Peter Aitken wrote:
>
> "Kate Connally" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Goomba38 wrote:
> > >
> > > Kate Connally wrote:
> > >
> > > > You know, I did just this very thing but not to avoid a
> > > > service charge. I have always wanted to eat at Brennan's
> > > > in New Orleans and when I got the chance to go there I was
> > > > really excited. I couldn't wait to have the Bananas Foster.
> > > > I made a reservation months in advance. I was meeting my
> > > > sister and her husband there for dinner while we were both
> > > > on vacation in N. O. at the same time. So, we get to the
> > > > restaurant and are seated and the waiter comes to take our
> > > > order and I ask for separate checks. No deal! Huh? What's
> > > > the big deal? (I don't even want to hear all the "so why
> > > > couldn't one or the other of you just pay the check and get
> > > > reimbursed by the other" comments - there are reasons - okay?)
> > > > So I'm furious. I ask to be seated at another table nearby.
> > > > They think I'm nuts. Too bad it didn't work. If it had been
> > > > a place where you didn't need a reservation months in advance
> > > > it woulda worked. We ended up eating at Kakoo and Ralph's.
> > > > It was great. Eh, their Bananas Foster is probably not all
> > > > it's cracked up to be anyway. :-)
> > > >
> > > > Kate
> > >
> > > That's really a depressing story. It is like you cut your
> > > own nose off to spite your face...very sad. I hope
> > > whatever is wrong between you and your family can be
> > > resolved so that you don't miss out on other nice things in
> > > years to come.
> >
> > Well, I don't feel that way about it. I just don't like
> > being pushed around by snooty restaurants or even non-snooty
> > ones! It was a matter of principle. And there is nothing
> > wrong between me and my family. If there were I would not
> > have been dining with them! The reasons for requesting
> > separate checks have nothing to do with a "family feud".
> > Don't feel sorry for me. I can always make my own Banana's
> > Foster from Brennan's own recipe so it's not a big deal.
> > And we had a great time at Kakoo and Ralph's and great
> > food. I had crab done 7 different ways, and except for
> > the soft-shell crab it was all delicious. I would have
> > actually felt worse about it if I had let Brennan's force
> > me into doing it their way.
> >
> > Kate
> >
> > --
>
> The very reason for going to a top quality restaurant is so they can "do it
> their way."

I totally disagree. If I go there to have the house specialty,
like Bananas Foster, then, obviously, I'm going to "have
it their way", but if I just go there to eat and decide to
order salmon and they refuse to cook it properly for me
(as in *not* rare!), then I don't think they have the right
to tell me that's the only way they will cook it. And if I
want a dish without the mushrooms and it's not something that's
already made up with the mushrooms already in it then I damn
well will "have it *my* way". Of course if I had known
then, what I know now about both parties charging their own
portion on their own credit card, something I've done many
times in the last 10 or 12 years, it wouldn't have been a
problem, but they probably would have given me a hard time
about that, too, with my luck. I don't know when that became
a common practice. Anyway, this was almost 20 years ago.

Anyway, as far as I am concerned the reason for going to
a "top quality" restaurant is so that I can have well-prepared
food and good service. Not to cater to the ego of some
wacked out chef who thinks his way is the only way!

Kate

--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?