Frogleg wrote:
>
> On Mon, 06 Oct 2003 10:44:48 -0400, Nancy Young

> What do we go to restaurants for? Uninterrupted conversation? A
> genteel social occasion? Super food? Convenience? There are bezillions
> of restaurants that feature meals on paper plates, or famously rude
> personnel (some deli in NYC comes to mind) but superior pastrami, or
> waiters on rollerskates as entertainment, or cheap family meal
> specials, or uniformly reliable chain food, or the ultimate gourmet
> experience with 'European' service (on a good night).
>
> Years ago, I got really tired of restaurants with salad bars -- I
> don't want to stand in line with a plate; I want someone to serve me a
> salad.

I'm with you. Once I sit down, I want to stay that way until it's
time to leave. Having said that, there was this one restaurant that
had a nice salad bar and I'd order that for lunch once in a while.
I knew I'd have to go get it, but threading my way to the salad bar
wasn't really my idea of a good time.

> When I go through a fast food drive-in lane, I want cheap,
> *fast* food. When I pay $50 for a meal, I want food I can't/don't cook
> at home, and a waiter who will retrieve a dropped napkin in under a
> minute. If a 'soup nazi' offers a product I enjoy, I can decide
> whether I want to stand in line for the soup.
>
> We can read the reviews and get recommendations from friends. It'd be
> nice if Burger King's 99-cent specials were served with perfect
> gentility. Not likely to happen. (Can you say "minimum wage"?)

All I expect is some hustle and no attitude.

> I don't want to grill my own steak, construct my own salad, have
> waitstaff sing 'Happy Birthday', or play violins at my table. I
> rarely, if ever, can afford celebrated 'fine dining' experiences, so I
> go for pretty good food I don't have to prepare, at a reasonable
> price.

Nothing wrong with that, though I just got an iffy lunch today. Eh,
I wasn't really hungry, I was there for the company. No, I
specifically do not wish for people to sing to me.

I have been to my share of 'fine dining' restaurants, but they are
not my style. I prefer pub type places, you know, with a bar and
tables, usually dark, casual. I vastly prefer to sit at the bar,
so you go find two seats and cop a squat. If I'm going to sit at
a table, I want someone to take me to my table or pick one out if
that's how it is. Then, I want the person assigned to that table
to come take my drink order, then my food order suitably later.

> 'Take a number' sounds fair to me.

I seriously don't want to go stand someplace and place my order and
be given a number. That doesn't fly with me. It's not a place
I would frequent.

nancy