# Personal/Professional Culinary Pet Peeves



## chefmannydlm (Jun 22, 2013)

Last night my wife and I bought some sockeye salmon from our local grocery store.  When we got home and I was prepping the fish for dinner I discovered that the fillet I had purchased still had all the pin bones in it.  Nothing annoys me more than a seafood place that does not take the time or care to remove the pin bones from its fresh fish.  I know it is not hard to do and I am knowledgeable enough to do it myself, but it still pisses me off. 

That being said, I was just wondering what sort of things get under yours skin, either at home, at work or being out culinaryily speaking.


----------



## grande (May 14, 2014)

It drives me nuts when grocery stores cut steaks without cleaning the larger cuts up at all. I feel like i'm paying premium for trim.


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

Aside from the usual:

-Rag Stealing

-Knife Stealing

-People not cleaing up their station

-Or annoying waiters

I would say a professional pet peeve is something like lets say, one useless item on a dish, delays an entire order or table... 

Or when i have to use a dull knife and no sharpening stone is near to be found. 

My personal pet peeve is, when my sister overcooks her chicken cooking almost until its blackened and looks like charcoal, because apparently she likes it that way... 

Or how my grandmother doesnt cook her paste al dente. 

Or how my father loves to reuse the same oil like 10-15 times until its basically dark brown because he is kind of a cheapskate and has no food knowledge or health knowledge.


----------



## allanmcpherson (Apr 5, 2007)

KK,

You should save your dad's oil for mayo!


----------



## redchef300 (Jul 17, 2014)

This one just happen to my girlfriend. Trying to book a party of 20 for lunch in 15 days and called the restaurant 2 days in a row leaving a messages to the manager to call us back and get no reply. The third day emailed and no reply. The fourth day went into the restaurant and finally booked the room. Kind of felt ignore not sure if this is normal for most places.


----------



## panini (Jul 28, 2001)

We were out last night. Not a cheap place. The waiter took our order and then stuck his pad down the back of his pants.

My poor wife, she just glared at me because we were with new acquaintances, so I didn't walk like I usually do. I may be weird but the thought of somebodies hand going in and out of his or her pants just turns me off.


----------



## pete (Oct 7, 2001)

One of my biggest pet peeves is when I'm still eating my salad and the server comes and serves my entree.  I know that casual restaurants like to burn through tables, but it annoys the hell out of me, and you know, if you send it back, all they are going to do is put under the heat lamp until you are ready for it.  Worse yet, I've had servers try to rush me through my meal by dumping both salads and apps at the same time, and following it up with entrees mere minutes later.  My wife just cringes because she knows what's coming next!!!


----------



## chefross (May 5, 2010)

Pete said:


> One of my biggest pet peeves is when I'm still eating my salad and the server comes and serves my entree. I know that casual restaurants like to burn through tables, but it annoys the hell out of me, and you know, if you send it back, all they are going to do is put under the heat lamp until you are ready for it. Worse yet, I've had servers try to rush me through my meal by dumping both salads and apps at the same time, and following it up with entrees mere minutes later. My wife just cringes because she knows what's coming next!!!


I absolutely refuse to eat this way, and in some cases I get the manager over to insist the kitchen remake the entrée when I AM READY!!!!

I find myself having to tell the server upfront that I am not in a hurry and want to take my time eating here.


----------



## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

I fully agree with Pete, but in this end of the world (southern africa) the time between starter and dinner is almost non-existent and people want it that way. They actually complain if they sit for even 2 or 3 minutes without food in front of them!
To by-pass the problem, I order ny starter and only order main course when my starter arrives.

Another peeve is when the waiter takes away a plate as soon as it is finished instead of waiting for everyone in the party to finish eating. But again, locally that is the norm


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

When servers ask "how was/is your meal" when you havent even begun to truly devour it.


----------



## flipflopgirl (Jun 27, 2012)

Line dancing ......

mimi


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

flipflopgirl said:


> Line dancing ......
> 
> mimi


I love dancing on the line xD.

I remember hours before an event it was me, the head chef and another line cook and we cranked up the music and only shut it off minutes before the event. Danced the entire time during prep, it was amazing.

/img/vbsmilies/smilies/peace.gif

Of course the moment service started we got serious, can´t let the customers se me grooving...


----------



## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

My pet peeve is setting a pan on a cutting board.


----------



## grande (May 14, 2014)

One time the fry cook set a half sheet pan out of the oven on the grill cook's knife... partially melted the handle... NO BUENO


----------



## flipflopgirl (Jun 27, 2012)

KaiqueKuisine said:


> flipflopgirl said:
> 
> 
> > Line dancing ......
> ...


Sounds like a blast and personally think kitchen dancing to be da bomb!

Altho I am talking about the servers stopping everything (seating included) and line dancing to country and western music (nothing against CandW music) up and down the aisles and even on the bar top .

mimi


----------



## flipflopgirl (Jun 27, 2012)

Grande said:


> One time the fry cook set a half sheet pan out of the oven on the grill cook's knife... partially melted the handle... NO BUENO


Pretty sure there was no line dancing involved in that situation lol.

mimi


----------



## panini (Jul 28, 2001)

Mimi,

  Where are you eating???LOL  and are you paying for your food?


----------



## flipflopgirl (Jun 27, 2012)

I have a perpetual craving for the house salad (only place besides mine for a stellar Ranch dressing) and dinner rolls (whipped honey butter) at Texas Roadhouse.
Almost the entire entree menu comes with gobs of melted jack cheese (eek) but the chicken fried chicken nuggets are decent so Always order some for my salad.
The entire waitstaff wears tight blue jeans as well as equally tight shirts .
Every thirty minutes or so they break out the booty shakenest line dance for us..... their beloved dinner guests.
The ONLY other chain place we frequent would be Joe's Crab Shack.
Cannot get enuf of the mixed bucket o'legs!
Yes I realize there is nothing fresh about the seafood but really most places serve flash frozen (crab) anyways so in my mind this makes it ok.....right?
Well good ole Joe encourages spontaneous dancing as well.
They start the day in the aisles advancing to the tops of picnic tables in time for happy hour.
Yay.
The closer it gets to closing time a few of the friendlier servers climb up the barstools and from there to the bar top.
Now I have indulged in a bit of bar top dancing back in the day, but I can assure you it was fully clothed and always bought my own drinks, lol.

mimi


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

Oh mimi that does sound bad, pretty bad actually lol. 

Now you reminded me of one other things im not to keen on when going to restaurants, but its happens rarely. 

Waiters after they have been told or find out its your birthday coming along to sing you happy birthday thus causing all eyes to be on you for 1-3 minutes. 

I know its not that long, but i dont enjoy it at all.

Be it at chain restaurants or mom and pop places, if its my birthday or someone elses birthday do not come sing at our table, ill open one exception if we are getting free dessert, if we are gonna get free dessert they can even lift me and crowd surf me across the restaurant LOL.


----------



## shadow120 (Dec 3, 2012)

when people put things in the steam table without a ladle/spoon in it

when someone uses a rag for something nasty then puts it in my sani bucket

and about 100 other things


----------



## harrisonh (Jan 20, 2013)

1customers who listen to Doctor OZ, and think that wheat is bad for you. This isn't even counting the people that think they are "allergic" to gluten (I support the people who have legitimate issues).
2last minute customers
3more than one substitution per table.
4militant vegans (I'm perfectly in favor of healthy eating, just talking about the militants)
5 the fact that waiters earns 3-4 times what a skilled, experienced prep cook and 2-3x times what a skilled, experienced line cook earns

6 when front of house is goofing off joking, talking about their dates, flirting with each other instead of working and then a customer returns a meal (rightfully so) because it is cold.


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

OH another one. 

At self service restaurants when people get the food and try to take it to their plates, usually far away from the food, causing food to spill into the hot cubes/boxes or causing it to spill on the floor. 

Is it honestly so hard to take the plate close to the food, get the food withthe tongs or spoon and put it on the plate, instead of basically carrying the food to your plate, carry the plate close to the food. 

I have had to clean up to many messes because of things like this...


----------



## alaminute (Aug 22, 2013)

Lazy co-workers. I'd even go so far as to say anyone who isn't a hard worker.


----------



## beachchef22 (Oct 19, 2011)

Wow, there are soooo many....

1...Messy stations...not cleaning as you go....middle of service and your station is a total wreck!!!

2...Placing hot pans on cutting boards.....

3...Line cooks that don't pay attention.....Order in!! Huh?

4...Not cleaning and flipping pans after your shift is over....nothing worse than showing up in the morning to dirty, half-empty pans...So you spend your first 30 minutes properly cleaning the station...

5...Front of house filling the restaurant with no regard to the kitchen...."Hey just seated 50 people....sorry guys..!!

6...Wait staff who think they know more than the head chef....

7...People who take the last item out of a box and leave it for some one else to take out of the freezer or walkin!!

8...Someone who cuts fish and leaves a dirty cutting board and knife...YOUR knife there with dried up fish all over it.!!

9...Someone who preps food and feels they must do it differently each time instead of following the established house recipe..

10..Wait staff who complain any time there is a different brand of ketchup, tartar sauce, Mayo, tomato, etc...because it's "different"....

11..Wait staff that finger _F's the food when taking it out of the window because it doesn't look the way "they" want it to look...

12..Wait staff that ignores the head chef when telling them their food is in the window while they pile whip cream and chocolate syrup on a dessert plate while gossiping with 3 other wait staff that should have been cut an hour ago.....

13...An owner that tells you the beans are cold.....just after you showed him/her via thermometer that they were 140 degrees....

14...Wait staff that likes to microwave every bowl/cup of soup, even after establishing that the soup bains are holding the soup at proper temperature...

15...This food is cold.....despite sitting under blazing heat lamps for the last 10 minutes because your lazy ass wouldn't come and take it out of the window..

16..Wait staff that decides to tell head chef how to make a good soup...

17...Wait staff that has been working at said establishment for 5+ years and consistently asks stupid questions regarding menu, "is the seafood gluten free?", doesn't know the menu, etc...

18...Newly hired "salad girls" who make salads with no gloves because her supervisor, the head waitress, who has been working there for 10 years...has failed to train her that foods ready to eat should be handled with gloves....and I'm the A-hole for asking her to put gloves on.....

I could go on...lol..


----------



## chefross (May 5, 2010)

BeachChef22 said:


> Wow, there are soooo many....
> 
> 1...Messy stations...not cleaning as you go....middle of service and your station is a total wreck!!!
> 
> ...


Sounds like you just got off of yet another shift of:

"*S*tandard *O*perating *P*rocedures"

STOP

I feel ya!


----------



## madewithnotepad (Sep 10, 2014)

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. I thought I had it bad with the waitstaff at my current location, but I guess it's a pretty common problem. Though the more upscale restaurants I've been at seemed to have less of a problem with it.


----------



## allanmcpherson (Apr 5, 2007)

I have a new one: pot washers who cant stand hot water. Suck it up buttercup...


----------



## gator (Sep 30, 2014)

When I make a perfect med rare steak for myself and leave my wifes steak pink and then she complains about it not being done... I hate when people ask me to cook them food well done.


----------



## alaminute (Aug 22, 2013)

Lol chef McPherson, I had one of my dish dogs (a month into his first job) ask if there was any way to use the steel wool without it hurting his hands. I said 'yeah, keep doing it for two more months and you'll grow some callouses.


----------



## allanmcpherson (Apr 5, 2007)

Alaminute, good grief....take away the scrubby, and burn a couple of pots. That should end the complaints...


----------



## alaminute (Aug 22, 2013)

Hahaha don't threaten me with a good time, that'll be my next move. Then again they'll probably just hide the pots/ set aside and leave for the next shift. You can lead a dishwasher to water but you can't make him think.


----------



## chefmou5e (Oct 10, 2014)

Biggest pet peeve has to be FOH not reading their tickets/orders and asking what they have to take to a table when the ticket I hand to then clearly states these items


----------



## phaedrus (Dec 23, 2004)

Grande said:


> One time the fry cook set a half sheet pan out of the oven on the grill cook's knife... partially melted the handle... NO BUENO


Serves him right for having a knife with a plastic handle!/img/vbsmilies/smilies/tongue.gif


----------



## grande (May 14, 2014)

Wusthof trident!


----------



## phaedrus (Dec 23, 2004)

My current pet peeves are based on nOOb servers. The first is when they don't know the damn menu and order stuff that we don't have. Hello? Did you not take a menu test before you were allowed to serve? One dimwit sent back a ticket with corn as the side. _Corn_. We have never had corn ever, not even for a feature or brunch.

The other thing that makes me flip the F out for some reason is when servers ring in a side of _gravy_. Effin' gravy? This isn't Denny's, we don't serve gravy./img/vbsmilies/smilies/mad.gif We serve _demi glace!_/img/vbsmilies/smilies/wink.gif


----------



## alaminute (Aug 22, 2013)

What if they rang in a side if bechamel?


----------



## spoiledbroth (Sep 25, 2014)

Phaedrus said:


> My current pet peeves are based on nOOb servers. The first is when they don't know the damn menu and order stuff that we don't have. Hello? Did you not take a menu test before you were allowed to serve? One dimwit sent back a ticket with corn as the side. _Corn_. We have never had corn ever, not even for a feature or brunch.
> 
> The other thing that makes me flip the F out for some reason is when servers ring in a side of _gravy_. Effin' gravy? This isn't Denny's, we don't serve gravy. We serve _demi glace!_


with espagnole and everything?


----------



## sicariix (Sep 30, 2014)

When I get a request for a med-well or well Pittsburgh style steak.
Or a medium steak but messaged with "no blood" (WTF!!)
When lunch crew has refused to remove the plastic wrap on the pans but rather deciding to poke a hole through it
Seeing items on the prep list crossed off but has not been done (Shame on you prep staff!!)
Saying "RUNNER" again watching my food die in the window for the last 5 mins


----------



## andrew curley (Aug 19, 2014)

Being asked to get s**t for people from the walk in.

People taking my knives.

People leaving s**t on my table i,e, droplets of jus, oil, f*****g PASTA.

People taking my date lables, cling film, double cream, pens and sanity.

Having to stop what i'm doing to open the g*****n oven door and alert the team "TIMER!"  despite the overly loud noise it makes when the timer actually goes off.

Cleaning down my section before my lunch break to find seasoning and various other s**t on my table.

Stolen Mise.

I could go on.


----------



## chefross (May 5, 2010)

.....and since this is about culinary pet peeves, I'll take it from a different view here.

Chefs changing names of time honored recipes in order to reflect their personal cooking style.

Case in point. 

Go out to a "fine dining" establishment and see "Osso Bucco" as an appetizer.

Server swears it's a typo and insists it's an Entrée.

So I order this with great anticipation, as I make it at work and love it.

Out comes this huge white pasta bowl with overcooked short rib meat cut into small dice with goat cheese,

Demi-Glace, spinach, and sweet potato Gnocchi.

This is what they called Osso Bucco.

Afterwards, I see on the chalk board this item listed as braised short ribs with all the rest,

but on the table menu it was listed as Oss Bucco

What a disappointment........and this place charges $2.00 for bread and butter.


----------



## chefross (May 5, 2010)

Andrew Curley said:


> Being asked to get s**t for people from the walk in.
> 
> People taking my knives.
> 
> ...


Welcome to the restaurant world and also to ChefTalk


----------



## neilthechef (Jan 29, 2014)

My peeves are owners adding something to the menu because they had it a another restaurant...and never thinking of extra time needed for yet another 'from fresh' item. Menus with over 60 items expected to be cooked fresh in a kitchen designed for 40 covers not 100. Chefs not turning up for their shift and leaving it to us old buggers. And, as posted earlier, that ONE dish that slows up a table of ten. Bastards.  But now I have my own tiny place and am a general pain to all and sundry.


----------



## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

Chef Ross

One night I took the wife and 2 friends out for dinner in a better type place in Florida . The food was good as was the service. But then the check, they tried to charge me $2.50 each for rolls. I told the waiter I refuse to pay that.  He said the manager would be over. When he came he advised me that it was the house policy to charge for rolls and butter. I asked him where on the menu it stated this or where was this posted or who was supposed to tell me of this policy? Plus I did not order the rolls they were given to us. He could not answer me. Make a long story short I did not pay it was taken off check which was about $120.00 for 4 of us. So we are not talking about an Applebees here.  Whoever pays for this is getting royaly ripped off, I suggest refusing to pay for it. And next time eating elsewhere.


----------



## panini (Jul 28, 2001)

@chefedb,

We begged my Mother in Law to come to dinner for her birthday. She on a limited income and never eats out but said she would go to a local cafeteria that's been around forever.

It kind of caters to the older crowd. Almost all the vegies and most of the entrees we pureed. We proceeded through the line and all the entrees and vegies and desserts had a price.

Not so cheap, 9.00 for a small piece of frozen cod ala carte. There was 8 of us so I wasn't worried about how much cash I had. At the end of the line was this wonderful display of

condiments. Olives, bread, peppers, jardinière type things.

I was the last in line and I felt good about everyone loading up.

Well I get to the cashier, she has been working feverishly with her fingers, I thought maybe she was having problems with the register.

She goes to total our group out and the register starts spitting out tape like a ticker machine. I am not kidding the tape had to be 11 feet .

I just thought the machine cashed out the day automatically or something.

OH NO!!! I was charged for every olive, pat of butter, roll, tartar sauce, salad dressing. etc. I rolled it up and shoved it in my pocket not wanting to make a scene in front of the MIL.

When I got home, I was charged 49.00 in condiments . The entrees and vegies were only 99.00 ./img/vbsmilies/smilies/eek.gif


----------



## andrew curley (Aug 19, 2014)

That's absolutely mortifying.  LOL!


----------



## phaedrus (Dec 23, 2004)

panini said:


> @chefedb,
> 
> We begged my Mother in Law to come to dinner for her birthday. She on a limited income and never eats out but said she would go to a local cafeteria that's been around forever.
> 
> ...


Yeah, that's absurd! I trust you'll not be going back again!


----------



## chefross (May 5, 2010)

WOW!!!

Those items, butter, rolls, condiments, are supposed to be figured into the food cost, but it looks like this is a new and inventive way to garner more income from the customer.

At least on the menu where I dined, it was in print that bread and butter were an extra charge.


----------



## panini (Jul 28, 2001)

@Chefross

Ya know one day I drove by the place in the morning, it's in a wealthy area. The same woman cashier was just getting there. I had a wonderful chat with her (sweet lady).

I told her of my experience. She apologized up and down. She said it's been like that since she started 39 years ago. Back then thay had a fixed price of 2.99 to have an entrée, vege, and dessert.

everything else ala carte. She told me the 94 yr old owner won't budge off this and that over 90% of there customers are repeat and she knows them all. They even taxi in from retirement homes to eat. She asked if I was with a group, because she looses track of people when she has to ring all the extras separate and she forgets to advise of the condiment charge.. I told her I was and she said she was going to get the son out so he can comp a meal for everyone who ate who wants to come back. I told her absolutely not, I just wanted to stop by. After a strong bear hug I was satisfied and would probably take my MIL back if she will go.


----------



## chefbuba (Feb 17, 2010)

I used to go to a Hof Brau that was like that. Everything you put on your tray was charged for, butter pats, roll, ketchup, tartar, etc.


----------



## chefmannydlm (Jun 22, 2013)

I have a new one.  After taking the time to organize, consolidate and alphabetize all the spices in dry storage the staff keep throwing them back in there any old way they land.  I swear, the next person I catch not putting stuff back where it belongs I am going to make them take all the spices off the rack, clean the entire rack, then put them all back in order!


----------



## redbeerd cantu (Aug 7, 2013)

FOH bussing tables and not shaking and stacking the dishes.

Customers bringing in their own cheese slices for their shawerma wraps.

Prep cooks who don't follow the phreakkin' recipes.

Owners who get on the line when the heat is on, but throw away the concepts of quality of presentation and meat done-ness.

FOH constantly asking for you to cook something for their friends, before opening, who aren't even supposed to be in the restaurant.

If the dishwashing machine is out of detergent, and and the fluids take two weeks to come in when ordered, and you advise the owners that the last container has just been pierced, and the detergent isn't ordered, so you have to phreakkin' hand-wash ALL of the dishes before cycling them in the machine, FOR TWO WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!

^^^^THIS ONE AGAIN!!^^^

When FOH cats, who eat only microwaved meals and fast food, insist on giving cooking advice.

When customers change their minds about orders after the proteins are halfway done.


----------



## mahavishnu nath (Nov 27, 2007)

Having the silverware wrapped in napkins stacked in a pile for me to set the table!
Servers not knowing whats in the dishes.
See letter I wrote recently (to no reply!)
12/7/2014
I was very disappointed with the service and attention we received as guests at your restaurant.
Our place settings were not set, we were handed out wrapped silverware in napkins to set ourselves.
We had to ask for water and it came with straws.
The prime rib was only available medium well due to some error in the kitchen. The server said that they had lost several orders that customers cancelled once they found this out. I cancelled my order as well.
My drink was sub par and had to be remade “the real bartender is here now” was the waiters comment.
We asked for dinner bread prior to our entrees that never came. I reminded the server during our meal and he brought out some cold, oil soaked, lightly grill marked bread, he had earlier said it took time to prepare and it was the Bianco bread. Vey poor, not hot, or baked absolutely nothing special.
I asked for a substitution of the chimichurri mashed potatoes that were forgotten, the potatoes I did get were cold and the flavorless coleslaw was the only accompaniment to my ½ rack of ribs.
The server never returned in a reasonable time to see how our meals were. I never had the opportunity to comment on the potatoes. Another diner at the table was supposed to get the chimichurri mashed potatoes and didn’t.
My wife had issues with the Ahi Tuna salad. The Asian vegetables had no Asian vegetables just peppers and cabbage. It was covered by a snowing coating of tasteless rice noodles and the tuna had a spicy sauce covering it that was too spicy for my wife. It took two trips by a very loud server, trying to sound like an authority, to get a side of sauce and tuna without a spicy sauce. He was so overbearing we couldn’t share that the sauce we wanted was the dressing for the cole slaw base, so I interceded and asked for sauce on the side. I felt almost bullied by his loud demanding, over assertive presence at my table.
The service was very poor, very often not having water and follow up on our satisfaction was aloof at best.
The molten chocolate cake was a great presentation but I needed a knife to cut through the over baked hard as a cookie top. I ended up removing the circle of hard chocolate to even get to the molten center.
That recipe needs work.
I was very unhappy when I got the bill and had several deletions over charges and corrections I couldn’t track and the server couldn’t explain to my satisfaction. He even was going to charge me for the mashed potatoes I had asked for as a substitution!
I finally called the manager and tried to get clarification. She was nice and I wasn’t as aggressive with my dissatisfaction as I could have been, because I had guests at the table. We agreed to take off the cost of the dessert. I shared with her that the server was very much in need of training.
I went home and the wife was unhappy we spent nearly $75. And had such a poor experience. 
I had recommended the restaurant.


----------



## mahavishnu nath (Nov 27, 2007)

Having the silverware wrapped in napkins stacked in a pile for me to set the table!
Servers not knowing whats in the dishes.
See letter I wrote recently (to no reply!)
12/7/2014
I was very disappointed with the service and attention we received as guests at your restaurant.
Our place settings were not set, we were handed out wrapped silverware in napkins to set ourselves.
We had to ask for water and it came with straws.
The prime rib was only available medium well due to some error in the kitchen. The server said that they had lost several orders that customers cancelled once they found this out. I cancelled my order as well.
My drink was sub par and had to be remade “the real bartender is here now” was the waiters comment.
We asked for dinner bread prior to our entrees that never came. I reminded the server during our meal and he brought out some cold, oil soaked, lightly grill marked bread, he had earlier said it took time to prepare and it was the Bianco bread. Vey poor, not hot, or baked absolutely nothing special.
I asked for a substitution of the chimichurri mashed potatoes that were forgotten, the potatoes I did get were cold and the flavorless coleslaw was the only accompaniment to my ½ rack of ribs.
The server never returned in a reasonable time to see how our meals were. I never had the opportunity to comment on the potatoes. Another diner at the table was supposed to get the chimichurri mashed potatoes and didn’t.
My wife had issues with the Ahi Tuna salad. The Asian vegetables had no Asian vegetables just peppers and cabbage. It was covered by a snowing coating of tasteless rice noodles and the tuna had a spicy sauce covering it that was too spicy for my wife. It took two trips by a very loud server, trying to sound like an authority, to get a side of sauce and tuna without a spicy sauce. He was so overbearing we couldn’t share that the sauce we wanted was the dressing for the cole slaw base, so I interceded and asked for sauce on the side. I felt almost bullied by his loud demanding, over assertive presence at my table.
The service was very poor, very often not having water and follow up on our satisfaction was aloof at best.
The molten chocolate cake was a great presentation but I needed a knife to cut through the over baked hard as a cookie top. I ended up removing the circle of hard chocolate to even get to the molten center.
That recipe needs work.
I was very unhappy when I got the bill and had several deletions over charges and corrections I couldn’t track and the server couldn’t explain to my satisfaction. He even was going to charge me for the mashed potatoes I had asked for as a substitution!
I finally called the manager and tried to get clarification. She was nice and I wasn’t as aggressive with my dissatisfaction as I could have been, because I had guests at the table. We agreed to take off the cost of the dessert. I shared with her that the server was very much in need of training.
I went home and the wife was unhappy we spent nearly $75. And had such a poor experience. 
I had recommended the restaurant.


----------



## westbigballin (Jun 3, 2014)

-Servers stacking tickets. I worked w/ a chef once who would first drop everything he's doing to cuss out the server, before moving their tickets to the back of the rail... 10 minutes after it came in.

-Servers not running food immediately and letting it die under the heat lamps when I busted ass to get that food out ASAP

-Unfocused cooks who constantly jump off line to do something unrelated to work when I'm busting ass

-Sh*tty cooks overcooking burgers and having to constantly check for doneness by ripping them open (alright it's all gray--definitely cooked now!) and they've been working there longer than me...

-Modifications/substitutions

-Tickets with more red ink for modifications/substitutions than black ink for menu item

-Ridiculous modifications/substitutions that we have to go out of our way for

And my absolute biggest pet peeve

-Split plates. God dam, go f*cking split it yourself at the table instead of making us waste labor and time cutting the burger in half, making 2 LTOP skewers, and plating it onto two separate plates (and having the dishwasher wash 2 plates instead of 1)

-During an event that makes us one of the highest volume restaurants in the world (probably), a table orders 8 burgers. They wanted it all SPLIT INTO QUARTERS because they, verbatim, wanted "finger food"

-Entire kitchen staff and management are cussing under their breath as we waste labor and time doing this and become even more backed up on our ticket times

-One of our menu items is a salmon gravlax BLT that comes in the form of 2 pretzel roll sliders. a table wanted it split 3 ways. wtf?!?! Ended up putting the entire thing into a pretzel brat bun and cutting into 3rds. what the f*ck is the point of going to a restaurant if you only want a bite of food and 5 french fries?


----------



## grande (May 14, 2014)

One time a table ordered a 2-piece crab cake entree split three ways... i told the server, "ok but its going to look like crap."- which it did. They came back, funnily enough and did the same thing but bought an extra crab cake


----------



## alaminute (Aug 22, 2013)

I know it's been said before but just for posterity because we're talking about split tickets, how about the burgers split with diff temps?!!! Half med with cheddar and half well with Gruyere lol


----------



## cm-chef (Oct 21, 2014)

[/quote]


BeachChef22 said:


> Wow, there are soooo many....
> 
> 1...Messy stations...not cleaning as you go....middle of service and your station is a total wreck!!!
> 2...Placing hot pans on cutting boards.....
> ...


That's a pretty good and thorough list you have there, if I may add to it?
: servers double firing tickets, There either not paying attention and stupid, or worse it's their way of saying "hurry up"
: Front of the house taking kitchen tools (knives, cutting boards, sixth or half pans, strainers, the list goes on) without asking, to do whatever they want with (usually something inappropriate). This can be worsened by them copping an attitude when something is sent to them about it, the sense of entitlement I have noticed amongst staff in recent years is dumbfounding.

FOH counting or talking about how much money they made in front of back of the house cooks and dishwashers. " tonight sucked I'm only walking with $350.00) mind you they have only worked a 5 to 6 hour shift and that's more money then some take-home in a week.

FOH management allowing staff to eat or smoke during the middle of service. Or even worse the staff doing it on their own without permission.

Servers raining in to go food 10 minutes before closing so they have something to eat before their night of binge drinking and cocaine.

Servers talking to the line during service, asking cooks for things rather than going through the proper channels of talking to a manager, chef or expo.
and my newest and possibly biggest pet peeve of them all! 
TEXTING!!!! The constant texting during service, it actually bothers me even outside of service. I don't see the difference between an employee sitting down and talking on the phone all day verse constant texting? Yet it seems to be tolerated more and more every year?? I see it as rude and not doing your job. 
Mind you in this matter I'm no hypocrite, I have my bosses number saved in my phone with a set ring/alert tone, employees numbers too. I therefore know from the tone who's is contacting me at work. If it's not work related I don't even look at my phone. my family and friends know if it's an emergency to call the restaurant and ask for me.


----------

