Orlando Enrique Fiol wrote:
>
> Arri London > wrote:
> >Keep it simple, seasonal and freshly-cooked. No frozen or microwaved
> >food.
>
> I loved this Indonesian place in the Hague that microwaved menu combinations to
> order; I learned to overlook the microwaving because it was a small, family run
> place with excellent food that didn't seem to suffer texturally from
> microwaving. But, I wouldn't expect microwaved food at a restaurant.

A small place like that can get away with it, but it's not optimal. It's
also not really very Dutch Indonesian to do that.

>
> >Hire someone who actually can cook.
>
> Definitely! Cooking is not just menu planning.

Exactly. The root of any restaurant should be the food.

>
> >Clean, well-trained, knowledgeable, polite/civilised, competent and I
> >*never ever* want to know their first names.
>
> Why not? Why does that bother so many people? It's easier and more polite to
> call out someone's first name than "waiter!".

LOL I will be snobbish here now. Good service means I don't need to call
out any name at all. Being observant is part of being trained well. A
nametag will suffice instead of a lengthy introduction.
>
> >No long recitations of 'specials' which are rarely all that special.
>
> Most specials are chosen for popularity, seasonality or value. Plenty of diners
> welcome such options.

True but I don't.

>
> >Chalkboard at the entrance
> >is enough info. Menu/prices posted in the window, as in done in many
> >parts of the world.
>
> If that's the case, the staff should be trained in compassionate patience for
> blind or illiterate customers who cannot read posted menus.

That is a separate issue. It is also part of well trained staff. As is
giving an appropriate table to someone in a wheelchair or handing out
the baby high chairs without asking.

>
> >None of this 'no one can ever get a reservation'
> >there; that's just dumb.
>
> Yeah, I don't believe most of those restaurants are actually booked for months
> in advance at all times of day and night.
>
> Orlando

Not only that. The idea that only the right people can get in at all.
All of you can just line up outside the door like the rest of us. Not
that I ever willingly stand in a queue for any restaurant, mind you. But
have been dragged along to someone else's favourite place to wait it
out. The food was never worth the wait though.