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Reply on the side tangent: That is due to tipping in my opinion. Waiters attempt to be in your face all the time in the U.S. in an effort to leave a good impres

Reply on the side tangent: That is due to tipping in my opinion. Waiters attempt to be in your face all the time in the U.S. in an effort to leave a good impression, invoke empathy (they are doing a a lot of running around; let's tip them well) and get tipped. For instance, no sane waiter where I am from would try to push the bill to a romantic date dinner or ask if we want more drinks. They will be watching around for a signal (more wine, would like to order, more water, the check please etc). P.S. Also extremely annoyed when I am clearly the driver and I get bombarded about getting more drinks...

dreamcompiler 8y ago
Mixed feelings here. Yes, I definitely prefer wait staff with less of the "I want to be your friend!" attitude. But at the same time, I'm not going to stand in line 30 minutes for the privilege of ordering my food and then wait again for a table to open up in a tiny overcrowded dining area, which has become the normal mode at trendy restaurants in every American city -- not just SF. I'd still rather pay a little more for wait service than be one of the cattle.
- JoeAltmaier 8y ago
  In fact I don't call it a restaurant without one. There are three obvious, fundamental traits of a restaurant: 1) they cook the food (including knowing the recipes) 2) the serve the food to your table 3) they do the dishes (including bussing the table) Lets award a potential 3 points to a food establishment for this 'litmus test'. McD's of course gets only 1 point (they cook the food). Hardly a restaurant experience, no surprise there. Your corner bar and grill gets all three points: they have a server and bus tables. And even a burger or frozen pizza counts as 'cook the food' And so on. Easy! And I'll just leave you with this, my least favorite lunch place of all: Subway. They get Zero (0) points. Not really a restaurant at all. Just a place to store ingredients for you to come and put together yourself, for outrageous prices.
  - 8xde0wcNwpslOw 8y ago
    You're being a bit harsh on Subway, and maybe rating them on a completely wrong scale. A salad bar in a grocery store literally makes you put your food together, and not at altogether cheaper price compared to Subway.
    - paulie_a 8y ago
      It might be the same price but you don't have to eat Subway.

dreamcompiler 8y ago

Mixed feelings here. Yes, I definitely prefer wait staff with less of the "I want to be your friend!" attitude. But at the same time, I'm not going to stand in line 30 minutes for the privilege of ordering my food and then wait again for a table to open up in a tiny overcrowded dining area, which has become the normal mode at trendy restaurants in every American city -- not just SF. I'd still rather pay a little more for wait service than be one of the cattle.

JoeAltmaier 8y ago
In fact I don't call it a restaurant without one. There are three obvious, fundamental traits of a restaurant: 1) they cook the food (including knowing the recipes) 2) the serve the food to your table 3) they do the dishes (including bussing the table) Lets award a potential 3 points to a food establishment for this 'litmus test'. McD's of course gets only 1 point (they cook the food). Hardly a restaurant experience, no surprise there. Your corner bar and grill gets all three points: they have a server and bus tables. And even a burger or frozen pizza counts as 'cook the food' And so on. Easy! And I'll just leave you with this, my least favorite lunch place of all: Subway. They get Zero (0) points. Not really a restaurant at all. Just a place to store ingredients for you to come and put together yourself, for outrageous prices.
- 8xde0wcNwpslOw 8y ago
  You're being a bit harsh on Subway, and maybe rating them on a completely wrong scale. A salad bar in a grocery store literally makes you put your food together, and not at altogether cheaper price compared to Subway.
  - paulie_a 8y ago
    It might be the same price but you don't have to eat Subway.