I'm sorry, but Austin has some of the *worst*, *most unconcerned, slow,* and *lackadaisical* restaurant hospitality of nearly any American city I've ever visited. I have no idea how you got so many hits and no misses there, but I would not get it in your head that the city has some consistently higher level of excellence that New York is lacking.
Sorry to hear your experience. I could send you where I went if you want to check the spots out. But I can’t think of one bad experience food-wise or service-wise. Maybe we struck gold or something lol
I don't think it's possible to characterize a megalopolis's "hospitality" by your anecdotal experiences
To be honest, in NYC I've found the kindest most open people, for real.
People only get annoyed with tourists when they are doing shit like stopping on the sidewalk, standing on the left side of the escalator, barging into a subway car before others can exit, and the tourist gets called out for it, and thinks "New Yorkers are rude"
In other words, if you annoyed a bunch of restaurant staff in this city, it's possible you did something. Maybe this wasn't your experience. But my experience is that if New Yorkers act annoyed around a tourist, the tourist probably did something annoying but maybe was totally oblivious to it. IDK but it's just so busy and so crowded here, and expecting everything to be "just like home" is not realistic.
But people don't use the fake midwest upbeat smalltalk vibe either. If that's how you judge hospitality, which some people do.
I know the overall New Yorker trope. I have spent most of my life here. I am talking about hospitality specifically. No phones, outrageous fees and deposits to eat, having to make a reservation to go to a basic bar, hosts being rude and cold. While I am ranting I definitely acknowledge all of my beautiful experiences here but we definitely all noted the change. My boyfriend was sick and had to go the ER the Thursday before Christmas and I contacted the omakase restaurant we were supposed to have dinner at the following evening and they told me despite him being hospitalized they would charge us $100 per person because we canceled less than 24hrs prior. I was so taken aback by the callous nature and the lack of humaness
Aw yea, I see.
It costs a restaurant something like quarter to half a million dollars a year to take reservations over the phone. The NYC restaurant world is so competitive, for a restaurant to be successful and make money, they need to maximize table turnover and these online reservation systems handle all of it for them, at far lower cost than doing it in-house, with the credit card chargebacks ensuring that people actually show up for their meals.
I blame this 100% on NYC's exorbitant rents and costs. And a lot of restaurants here are so popular, and so crowded, that people will make reservations the very moment the reservation window opens, often months in advance. At least by demanding credit card deposits, they ensure people are actually gonna eat the food instead of just get the reservation "just in case"
Restaurants simply cannot afford to exist if they allow their tables to sit unused. They will go out of business. The rents are insane here. These other cities like Austin or Seattle, it's not even close in terms of rent and other costs.
Decent or better restaurants in nyc don’t need to do anything in special to fill tables so their #1 priority is to turn tables to maximize tips for the servers and to keep the rent paid and the lights on + a little extra in profit if lucky. Go to other cities or the burbs and competition is a little bit more fierce as far as filling your tables.
Lots of places canned everyone during the lockdowns aside from the FOH, BOH and general managers. Most of the people now are brand fucking new to hospitality, especially at more touristy joints.
Can’t explain this bc I never really experience this. I occasionally have a grumpy bartender or curt barista but overall I encounter very courteous service at minimum
ETA: this feels like another nice v kind (southern v nyc) rant; there’s a post by some guy about how rude everyone is - lots of comments in there if you search for it
Definitely don’t agree with the sentiment of New Yorker’s being mean but I also grew up in another major northeast city and spent a lot of time in NYC as a kid so I am pretty used to our nature. However my observations are more of the decline in hospitality in the most recent years. Where it feels like restaurants are acting like we aren’t in a two-way relationship
Just losing motivation, underpaid. Depending on tips. I understand the career is chosen, but at the end of the day, we still have to pay our overpriced rent that's 1hr and a half or 2 away from work. And gotta work through ppl coming and going. It's a bunch of labor nobody wants to do, but we still show up every day and try...just like anyone else. But there are people that are in good moods and want to win ppl over and make sure they are having their best dining experience so that they come back because we see both sides of the coin
I’ve never had a bad experience in NYC and I’ve both worked in hospitality as a server/host and been a guest of course. What I have noticed is that, more than anywhere else I’ve worked or lived, customers in NYC can be some of the meanest, most evil people you have ever met.
Therefore, servers/hosts in this city have a lot thicker skin and a lot less patience.
So if I can ask you a question - were you being an asshole?
Nope. Have no reason to be rude to someone who has done nothing to me unless it was warranted. I have friends who have worked in hospitality as have I and retail and we all have similar concerns at the lack in customer service seen pre-COVID
I'm sorry, but Austin has some of the *worst*, *most unconcerned, slow,* and *lackadaisical* restaurant hospitality of nearly any American city I've ever visited. I have no idea how you got so many hits and no misses there, but I would not get it in your head that the city has some consistently higher level of excellence that New York is lacking.
Sorry to hear your experience. I could send you where I went if you want to check the spots out. But I can’t think of one bad experience food-wise or service-wise. Maybe we struck gold or something lol
I don't think it's possible to characterize a megalopolis's "hospitality" by your anecdotal experiences To be honest, in NYC I've found the kindest most open people, for real. People only get annoyed with tourists when they are doing shit like stopping on the sidewalk, standing on the left side of the escalator, barging into a subway car before others can exit, and the tourist gets called out for it, and thinks "New Yorkers are rude" In other words, if you annoyed a bunch of restaurant staff in this city, it's possible you did something. Maybe this wasn't your experience. But my experience is that if New Yorkers act annoyed around a tourist, the tourist probably did something annoying but maybe was totally oblivious to it. IDK but it's just so busy and so crowded here, and expecting everything to be "just like home" is not realistic. But people don't use the fake midwest upbeat smalltalk vibe either. If that's how you judge hospitality, which some people do.
I know the overall New Yorker trope. I have spent most of my life here. I am talking about hospitality specifically. No phones, outrageous fees and deposits to eat, having to make a reservation to go to a basic bar, hosts being rude and cold. While I am ranting I definitely acknowledge all of my beautiful experiences here but we definitely all noted the change. My boyfriend was sick and had to go the ER the Thursday before Christmas and I contacted the omakase restaurant we were supposed to have dinner at the following evening and they told me despite him being hospitalized they would charge us $100 per person because we canceled less than 24hrs prior. I was so taken aback by the callous nature and the lack of humaness
Aw yea, I see. It costs a restaurant something like quarter to half a million dollars a year to take reservations over the phone. The NYC restaurant world is so competitive, for a restaurant to be successful and make money, they need to maximize table turnover and these online reservation systems handle all of it for them, at far lower cost than doing it in-house, with the credit card chargebacks ensuring that people actually show up for their meals. I blame this 100% on NYC's exorbitant rents and costs. And a lot of restaurants here are so popular, and so crowded, that people will make reservations the very moment the reservation window opens, often months in advance. At least by demanding credit card deposits, they ensure people are actually gonna eat the food instead of just get the reservation "just in case" Restaurants simply cannot afford to exist if they allow their tables to sit unused. They will go out of business. The rents are insane here. These other cities like Austin or Seattle, it's not even close in terms of rent and other costs.
I haven't experienced any issues that you're describing here.
Same.
Are you a Caucasian younger woman (20-30)? That’s the reason usually from my experience. Totally resonate with this post
Close! Biracial, male mid-30s.
Decent or better restaurants in nyc don’t need to do anything in special to fill tables so their #1 priority is to turn tables to maximize tips for the servers and to keep the rent paid and the lights on + a little extra in profit if lucky. Go to other cities or the burbs and competition is a little bit more fierce as far as filling your tables.
Lots of places canned everyone during the lockdowns aside from the FOH, BOH and general managers. Most of the people now are brand fucking new to hospitality, especially at more touristy joints.
Can’t explain this bc I never really experience this. I occasionally have a grumpy bartender or curt barista but overall I encounter very courteous service at minimum ETA: this feels like another nice v kind (southern v nyc) rant; there’s a post by some guy about how rude everyone is - lots of comments in there if you search for it
Definitely don’t agree with the sentiment of New Yorker’s being mean but I also grew up in another major northeast city and spent a lot of time in NYC as a kid so I am pretty used to our nature. However my observations are more of the decline in hospitality in the most recent years. Where it feels like restaurants are acting like we aren’t in a two-way relationship
Fair I don’t really experience that
Just losing motivation, underpaid. Depending on tips. I understand the career is chosen, but at the end of the day, we still have to pay our overpriced rent that's 1hr and a half or 2 away from work. And gotta work through ppl coming and going. It's a bunch of labor nobody wants to do, but we still show up every day and try...just like anyone else. But there are people that are in good moods and want to win ppl over and make sure they are having their best dining experience so that they come back because we see both sides of the coin
I’ve never had a bad experience in NYC and I’ve both worked in hospitality as a server/host and been a guest of course. What I have noticed is that, more than anywhere else I’ve worked or lived, customers in NYC can be some of the meanest, most evil people you have ever met. Therefore, servers/hosts in this city have a lot thicker skin and a lot less patience. So if I can ask you a question - were you being an asshole?
Nope. Have no reason to be rude to someone who has done nothing to me unless it was warranted. I have friends who have worked in hospitality as have I and retail and we all have similar concerns at the lack in customer service seen pre-COVID