CreamyGoodness
Well-Known Member
As the title of the thread implies, this matter is almost completely unimportant. My annoyance registers somewhere around a 2, meaning it is over almost as quickly as it started. No waiter or pretty little heads were harmed in the making of this thread. I just wonder if anyone else feels the same way about this admittedly unimportant topic.
Whenever I have ordered certain dishes, most notedly brisket of beef noodle soup in Chinatowns throughout the country (this has happened, with the same soup, in several New York restaurants, once in Boston, and once in San Francisco) the waiter takes it upon himself or herself to let me know why I might not like it.
When ordering spicy pig kidney last year, for example, the waitress asked me if I knew what kidneys were. I did. She took it one step farther in bringing out the restaurant owner who spoke fluent English, just in case she hadnt gotten her point across. About 10 minutes into the meal the owner came back out to make sure I didnt want him to take the dish away.
There are two ways to look at these behaviors, I think. You can either see it as vague racism, asssuming that a very obviously caucasian english-speaker would have certain expectations when eating food, precluding certain flavors and foods, or you could just see it as good service. I suppose there is a guy out there who might order the kidney by accident, not knowing what it is.
My question is this, should the waiter caution diners that what they are ordering might be out of the usual realm of what they most likely have consumed, or should they mind their own business and stay silent on the matter?
For the record, I never snark regarding this, and tips are not at all affected. Just a little eye rolling when the waiter leaves.
Whenever I have ordered certain dishes, most notedly brisket of beef noodle soup in Chinatowns throughout the country (this has happened, with the same soup, in several New York restaurants, once in Boston, and once in San Francisco) the waiter takes it upon himself or herself to let me know why I might not like it.
When ordering spicy pig kidney last year, for example, the waitress asked me if I knew what kidneys were. I did. She took it one step farther in bringing out the restaurant owner who spoke fluent English, just in case she hadnt gotten her point across. About 10 minutes into the meal the owner came back out to make sure I didnt want him to take the dish away.
There are two ways to look at these behaviors, I think. You can either see it as vague racism, asssuming that a very obviously caucasian english-speaker would have certain expectations when eating food, precluding certain flavors and foods, or you could just see it as good service. I suppose there is a guy out there who might order the kidney by accident, not knowing what it is.
My question is this, should the waiter caution diners that what they are ordering might be out of the usual realm of what they most likely have consumed, or should they mind their own business and stay silent on the matter?
For the record, I never snark regarding this, and tips are not at all affected. Just a little eye rolling when the waiter leaves.