How to Enjoy Your Visit to a Restaurant
15 Ways to enjoy a restaurant:
1. It is advisable to go to decent and subsequently popular restaurants on a working day. In this case, you are more likely to enjoy your visit in full. Empty restaurants are good for negotiations, meetings, saving money, sense of self-worth and self-importance and many other things that have nothing to do with good restaurants.
2. At the weekend, book your favourite table and ask about availability of your favourite dishes in advance. It will increase your chances to have a great time.
3. Respect to personnel and restaurant rules is a precondition for enjoying your visit in full.
4. Do you remember how in films waiters and cooks add something improper to dishes or even spit? That will never happen if you show respect to personnel and rules.
5. I would not recommend ordering something artsy-craftsy. If you insist on ordering something that the menu doesn't contain, you are at risk to get an indigestible dish, since the menu primarily demonstrates what a chef and his or her team are best at.
6. Never say you know the restaurant owner. As soon as you cross the threshold of your friend's restaurant, he or she automatically transforms into the owner of the place. Even if you know each other, rules are the same for everyone, and in case the owner decides to please you with a special treatment, it will be his/her own decision.
7. It's bad manners to snap your fingers to call a waiter. Raise your hand instead: this is more polite. It is even better to come up to your waiter to ask a question.
8. If you prefer water with lemon, inform about this at once. Waiters don't like guests, who do not know their own mind. Besides, waiters can't guess what you want (they might remember your preferences, but they are not aware of your expectations for sure).
9. If you are satisfied with the level of services provided by a waiter/waitress then always ask for a table in his/her part of the hall. Recommend this waiter to your friends. As a result, this person will get more money, owner's gratitude and will provide even better services to you.
10. It is better to eat at home, if you do not want to tip. By the way, waiters usually shares around 20-40% of tips with other personnel members.
11. Always check your bill. This is especially relevant for those who like to party in a big company. Sometimes it can be just a mistake, but in most cases it is done on purpose: this is how waitstaff tries to get more money from inattentive customers. Never pay without a bill, or if there are items added in handwriting. Don't pay if the bill is unclear and there are discrepancies with what you have actually ordered.
12. If there are no free places in a restaurant, try to offer bigger tips to a waiter. Perhaps, there will be a free table after all.
13. If the waiter is not able to resolve the situation, talk to an administrator or manager. But do not phone the owner. It is also a bad idea to keep silence, because to err is human, and one mistake will not spoil a good restaurant.
14. Decide on the food you are into at the moment — in this case you will choose the right place. If you do not care about food much and just need a place to talk or drink tea or coffee, then choose a place with a good waitstaff: the chances you will not leave hungry increase.
15. If you are not familiar with the menu, ask a waiter, if they have fresh fish. This is how you can, on the one hand, get great meals without running the risk of choosing unfamiliar dishes, and on the other — make sure you have chosen a decent restaurant.