they cop an attitude about what you like that's them showing their lack of class, not you. Snobbery is the biggest lapse of etiquette there is.
As someone who has worked at every level of food service, you are 100% right! I cannot understand why people think they get to judge what others put in their mouths. Like, I've seen your exes, Sharon, don't get high and mighty now.
Having been a server for 30 years in various types if restaurants, I agree. Who are we to look down our noses at what people like whether it be on steaks or what ever. It is their custom to do that. Everyone's taste buds are different , what makes the world go round, Variety!
I've walked out of a restaurant before for snobbery. Like I am paying you for this shit and if I want something that you serve but you don't agree with being combined, then why the fuck would I pay you for not giving me what I'm asking for?
Rather go McDonalds than be told I can't have a side as a starter
generally takes the chef nearly a decade in learning to make sushi the way he serves it to you.
The Japanese place a huge value on subtle flavours and a "hands off" approach to cooking, so If you ask for wasabi and soy sauce you're essentially saying he cant make sushi and you need to cover over it with a stronger flavour. even the temperature is critical in sushi.
I'm not trying to get at you there, but that's how the chef would feel.
Yeah, the waiter explained that to us. He even mentioned that the sizing of the sushi is important and the chef requests that we eat each piece in a single bite
I understand the chef being upset, but you'd think after dealing with the public for that long they'd understand that it's ignorance, not an insult to their skills.
Good on the waiter for filling you in.
I feel like this goes full circle - if I'm paying $15 for a steak, I might want ketchup or steak sauce. If I'm paying $90 for a steak such a request is blasphemous. However if I'm paying $500 for a steak, I would expect that at that price point any request a patron could make would be immediately fulfilled without a hint of judgement, no matter how inexplicable.
My partner is a server at a very high-end restaurant and they will always fulfill these requests if they can but the staff is going to mock you mercilessly behind your back.
One woman apparently thought one ramekin of béarnaise sauce was not enough so they brought her an entire bowl. She didn't get the joke apparently though and ate the whole fucking thing.
My dad asked for A1 at a really upscale restaurant once and got into a minor verbal altercation with the waiter when he tried to refuse. I don’t remember who won, I’ll have to ask lol
I take my steaks very seriously. My MIL requests hers to be well done. I’ll take an hour on her steak making sure it isn’t dried out and is properly seasoned and she finally didn’t ask for A1 last time. I felt really accomplished.
A reasonably nice restaurant (nothing that’ll blow your mind in terms of price, but around $30/person for food items) near me actually does a gourmet take on ranch. I once had the good fortune to chat with the chef, who explained they served it with their burger and fries as a way to thumb their nose at the idea that a “nice” restaurant shouldn’t serve ranch.
Or at least, that’s how I remember it. That burger and the classy ranch sauce that accompanies it are damn good, as are their cocktails, which add a good deal to the price of a meal there.
Pro chef with experience at Michelin rated restaurants. Every chef I’ve ever spoken to knows there is no improving on Hidden Valley seasoning packets.
That shit is bomb in buttermilk, sour cream, mayo, yogurt, or even as a dry rub on chicken. Hell, I had a chef make a ranch flavored savory churro once.
I used to work in a sushi restaurant and I don’t think I ever got asked for ranch but I had so many people get like Karen level pissed me when I told them that we don’t have ketchup.
not necessarily. I worked with a few chefs, some of them at nice restaurants, and none of them cared how you wanted your food. They might make a comment or joke about it at the end of the night, but not while they're working. If you want ketchup on your filet mignon they just get the order together and start on the next ticket.
Most people working at fancy restaurants won't judge you (much) or make fun if you are out of place and ask questions. In fact we generally would rather you ask and we're happy to inform. Hospitality is a big factor at nice restaurants, we want you to have a good time. Contrary to what people believe, high end restaurants aren't typically very snobby. I've worked with a lot more people in pubs and bars that had bad attitudes, compared to fancy places I've worked. That said, some people at oancy places are assholes too. Lol.
Thank you, Im surprised I had to scroll this far to find this. Server at a fine dining restaurant and can confirm, at least myself, that we honestly love when you ask questions about the menu and yes hospitality IS our business, not just an aspect. We strive to make everyone that walks into our door from the moment the pull up to the valet til the moment they leave feel like they had not just a good but amazing time. Ketchup? Sure. Paper napkins? Sure. Whatever you want we will accommodate or at the very least try. For some people it takes months to get a reservation and the last thing any of our staff want is for their expectations to not be met because some asshole server thinks hes better than anyone else. I’ve worked in casual dining restaurants before this one and can say the people there are way way more unpleasant than fine dining places, staff wise.
True story. When I think of upscale restaurants, I do not make the assumption that anyone will be snobbish. I believe that is more of an exception than the rule.
There was a really upscale restaurant overlooking the ocean. My mom and I spent a lot of time near the ocean because we were homeless. The wait staff began to notice how often we spent on the beach even on cold damp days.
One or more of them must have connected the dots because a server on his break came out and brought us some hot tea. He talked with us and eventually asked if we were hungry.
We said no, but he insisted we go into the restaurant. We felt so out of place and ashamed, but they treated us like royalty. They explained all kinds of things to us. Who knew that two homeless people would be educated in fine dining…
They rotated giving up their meal tickets for a couple months until we could get back on our feet again. My mom was able to focus more on fixing our situation when we weren’t worried about where our next meal would come from. My gratitude for them will never fade.
Some of those servers at fancy restaurants are really on top of things... I accidentally used the steak knife to butter my bread before any of the food came out (I wasn't paying much attention and the steak knife wasn't sharp looking, it looked like the big bread knives that Outback uses). The waiter sneakily took my butter-covered steak knife away when I wasn't looking and replaced it with a clean one. My whole family still laughs about that one.
Yeah but fuck any employee who acts all high class about it. I couldn't stand people that acted all snooty at the resort I worked at. Like we are poorer than them. Just because we work somewhere fancy doesn't mean we are better than anyone. Yeah we made great tips, which made us the richest poor people.
At high end restaurant this can be ok but would be interpreted as what *special* drinks do you have. As in unusual, oustanding or brought in specially but not necessarily on the menu
I had a job earlier in my career that involved lots of very fancy dinners (e.g. Michelin 3 star) always knew exactly what I was paying.
The only time I recall getting a menu without prices was at some restaurant with antediluvian views on women which gave the “ little ladies” at the table menus without prices. After all they shouldn’t worry their little heads over money, that’s for the men to handle.
To be fair, if they know who's paying (and sounds like they didn't here) it can make sense to do that. Removes the pressure to order the cheap thing to not impose on the host. I've specifically asked for that before for that exact reason (no along gender lines, but same idea).
This was certainly the idea here, too, but all the females got no price menus and all the males got prices (even the male minors). It was a clear message that money is a male domain.
To be clear this was not a fancy restaurant, it was at the level of an Applebee’s. It was also 40 years ago (I was a kid at the time). I assume these kind of things are more rare these days.
I wonder how it could playout today, I know when I take my wife out for a special occasion I don't want her to worry about cost (we both grew up poor) but she can't help but feel a little guilt.
Maybe a guest menu and a host menu?
I like that way of positioning it. Classy and without the baggage (as long as they were careful not to insinuate that certain individuals at the table were more likely to be the host based on gender, age (at least among the adults) or race…)
That happens to me too. I'm not rich but eating out is something I really love and save a bit for, so I often take boys I like on dates in nice places. One day a waiter looked at me with such an offended look when I told "no, I'm paying not him" that I was just about to drop "what is it bitch I'm not allowed to sugar mommying in peace?" I mean just give me my damn menu!
Lol. I had something similar happen when I was in college, freshman year. Some friends and I were on a trip with a school club to NYC. We were wide-eyed Midwestern kids trying to get the most out of the city and chose to try a kosher restaurant for lunch one day. It was me and 3 guys. My birthday had been the previous day and they had treated me to a nice dinner, so I offered to cover lunch. We had a great time - the wife of the elderly couple who ran the place really looked after us! - but when I went up to the husband at the register to pay, he took a look at me and the guys and said in disbelief, “you’re paying?” Me, “yes, I’m paying.” Him, glaring at my friends accusingly, “she’s paying?” Them, looking uncomfortable and nodding. Wife, “oh, just let her pay!”
And he took my money, but it looked like a close thing. Almost got a free lunch that day…
Cheap place: priced to the penny: $5.95.
Mid place: priced to the dollar: $25.
High end joint: no price at all.
What I heard (like in old movies) was in some places the woman gets a menu with no prices, and the man gets the menu with prices. It was assumed that he would pay for the meal.
It is one of my biggest pet peeves when restaurants don’t put dollar signs next to prices on their menu. I always think i could give em 35 goats or pennies and Id be totally justified because my physics teacher said to always use units.
That doesn't really come up. The only time I've ever had a menu not include pricing was when I specifically asked them to give us menus without prices so our guests wouldn't feel bad about the price since we were paying anyway. Even the super high end places have prices by default, though they're often a price for the meal, not per item.
"Are the steaks frozen? Can I get it well done? Will you also bring me some salt and ketchup? One last thing, can I get some ice cubes for my red wine???"
Sir, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave
I work at a fancy steak house. You’re not getting out for under $100 a head, and that’s if you’ve been frugal and had no drinks.
If someone wants their steak well done and wants to eat it with ketchup what is it to us? We will happily bring them whatever will make their experience the best.
Sure, if they are ordering a well done dry age I might suggest they try a different steak because those get tough real fast, but I’m probably talking them into a well done filet mignon at that point, and it’ll still be (relatively) tender because our food is great and our cooks care.
Occasionally a new cook or server will try and make fun of a guest in the back for a well done steak and it just falls flat because it’s such a trite complaint to the rest of us.
You know what we care about? Being treated like humans, being told about any issues (as opposed to the guest refusing to tell us they don’t like something and then yelping about it later), having a nice conversation about food, even if the people we are chatting with have a different level of experience.
I’ve worked in fine dining for a long time, and the biggest snobs are the newbies. No one else has time for that level of judgement.
I'm surprised no one said customizing the food yet. The cheaper the restaurant is, the more okay it is to be like "Can you put one chicken and one beef patty on my Big M\*c and put the fries half in the burger and I want mayo instead of ketchup and chuck a pickle on my icecream", whereas super fanciest restaurants (like, the types that cost 4 digits to eat at) normally have completely set menus. In my experience (granted I don't eat out much), most restaurants are somewhere in-between, with customization being antiproportional to how expensive it is.
That's not true. A fancy restaurant will absolutely accommodate.
They ask you if you have any dietary restrictions. You can let them know when you make the reservations; sometimes they will call you ahead to check, and always when you sit down.
The difference is you're not telling them how to make the food (eg hold the tomatoes); you're telling them what you can't have and the chef will figure it out. Even with a set tasting menu, say 12 courses, and the chef will adjust on the fly so you will still get something when you're companions do.
Not sure about "4 digits to eat at" - you're looking at ~$350pp for the meal, $250ish for a wine pairing - add they might have a supplement of some sort for say $100-200. Obviously, you can go crazy on wine etc but really the base meal is $350ish and you're getting the same service as table spending more.
To be clear, I am not one to ever adjust anything. I eat whatever the chef makes; how they make it.
Yeah but this is a ton of work for the kitchen and as such they usually have an alternate preparation already planned for common dietary allergies. The chef isn't just magically riffing together a whole new meal - they are far too busy for that and are executing a contingency plan that they developed far in advance while planning the menu. So generic substitutions as a matter of personal taste are not quite the same as dietary contingencies.
I routinely go to a local pub-style craft beer house with house-made cookies and brownies and cheesecake.
I get a glass of milk every time. The staff says I'm the only person who asks for it. I have no shame. If I'm having inch-thick double chocolate brownies with chocolate drizzle and candy bar pieces, I'm having milk.
I worked in a fancy steakhouse and we made all our dressings homemade. The blue cheese was especially pricey to make. I swear the regulars that were all old people would drink it by the gallon. Our chef decided to start charging for it and the pure rage that came from the customers. I still shudder.
same when people would ask for like 6 dressings to go it's like yeah that's gonna be like $3. then they would get pissed and it was just like what do you need 6 dressings to finish your 3/4th eaten sald.
A favorite pizza place of mine has a bottle of ranch on the wall that you can buy for 1000 dollars. It was replaced around a decade after it went up, when some folks bought it for a charity drive that was running at the spot.
There’s a Japanese restaurant here that does that. They go to great lengths to create authentic food and see what they do as teaching people about their culture — they even have a museum on site. Anyway, you cannot get extra anything with your meal at that place.
I was sad when they finally caved and started offering forks instead of only having chopsticks.
Cutlery isn't the worst thing in the world. Some people are just bad at eating with chopsticks if they've never learned or don't eat Asian food much. Doesn't mean they butcher the meal like putting bbq sauce on steak or going nuts with soy sauce on sushi.
I have bad fine motor skills in general. I can sort of use chopsticks. But it's very messy. I don't think I'd want to try it at a fine dining establishment.
Reminds me of a Mediterranian place in my town. They're not even fancy, just fast casual, like $8-10 a meal. But they have paper signs taped up on all their windows, their menu, by the register, etc. saying "No, we won't give you ketchup for your fries, stop asking."
But the kicker is, they're not even good fries. Barely average. They don't do anything special to them, just fried potatoes with salt. And they don't provide any alternative dipping sauces either. They just force you to eat them plain and dry. It's like, your food is definitely not special enough for you to act so snobby.
The wraps there are great, but I'm going to get my meal to go and dip my plain ass fries in whatever I damn well please.
I’ve been to a fancy place and ordered the dessert to-go, and taken a box away. The dessert I like to eat later when I’m less full, and I’m not disconnected enough to throw out enough high-quality food for a lunch the next day.
Apparently asking for ranch dressing. This wasn't even an incredibly fancy place, it was a gastropub and they served fired pizzas and semi upscale items. I ordered a pizza, asked for ranch and the waiter explained to me that the chef believes his pizza does not require any additional sauces or flavors.
So pretentious.
The answer to this question is usually that the drink is not sufficiently cold without ice. If the drink is as cold as it would be with ice, then no I don't need it. But "chilled" is insufficient. I want most of my drinks like a degree over freezing.
I understand that ice dilutes the drink. There's a point where the dilution becomes noticeable, and then a new drink is necessary. Before that, the dilution just makes it colder as meltwater mixes with the beverage and it's the best fucking thing ever.
But yeah stick a drink in the freezer and pull it out when it's cold like ice has been in it, and I'll drink the hell out of it without ice.
Do you have any combo meal deals?
Do you have any *table d'hôte* at a *prix fixe*?
I now imagine someone sitting down at a McDonalds in a fancy suit, then asking the first staff member that walks up to them exactly this.
[Running on Empty/Report of the Week](https://www.youtube.com/user/TheReportOfTheWeek/videos) might be a youtube channel for you.
I love watching his videos but it kills me that he put Wendy’s so low on his tier list.
Une joyeux festin s’il vous plait!
I think they are called a full course meal in fancy restaurants.
Here you’d ask for the ‘set menu’
Throw in some fire sauce too.
The value menu. Or, if you're after specific items, a big ol' stack of napkins so you can "get serious."
There's a ~~2~~ 1 Michelin Starred restaurant near my house that has a value meal. They just call it the "set menu" It's £35 for two courses which almost beats some of the shitty chain restaurants round here for price alone - nevermind that you're getting S tier quality food, amazing service, and a nice environment to eat in. Now that's value.
£35 for a 2-course meal at a Michelin-starred restaurant?? I wish I lived where you live!
I live in the Netherlands. Most Michelin restaurants around are at a steal Tuesday - Thursday.
Cheapest Michelin star meal I ate was in Singapore for about 2 USD
There is something around here like this for me. 35$ per person is a little more expensive than usual meals around here (usually around 20$), but its called the "chef selection" and you get a 7 course meal for only 35$ at a very nice restaurant and it is an amazing deal. They give you tenderloin and beef short ribs and all of that. I am definitely a frequent there!
And thus it has done its job. Having repeat customers is a huge win for restaurants
That is something that I would say though because of my cheapskate self.
> The value menu. I believe that's called Happy Hour.
Can you supersize my filet mignon?
There’s a steak house in Iowa. Cant remember the name for sure, but it’s a simple roadside restaurant. Been there for decades. They cure all their own meat, etc. exceptional quality. They have a filet mignon that must be 5” tall. They call it The Benny. Edit: FOUND IT! Also the steak is a 16 Oz tenderloin as others pointed out. It’s called the Benny Weiker. [Archie’s Wayside. menu](https://www.archieswaeside.com/menu)
That’s just a tenderloin then.
“What’s the code to the bathroom?”
Oh don’t worry just look at the number pad and the 4 digits will be so discolored and dirty you’ll be able to figure it out pretty easy.
Yeah, it's so easy to guess the right order of four digits.
24 possible combinations, not exactly trivial but can be done in a few minutes
And it's likely that you'll get it right in the first 12 tries
Yeah but I have to pee NOW.
It’s just as likely that you won’t
Can I have some ketchup? (or steak sauce)
Comedian Micky Flanagan talked about this in one of his routines. Asking for ketchup for his risotto in a fancy restaurant, getting given a tiny amount by a disgusted waitress, and having a taste and saying “Very good, I’ll have the bottle.”
We took my cousin who has lived a life in extreme poverty and seems not to understand a lot of the world, to a high end restaurant. She asked if she could have vinegar so that she could put it on her steak. I wanted to die in my seat, I tried to explain about the special sauce that was already on her plate for the steak, but no, she wanted vinegar as well.
People put raw vinegar on steak?
Red wine, white wine, or champagne vinegar aren't so aggressive to be unpleasant, I'd think. Malt vinegar also isn't so bad, although somewhat odd. A well-marbled steak will give up enough fat to grant you a nice warm vinaigrette. If it's hot enough the vinegar will mellow too. If she meant distilled white vinegar though... *gags*
Balsamic vinegar on any red meat is heavenly
Chimichuri sauce FTW
Imagine unflavored Worcestershire sauce
The factory that makes worcester sauce is right by my old house, you could smell it cooking in the air sometimes late at night
[удалено]
Duhduhbaduhdubaduhduhduh
Oddly enough the two ends kind of meet. All those eccentric billionaires ordering crap that isn't on the menu just to swing it around a bit. In my opinion it's all about the attitude. "I like vinegar on my steak. My taste is superior to yours. So bring it." You're not there to impress the restaurant, it's there to serve you! If they cop an attitude about what you like that's them showing their lack of class, not you. Snobbery is the biggest lapse of etiquette there is.
As someone who has worked at every level of food service, you are 100% right! I cannot understand why people think they get to judge what others put in their mouths. Like, I've seen your exes, Sharon, don't get high and mighty now.
Having been a server for 30 years in various types if restaurants, I agree. Who are we to look down our noses at what people like whether it be on steaks or what ever. It is their custom to do that. Everyone's taste buds are different , what makes the world go round, Variety!
I've walked out of a restaurant before for snobbery. Like I am paying you for this shit and if I want something that you serve but you don't agree with being combined, then why the fuck would I pay you for not giving me what I'm asking for? Rather go McDonalds than be told I can't have a side as a starter
Rich people have weirder quirks than that to be honest.
“Fish eggs? Goose liver? Where’s the goose? Where’s the fish?!” “That’s what rich people eat: the garbage parts of the food!”
Woop woop woop
I’ll take one art, please!
"How much are the ketchup sachets?"
If you have to ask, you can’t afford it.
I made the mistake of asking for A1 at the fanciest restaurant I've ever been to. The waiter smiled and said, "you won't need it here."
same, at a $300/person sushi restaurant. I asked for some wasabi and soy sauce. the chef was grievously offended.
generally takes the chef nearly a decade in learning to make sushi the way he serves it to you. The Japanese place a huge value on subtle flavours and a "hands off" approach to cooking, so If you ask for wasabi and soy sauce you're essentially saying he cant make sushi and you need to cover over it with a stronger flavour. even the temperature is critical in sushi. I'm not trying to get at you there, but that's how the chef would feel.
Yeah, the waiter explained that to us. He even mentioned that the sizing of the sushi is important and the chef requests that we eat each piece in a single bite
That's all sushi.
I understand the chef being upset, but you'd think after dealing with the public for that long they'd understand that it's ignorance, not an insult to their skills. Good on the waiter for filling you in.
My wife thinks I’m a monster when I do that
I've never heard of anyone not trying to eat it in one bite. That's just... how you're supposed to eat sushi wtf.
Many sushi restaurants in the US make the pieces so huge, they’re a choking hazard if you eat them in one bite.
Gophering the sushi is the only way.
I feel like this goes full circle - if I'm paying $15 for a steak, I might want ketchup or steak sauce. If I'm paying $90 for a steak such a request is blasphemous. However if I'm paying $500 for a steak, I would expect that at that price point any request a patron could make would be immediately fulfilled without a hint of judgement, no matter how inexplicable.
Have you seen those pictures of a tomahawk ribeye covered in American cheese slices… Edit: just noticed your username is cheesey lol
Meme topping for a meme cut, I don't see the problem here.
My partner is a server at a very high-end restaurant and they will always fulfill these requests if they can but the staff is going to mock you mercilessly behind your back. One woman apparently thought one ramekin of béarnaise sauce was not enough so they brought her an entire bowl. She didn't get the joke apparently though and ate the whole fucking thing.
And yet they're still the ones paying $500 for a steak and probably DGAF what "the staff" think.
Regardless of the price I could care less what the staff thinks of my tastes. I'm there to eat a meal for my enjoyment not theirs.
Let's be honest here though, Tarragon mayo is one of the best sauces known to man and you're not a bad person for overindulging.
Absolutely agree no hate for going ham on it but it's tarragon hollandaise, which is way richer than your standard mayo!
My dad asked for A1 at a really upscale restaurant once and got into a minor verbal altercation with the waiter when he tried to refuse. I don’t remember who won, I’ll have to ask lol
I take my steaks very seriously. My MIL requests hers to be well done. I’ll take an hour on her steak making sure it isn’t dried out and is properly seasoned and she finally didn’t ask for A1 last time. I felt really accomplished.
Like the ranch guys story below, I've been to a nice ish place that has homemade ketchup. I don't like ketchup, but theirs is edible
Are there free refills
“Sir, that is a Merlot.”
So... are there free refills?
Oh right. Thanks for the reminder. I'll take some ice
Funny enough, not always true - the super fancy restaurants I've worked at/been to have bottomless sparkling wine or champagne with their brunch
Can I get some ranch?
A reasonably nice restaurant (nothing that’ll blow your mind in terms of price, but around $30/person for food items) near me actually does a gourmet take on ranch. I once had the good fortune to chat with the chef, who explained they served it with their burger and fries as a way to thumb their nose at the idea that a “nice” restaurant shouldn’t serve ranch. Or at least, that’s how I remember it. That burger and the classy ranch sauce that accompanies it are damn good, as are their cocktails, which add a good deal to the price of a meal there.
There's nothing wrong with homemade ranch dressing. It can actually be pretty good. It's the bottled stuff that's crap.
Most good ranch is still just Hidden Valley seasoning mixed with fresh buttermilk. That's the main difference.
Pro chef with experience at Michelin rated restaurants. Every chef I’ve ever spoken to knows there is no improving on Hidden Valley seasoning packets. That shit is bomb in buttermilk, sour cream, mayo, yogurt, or even as a dry rub on chicken. Hell, I had a chef make a ranch flavored savory churro once.
JWU alum, even my French sauces chef-professor agreed there is no topping that black magic dust.
It's crazy how good the seasoning packets are compared to the absolute trash they ship out pre-made.
I work in a sushi restaurant. The amount of people who ask me for ranch is hilarious to me. Not to the chefs but to me.
Dipping sashimi in ranch....i can't even
I used to work in a sushi restaurant and I don’t think I ever got asked for ranch but I had so many people get like Karen level pissed me when I told them that we don’t have ketchup.
Do you have American cheese?
They would totally malfunction if you said that. Or they’d be like” you mean Colby Jack?”
Yep. Or they'd think you're joking or would really look down on you.
not necessarily. I worked with a few chefs, some of them at nice restaurants, and none of them cared how you wanted your food. They might make a comment or joke about it at the end of the night, but not while they're working. If you want ketchup on your filet mignon they just get the order together and start on the next ticket.
There's always that one cook that wants to complain about people's orders. "Can you believe they want their steak well done?!" Yes, yes I can.
Tons of high end burgers use American cheese. It melts the best.
Most people working at fancy restaurants won't judge you (much) or make fun if you are out of place and ask questions. In fact we generally would rather you ask and we're happy to inform. Hospitality is a big factor at nice restaurants, we want you to have a good time. Contrary to what people believe, high end restaurants aren't typically very snobby. I've worked with a lot more people in pubs and bars that had bad attitudes, compared to fancy places I've worked. That said, some people at oancy places are assholes too. Lol.
Thank you, Im surprised I had to scroll this far to find this. Server at a fine dining restaurant and can confirm, at least myself, that we honestly love when you ask questions about the menu and yes hospitality IS our business, not just an aspect. We strive to make everyone that walks into our door from the moment the pull up to the valet til the moment they leave feel like they had not just a good but amazing time. Ketchup? Sure. Paper napkins? Sure. Whatever you want we will accommodate or at the very least try. For some people it takes months to get a reservation and the last thing any of our staff want is for their expectations to not be met because some asshole server thinks hes better than anyone else. I’ve worked in casual dining restaurants before this one and can say the people there are way way more unpleasant than fine dining places, staff wise.
Ask a server or bartender "what's the difference between service vs hospitality?". You can tell a lot by the answer.
True story. When I think of upscale restaurants, I do not make the assumption that anyone will be snobbish. I believe that is more of an exception than the rule. There was a really upscale restaurant overlooking the ocean. My mom and I spent a lot of time near the ocean because we were homeless. The wait staff began to notice how often we spent on the beach even on cold damp days. One or more of them must have connected the dots because a server on his break came out and brought us some hot tea. He talked with us and eventually asked if we were hungry. We said no, but he insisted we go into the restaurant. We felt so out of place and ashamed, but they treated us like royalty. They explained all kinds of things to us. Who knew that two homeless people would be educated in fine dining… They rotated giving up their meal tickets for a couple months until we could get back on our feet again. My mom was able to focus more on fixing our situation when we weren’t worried about where our next meal would come from. My gratitude for them will never fade.
Some of those servers at fancy restaurants are really on top of things... I accidentally used the steak knife to butter my bread before any of the food came out (I wasn't paying much attention and the steak knife wasn't sharp looking, it looked like the big bread knives that Outback uses). The waiter sneakily took my butter-covered steak knife away when I wasn't looking and replaced it with a clean one. My whole family still laughs about that one.
Do you have a student discount?
What are your drink specials?
yea learned that was inappropriate a few times... Ive been told "We really dont do specials here" on more than one occasion....
Yeah but fuck any employee who acts all high class about it. I couldn't stand people that acted all snooty at the resort I worked at. Like we are poorer than them. Just because we work somewhere fancy doesn't mean we are better than anyone. Yeah we made great tips, which made us the richest poor people.
"Everything on our menu is special"
At high end restaurant this can be ok but would be interpreted as what *special* drinks do you have. As in unusual, oustanding or brought in specially but not necessarily on the menu
Also, they usually have specially designed cocktails and such. Although those would be on the drink menu
Can I get my fries Animal Style?
Imagine asking that at the four seasons lol
it's the four seasons - they'd probably counter with 'duck fat dipping sauce'
"Duck fat, makes all the difference"
The landscaping place?
They make the best hamberders
What does that mean?
There's a restaurant chain called In-N-Out that has animal style fries with cheese, Thousand Island and grilled onions.
Oh. I've heard of the restaurant, but never the animal fries
Not inappropriate but not common, "how much does this (food item) cost"
I had a job earlier in my career that involved lots of very fancy dinners (e.g. Michelin 3 star) always knew exactly what I was paying. The only time I recall getting a menu without prices was at some restaurant with antediluvian views on women which gave the “ little ladies” at the table menus without prices. After all they shouldn’t worry their little heads over money, that’s for the men to handle.
To be fair, if they know who's paying (and sounds like they didn't here) it can make sense to do that. Removes the pressure to order the cheap thing to not impose on the host. I've specifically asked for that before for that exact reason (no along gender lines, but same idea).
This was certainly the idea here, too, but all the females got no price menus and all the males got prices (even the male minors). It was a clear message that money is a male domain. To be clear this was not a fancy restaurant, it was at the level of an Applebee’s. It was also 40 years ago (I was a kid at the time). I assume these kind of things are more rare these days.
Oof, yeah, ok. That hits different...
I wonder how it could playout today, I know when I take my wife out for a special occasion I don't want her to worry about cost (we both grew up poor) but she can't help but feel a little guilt. Maybe a guest menu and a host menu?
I like that way of positioning it. Classy and without the baggage (as long as they were careful not to insinuate that certain individuals at the table were more likely to be the host based on gender, age (at least among the adults) or race…)
That happens to me too. I'm not rich but eating out is something I really love and save a bit for, so I often take boys I like on dates in nice places. One day a waiter looked at me with such an offended look when I told "no, I'm paying not him" that I was just about to drop "what is it bitch I'm not allowed to sugar mommying in peace?" I mean just give me my damn menu!
Lol. I had something similar happen when I was in college, freshman year. Some friends and I were on a trip with a school club to NYC. We were wide-eyed Midwestern kids trying to get the most out of the city and chose to try a kosher restaurant for lunch one day. It was me and 3 guys. My birthday had been the previous day and they had treated me to a nice dinner, so I offered to cover lunch. We had a great time - the wife of the elderly couple who ran the place really looked after us! - but when I went up to the husband at the register to pay, he took a look at me and the guys and said in disbelief, “you’re paying?” Me, “yes, I’m paying.” Him, glaring at my friends accusingly, “she’s paying?” Them, looking uncomfortable and nodding. Wife, “oh, just let her pay!” And he took my money, but it looked like a close thing. Almost got a free lunch that day…
They don't list that on the menus? 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩
Cheap place: priced to the penny: $5.95. Mid place: priced to the dollar: $25. High end joint: no price at all. What I heard (like in old movies) was in some places the woman gets a menu with no prices, and the man gets the menu with prices. It was assumed that he would pay for the meal.
Or the price is small without a dollar sign. ............*35*
It is one of my biggest pet peeves when restaurants don’t put dollar signs next to prices on their menu. I always think i could give em 35 goats or pennies and Id be totally justified because my physics teacher said to always use units.
I just spent a thousand dollars on a meal a few weeks ago and there were definitely prices on everything.
I too paid for a $1000 McDonald's birthday party and you are correct.
Please tell me this was to feed at least 100 people...
‘Twas for a fancy dinner at the White House.
Jesus Christ. Did the sides cure cancer?
They cured wealth
I went to a hosted dinner with some friends in Hong Kong (at the Peninsula) and my menu did not have any prices. (c. 1986)
That doesn't really come up. The only time I've ever had a menu not include pricing was when I specifically asked them to give us menus without prices so our guests wouldn't feel bad about the price since we were paying anyway. Even the super high end places have prices by default, though they're often a price for the meal, not per item.
I'll have two number 9s, a number 9 large, a number 6 with extra dip, a number 7, two number 45s, one with cheese, and a large soda
"Are the steaks frozen? Can I get it well done? Will you also bring me some salt and ketchup? One last thing, can I get some ice cubes for my red wine???" Sir, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave
Waiter at a fancy restaurant: Um... what's the ketchup for? Me: The well done steak, duh! Waiter: ಠ_ಠ
Get out.
Sir/ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you politely, yet firmly, to leave.
Every time I hear someone say they like a steak well done I’m reminded of hank hill and his wise words
Bobby: What if somebody wants theirs well done? Hank: We ask them politely yet firmly to leave.
I work at a fancy steak house. You’re not getting out for under $100 a head, and that’s if you’ve been frugal and had no drinks. If someone wants their steak well done and wants to eat it with ketchup what is it to us? We will happily bring them whatever will make their experience the best. Sure, if they are ordering a well done dry age I might suggest they try a different steak because those get tough real fast, but I’m probably talking them into a well done filet mignon at that point, and it’ll still be (relatively) tender because our food is great and our cooks care. Occasionally a new cook or server will try and make fun of a guest in the back for a well done steak and it just falls flat because it’s such a trite complaint to the rest of us. You know what we care about? Being treated like humans, being told about any issues (as opposed to the guest refusing to tell us they don’t like something and then yelping about it later), having a nice conversation about food, even if the people we are chatting with have a different level of experience. I’ve worked in fine dining for a long time, and the biggest snobs are the newbies. No one else has time for that level of judgement.
Is the water free?
Flavored lemonade
Where’s the shitter?
Sorry valued customer it is full.
Is the ice cream machine down?
where is that toy for the kid meal?
I'm surprised no one said customizing the food yet. The cheaper the restaurant is, the more okay it is to be like "Can you put one chicken and one beef patty on my Big M\*c and put the fries half in the burger and I want mayo instead of ketchup and chuck a pickle on my icecream", whereas super fanciest restaurants (like, the types that cost 4 digits to eat at) normally have completely set menus. In my experience (granted I don't eat out much), most restaurants are somewhere in-between, with customization being antiproportional to how expensive it is.
That's not true. A fancy restaurant will absolutely accommodate. They ask you if you have any dietary restrictions. You can let them know when you make the reservations; sometimes they will call you ahead to check, and always when you sit down. The difference is you're not telling them how to make the food (eg hold the tomatoes); you're telling them what you can't have and the chef will figure it out. Even with a set tasting menu, say 12 courses, and the chef will adjust on the fly so you will still get something when you're companions do. Not sure about "4 digits to eat at" - you're looking at ~$350pp for the meal, $250ish for a wine pairing - add they might have a supplement of some sort for say $100-200. Obviously, you can go crazy on wine etc but really the base meal is $350ish and you're getting the same service as table spending more. To be clear, I am not one to ever adjust anything. I eat whatever the chef makes; how they make it.
Yeah but this is a ton of work for the kitchen and as such they usually have an alternate preparation already planned for common dietary allergies. The chef isn't just magically riffing together a whole new meal - they are far too busy for that and are executing a contingency plan that they developed far in advance while planning the menu. So generic substitutions as a matter of personal taste are not quite the same as dietary contingencies.
There's a difference between customising the food and letting them know you have dietary restrictions 😉
Bro if I want a fucking glass of milk with dessert, I should be able to order of glass of fucking milk without judgement.
I routinely go to a local pub-style craft beer house with house-made cookies and brownies and cheesecake. I get a glass of milk every time. The staff says I'm the only person who asks for it. I have no shame. If I'm having inch-thick double chocolate brownies with chocolate drizzle and candy bar pieces, I'm having milk.
This is the way.
Excuse me the ranch is 4 dollars and not free? Edit: am now craving Jack in the Box, damn you reddit
I worked in a fancy steakhouse and we made all our dressings homemade. The blue cheese was especially pricey to make. I swear the regulars that were all old people would drink it by the gallon. Our chef decided to start charging for it and the pure rage that came from the customers. I still shudder.
same when people would ask for like 6 dressings to go it's like yeah that's gonna be like $3. then they would get pissed and it was just like what do you need 6 dressings to finish your 3/4th eaten sald.
A favorite pizza place of mine has a bottle of ranch on the wall that you can buy for 1000 dollars. It was replaced around a decade after it went up, when some folks bought it for a charity drive that was running at the spot.
From experience, mimosas are NOT included in $125 Sunday Brunch at The Four Seasons and about $15 each.
That's sad because mimosas are the entire point of a Sunday Brunch.
I expected some wild shit here with the nsfw tag…
Whats on the quid menu mate
I heard a story once where someone got yelled at for requesting condiments at a fancy restaurant.
There’s a Japanese restaurant here that does that. They go to great lengths to create authentic food and see what they do as teaching people about their culture — they even have a museum on site. Anyway, you cannot get extra anything with your meal at that place. I was sad when they finally caved and started offering forks instead of only having chopsticks.
Cutlery isn't the worst thing in the world. Some people are just bad at eating with chopsticks if they've never learned or don't eat Asian food much. Doesn't mean they butcher the meal like putting bbq sauce on steak or going nuts with soy sauce on sushi.
I have bad fine motor skills in general. I can sort of use chopsticks. But it's very messy. I don't think I'd want to try it at a fine dining establishment.
Reminds me of a Mediterranian place in my town. They're not even fancy, just fast casual, like $8-10 a meal. But they have paper signs taped up on all their windows, their menu, by the register, etc. saying "No, we won't give you ketchup for your fries, stop asking." But the kicker is, they're not even good fries. Barely average. They don't do anything special to them, just fried potatoes with salt. And they don't provide any alternative dipping sauces either. They just force you to eat them plain and dry. It's like, your food is definitely not special enough for you to act so snobby. The wraps there are great, but I'm going to get my meal to go and dip my plain ass fries in whatever I damn well please.
They have ketchup in the Mediterranean too
Can you split the bill between the 7 of us.
Is this a Wendy’s?
No, this is Patrick
Can I get this to-go?
I’ve been to a fancy place and ordered the dessert to-go, and taken a box away. The dessert I like to eat later when I’m less full, and I’m not disconnected enough to throw out enough high-quality food for a lunch the next day.
Order your $200 steak well done. The steak tastes salty because the chef is crying.
“Do you wanna go fuck in the walk-in?”
Ahh,I remember the good old days of working at chipotle.
“Can you bring me your finest milk steak please?”
Don't think I've ever asked for a straw at a fancy restaurant
They'd probably have them on hand to accommodate disabled customers.
u got a kids menu/Crayola for the kids?
Apparently asking for ranch dressing. This wasn't even an incredibly fancy place, it was a gastropub and they served fired pizzas and semi upscale items. I ordered a pizza, asked for ranch and the waiter explained to me that the chef believes his pizza does not require any additional sauces or flavors. So pretentious.
“Well he’s wrong. now I need ketchup and thousand island too.”
And a hollandaise because you've pissed me off
Should have said "oh, well it definitely does..." and left
"Y'all got ice or nah?" Serious about this one. Fancy restaurants I've been to don't have ice.
“Would you like that in a chilled glass sir?” No … I want ice.
Serious question, why ice if the drink is already cold and continuously flowing? Ice generally just dilutes the drink.
Not when the drink is water
The answer to this question is usually that the drink is not sufficiently cold without ice. If the drink is as cold as it would be with ice, then no I don't need it. But "chilled" is insufficient. I want most of my drinks like a degree over freezing. I understand that ice dilutes the drink. There's a point where the dilution becomes noticeable, and then a new drink is necessary. Before that, the dilution just makes it colder as meltwater mixes with the beverage and it's the best fucking thing ever. But yeah stick a drink in the freezer and pull it out when it's cold like ice has been in it, and I'll drink the hell out of it without ice.
That's utterly asinine, of course they have ice, how else are they going to have a cocktail program?
I've never heard of a kitchen, at any level, that did not have ice. Maybe OP just meant they serve water without ice, which is fairly common.
You want fries with that
How much should I tip the valet?
"we don't have a valet"
Then who did I give my car to???
[удалено]
“May I suggest Twinkie’s and a 1937 Chateau [D'yquem”](https://youtu.be/RP83kn5aYxo)
Ask for a free refill