Kate Connally > wrote in
:

> 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
>

I wouldn't want to go to a restaurant where I felt the need to dictate
the cooking method and ingredients to the chef.

--
Wayne in Phoenix

unmunge as w-e-b

*If there's a nit to pick, some nitwit will pick it.
*A mind is a terrible thing to lose.