Illustration by Paul Hostetler
If you’re asking if something is rude ... then it usually is.
A major complaint is pumping up the volume while podcasting, Facetiming or checking the game. This occurs universally, even by those of us who grew up with a landline — which wasn’t answered at supper. Chef Andy Howell of Camden’s Dogtown Market tells of one older customer who was watching a football game, at top volume, at dinner. When he asked the man to mute his phone, the diner asked, surprisedly, if he was being rude. YES! Reuben Navarrete, general manager of Azzurro, says he doesn’t mind folks chatting on their phones, which is usual during a power lunch service, but servers will not interrupt guests in the middle of a call, which can delay order taking, and ultimately, how fast their ticket gets back to the kitchen.
Politics used to be forbidden mealtime conversation.
Jason Alley, co-owner of Pasture, asks diners to remember that their night out is everyone else’s night out, too — and to avoid loudly talking politics at the table. No matter what your views, he opines, there will be someone within earshot, with diametrically opposed beliefs, who might be uncomfortable with the conversation. “Our job is to make everyone feel welcome, and we need the guests’ help with that.”
No gawking, no touching.
Restaurateurs are inclusive employers, and the ones I spoke with pride themselves on providing a comfortable, safe environment for all their employees. Do not stare or ask personal questions. If you have youngsters who haven’t learned not to do those things, have answers ready for them. And, we do still have to say it: Don’t make suggestive statements to waitstaff.
Millennials want everything to go.
Howell says that millennials seem to want everything to go, including foods that have no business seeing the steamy inside of a box, such as multi-course, prix fixe dinners and creme brulee, which must be torched a la minute. Rule of thumb: If the dish wilts, melts, keeps cooking as it rests or requires more than one container to pack it, eat it at the restaurant.
Give the courtesy of correction.
Most restaurateurs distrust Yelp. And they agree that diners who negatively Yelp, without giving management a chance to remedy poor experiences in person first, suck.
Call to make reservations.
Shagbark switched to online reservation system Resy after Open Table began costing them more than $1,000 a month. Open Table charges the restaurant $1 per person per reservation, while Resy does not. Even with the savings, general manager Rodney Rosser asks for guests to “show up on time, call if running late or if the number of guests change, and please, please, don’t make multiple reservations for the same party” — all of which create additional expense to the restaurant. Better yet, call the restaurant or use the restaurant’s website to place reservations.
