Things that annoy you while dining at a restaurant.

This is a thread on Robin's Louisville Forum and I thought it would be interesting for the WLDG/FLDG take on this. (For the record, misbehaving children are easy marks, so let's leave the crumb snatchers out of this).

I get disagreeable when a wine or a special dish is pointed out but the price remains a mystery. Yes I can ask but I shouldn't have to.

Wine mark ups. Especially on current release wines and especially when over 3x or 4x retail price.

1. Cellphones.

2. Waitstaff that is much more adept at selling you a $5 dessert that they are at selling a $30 bottle of wine, and owner/managers who see nothing wrong with this.

Lukewarm soup. Or lukewarm anything, for that matter (except bread/rolls).

[Jenise]

"Free dessert" as compensation for things that went wrong earlier in the meal. Some of us don't eat dessert.

"Free dessert" as compensation for things that went wrong earlier in the meal. Some of us don't eat dessert.

I was once offered a free dessert when the "half duck" I ordered consisted of the bottom half - two legs.

Freud spoke originally of three instincts - eros and thanatos (more or less the instincts for life and death) and a third, almost forgotten today that he called "scopophilia" - the irresistable need to look.

When some moron at a restaurant chews with his or her mouth open, no matter how hard I try, I cannot stop glancing to see if the behavior continues. Truth is though that both the open mouthed idiot and my need to look so distract me that if I cannot be moved to a table out of sight of the offending person, I will pay the bill and leave.

Freud, of course, would call that my hang-up but mine it is and so be it.

[David M. Bueker]

Cellphones, unruly children (when the parents are not even trying to control them) & hovering waitstaff

Diners.

Inattentive waitstaff:
1. Fail to check on whether food is satisfactory within a minute or two of delivering it to the table.
2. Fail to refill water glasses or coffee cups when they are near empty.
3. Fail to be nearby when it is time to request the check.

Cell phones and loud mouths.

Patrons who wear noticeable levels of perfume or cologne.

Flies and gnats indoors. I certainly understand insects when dining outdoors.

Managers lecturing or chastising employees in public view or earshot. It does not happen often, but when it does, I do not want to hear about it.

Wobbly tables and chairs. If the management cannot stabilize a table or chair, it should not be in the dining room.

Smudges on glassware, silverware and plates. It is a sign that the server did not properly wash hands or wipe them after handling something greasy.

As Daniel mentioned, seeing people who chew with their mouths open, as well as, hearing them at it.

Same as Bernie, people who speak loud enough for me to hear everything they say. It somehow is worse when you can tell they want everyone to hear what they say.

I have many other peeves, but those are the top two (aside from noisy/unruly children).

Almost everything about other diners that is outside earshot of their table.
Having to ask for water.
More than 2 waitstaff waiting on the table
One wait person telling you that your waitperson (Sean) will be with you shortly; or when you ask for a glass of water stating "I'll have your waiter Sean bring that right to you" WTF?
Wait staff that brings your courses without waiting for you to finish the last, then trying to find a place to put your course (and pushing everything together or removing the salt and pepper) when you tell them you're not finished with the salad.

Overly solicitous waitstaff, especially when it's blatantly insincere (as opposed to just the normal insincerity of it all):
I do NOT want to hear your life story
I do NOT need a dramatic reading of the menu; I can read quite well on my own, thankyouverymuch
I do NOT want to interrupt my meal 5 minutes into the experience to answer your question of "how is everything?"
I do NOT want to answer your question of "are you still working on that?"
I do NOT need my wineglass refilled from a bottle that rests on the table, especially when you overfill my glass

Inattentive waitrons can be nearly as annoying, but it's far easier to flag someone down (and I'm shameless about flagging down anyone I can see if my waitron isn't paying attention to me) than to shoo your server away.

[Jenise]

Diners.

It's a good thing you got out of the business.

[Jenise]

Cell phones and loud mouths.

Okay, so I have a new one for you. Last night we dined with good friends at a high end white table cloth steakhouse, and the third couple was a couple visiting from Alaska. Who have a daughter in southern California, who called during dinner just to say hello. Jules not only took the call, he is apparently hard of hearing so he put her on speaker phone which though he still held it to his ear we could hear every mundane, boring word of. GRRRRRRRRRR.

Diners.

It's a good thing you got out of the business.

I agree with Joseph. Most of my annoyances are attributable to my fellow diners. You know, cell phone, boatloads of cologne, load talking, people who are overly needy of the servers time to the point where my service has to suffer, drunks, ...you get the idea.
The other "house" related annoyances are valid, but I feel I have some control over most of that either through politely communicating my displeasure or not returning to restaurants that consistently annoy me.
Redwinger

Cell phones and loud mouths.

Okay, so I have a new one for you. Last night we dined with good friends at a high end white table cloth steakhouse, and the third couple was a couple visiting from Alaska. Who have a daughter in southern California, who called during dinner just to say hello. Jules not only took the call, he is apparently hard of hearing so he put her on speaker phone which though he still held it to his ear we could hear every mundane, boring word of. GRRRRRRRRRR.

Now that is rude.

What Jo Ann said about bringing the main course, too early. Last night we went with friends to a fairly new restaurant in town...Tapas. It is very popular for folks who go with a group, drink wine and have tapas. Full dinners are also served. We decided to follow the suggestion of our friendly waitress, having samples of skewered meats, and various bruschetta. Three of us ordered our choice of salad and one had soup. The salads were brought out on dinner plates, although they were not large salads. We had barely started, when our main course came out. Since the waitress had her hands full, we were scrambling around to find room for the extra four plates. She had to put the plates down on a near-by empty table to assist us. We were all in good spirit and at the time, joked with her about the food coming a bit fast and maybe we were talking too much to eat. I have often had talks with myself about being proactive and anticipate what might happen and speak up. I hate when they bring the food too soon...why didn't I remember that and ask for the food to come when we were done with our salads and not before?
I get irritated in Asian restaurants when we have meats that are too large and need to be cut and there is not a knife in site. Why don't I ask ahead of time for knives? I really need to work on this.

[Jenise]

I hate when they bring the food too soon...why didn't I remember that and ask for the food to come when we were done with our salads and not before?

Cause you shouldn't have to specify that. If they make such a stupid mistake, why should you be the one who pays for it (both figuratively and literally)? It's a badly run restaurant. What you need to learn to do is tell them to take that blasted food away and bring you fresh, hot food when you're done with your salads.

Cell phones and loud mouths.

Okay, so I have a new one for you. Last night we dined with good friends at a high end white table cloth steakhouse, and the third couple was a couple visiting from Alaska. Who have a daughter in southern California, who called during dinner just to say hello. Jules not only took the call, he is apparently hard of hearing so he put her on speaker phone which though he still held it to his ear we could hear every mundane, boring word of. GRRRRRRRRRR.

I would not have been able to hold it together, Jenise. Since they were your guest (and you were not theirs), the minute they picked up the phone to make a call I would have informed them that "we have a no cell phone policy while dining together -- so, if your call is important, we would appreciate you making it in another part of the restaurant so that it doesn't interfere with the dinner conversation, if you don't mind". If they do mind and continue with the phone call anyway, I would inform the wait staff that the party would be splitting up and we would like the next available table for a rearrangement of seating. It may break up friendships -- but, who needs friends like that anyway. I also don't tolerate people who place me on hold while they check to see who's calling on the other line (personal, not business calls). I always hang up. I've gotten to the point that I just don't tolerate childish, rude behavior from fully functioning adults. GRRRRRRR, indeed.

I also don't tolerate people who place me on hold while they check to see who's calling on the other line (personal, not business calls).

Agreed. It is implying what Hyacinth Bucket on "Keeping Up Appearances" used to say explicitly, "I'd better answer that--it might be somebody important" (meaning that you are not important).

Most of my restaurant annoyances are behavior from other diners, such as cell phones. But there's also the obtrusive wait staff who ask if everything's OK while I have my mouth full. Or who interrupt conversation with other diners to ask that question. I replied on one occasion, "everything was OK until you rudely interrupted our conversation to ask."

-Paul W.

I replied on one occasion, "everything was OK until you rudely interrupted our conversation to ask."

Great line. Mind if i steal it?
BP

[Jenise]

I would not have been able to hold it together, Jenise. Since they were your guest (and you were not theirs

Actually, we were both the guests of the third couple and it was her birthday, so I had to contain myself. However the birthday girl was also quite appalled, so we openly discussed how rude the other couple was being (considering the wife equally guilty, as she did nothing to put a stop to it) and made "Can you believe THIS?" faces. The conversation lasted an astonishing six-seven minutes.

Phone Boy did end up popping for the entire meal, though, which was quite generous.