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All About the Food …

Going out to eat is one of life’s simple pleasures. You get to go somewhere and have people wait on you hand and foot. At least, that’s how it supposed to be. You are PAYING for your meal. You should get good service. In fact, you should get excellent service. Of course, you shouldn’t walk in acting like an asshole, demanding excellent service. I’ve found that those who get excellent service are usually those that aren’t acting like they should be getting it. Ugh.

Anyhow, my point is that eating out is a nice way for us to treat ourselves from time to time. No cooking, no dirty dishes, just a good meal served to you. And so, eating out is the topic for this entry, because I’ve done it quite a bit and have lots of stories about eating out.

One of my problems with eating out at certain establishments is their portion size. It never seems just right. I’ve eaten at places that charge $9.95 a plate, all the way up to places that charge over $100 a plate and I’ve found that the more you pay for your meal, the less food you seem to get, which isn’t to say that I need a truckload of food delivered to my table either.

I hate placing an order and then having the waiter bring a dish to me that is the same size as the turkey platter we use at Thanksgiving. It’s very embarassing and there’s no possible way for me to finish THAT much food. Plus, if I do, then I feel like a big fat hog. On the other side, I hate paying alot for a meal and getting a very tiny portion. Maybe that’s what people in Europe eat, but here in the United States we are fat hogs used to having piles of food on our plates, so pile it on. One such experience was going to a more upscale restaurant with some coworkers and I ordered a ravioli dish. When the dish came, it was a fairly large dish, with three ravioli’s (roughly 3-inches square) in the center, with some sauce drizzled on top. The presentation was excellent. The food was excellent. And afterwards, when I stopped at McDonalds and got me a Big Mac, my stomach was excellent.

Aside from portion issues, there are service issues. For the most part, I’ve had good experiences with waitstaff. There are the good and the bad. The good get my 20% tip, the bad get an empty table with no tip. One such example of not leaving a tip, was a dinner we had at a local Tex-Mex eatery. The waiter seated us, got us our drinks and then pretty much forgot about us. We did end up getting our meals, but with every request we made — and we didn’t make many — he sort of snapped at us that he was very busy and would get to it when he could. Erm. Well, you better get to it soon. I requested a refill of my drink and he snapped at me that he didn’t have time right away and pretty much proceeded to be rude to us. So I proceeded to not leave a single dime for him as a tip. My mom, who was with us, couldn’t believe we weren’t leaving a tip and had never done anything like that in her life. I explained that tips are earned for good or excellent service and that if I didn’t get it, then they weren’t getting extra money. And that’s that. My tip to him is to get a better attitude or a new career.

As for places to eat, Wifey™ and I tend to like places that are basic. T.G.I. Friday’s is good, Mimi’s Cafe is good, P.F. Changs and most mexican and chinese restaurants are good. We’re pretty open. Normal food for normal people. We do like our diversity though. We definately don’t stick to just one or two places, although we do seem to prefer our local hole in the wall Mexican food place. For example, my grandparents didn’t like diversity. When they found a place they liked, that’s basically where’d they’d ALWAYS go out to. They’d order the same thing each time and they knew the people that worked there. Sort of a comfort thing. My grandfather was the type that liked to go into a place and feel like a celebrity. He liked the fact that he could walk in and the people that worked there knew him and would bend over backwards to give him the best service ever. And so, they found their place and stuck to it. They also didn’t like trying alot of different foods. Very, very basic people. In fact, my grandmothers favorite place to eat in the world is none other than Taco Bell. You mention Taco Bell and her eyes light up like you’re bringing her to a five star restaurant. Taco Bell for pete’s sake. Oh well, to each his own.

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