Restaurants have gotten so expensive……also recycling and phone apps (1 Viewer)

[Scoresman]

I’d pay more for the right ******** number of appetizers to show up at my table. I swear, every time it’s one less than how many we are.

Ask the server?

This works sometimes but mostly they apologize and say it's a set amount.

Mostly? That’s odd. Try a nicer more service oriented place perhaps.

This just confirms my pet peeve though. If it's so easy for them to match the number of plated items to the table, why dont they just do it?

It’s not “so easy” unless you’re talking about fried whatever with the sauce on the side. Or adding a shrimp to a shrimp cocktail. Composed dishes have recipes. Those recipes are being executed by cooks that are working 2 jobs. Some of whom don’t speak a lot of English. Some of whom are hung over beyond belief. It needs to be a straight forward execution. And as @Drunken knight mentioned, the prep cooks work is highly regimented with pars that are dictated by business with an attempt to not waste food/over prep. And no restaurant is going to automatically downsize their app and make it cheaper for you and your date.

The Chinese place my wife and I go to has crab wontons as an app. There are 10 of them per order. I asked if we could get a half order. Nope. this is beause they are prepped in orders of 10. What are they going to do with the other half? So, We just eat them all

I'm mainly talking about things that come in set pieces. I understand other things have set recipes. And I'm not asking for downsizing. I'm asking to pay MORE for the right number of pieces. It's always comes out with less than it should be, but not enough that ordering 2 wouldn't be too much.

A good example of my beef is we went to a restaurant recently and the first thing the server said was that their plates were meant to be shared. We were a table of 5. One of the things we ordered was a bagel sandwich. I was skeptical because how can they split that up properly? I was assured 1 was "enough for the table". Sure enough, it came cut in half, and we had to figure out how to cut it into 5 pieces, ultimately destroying the sandwich in the process. How exactly is a menu item like this "meant to be shared?"

My point is if you're going to say your dishes are meant to be shared, or if it's implied by being an appetizer, make sure it's actually easily sharable by the number of people at the table. I understand this might cost more and I'm more than willing to pay.

Shared implies 2. Not 5. That would be family style. And no chef is going to cut a sandwich into 5 pieces. As you discovered, it destroys the sandwich. In your example what would you want, 2.5 bagels? And you know how big a bagel is, there’s no way one is going to serve 5 People.

That's my point. I don't expect them to split one bagel into five pieces. But why tell us that the dishes are meant to be shared if they really aren't? At places like this, that's the first thing the servers will say, that their dishes are meant to be shared. I then proceed to roll my eyes when I see things like bagel sandwiches or burgers which can't easily be shared. An easily shared burger would come out as sliders that match the number of people at the table, charged appropriately.

Part of this is also my wife's fault. I told her ordering a bagel would be a bad choice to try and split amongst the five of us, but it falls on deaf ears.

 

[DA RAIDERS]

I’d pay more for the right ******** number of appetizers to show up at my table. I swear, every time it’s one less than how many we are.

Ask the server?

This works sometimes but mostly they apologize and say it's a set amount.

Mostly? That’s odd. Try a nicer more service oriented place perhaps.

This just confirms my pet peeve though. If it's so easy for them to match the number of plated items to the table, why dont they just do it?

It’s not “so easy” unless you’re talking about fried whatever with the sauce on the side. Or adding a shrimp to a shrimp cocktail. Composed dishes have recipes. Those recipes are being executed by cooks that are working 2 jobs. Some of whom don’t speak a lot of English. Some of whom are hung over beyond belief. It needs to be a straight forward execution. And as @Drunken knight mentioned, the prep cooks work is highly regimented with pars that are dictated by business with an attempt to not waste food/over prep. And no restaurant is going to automatically downsize their app and make it cheaper for you and your date.

The Chinese place my wife and I go to has crab wontons as an app. There are 10 of them per order. I asked if we could get a half order. Nope. this is beause they are prepped in orders of 10. What are they going to do with the other half? So, We just eat them all

I'm mainly talking about things that come in set pieces. I understand other things have set recipes. And I'm not asking for downsizing. I'm asking to pay MORE for the right number of pieces. It's always comes out with less than it should be, but not enough that ordering 2 wouldn't be too much.

A good example of my beef is we went to a restaurant recently and the first thing the server said was that their plates were meant to be shared. We were a table of 5. One of the things we ordered was a bagel sandwich. I was skeptical because how can they split that up properly? I was assured 1 was "enough for the table". Sure enough, it came cut in half, and we had to figure out how to cut it into 5 pieces, ultimately destroying the sandwich in the process. How exactly is a menu item like this "meant to be shared?"

My point is if you're going to say your dishes are meant to be shared, or if it's implied by being an appetizer, make sure it's actually easily sharable by the number of people at the table. I understand this might cost more and I'm more than willing to pay.

Shared implies 2. Not 5. That would be family style. And no chef is going to cut a sandwich into 5 pieces. As you discovered, it destroys the sandwich. In your example what would you want, 2.5 bagels? And you know how big a bagel is, there’s no way one is going to serve 5 People.

That's my point. I don't expect them to split one bagel into five pieces. But why tell us that the dishes are meant to be shared if they really aren't? At places like this, that's the first thing the servers will say, that their dishes are meant to be shared. I then proceed to roll my eyes when I see things like bagel sandwiches or burgers which can't easily be shared. An easily shared burger would come out as sliders that match the number of people at the table, charged appropriately.

Part of this is also my wife's fault. I told her ordering a bagel would be a bad choice to try and split amongst the five of us, but it falls on deaf ears.

Shared = 2

 

[DA RAIDERS]

I’d pay more for the right ******** number of appetizers to show up at my table. I swear, every time it’s one less than how many we are.

Ask the server?

This works sometimes but mostly they apologize and say it's a set amount.

Mostly? That’s odd. Try a nicer more service oriented place perhaps.

This just confirms my pet peeve though. If it's so easy for them to match the number of plated items to the table, why dont they just do it?

It’s not “so easy” unless you’re talking about fried whatever with the sauce on the side. Or adding a shrimp to a shrimp cocktail. Composed dishes have recipes. Those recipes are being executed by cooks that are working 2 jobs. Some of whom don’t speak a lot of English. Some of whom are hung over beyond belief. It needs to be a straight forward execution. And as @Drunken knight mentioned, the prep cooks work is highly regimented with pars that are dictated by business with an attempt to not waste food/over prep. And no restaurant is going to automatically downsize their app and make it cheaper for you and your date.

The Chinese place my wife and I go to has crab wontons as an app. There are 10 of them per order. I asked if we could get a half order. Nope. this is beause they are prepped in orders of 10. What are they going to do with the other half? So, We just eat them all

I'm mainly talking about things that come in set pieces. I understand other things have set recipes. And I'm not asking for downsizing. I'm asking to pay MORE for the right number of pieces. It's always comes out with less than it should be, but not enough that ordering 2 wouldn't be too much.

A good example of my beef is we went to a restaurant recently and the first thing the server said was that their plates were meant to be shared. We were a table of 5. One of the things we ordered was a bagel sandwich. I was skeptical because how can they split that up properly? I was assured 1 was "enough for the table". Sure enough, it came cut in half, and we had to figure out how to cut it into 5 pieces, ultimately destroying the sandwich in the process. How exactly is a menu item like this "meant to be shared?"

My point is if you're going to say your dishes are meant to be shared, or if it's implied by being an appetizer, make sure it's actually easily sharable by the number of people at the table. I understand this might cost more and I'm more than willing to pay.

Shared implies 2. Not 5. That would be family style. And no chef is going to cut a sandwich into 5 pieces. As you discovered, it destroys the sandwich. In your example what would you want, 2.5 bagels? And you know how big a bagel is, there’s no way one is going to serve 5 People.

That's my point. I don't expect them to split one bagel into five pieces. But why tell us that the dishes are meant to be shared if they really aren't? At places like this, that's the first thing the servers will say, that their dishes are meant to be shared. I then proceed to roll my eyes when I see things like bagel sandwiches or burgers which can't easily be shared. An easily shared burger would come out as sliders that match the number of people at the table, charged appropriately.

Part of this is also my wife's fault. I told her ordering a bagel would be a bad choice to try and split amongst the five of us, but it falls on deaf ears.

And wait..are these sandwiches listed as apps, or are they in the entree/main dish area? Because if they are, I can’t stress this enough, shared means between 2 people.

 

[the moops]

Part of this is also my wife's fault. I told her ordering a bagel would be a bad choice to try and split amongst the five of us, but it falls on deaf ears.

Part?

 

[Instinctive]

I’d pay more for the right ******** number of appetizers to show up at my table. I swear, every time it’s one less than how many we are.

Ask the server?

This works sometimes but mostly they apologize and say it's a set amount.

Mostly? That’s odd. Try a nicer more service oriented place perhaps.

This just confirms my pet peeve though. If it's so easy for them to match the number of plated items to the table, why dont they just do it?

It’s not “so easy” unless you’re talking about fried whatever with the sauce on the side. Or adding a shrimp to a shrimp cocktail. Composed dishes have recipes. Those recipes are being executed by cooks that are working 2 jobs. Some of whom don’t speak a lot of English. Some of whom are hung over beyond belief. It needs to be a straight forward execution. And as @Drunken knight mentioned, the prep cooks work is highly regimented with pars that are dictated by business with an attempt to not waste food/over prep. And no restaurant is going to automatically downsize their app and make it cheaper for you and your date.

The Chinese place my wife and I go to has crab wontons as an app. There are 10 of them per order. I asked if we could get a half order. Nope. this is beause they are prepped in orders of 10. What are they going to do with the other half? So, We just eat them all

I'm mainly talking about things that come in set pieces. I understand other things have set recipes. And I'm not asking for downsizing. I'm asking to pay MORE for the right number of pieces. It's always comes out with less than it should be, but not enough that ordering 2 wouldn't be too much.

A good example of my beef is we went to a restaurant recently and the first thing the server said was that their plates were meant to be shared. We were a table of 5. One of the things we ordered was a bagel sandwich. I was skeptical because how can they split that up properly? I was assured 1 was "enough for the table". Sure enough, it came cut in half, and we had to figure out how to cut it into 5 pieces, ultimately destroying the sandwich in the process. How exactly is a menu item like this "meant to be shared?"

My point is if you're going to say your dishes are meant to be shared, or if it's implied by being an appetizer, make sure it's actually easily sharable by the number of people at the table. I understand this might cost more and I'm more than willing to pay.

Shared implies 2. Not 5. That would be family style. And no chef is going to cut a sandwich into 5 pieces. As you discovered, it destroys the sandwich. In your example what would you want, 2.5 bagels? And you know how big a bagel is, there’s no way one is going to serve 5 People.

That's my point. I don't expect them to split one bagel into five pieces. But why tell us that the dishes are meant to be shared if they really aren't? At places like this, that's the first thing the servers will say, that their dishes are meant to be shared. I then proceed to roll my eyes when I see things like bagel sandwiches or burgers which can't easily be shared. An easily shared burger would come out as sliders that match the number of people at the table, charged appropriately.

Part of this is also my wife's fault. I told her ordering a bagel would be a bad choice to try and split amongst the five of us, but it falls on deaf ears.

As someone with a wife who LOVES shared plates tapas style dining...shared doesn't mean "yeah everyone at the table can get a great piece of every dish."

When we go more than just the two of us, we often ask "is it cut in two, are there 6 pieces, 4, etc?" and like 95% of the time have servers who are great at saying "if you all want to try, I'd order two of this, I can sneak a 4th piece onto this but it's usually 3 pieces, I actually would just get one of those it's big and you all take a spoon" and all sorts of that kind of response.

 

[Scoresman]

I’d pay more for the right ******** number of appetizers to show up at my table. I swear, every time it’s one less than how many we are.

Ask the server?

This works sometimes but mostly they apologize and say it's a set amount.

Mostly? That’s odd. Try a nicer more service oriented place perhaps.

This just confirms my pet peeve though. If it's so easy for them to match the number of plated items to the table, why dont they just do it?

It’s not “so easy” unless you’re talking about fried whatever with the sauce on the side. Or adding a shrimp to a shrimp cocktail. Composed dishes have recipes. Those recipes are being executed by cooks that are working 2 jobs. Some of whom don’t speak a lot of English. Some of whom are hung over beyond belief. It needs to be a straight forward execution. And as @Drunken knight mentioned, the prep cooks work is highly regimented with pars that are dictated by business with an attempt to not waste food/over prep. And no restaurant is going to automatically downsize their app and make it cheaper for you and your date.

The Chinese place my wife and I go to has crab wontons as an app. There are 10 of them per order. I asked if we could get a half order. Nope. this is beause they are prepped in orders of 10. What are they going to do with the other half? So, We just eat them all

I'm mainly talking about things that come in set pieces. I understand other things have set recipes. And I'm not asking for downsizing. I'm asking to pay MORE for the right number of pieces. It's always comes out with less than it should be, but not enough that ordering 2 wouldn't be too much.

A good example of my beef is we went to a restaurant recently and the first thing the server said was that their plates were meant to be shared. We were a table of 5. One of the things we ordered was a bagel sandwich. I was skeptical because how can they split that up properly? I was assured 1 was "enough for the table". Sure enough, it came cut in half, and we had to figure out how to cut it into 5 pieces, ultimately destroying the sandwich in the process. How exactly is a menu item like this "meant to be shared?"

My point is if you're going to say your dishes are meant to be shared, or if it's implied by being an appetizer, make sure it's actually easily sharable by the number of people at the table. I understand this might cost more and I'm more than willing to pay.

Shared implies 2. Not 5. That would be family style. And no chef is going to cut a sandwich into 5 pieces. As you discovered, it destroys the sandwich. In your example what would you want, 2.5 bagels? And you know how big a bagel is, there’s no way one is going to serve 5 People.

That's my point. I don't expect them to split one bagel into five pieces. But why tell us that the dishes are meant to be shared if they really aren't? At places like this, that's the first thing the servers will say, that their dishes are meant to be shared. I then proceed to roll my eyes when I see things like bagel sandwiches or burgers which can't easily be shared. An easily shared burger would come out as sliders that match the number of people at the table, charged appropriately.

Part of this is also my wife's fault. I told her ordering a bagel would be a bad choice to try and split amongst the five of us, but it falls on deaf ears.

Shared = 2

That is not what these restaurants are implying when we go over the menu with them.

 

[Scoresman]

I’d pay more for the right ******** number of appetizers to show up at my table. I swear, every time it’s one less than how many we are.

Ask the server?

This works sometimes but mostly they apologize and say it's a set amount.

Mostly? That’s odd. Try a nicer more service oriented place perhaps.

This just confirms my pet peeve though. If it's so easy for them to match the number of plated items to the table, why dont they just do it?

It’s not “so easy” unless you’re talking about fried whatever with the sauce on the side. Or adding a shrimp to a shrimp cocktail. Composed dishes have recipes. Those recipes are being executed by cooks that are working 2 jobs. Some of whom don’t speak a lot of English. Some of whom are hung over beyond belief. It needs to be a straight forward execution. And as @Drunken knight mentioned, the prep cooks work is highly regimented with pars that are dictated by business with an attempt to not waste food/over prep. And no restaurant is going to automatically downsize their app and make it cheaper for you and your date.

The Chinese place my wife and I go to has crab wontons as an app. There are 10 of them per order. I asked if we could get a half order. Nope. this is beause they are prepped in orders of 10. What are they going to do with the other half? So, We just eat them all

I'm mainly talking about things that come in set pieces. I understand other things have set recipes. And I'm not asking for downsizing. I'm asking to pay MORE for the right number of pieces. It's always comes out with less than it should be, but not enough that ordering 2 wouldn't be too much.

A good example of my beef is we went to a restaurant recently and the first thing the server said was that their plates were meant to be shared. We were a table of 5. One of the things we ordered was a bagel sandwich. I was skeptical because how can they split that up properly? I was assured 1 was "enough for the table". Sure enough, it came cut in half, and we had to figure out how to cut it into 5 pieces, ultimately destroying the sandwich in the process. How exactly is a menu item like this "meant to be shared?"

My point is if you're going to say your dishes are meant to be shared, or if it's implied by being an appetizer, make sure it's actually easily sharable by the number of people at the table. I understand this might cost more and I'm more than willing to pay.

Shared implies 2. Not 5. That would be family style. And no chef is going to cut a sandwich into 5 pieces. As you discovered, it destroys the sandwich. In your example what would you want, 2.5 bagels? And you know how big a bagel is, there’s no way one is going to serve 5 People.

That's my point. I don't expect them to split one bagel into five pieces. But why tell us that the dishes are meant to be shared if they really aren't? At places like this, that's the first thing the servers will say, that their dishes are meant to be shared. I then proceed to roll my eyes when I see things like bagel sandwiches or burgers which can't easily be shared. An easily shared burger would come out as sliders that match the number of people at the table, charged appropriately.

Part of this is also my wife's fault. I told her ordering a bagel would be a bad choice to try and split amongst the five of us, but it falls on deaf ears.

And wait..are these sandwiches listed as apps, or are they in the entree/main dish area? Because if they are, I can’t stress this enough, shared means between 2 people.

No. These are restaurants where the whole menu is meant to be shared. Some of them call it family style. Getting more and more common.

 

[Scoresman]

I’d pay more for the right ******** number of appetizers to show up at my table. I swear, every time it’s one less than how many we are.

Ask the server?

This works sometimes but mostly they apologize and say it's a set amount.

Mostly? That’s odd. Try a nicer more service oriented place perhaps.

This just confirms my pet peeve though. If it's so easy for them to match the number of plated items to the table, why dont they just do it?

It’s not “so easy” unless you’re talking about fried whatever with the sauce on the side. Or adding a shrimp to a shrimp cocktail. Composed dishes have recipes. Those recipes are being executed by cooks that are working 2 jobs. Some of whom don’t speak a lot of English. Some of whom are hung over beyond belief. It needs to be a straight forward execution. And as @Drunken knight mentioned, the prep cooks work is highly regimented with pars that are dictated by business with an attempt to not waste food/over prep. And no restaurant is going to automatically downsize their app and make it cheaper for you and your date.

The Chinese place my wife and I go to has crab wontons as an app. There are 10 of them per order. I asked if we could get a half order. Nope. this is beause they are prepped in orders of 10. What are they going to do with the other half? So, We just eat them all

I'm mainly talking about things that come in set pieces. I understand other things have set recipes. And I'm not asking for downsizing. I'm asking to pay MORE for the right number of pieces. It's always comes out with less than it should be, but not enough that ordering 2 wouldn't be too much.

A good example of my beef is we went to a restaurant recently and the first thing the server said was that their plates were meant to be shared. We were a table of 5. One of the things we ordered was a bagel sandwich. I was skeptical because how can they split that up properly? I was assured 1 was "enough for the table". Sure enough, it came cut in half, and we had to figure out how to cut it into 5 pieces, ultimately destroying the sandwich in the process. How exactly is a menu item like this "meant to be shared?"

My point is if you're going to say your dishes are meant to be shared, or if it's implied by being an appetizer, make sure it's actually easily sharable by the number of people at the table. I understand this might cost more and I'm more than willing to pay.

Shared implies 2. Not 5. That would be family style. And no chef is going to cut a sandwich into 5 pieces. As you discovered, it destroys the sandwich. In your example what would you want, 2.5 bagels? And you know how big a bagel is, there’s no way one is going to serve 5 People.

That's my point. I don't expect them to split one bagel into five pieces. But why tell us that the dishes are meant to be shared if they really aren't? At places like this, that's the first thing the servers will say, that their dishes are meant to be shared. I then proceed to roll my eyes when I see things like bagel sandwiches or burgers which can't easily be shared. An easily shared burger would come out as sliders that match the number of people at the table, charged appropriately.

Part of this is also my wife's fault. I told her ordering a bagel would be a bad choice to try and split amongst the five of us, but it falls on deaf ears.

As someone with a wife who LOVES shared plates tapas style dining...shared doesn't mean "yeah everyone at the table can get a great piece of every dish."

When we go more than just the two of us, we often ask "is it cut in two, are there 6 pieces, 4, etc?" and like 95% of the time have servers who are great at saying "if you all want to try, I'd order two of this, I can sneak a 4th piece onto this but it's usually 3 pieces, I actually would just get one of those it's big and you all take a spoon" and all sorts of that kind of response.

In regards to the bolded, yes that's how it is now, but I'm just saying its a pet peeve of mine. Dont say your entire menu is sharable unless everyone can easily try what we order.

 

[DA RAIDERS]

I’d pay more for the right ******** number of appetizers to show up at my table. I swear, every time it’s one less than how many we are.

Ask the server?

This works sometimes but mostly they apologize and say it's a set amount.

Mostly? That’s odd. Try a nicer more service oriented place perhaps.

This just confirms my pet peeve though. If it's so easy for them to match the number of plated items to the table, why dont they just do it?

It’s not “so easy” unless you’re talking about fried whatever with the sauce on the side. Or adding a shrimp to a shrimp cocktail. Composed dishes have recipes. Those recipes are being executed by cooks that are working 2 jobs. Some of whom don’t speak a lot of English. Some of whom are hung over beyond belief. It needs to be a straight forward execution. And as @Drunken knight mentioned, the prep cooks work is highly regimented with pars that are dictated by business with an attempt to not waste food/over prep. And no restaurant is going to automatically downsize their app and make it cheaper for you and your date.

The Chinese place my wife and I go to has crab wontons as an app. There are 10 of them per order. I asked if we could get a half order. Nope. this is beause they are prepped in orders of 10. What are they going to do with the other half? So, We just eat them all

I'm mainly talking about things that come in set pieces. I understand other things have set recipes. And I'm not asking for downsizing. I'm asking to pay MORE for the right number of pieces. It's always comes out with less than it should be, but not enough that ordering 2 wouldn't be too much.

A good example of my beef is we went to a restaurant recently and the first thing the server said was that their plates were meant to be shared. We were a table of 5. One of the things we ordered was a bagel sandwich. I was skeptical because how can they split that up properly? I was assured 1 was "enough for the table". Sure enough, it came cut in half, and we had to figure out how to cut it into 5 pieces, ultimately destroying the sandwich in the process. How exactly is a menu item like this "meant to be shared?"

My point is if you're going to say your dishes are meant to be shared, or if it's implied by being an appetizer, make sure it's actually easily sharable by the number of people at the table. I understand this might cost more and I'm more than willing to pay.

Shared implies 2. Not 5. That would be family style. And no chef is going to cut a sandwich into 5 pieces. As you discovered, it destroys the sandwich. In your example what would you want, 2.5 bagels? And you know how big a bagel is, there’s no way one is going to serve 5 People.

That's my point. I don't expect them to split one bagel into five pieces. But why tell us that the dishes are meant to be shared if they really aren't? At places like this, that's the first thing the servers will say, that their dishes are meant to be shared. I then proceed to roll my eyes when I see things like bagel sandwiches or burgers which can't easily be shared. An easily shared burger would come out as sliders that match the number of people at the table, charged appropriately.

Part of this is also my wife's fault. I told her ordering a bagel would be a bad choice to try and split amongst the five of us, but it falls on deaf ears.

Shared = 2

That is not what these restaurants are implying when we go over the menu with them.

You need better servers and better restaurants. Are these places mom and pop places or craptastic chains like chilis/Texas Roadhouse/Cheesecake Factory?

 

[DA RAIDERS]

I’d pay more for the right ******** number of appetizers to show up at my table. I swear, every time it’s one less than how many we are.

Ask the server?

This works sometimes but mostly they apologize and say it's a set amount.

Mostly? That’s odd. Try a nicer more service oriented place perhaps.

This just confirms my pet peeve though. If it's so easy for them to match the number of plated items to the table, why dont they just do it?

It’s not “so easy” unless you’re talking about fried whatever with the sauce on the side. Or adding a shrimp to a shrimp cocktail. Composed dishes have recipes. Those recipes are being executed by cooks that are working 2 jobs. Some of whom don’t speak a lot of English. Some of whom are hung over beyond belief. It needs to be a straight forward execution. And as @Drunken knight mentioned, the prep cooks work is highly regimented with pars that are dictated by business with an attempt to not waste food/over prep. And no restaurant is going to automatically downsize their app and make it cheaper for you and your date.

The Chinese place my wife and I go to has crab wontons as an app. There are 10 of them per order. I asked if we could get a half order. Nope. this is beause they are prepped in orders of 10. What are they going to do with the other half? So, We just eat them all

I'm mainly talking about things that come in set pieces. I understand other things have set recipes. And I'm not asking for downsizing. I'm asking to pay MORE for the right number of pieces. It's always comes out with less than it should be, but not enough that ordering 2 wouldn't be too much.

A good example of my beef is we went to a restaurant recently and the first thing the server said was that their plates were meant to be shared. We were a table of 5. One of the things we ordered was a bagel sandwich. I was skeptical because how can they split that up properly? I was assured 1 was "enough for the table". Sure enough, it came cut in half, and we had to figure out how to cut it into 5 pieces, ultimately destroying the sandwich in the process. How exactly is a menu item like this "meant to be shared?"

My point is if you're going to say your dishes are meant to be shared, or if it's implied by being an appetizer, make sure it's actually easily sharable by the number of people at the table. I understand this might cost more and I'm more than willing to pay.

Shared implies 2. Not 5. That would be family style. And no chef is going to cut a sandwich into 5 pieces. As you discovered, it destroys the sandwich. In your example what would you want, 2.5 bagels? And you know how big a bagel is, there’s no way one is going to serve 5 People.

That's my point. I don't expect them to split one bagel into five pieces. But why tell us that the dishes are meant to be shared if they really aren't? At places like this, that's the first thing the servers will say, that their dishes are meant to be shared. I then proceed to roll my eyes when I see things like bagel sandwiches or burgers which can't easily be shared. An easily shared burger would come out as sliders that match the number of people at the table, charged appropriately.

Part of this is also my wife's fault. I told her ordering a bagel would be a bad choice to try and split amongst the five of us, but it falls on deaf ears.

As someone with a wife who LOVES shared plates tapas style dining...shared doesn't mean "yeah everyone at the table can get a great piece of every dish."

When we go more than just the two of us, we often ask "is it cut in two, are there 6 pieces, 4, etc?" and like 95% of the time have servers who are great at saying "if you all want to try, I'd order two of this, I can sneak a 4th piece onto this but it's usually 3 pieces, I actually would just get one of those it's big and you all take a spoon" and all sorts of that kind of response.

In regards to the bolded, yes that's how it is now, but I'm just saying its a pet peeve of mine. Dont say your entire menu is sharable unless everyone can easily try what we order.

That’s on you (your wife) if y'all think 5 people are sharing a single bagel.

 

[Scoresman]

I’d pay more for the right ******** number of appetizers to show up at my table. I swear, every time it’s one less than how many we are.

Ask the server?

This works sometimes but mostly they apologize and say it's a set amount.

Mostly? That’s odd. Try a nicer more service oriented place perhaps.

This just confirms my pet peeve though. If it's so easy for them to match the number of plated items to the table, why dont they just do it?

It’s not “so easy” unless you’re talking about fried whatever with the sauce on the side. Or adding a shrimp to a shrimp cocktail. Composed dishes have recipes. Those recipes are being executed by cooks that are working 2 jobs. Some of whom don’t speak a lot of English. Some of whom are hung over beyond belief. It needs to be a straight forward execution. And as @Drunken knight mentioned, the prep cooks work is highly regimented with pars that are dictated by business with an attempt to not waste food/over prep. And no restaurant is going to automatically downsize their app and make it cheaper for you and your date.

The Chinese place my wife and I go to has crab wontons as an app. There are 10 of them per order. I asked if we could get a half order. Nope. this is beause they are prepped in orders of 10. What are they going to do with the other half? So, We just eat them all

I'm mainly talking about things that come in set pieces. I understand other things have set recipes. And I'm not asking for downsizing. I'm asking to pay MORE for the right number of pieces. It's always comes out with less than it should be, but not enough that ordering 2 wouldn't be too much.

A good example of my beef is we went to a restaurant recently and the first thing the server said was that their plates were meant to be shared. We were a table of 5. One of the things we ordered was a bagel sandwich. I was skeptical because how can they split that up properly? I was assured 1 was "enough for the table". Sure enough, it came cut in half, and we had to figure out how to cut it into 5 pieces, ultimately destroying the sandwich in the process. How exactly is a menu item like this "meant to be shared?"

My point is if you're going to say your dishes are meant to be shared, or if it's implied by being an appetizer, make sure it's actually easily sharable by the number of people at the table. I understand this might cost more and I'm more than willing to pay.

Shared implies 2. Not 5. That would be family style. And no chef is going to cut a sandwich into 5 pieces. As you discovered, it destroys the sandwich. In your example what would you want, 2.5 bagels? And you know how big a bagel is, there’s no way one is going to serve 5 People.

That's my point. I don't expect them to split one bagel into five pieces. But why tell us that the dishes are meant to be shared if they really aren't? At places like this, that's the first thing the servers will say, that their dishes are meant to be shared. I then proceed to roll my eyes when I see things like bagel sandwiches or burgers which can't easily be shared. An easily shared burger would come out as sliders that match the number of people at the table, charged appropriately.

Part of this is also my wife's fault. I told her ordering a bagel would be a bad choice to try and split amongst the five of us, but it falls on deaf ears.

As someone with a wife who LOVES shared plates tapas style dining...shared doesn't mean "yeah everyone at the table can get a great piece of every dish."

When we go more than just the two of us, we often ask "is it cut in two, are there 6 pieces, 4, etc?" and like 95% of the time have servers who are great at saying "if you all want to try, I'd order two of this, I can sneak a 4th piece onto this but it's usually 3 pieces, I actually would just get one of those it's big and you all take a spoon" and all sorts of that kind of response.

In regards to the bolded, yes that's how it is now, but I'm just saying its a pet peeve of mine. Dont say your entire menu is sharable unless everyone can easily try what we order.

but it is shareable. Your pet peeve is a misunderstanding of what words mean lol.

Shareable does not by itself imply "shareable by as many people as you have!"

In your case, a 2-person shareable dish was rough for 5. Where does your "shareable by all" logic end? If there are 8 of you? 10?

If you just expected things based on what they actually mean, I imagine it wouldn't bother you.

My point is that it should at a restaurant if they are going to claim the menu is sharable for the table.

Bagel is probably a bad example because that was partially our fault. A better example is how many times we order something like egg rolls or potstickers or mozzarella sticks or whatever comes in pieces, and we are 6 people and the plate comes with 5. Will some places give you the extra if you ask? Sure. My point is, I shouldnt have to ask. Just match the number of pieces to the table and charge by the piece for stuff like this!!

 

[Joe Bryant]

Your pet peeve is a misunderstanding of what words mean lol.

Please be more cool than insults like this. This can be a good discussion.

 

[Drunken knight]

I’d pay more for the right ******** number of appetizers to show up at my table. I swear, every time it’s one less than how many we are.

Ask the server?

This works sometimes but mostly they apologize and say it's a set amount.

Mostly? That’s odd. Try a nicer more service oriented place perhaps.

This just confirms my pet peeve though. If it's so easy for them to match the number of plated items to the table, why dont they just do it?

It’s not “so easy” unless you’re talking about fried whatever with the sauce on the side. Or adding a shrimp to a shrimp cocktail. Composed dishes have recipes. Those recipes are being executed by cooks that are working 2 jobs. Some of whom don’t speak a lot of English. Some of whom are hung over beyond belief. It needs to be a straight forward execution. And as @Drunken knight mentioned, the prep cooks work is highly regimented with pars that are dictated by business with an attempt to not waste food/over prep. And no restaurant is going to automatically downsize their app and make it cheaper for you and your date.

The Chinese place my wife and I go to has crab wontons as an app. There are 10 of them per order. I asked if we could get a half order. Nope. this is beause they are prepped in orders of 10. What are they going to do with the other half? So, We just eat them all

I'm mainly talking about things that come in set pieces. I understand other things have set recipes. And I'm not asking for downsizing. I'm asking to pay MORE for the right number of pieces. It's always comes out with less than it should be, but not enough that ordering 2 wouldn't be too much.

A good example of my beef is we went to a restaurant recently and the first thing the server said was that their plates were meant to be shared. We were a table of 5. One of the things we ordered was a bagel sandwich. I was skeptical because how can they split that up properly? I was assured 1 was "enough for the table". Sure enough, it came cut in half, and we had to figure out how to cut it into 5 pieces, ultimately destroying the sandwich in the process. How exactly is a menu item like this "meant to be shared?"

My point is if you're going to say your dishes are meant to be shared, or if it's implied by being an appetizer, make sure it's actually easily sharable by the number of people at the table. I understand this might cost more and I'm more than willing to pay.

Shared implies 2. Not 5. That would be family style. And no chef is going to cut a sandwich into 5 pieces. As you discovered, it destroys the sandwich. In your example what would you want, 2.5 bagels? And you know how big a bagel is, there’s no way one is going to serve 5 People.

That's my point. I don't expect them to split one bagel into five pieces. But why tell us that the dishes are meant to be shared if they really aren't? At places like this, that's the first thing the servers will say, that their dishes are meant to be shared. I then proceed to roll my eyes when I see things like bagel sandwiches or burgers which can't easily be shared. An easily shared burger would come out as sliders that match the number of people at the table, charged appropriately.

Part of this is also my wife's fault. I told her ordering a bagel would be a bad choice to try and split amongst the five of us, but it falls on deaf ears.

And wait..are these sandwiches listed as apps, or are they in the entree/main dish area? Because if they are, I can’t stress this enough, shared means between 2 people.

I’d pay more for the right ******** number of appetizers to show up at my table. I swear, every time it’s one less than how many we are.

Ask the server?

This works sometimes but mostly they apologize and say it's a set amount.

Mostly? That’s odd. Try a nicer more service oriented place perhaps.

This just confirms my pet peeve though. If it's so easy for them to match the number of plated items to the table, why dont they just do it?

It’s not “so easy” unless you’re talking about fried whatever with the sauce on the side. Or adding a shrimp to a shrimp cocktail. Composed dishes have recipes. Those recipes are being executed by cooks that are working 2 jobs. Some of whom don’t speak a lot of English. Some of whom are hung over beyond belief. It needs to be a straight forward execution. And as @Drunken knight mentioned, the prep cooks work is highly regimented with pars that are dictated by business with an attempt to not waste food/over prep. And no restaurant is going to automatically downsize their app and make it cheaper for you and your date.

The Chinese place my wife and I go to has crab wontons as an app. There are 10 of them per order. I asked if we could get a half order. Nope. this is beause they are prepped in orders of 10. What are they going to do with the other half? So, We just eat them all

I'm mainly talking about things that come in set pieces. I understand other things have set recipes. And I'm not asking for downsizing. I'm asking to pay MORE for the right number of pieces. It's always comes out with less than it should be, but not enough that ordering 2 wouldn't be too much.

A good example of my beef is we went to a restaurant recently and the first thing the server said was that their plates were meant to be shared. We were a table of 5. One of the things we ordered was a bagel sandwich. I was skeptical because how can they split that up properly? I was assured 1 was "enough for the table". Sure enough, it came cut in half, and we had to figure out how to cut it into 5 pieces, ultimately destroying the sandwich in the process. How exactly is a menu item like this "meant to be shared?"

My point is if you're going to say your dishes are meant to be shared, or if it's implied by being an appetizer, make sure it's actually easily sharable by the number of people at the table. I understand this might cost more and I'm more than willing to pay.

Shared implies 2. Not 5. That would be family style. And no chef is going to cut a sandwich into 5 pieces. As you discovered, it destroys the sandwich. In your example what would you want, 2.5 bagels? And you know how big a bagel is, there’s no way one is going to serve 5 People.

That's my point. I don't expect them to split one bagel into five pieces. But why tell us that the dishes are meant to be shared if they really aren't? At places like this, that's the first thing the servers will say, that their dishes are meant to be shared. I then proceed to roll my eyes when I see things like bagel sandwiches or burgers which can't easily be shared. An easily shared burger would come out as sliders that match the number of people at the table, charged appropriately.

Part of this is also my wife's fault. I told her ordering a bagel would be a bad choice to try and split amongst the five of us, but it falls on deaf ears.

And wait..are these sandwiches listed as apps, or are they in the entree/main dish area? Because if they are, I can’t stress this enough, shared means between 2 people.

No. These are restaurants where the whole menu is meant to be shared. Some of them call it family style. Getting more and more common.

if the concept is small plate/tapas/dim sum, etc we can expect share to include more than two. that is hard to envision for bagels and certain sandwiches.

I am not sure building a menu around "create your own sized appetizer" is a reasonable ask.

now, if you have five in your party and your spring roll app has four pieces, i see nothing wrong with asking the server/chef if there is a way to add pieces to the order (as you mention- at a cost).

 

[Instinctive]

Your pet peeve is a misunderstanding of what words mean lol.

Please be more cool than insults like this. This can be a good discussion.

All good Joe - didn't think of it or mean it as an insult when typing it. Agree it's a good discussion. @Scoresman sorry if it came off that way.

 

[Joe Bryant]

Example today of just how tough the business is.

New Thai place opened near me. It's in a strip center but on the higher end of real estate I'm sure based on location.

Probably seats 30 people.

Food is excellent but service is a trainwreck. One older lady I'm assuming is the owner is in charge. She's great. 1 guy that is ok, I'd known him from another Thai place. But 2 other younger women who seemed lost.

Took forever to have a server take orders.

I ordered Panang Curry and my wife ordered Tom Yum soup.

My curry came out and it was 10 minutes before my wife got her food.

The upside is the food is delicious.

I'm sure it's that she's not charging enough to make the numbers work. Our bill with just iced tea and no appetizers was $29.00 before tip.

I assume the answer is to charge more and hire more experienced servers. But it's a tough cycle.

 

[Scoresman]

I’d pay more for the right ******** number of appetizers to show up at my table. I swear, every time it’s one less than how many we are.

Ask the server?

This works sometimes but mostly they apologize and say it's a set amount.

Mostly? That’s odd. Try a nicer more service oriented place perhaps.

This just confirms my pet peeve though. If it's so easy for them to match the number of plated items to the table, why dont they just do it?

It’s not “so easy” unless you’re talking about fried whatever with the sauce on the side. Or adding a shrimp to a shrimp cocktail. Composed dishes have recipes. Those recipes are being executed by cooks that are working 2 jobs. Some of whom don’t speak a lot of English. Some of whom are hung over beyond belief. It needs to be a straight forward execution. And as @Drunken knight mentioned, the prep cooks work is highly regimented with pars that are dictated by business with an attempt to not waste food/over prep. And no restaurant is going to automatically downsize their app and make it cheaper for you and your date.

The Chinese place my wife and I go to has crab wontons as an app. There are 10 of them per order. I asked if we could get a half order. Nope. this is beause they are prepped in orders of 10. What are they going to do with the other half? So, We just eat them all

I'm mainly talking about things that come in set pieces. I understand other things have set recipes. And I'm not asking for downsizing. I'm asking to pay MORE for the right number of pieces. It's always comes out with less than it should be, but not enough that ordering 2 wouldn't be too much.

A good example of my beef is we went to a restaurant recently and the first thing the server said was that their plates were meant to be shared. We were a table of 5. One of the things we ordered was a bagel sandwich. I was skeptical because how can they split that up properly? I was assured 1 was "enough for the table". Sure enough, it came cut in half, and we had to figure out how to cut it into 5 pieces, ultimately destroying the sandwich in the process. How exactly is a menu item like this "meant to be shared?"

My point is if you're going to say your dishes are meant to be shared, or if it's implied by being an appetizer, make sure it's actually easily sharable by the number of people at the table. I understand this might cost more and I'm more than willing to pay.

Shared implies 2. Not 5. That would be family style. And no chef is going to cut a sandwich into 5 pieces. As you discovered, it destroys the sandwich. In your example what would you want, 2.5 bagels? And you know how big a bagel is, there’s no way one is going to serve 5 People.

That's my point. I don't expect them to split one bagel into five pieces. But why tell us that the dishes are meant to be shared if they really aren't? At places like this, that's the first thing the servers will say, that their dishes are meant to be shared. I then proceed to roll my eyes when I see things like bagel sandwiches or burgers which can't easily be shared. An easily shared burger would come out as sliders that match the number of people at the table, charged appropriately.

Part of this is also my wife's fault. I told her ordering a bagel would be a bad choice to try and split amongst the five of us, but it falls on deaf ears.

And wait..are these sandwiches listed as apps, or are they in the entree/main dish area? Because if they are, I can’t stress this enough, shared means between 2 people.

I’d pay more for the right ******** number of appetizers to show up at my table. I swear, every time it’s one less than how many we are.

Ask the server?

This works sometimes but mostly they apologize and say it's a set amount.

Mostly? That’s odd. Try a nicer more service oriented place perhaps.

This just confirms my pet peeve though. If it's so easy for them to match the number of plated items to the table, why dont they just do it?

It’s not “so easy” unless you’re talking about fried whatever with the sauce on the side. Or adding a shrimp to a shrimp cocktail. Composed dishes have recipes. Those recipes are being executed by cooks that are working 2 jobs. Some of whom don’t speak a lot of English. Some of whom are hung over beyond belief. It needs to be a straight forward execution. And as @Drunken knight mentioned, the prep cooks work is highly regimented with pars that are dictated by business with an attempt to not waste food/over prep. And no restaurant is going to automatically downsize their app and make it cheaper for you and your date.

The Chinese place my wife and I go to has crab wontons as an app. There are 10 of them per order. I asked if we could get a half order. Nope. this is beause they are prepped in orders of 10. What are they going to do with the other half? So, We just eat them all

I'm mainly talking about things that come in set pieces. I understand other things have set recipes. And I'm not asking for downsizing. I'm asking to pay MORE for the right number of pieces. It's always comes out with less than it should be, but not enough that ordering 2 wouldn't be too much.

A good example of my beef is we went to a restaurant recently and the first thing the server said was that their plates were meant to be shared. We were a table of 5. One of the things we ordered was a bagel sandwich. I was skeptical because how can they split that up properly? I was assured 1 was "enough for the table". Sure enough, it came cut in half, and we had to figure out how to cut it into 5 pieces, ultimately destroying the sandwich in the process. How exactly is a menu item like this "meant to be shared?"

My point is if you're going to say your dishes are meant to be shared, or if it's implied by being an appetizer, make sure it's actually easily sharable by the number of people at the table. I understand this might cost more and I'm more than willing to pay.

Shared implies 2. Not 5. That would be family style. And no chef is going to cut a sandwich into 5 pieces. As you discovered, it destroys the sandwich. In your example what would you want, 2.5 bagels? And you know how big a bagel is, there’s no way one is going to serve 5 People.

That's my point. I don't expect them to split one bagel into five pieces. But why tell us that the dishes are meant to be shared if they really aren't? At places like this, that's the first thing the servers will say, that their dishes are meant to be shared. I then proceed to roll my eyes when I see things like bagel sandwiches or burgers which can't easily be shared. An easily shared burger would come out as sliders that match the number of people at the table, charged appropriately.

Part of this is also my wife's fault. I told her ordering a bagel would be a bad choice to try and split amongst the five of us, but it falls on deaf ears.

And wait..are these sandwiches listed as apps, or are they in the entree/main dish area? Because if they are, I can’t stress this enough, shared means between 2 people.

No. These are restaurants where the whole menu is meant to be shared. Some of them call it family style. Getting more and more common.

if the concept is small plate/tapas/dim sum, etc we can expect share to include more than two. that is hard to envision for bagels and certain sandwiches.

I am not sure building a menu around "create your own sized appetizer" is a reasonable ask.

now, if you have five in your party and your spring roll app has four pieces, i see nothing wrong with asking the server/chef if there is a way to add pieces to the order (as you mention- at a cost).

I think part of the problem is that small sharable plate restaurants are trending right now, but they aren't serving the right kind of plates, like my bagel example.

For the spring rolls example, is it really that hard for the kitchen to just add the fifth and match it to the party size? I assume they are making a ton of spring rolls anyway for the dinner service. Matching the number of pieces should just be a plating issue.

 

[Scoresman]

Your pet peeve is a misunderstanding of what words mean lol.

Please be more cool than insults like this. This can be a good discussion.

All good Joe - didn't think of it or mean it as an insult when typing it. Agree it's a good discussion. @Scoresman sorry if it came off that way.

It didn't. It's all good. I take my small sharable plates VERY seriously. lol.

 

[Joe Bryant]

For the spring rolls example, is it really that hard for the kitchen to just add the fifth and match it to the party size? I assume they are making a ton of spring rolls anyway for the dinner service. Matching the number of pieces should just be a plating issue.

A lot of that comes back to the quality of the server.

That was part of why I took issue with the earlier talk where people said the servers were irrelevant. Even in a casual restaurant, the can make the experience.

A dish is "set" with X number of pieces of the thing. They can't swing that much to increase if it they want to stay in business.

But if a group is ordering and there are twice as many people as the dish has pieces of, a good server knows that and guides them. Says, "Just so you know, that has X pieces in it, would you like to get two so everyone has a piece?" That kind of thing.

But the first time server on their first week may have no idea on that.

 

[Drunken knight]

I’d pay more for the right ******** number of appetizers to show up at my table. I swear, every time it’s one less than how many we are.

Ask the server?

This works sometimes but mostly they apologize and say it's a set amount.

Mostly? That’s odd. Try a nicer more service oriented place perhaps.

This just confirms my pet peeve though. If it's so easy for them to match the number of plated items to the table, why dont they just do it?

It’s not “so easy” unless you’re talking about fried whatever with the sauce on the side. Or adding a shrimp to a shrimp cocktail. Composed dishes have recipes. Those recipes are being executed by cooks that are working 2 jobs. Some of whom don’t speak a lot of English. Some of whom are hung over beyond belief. It needs to be a straight forward execution. And as @Drunken knight mentioned, the prep cooks work is highly regimented with pars that are dictated by business with an attempt to not waste food/over prep. And no restaurant is going to automatically downsize their app and make it cheaper for you and your date.

The Chinese place my wife and I go to has crab wontons as an app. There are 10 of them per order. I asked if we could get a half order. Nope. this is beause they are prepped in orders of 10. What are they going to do with the other half? So, We just eat them all

I'm mainly talking about things that come in set pieces. I understand other things have set recipes. And I'm not asking for downsizing. I'm asking to pay MORE for the right number of pieces. It's always comes out with less than it should be, but not enough that ordering 2 wouldn't be too much.

A good example of my beef is we went to a restaurant recently and the first thing the server said was that their plates were meant to be shared. We were a table of 5. One of the things we ordered was a bagel sandwich. I was skeptical because how can they split that up properly? I was assured 1 was "enough for the table". Sure enough, it came cut in half, and we had to figure out how to cut it into 5 pieces, ultimately destroying the sandwich in the process. How exactly is a menu item like this "meant to be shared?"

My point is if you're going to say your dishes are meant to be shared, or if it's implied by being an appetizer, make sure it's actually easily sharable by the number of people at the table. I understand this might cost more and I'm more than willing to pay.

Shared implies 2. Not 5. That would be family style. And no chef is going to cut a sandwich into 5 pieces. As you discovered, it destroys the sandwich. In your example what would you want, 2.5 bagels? And you know how big a bagel is, there’s no way one is going to serve 5 People.

That's my point. I don't expect them to split one bagel into five pieces. But why tell us that the dishes are meant to be shared if they really aren't? At places like this, that's the first thing the servers will say, that their dishes are meant to be shared. I then proceed to roll my eyes when I see things like bagel sandwiches or burgers which can't easily be shared. An easily shared burger would come out as sliders that match the number of people at the table, charged appropriately.

Part of this is also my wife's fault. I told her ordering a bagel would be a bad choice to try and split amongst the five of us, but it falls on deaf ears.

And wait..are these sandwiches listed as apps, or are they in the entree/main dish area? Because if they are, I can’t stress this enough, shared means between 2 people.

I’d pay more for the right ******** number of appetizers to show up at my table. I swear, every time it’s one less than how many we are.

Ask the server?

This works sometimes but mostly they apologize and say it's a set amount.

Mostly? That’s odd. Try a nicer more service oriented place perhaps.

This just confirms my pet peeve though. If it's so easy for them to match the number of plated items to the table, why dont they just do it?

It’s not “so easy” unless you’re talking about fried whatever with the sauce on the side. Or adding a shrimp to a shrimp cocktail. Composed dishes have recipes. Those recipes are being executed by cooks that are working 2 jobs. Some of whom don’t speak a lot of English. Some of whom are hung over beyond belief. It needs to be a straight forward execution. And as @Drunken knight mentioned, the prep cooks work is highly regimented with pars that are dictated by business with an attempt to not waste food/over prep. And no restaurant is going to automatically downsize their app and make it cheaper for you and your date.

The Chinese place my wife and I go to has crab wontons as an app. There are 10 of them per order. I asked if we could get a half order. Nope. this is beause they are prepped in orders of 10. What are they going to do with the other half? So, We just eat them all

I'm mainly talking about things that come in set pieces. I understand other things have set recipes. And I'm not asking for downsizing. I'm asking to pay MORE for the right number of pieces. It's always comes out with less than it should be, but not enough that ordering 2 wouldn't be too much.

A good example of my beef is we went to a restaurant recently and the first thing the server said was that their plates were meant to be shared. We were a table of 5. One of the things we ordered was a bagel sandwich. I was skeptical because how can they split that up properly? I was assured 1 was "enough for the table". Sure enough, it came cut in half, and we had to figure out how to cut it into 5 pieces, ultimately destroying the sandwich in the process. How exactly is a menu item like this "meant to be shared?"

My point is if you're going to say your dishes are meant to be shared, or if it's implied by being an appetizer, make sure it's actually easily sharable by the number of people at the table. I understand this might cost more and I'm more than willing to pay.

Shared implies 2. Not 5. That would be family style. And no chef is going to cut a sandwich into 5 pieces. As you discovered, it destroys the sandwich. In your example what would you want, 2.5 bagels? And you know how big a bagel is, there’s no way one is going to serve 5 People.

That's my point. I don't expect them to split one bagel into five pieces. But why tell us that the dishes are meant to be shared if they really aren't? At places like this, that's the first thing the servers will say, that their dishes are meant to be shared. I then proceed to roll my eyes when I see things like bagel sandwiches or burgers which can't easily be shared. An easily shared burger would come out as sliders that match the number of people at the table, charged appropriately.

Part of this is also my wife's fault. I told her ordering a bagel would be a bad choice to try and split amongst the five of us, but it falls on deaf ears.

And wait..are these sandwiches listed as apps, or are they in the entree/main dish area? Because if they are, I can’t stress this enough, shared means between 2 people.

No. These are restaurants where the whole menu is meant to be shared. Some of them call it family style. Getting more and more common.

if the concept is small plate/tapas/dim sum, etc we can expect share to include more than two. that is hard to envision for bagels and certain sandwiches.

I am not sure building a menu around "create your own sized appetizer" is a reasonable ask.

now, if you have five in your party and your spring roll app has four pieces, i see nothing wrong with asking the server/chef if there is a way to add pieces to the order (as you mention- at a cost).

I think part of the problem is that small sharable plate restaurants are trending right now, but they aren't serving the right kind of plates, like my bagel example.

For the spring rolls example, is it really that hard for the kitchen to just add the fifth and match it to the party size? I assume they are making a ton of spring rolls anyway for the dinner service. Matching the number of pieces should just be a plating issue.

i would agree that the menu should be more clear with expectations/plate.

Let's take this to an extreme:

tapas restaurant-
should a server have to ask the table "how many would like the croquets?" for every item ordered?

for cost, waste, and efficiency it should be noted how many are in an order. table should decide how many orders imo

 

[Instinctive]

For the spring rolls example, is it really that hard for the kitchen to just add the fifth and match it to the party size? I assume they are making a ton of spring rolls anyway for the dinner service. Matching the number of pieces should just be a plating issue.

I don't know the answer here either. It happens often enough to us that 3-piece plates get modded to four because we're with another couple that I'd be surprised if it was a huge no-no.

 

[Joe Bryant]

Also of note, I'm normally a Starbucks customer but tried Dunkin by my house this morning for their cold brew.

And no option to give a tip on the checkout. They had a cash jar out but with people today carrying so little cash, they're missing out on a ton of money.

 

[Instinctive]

I think part of the problem is that small sharable plate restaurants are trending right now, but they aren't serving the right kind of plates, like my bagel example.

For the spring rolls example, is it really that hard for the kitchen to just add the fifth and match it to the party size? I assume they are making a ton of spring rolls anyway for the dinner service. Matching the number of pieces should just be a plating issue.

i would agree that the menu should be more clear with expectations/plate.

Let's take this to an extreme:

tapas restaurant-
should a server have to ask the table "how many would like the croquets?" for every item ordered?

for cost, waste, and efficiency it should be noted how many are in an order. table should decide how many orders imo

FOR SURE. How hard is it to put on your menu:

Croquets: description which includes the word/number "3"
Meatballs: description which includes the word/number "2"

etc...

The best places do tend to do this, or have servers who, to Joe's point, are good enough to say "hey that only comes with three, do you want two orders?"

 

[Mister CIA]

Took my son and future DIL out for their birthday dinner in Nashville. Nice Italian place we've been to several times before. 4 of us for apps, dinner and drinks $312 + tip

Geez, half that price would have me tapping out. Chef Boyardee it is!

Feel like we need to know the split between food and beverages to fairly evaluate.

 

[DA RAIDERS]

I’d pay more for the right ******** number of appetizers to show up at my table. I swear, every time it’s one less than how many we are.

Ask the server?

This works sometimes but mostly they apologize and say it's a set amount.

Mostly? That’s odd. Try a nicer more service oriented place perhaps.

This just confirms my pet peeve though. If it's so easy for them to match the number of plated items to the table, why dont they just do it?

It’s not “so easy” unless you’re talking about fried whatever with the sauce on the side. Or adding a shrimp to a shrimp cocktail. Composed dishes have recipes. Those recipes are being executed by cooks that are working 2 jobs. Some of whom don’t speak a lot of English. Some of whom are hung over beyond belief. It needs to be a straight forward execution. And as @Drunken knight mentioned, the prep cooks work is highly regimented with pars that are dictated by business with an attempt to not waste food/over prep. And no restaurant is going to automatically downsize their app and make it cheaper for you and your date.

The Chinese place my wife and I go to has crab wontons as an app. There are 10 of them per order. I asked if we could get a half order. Nope. this is beause they are prepped in orders of 10. What are they going to do with the other half? So, We just eat them all

I'm mainly talking about things that come in set pieces. I understand other things have set recipes. And I'm not asking for downsizing. I'm asking to pay MORE for the right number of pieces. It's always comes out with less than it should be, but not enough that ordering 2 wouldn't be too much.

A good example of my beef is we went to a restaurant recently and the first thing the server said was that their plates were meant to be shared. We were a table of 5. One of the things we ordered was a bagel sandwich. I was skeptical because how can they split that up properly? I was assured 1 was "enough for the table". Sure enough, it came cut in half, and we had to figure out how to cut it into 5 pieces, ultimately destroying the sandwich in the process. How exactly is a menu item like this "meant to be shared?"

My point is if you're going to say your dishes are meant to be shared, or if it's implied by being an appetizer, make sure it's actually easily sharable by the number of people at the table. I understand this might cost more and I'm more than willing to pay.

Shared implies 2. Not 5. That would be family style. And no chef is going to cut a sandwich into 5 pieces. As you discovered, it destroys the sandwich. In your example what would you want, 2.5 bagels? And you know how big a bagel is, there’s no way one is going to serve 5 People.

That's my point. I don't expect them to split one bagel into five pieces. But why tell us that the dishes are meant to be shared if they really aren't? At places like this, that's the first thing the servers will say, that their dishes are meant to be shared. I then proceed to roll my eyes when I see things like bagel sandwiches or burgers which can't easily be shared. An easily shared burger would come out as sliders that match the number of people at the table, charged appropriately.

Part of this is also my wife's fault. I told her ordering a bagel would be a bad choice to try and split amongst the five of us, but it falls on deaf ears.

As someone with a wife who LOVES shared plates tapas style dining...shared doesn't mean "yeah everyone at the table can get a great piece of every dish."

When we go more than just the two of us, we often ask "is it cut in two, are there 6 pieces, 4, etc?" and like 95% of the time have servers who are great at saying "if you all want to try, I'd order two of this, I can sneak a 4th piece onto this but it's usually 3 pieces, I actually would just get one of those it's big and you all take a spoon" and all sorts of that kind of response.

In regards to the bolded, yes that's how it is now, but I'm just saying its a pet peeve of mine. Dont say your entire menu is sharable unless everyone can easily try what we order.

but it is shareable. Your pet peeve is a misunderstanding of what words mean lol.

Shareable does not by itself imply "shareable by as many people as you have!"

In your case, a 2-person shareable dish was rough for 5. Where does your "shareable by all" logic end? If there are 8 of you? 10?

If you just expected things based on what they actually mean, I imagine it wouldn't bother you.

My point is that it should at a restaurant if they are going to claim the menu is sharable for the table.

Bagel is probably a bad example because that was partially our fault. A better example is how many times we order something like egg rolls or potstickers or mozzarella sticks or whatever comes in pieces, and we are 6 people and the plate comes with 5. Will some places give you the extra if you ask? Sure. My point is, I shouldnt have to ask. Just match the number of pieces to the table and charge by the piece for stuff like this!!

All of those items are fried and one can easily add to the order.especially if they are all just frozen Sysco products. If they’re hand made, different story. However, doing it automatically would cause more trouble than it’s worth. Most people would flip out if they saw an unannounced additions to their bill.

 

[Scoresman]

up properly? I was assured 1 was "enough for the table". Sure enough, it came cut in half, and we had to figure out how to cut it into 5 pieces, ultimately destroying the sandwich in the process. How exactly is a menu item like this "meant to be shared?"

My point is if you're going to say your dishes are meant to be shared, or if it's implied by being an appetizer, make sure it's actually easily sharable by the number of people at the table. I understand this might cost more and I'm more than willing to pay.

Shared implies 2. Not 5. That would be family style. And no chef is going to cut a sandwich into 5 pieces. As you discovered, it destroys the sandwich. In your example what would you want, 2.5 bagels? And you know how big a bagel is, there’s no way one is going to serve 5 People.

That's my point. I don't expect them to split one bagel into five pieces. But why tell us that the dishes are meant to be shared if they really aren't? At places like this, that's the first thing the servers will say, that their dishes are meant to be shared. I then proceed to roll my eyes when I see things like bagel sandwiches or burgers which can't easily be shared. An easily shared burger would come out as sliders that match the number of people at the table, charged appropriately.

Part of this is also my wife's fault. I told her ordering a bagel would be a bad choice to try and split amongst the five of us, but it falls on deaf ears.

And wait..are these sandwiches listed as apps, or are they in the entree/main dish area? Because if they are, I can’t stress this enough, shared means between 2 people.

No. These are restaurants where the whole menu is meant to be shared. Some of them call it family style. Getting more and more common.

if the concept is small plate/tapas/dim sum, etc we can expect share to include more than two. that is hard to envision for bagels and certain sandwiches.

I am not sure building a menu around "create your own sized appetizer" is a reasonable ask.

now, if you have five in your party and your spring roll app has four pieces, i see nothing wrong with asking the server/chef if there is a way to add pieces to the order (as you mention- at a cost).

I think part of the problem is that small sharable plate restaurants are trending right now, but they aren't serving the right kind of plates, like my bagel example.

For the spring rolls example, is it really that hard for the kitchen to just add the fifth and match it to the party size? I assume they are making a ton of spring rolls anyway for the dinner service. Matching the number of pieces should just be a plating issue.

i would agree that the menu should be more clear with expectations/plate.

Let's take this to an extreme:

tapas restaurant-
should a server have to ask the table "how many would like the croquets?" for every item ordered?

for cost, waste, and efficiency it should be noted how many are in an order. table should decide how many orders imo

The menu should say Croquets.... $2.50/piece. The table orders however many they want. That way, a table of 3 can get 3, and a table of 5 can get 5 instead of both tables getting 4. Either way, the kitchen is making 8.

For things like burgers/sandwiches, put this in the non-sharable part of the menu and don't instruct your servers to tell the tables that the entire menu is sharable so people like my wife dont try to order a bagel to share between 5 of us.

 

[Joe Bryant]

is it really that hard for the kitchen to just add the fifth and match it to the party size?

I'm not a real restaurant owner but I've thought a lot about it. From my understanding, the answer is "Yes, it's hard to stay in business if 20% more food is given away".

That one spring roll isn't going to do it, of course. But enough things over time will do it.

Because the margins are so razor thin. There's literally no room for error if a business wants to succeed.

This isn't like a bar where the margins on a Jack and Coke are so huge the bartender can pour super heavy to get better tips. The margins are fat there. Not so for most restaurant food.

 

[Joe Bryant]

The menu should say Croquets.... $2.50/piece. The table orders however many they want. That way, a table of 3 can get 3, and a table of 5 can get 5 instead of both tables getting 4.

Yes. That's the most clear way. Although I'm going to guess retail / menu gurus will say that's not the optimal way to price them. But maybe it is.

 

[Scoresman]

is it really that hard for the kitchen to just add the fifth and match it to the party size?

I'm not a real restaurant owner but I've thought a lot about it. From my understanding, the answer is "Yes, it's hard to stay in business if 20% more food is given away".

That one spring roll isn't going to do it, of course. But enough things over time will do it.

Because the margins are so razor thin. There's literally no room for error if a business wants to succeed.

This isn't like a bar where the margins on a Jack and Coke are so huge the bartender can pour super heavy to get better tips. The margins are fat there. Not so for most restaurant food.

Joe, I've said above I dont expect the extra item for free. I'm more than willing to pay.

 

[Doug B]

Took my son and future DIL out for their birthday dinner in Nashville. Nice Italian place we've been to several times before. 4 of us for apps, dinner and drinks $312 + tip

Geez, half that price would have me tapping out. Chef Boyardee it is!

Feel like we need to know the split between food and beverages to fairly evaluate.

I know I save about 30-50% off that bill by not ordering alcohol.

 

[Drunken knight]

up properly? I was assured 1 was "enough for the table". Sure enough, it came cut in half, and we had to figure out how to cut it into 5 pieces, ultimately destroying the sandwich in the process. How exactly is a menu item like this "meant to be shared?"

My point is if you're going to say your dishes are meant to be shared, or if it's implied by being an appetizer, make sure it's actually easily sharable by the number of people at the table. I understand this might cost more and I'm more than willing to pay.

Shared implies 2. Not 5. That would be family style. And no chef is going to cut a sandwich into 5 pieces. As you discovered, it destroys the sandwich. In your example what would you want, 2.5 bagels? And you know how big a bagel is, there’s no way one is going to serve 5 People.

That's my point. I don't expect them to split one bagel into five pieces. But why tell us that the dishes are meant to be shared if they really aren't? At places like this, that's the first thing the servers will say, that their dishes are meant to be shared. I then proceed to roll my eyes when I see things like bagel sandwiches or burgers which can't easily be shared. An easily shared burger would come out as sliders that match the number of people at the table, charged appropriately.

Part of this is also my wife's fault. I told her ordering a bagel would be a bad choice to try and split amongst the five of us, but it falls on deaf ears.

And wait..are these sandwiches listed as apps, or are they in the entree/main dish area? Because if they are, I can’t stress this enough, shared means between 2 people.

No. These are restaurants where the whole menu is meant to be shared. Some of them call it family style. Getting more and more common.

if the concept is small plate/tapas/dim sum, etc we can expect share to include more than two. that is hard to envision for bagels and certain sandwiches.

I am not sure building a menu around "create your own sized appetizer" is a reasonable ask.

now, if you have five in your party and your spring roll app has four pieces, i see nothing wrong with asking the server/chef if there is a way to add pieces to the order (as you mention- at a cost).

I think part of the problem is that small sharable plate restaurants are trending right now, but they aren't serving the right kind of plates, like my bagel example.

For the spring rolls example, is it really that hard for the kitchen to just add the fifth and match it to the party size? I assume they are making a ton of spring rolls anyway for the dinner service. Matching the number of pieces should just be a plating issue.

i would agree that the menu should be more clear with expectations/plate.

Let's take this to an extreme:

tapas restaurant-
should a server have to ask the table "how many would like the croquets?" for every item ordered?

for cost, waste, and efficiency it should be noted how many are in an order. table should decide how many orders imo

The menu should say Croquets.... $2.50/piece. The table orders however many they want. That way, a table of 3 can get 3, and a table of 5 can get 5 instead of both tables getting 4. Either way, the kitchen is making 8.

this would be very burdensome for the servers and cooks/chefs, and a poor business model in F&B. tremendously inefficient and costly as a general practice.

For things like burgers/sandwiches, put this in the non-sharable part of the menu and don't instruct your servers to tell the tables that the entire menu is sharable so people like my wife dont try to order a bagel to share between 5 of us.

This i completely agree with

 

[Joe Bryant]

Joe, I've said above I dont expect the extra item for free. I'm more than willing to pay.

My guess is lots of places don't have a system in place to accommodate getting outside the bounds of the system. That's also part of my lament about not being able to afford more experienced servers.

When this is the veteran server at the diner with a notepad, it's no problem.

When it's order entry screen for the first time server, it's trouble.

 

[DA RAIDERS]

I think part of the problem is that small sharable plate restaurants are trending right now, but they aren't serving the right kind of plates, like my bagel example.

For the spring rolls example, is it really that hard for the kitchen to just add the fifth and match it to the party size? I assume they are making a ton of spring rolls anyway for the dinner service. Matching the number of pieces should just be a plating issue.

i would agree that the menu should be more clear with expectations/plate.

Let's take this to an extreme:

tapas restaurant-
should a server have to ask the table "how many would like the croquets?" for every item ordered?

for cost, waste, and efficiency it should be noted how many are in an order. table should decide how many orders imo

FOR SURE. How hard is it to put on your menu:

Croquets: description which includes the word/number "3"
Meatballs: description which includes the word/number "2"

etc...

The best places do tend to do this, or have servers who, to Joe's point, are good enough to say "hey that only comes with three, do you want two orders?"

I’ve been at the higher end of the dining world for a long time. I can’t recall ever listing the number of anything on the menu. I don’t suppose it would be that hard though. its a touch tacky though

 

[General Malaise]

Do people ever ask to share soup?

 

[Joe Bryant]

I’ve been at the higher end of the dining world for a long time. I can’t recall ever listing the number of anything on the menu. I don’t suppose it would be that hard though. its a touch tacky though

It also gets into the "Well what SIZE are the things?"

Way better again if the server can guide with, "For everyone to get one, you probably need X orders".

 

[Instinctive]

I think part of the problem is that small sharable plate restaurants are trending right now, but they aren't serving the right kind of plates, like my bagel example.

For the spring rolls example, is it really that hard for the kitchen to just add the fifth and match it to the party size? I assume they are making a ton of spring rolls anyway for the dinner service. Matching the number of pieces should just be a plating issue.

i would agree that the menu should be more clear with expectations/plate.

Let's take this to an extreme:

tapas restaurant-
should a server have to ask the table "how many would like the croquets?" for every item ordered?

for cost, waste, and efficiency it should be noted how many are in an order. table should decide how many orders imo

FOR SURE. How hard is it to put on your menu:

Croquets: description which includes the word/number "3"
Meatballs: description which includes the word/number "2"

etc...

The best places do tend to do this, or have servers who, to Joe's point, are good enough to say "hey that only comes with three, do you want two orders?"

I’ve been at the higher end of the dining world for a long time. I can’t recall ever listing the number of anything on the menu. I don’t suppose it would be that hard though. its a touch tacky though

Totally agree - I thought we were still in a more casual place. If I'm going to leave expecting I paid ~$50+/person on just the food, this isn't an issue. Because the servers are good enough and my solution isn't to try and get one more piece, it's "how many orders of each thing we want makes sense" HAHA

 

[DA RAIDERS]

up properly? I was assured 1 was "enough for the table". Sure enough, it came cut in half, and we had to figure out how to cut it into 5 pieces, ultimately destroying the sandwich in the process. How exactly is a menu item like this "meant to be shared?"

My point is if you're going to say your dishes are meant to be shared, or if it's implied by being an appetizer, make sure it's actually easily sharable by the number of people at the table. I understand this might cost more and I'm more than willing to pay.

Shared implies 2. Not 5. That would be family style. And no chef is going to cut a sandwich into 5 pieces. As you discovered, it destroys the sandwich. In your example what would you want, 2.5 bagels? And you know how big a bagel is, there’s no way one is going to serve 5 People.

That's my point. I don't expect them to split one bagel into five pieces. But why tell us that the dishes are meant to be shared if they really aren't? At places like this, that's the first thing the servers will say, that their dishes are meant to be shared. I then proceed to roll my eyes when I see things like bagel sandwiches or burgers which can't easily be shared. An easily shared burger would come out as sliders that match the number of people at the table, charged appropriately.

Part of this is also my wife's fault. I told her ordering a bagel would be a bad choice to try and split amongst the five of us, but it falls on deaf ears.

And wait..are these sandwiches listed as apps, or are they in the entree/main dish area? Because if they are, I can’t stress this enough, shared means between 2 people.

No. These are restaurants where the whole menu is meant to be shared. Some of them call it family style. Getting more and more common.

if the concept is small plate/tapas/dim sum, etc we can expect share to include more than two. that is hard to envision for bagels and certain sandwiches.

I am not sure building a menu around "create your own sized appetizer" is a reasonable ask.

now, if you have five in your party and your spring roll app has four pieces, i see nothing wrong with asking the server/chef if there is a way to add pieces to the order (as you mention- at a cost).

I think part of the problem is that small sharable plate restaurants are trending right now, but they aren't serving the right kind of plates, like my bagel example.

For the spring rolls example, is it really that hard for the kitchen to just add the fifth and match it to the party size? I assume they are making a ton of spring rolls anyway for the dinner service. Matching the number of pieces should just be a plating issue.

i would agree that the menu should be more clear with expectations/plate.

Let's take this to an extreme:

tapas restaurant-
should a server have to ask the table "how many would like the croquets?" for every item ordered?

for cost, waste, and efficiency it should be noted how many are in an order. table should decide how many orders imo

The menu should say Croquets.... $2.50/piece. The table orders however many they want. That way, a table of 3 can get 3, and a table of 5 can get 5 instead of both tables getting 4. Either way, the kitchen is making 8.

this would be very burdensome for the servers and cooks/chefs, and a poor business model in F&B. tremendously inefficient and costly as a general practice.

For things like burgers/sandwiches, put this in the non-sharable part of the menu and don't instruct your servers to tell the tables that the entire menu is sharable so people like my wife dont try to order a bagel to share between 5 of us.

This i completely agree with

Agreed. And it would lead to single orders on things as well. “I’ll have one shrimp please. And a water. With extra lemons and sugar on the side”.

 

[Joe Bryant]

Do people ever ask to share soup?

With what I see people order, I'm going to guess the answer to "Do people ever ask to (anything)?" is going to be "Yes".

 

[DA RAIDERS]

Do people ever ask to share soup?

Yes

 

[Mister CIA]

Do people ever ask to share soup?

Unrelated, but I just looked at your avatar in a new light.

 

[Instinctive]

up properly? I was assured 1 was "enough for the table". Sure enough, it came cut in half, and we had to figure out how to cut it into 5 pieces, ultimately destroying the sandwich in the process. How exactly is a menu item like this "meant to be shared?"

My point is if you're going to say your dishes are meant to be shared, or if it's implied by being an appetizer, make sure it's actually easily sharable by the number of people at the table. I understand this might cost more and I'm more than willing to pay.

Shared implies 2. Not 5. That would be family style. And no chef is going to cut a sandwich into 5 pieces. As you discovered, it destroys the sandwich. In your example what would you want, 2.5 bagels? And you know how big a bagel is, there’s no way one is going to serve 5 People.

That's my point. I don't expect them to split one bagel into five pieces. But why tell us that the dishes are meant to be shared if they really aren't? At places like this, that's the first thing the servers will say, that their dishes are meant to be shared. I then proceed to roll my eyes when I see things like bagel sandwiches or burgers which can't easily be shared. An easily shared burger would come out as sliders that match the number of people at the table, charged appropriately.

Part of this is also my wife's fault. I told her ordering a bagel would be a bad choice to try and split amongst the five of us, but it falls on deaf ears.

And wait..are these sandwiches listed as apps, or are they in the entree/main dish area? Because if they are, I can’t stress this enough, shared means between 2 people.

No. These are restaurants where the whole menu is meant to be shared. Some of them call it family style. Getting more and more common.

if the concept is small plate/tapas/dim sum, etc we can expect share to include more than two. that is hard to envision for bagels and certain sandwiches.

I am not sure building a menu around "create your own sized appetizer" is a reasonable ask.

now, if you have five in your party and your spring roll app has four pieces, i see nothing wrong with asking the server/chef if there is a way to add pieces to the order (as you mention- at a cost).

I think part of the problem is that small sharable plate restaurants are trending right now, but they aren't serving the right kind of plates, like my bagel example.

For the spring rolls example, is it really that hard for the kitchen to just add the fifth and match it to the party size? I assume they are making a ton of spring rolls anyway for the dinner service. Matching the number of pieces should just be a plating issue.

i would agree that the menu should be more clear with expectations/plate.

Let's take this to an extreme:

tapas restaurant-
should a server have to ask the table "how many would like the croquets?" for every item ordered?

for cost, waste, and efficiency it should be noted how many are in an order. table should decide how many orders imo

The menu should say Croquets.... $2.50/piece. The table orders however many they want. That way, a table of 3 can get 3, and a table of 5 can get 5 instead of both tables getting 4. Either way, the kitchen is making 8.

this would be very burdensome for the servers and cooks/chefs, and a poor business model in F&B. tremendously inefficient and costly as a general practice.

For things like burgers/sandwiches, put this in the non-sharable part of the menu and don't instruct your servers to tell the tables that the entire menu is sharable so people like my wife dont try to order a bagel to share between 5 of us.

This i completely agree with

Agreed. And it would lead to single orders on things as well. “I’ll have one shrimp please. And a water. With extra lemons and sugar on the side”.

Although it does work with Sushi

 

[Drunken knight]

I think part of the problem is that small sharable plate restaurants are trending right now, but they aren't serving the right kind of plates, like my bagel example.

For the spring rolls example, is it really that hard for the kitchen to just add the fifth and match it to the party size? I assume they are making a ton of spring rolls anyway for the dinner service. Matching the number of pieces should just be a plating issue.

i would agree that the menu should be more clear with expectations/plate.

Let's take this to an extreme:

tapas restaurant-
should a server have to ask the table "how many would like the croquets?" for every item ordered?

for cost, waste, and efficiency it should be noted how many are in an order. table should decide how many orders imo

FOR SURE. How hard is it to put on your menu:

Croquets: description which includes the word/number "3"
Meatballs: description which includes the word/number "2"

etc...

The best places do tend to do this, or have servers who, to Joe's point, are good enough to say "hey that only comes with three, do you want two orders?"

I’ve been at the higher end of the dining world for a long time. I can’t recall ever listing the number of anything on the menu. I don’t suppose it would be that hard though. its a touch tacky though

I am specifically speaking to concepts that have shared plate as their primary focus.
I wouldn't (and haven't) at more traditional concepts.

 

[Joe Bryant]

Here's a question,

Should a cold brew coffee without ice be the same price as a regular cold brew coffee that does have ice? (And significantly less coffee in the same size cup)

 

[DA RAIDERS]

Your pet peeve is a misunderstanding of what words mean lol.

Please be more cool than insults like this. This can be a good discussion.

All good Joe - didn't think of it or mean it as an insult when typing it. Agree it's a good discussion. @Scoresman sorry if it came off that way.

It didn't. It's all good. I take my small sharable plates VERY seriously. lol.

Herein lies the problem “small shareable”. Does not compute beyond 2 people.

 

[Scoresman]

up properly? I was assured 1 was "enough for the table". Sure enough, it came cut in half, and we had to figure out how to cut it into 5 pieces, ultimately destroying the sandwich in the process. How exactly is a menu item like this "meant to be shared?"

My point is if you're going to say your dishes are meant to be shared, or if it's implied by being an appetizer, make sure it's actually easily sharable by the number of people at the table. I understand this might cost more and I'm more than willing to pay.

Shared implies 2. Not 5. That would be family style. And no chef is going to cut a sandwich into 5 pieces. As you discovered, it destroys the sandwich. In your example what would you want, 2.5 bagels? And you know how big a bagel is, there’s no way one is going to serve 5 People.

That's my point. I don't expect them to split one bagel into five pieces. But why tell us that the dishes are meant to be shared if they really aren't? At places like this, that's the first thing the servers will say, that their dishes are meant to be shared. I then proceed to roll my eyes when I see things like bagel sandwiches or burgers which can't easily be shared. An easily shared burger would come out as sliders that match the number of people at the table, charged appropriately.

Part of this is also my wife's fault. I told her ordering a bagel would be a bad choice to try and split amongst the five of us, but it falls on deaf ears.

And wait..are these sandwiches listed as apps, or are they in the entree/main dish area? Because if they are, I can’t stress this enough, shared means between 2 people.

No. These are restaurants where the whole menu is meant to be shared. Some of them call it family style. Getting more and more common.

if the concept is small plate/tapas/dim sum, etc we can expect share to include more than two. that is hard to envision for bagels and certain sandwiches.

I am not sure building a menu around "create your own sized appetizer" is a reasonable ask.

now, if you have five in your party and your spring roll app has four pieces, i see nothing wrong with asking the server/chef if there is a way to add pieces to the order (as you mention- at a cost).

I think part of the problem is that small sharable plate restaurants are trending right now, but they aren't serving the right kind of plates, like my bagel example.

For the spring rolls example, is it really that hard for the kitchen to just add the fifth and match it to the party size? I assume they are making a ton of spring rolls anyway for the dinner service. Matching the number of pieces should just be a plating issue.

i would agree that the menu should be more clear with expectations/plate.

Let's take this to an extreme:

tapas restaurant-
should a server have to ask the table "how many would like the croquets?" for every item ordered?

for cost, waste, and efficiency it should be noted how many are in an order. table should decide how many orders imo

The menu should say Croquets.... $2.50/piece. The table orders however many they want. That way, a table of 3 can get 3, and a table of 5 can get 5 instead of both tables getting 4. Either way, the kitchen is making 8.

this would be very burdensome for the servers and cooks/chefs, and a poor business model in F&B. tremendously inefficient and costly as a general practice.

How is it more burdensome? I'm not doubting you, just trying to understand. In this example, the chef still has to prepare 8 croquets. The only difference is he's serving 3 on one plate and 5 on another instead of 4 on each. Is it because reproducing the same plate of 4 over and over is pretty mindless and introducing a bit of complexity is too much?

 

[Doug B]

Agreed. And it would lead to single orders on things as well. “I’ll have one shrimp please. And a water. With extra lemons and sugar on the side”.

Obligatory:

"Man, the CUP costs 10 cents!"
"[Forget] the cup -- just pour it in my hand!"

 

[DA RAIDERS]

I’ve been at the higher end of the dining world for a long time. I can’t recall ever listing the number of anything on the menu. I don’t suppose it would be that hard though. its a touch tacky though

It also gets into the "Well what SIZE are the things?"

Way better again if the server can guide with, "For everyone to get one, you probably need X orders".

Correct. U10 scallops are way different than bay scallops.

 

[DA RAIDERS]

up properly? I was assured 1 was "enough for the table". Sure enough, it came cut in half, and we had to figure out how to cut it into 5 pieces, ultimately destroying the sandwich in the process. How exactly is a menu item like this "meant to be shared?"

My point is if you're going to say your dishes are meant to be shared, or if it's implied by being an appetizer, make sure it's actually easily sharable by the number of people at the table. I understand this might cost more and I'm more than willing to pay.

Shared implies 2. Not 5. That would be family style. And no chef is going to cut a sandwich into 5 pieces. As you discovered, it destroys the sandwich. In your example what would you want, 2.5 bagels? And you know how big a bagel is, there’s no way one is going to serve 5 People.

That's my point. I don't expect them to split one bagel into five pieces. But why tell us that the dishes are meant to be shared if they really aren't? At places like this, that's the first thing the servers will say, that their dishes are meant to be shared. I then proceed to roll my eyes when I see things like bagel sandwiches or burgers which can't easily be shared. An easily shared burger would come out as sliders that match the number of people at the table, charged appropriately.

Part of this is also my wife's fault. I told her ordering a bagel would be a bad choice to try and split amongst the five of us, but it falls on deaf ears.

And wait..are these sandwiches listed as apps, or are they in the entree/main dish area? Because if they are, I can’t stress this enough, shared means between 2 people.

No. These are restaurants where the whole menu is meant to be shared. Some of them call it family style. Getting more and more common.

if the concept is small plate/tapas/dim sum, etc we can expect share to include more than two. that is hard to envision for bagels and certain sandwiches.

I am not sure building a menu around "create your own sized appetizer" is a reasonable ask.

now, if you have five in your party and your spring roll app has four pieces, i see nothing wrong with asking the server/chef if there is a way to add pieces to the order (as you mention- at a cost).

I think part of the problem is that small sharable plate restaurants are trending right now, but they aren't serving the right kind of plates, like my bagel example.

For the spring rolls example, is it really that hard for the kitchen to just add the fifth and match it to the party size? I assume they are making a ton of spring rolls anyway for the dinner service. Matching the number of pieces should just be a plating issue.

i would agree that the menu should be more clear with expectations/plate.

Let's take this to an extreme:

tapas restaurant-
should a server have to ask the table "how many would like the croquets?" for every item ordered?

for cost, waste, and efficiency it should be noted how many are in an order. table should decide how many orders imo

The menu should say Croquets.... $2.50/piece. The table orders however many they want. That way, a table of 3 can get 3, and a table of 5 can get 5 instead of both tables getting 4. Either way, the kitchen is making 8.

this would be very burdensome for the servers and cooks/chefs, and a poor business model in F&B. tremendously inefficient and costly as a general practice.

For things like burgers/sandwiches, put this in the non-sharable part of the menu and don't instruct your servers to tell the tables that the entire menu is sharable so people like my wife dont try to order a bagel to share between 5 of us.

This i completely agree with

Agreed. And it would lead to single orders on things as well. “I’ll have one shrimp please. And a water. With extra lemons and sugar on the side”.

Although it does work with Sushi

In Most sushi places an order of nigiri is 2 pieces. Some will do single pieces, but the usual order is for 2 pieces.

 

[Drunken knight]

up properly? I was assured 1 was "enough for the table". Sure enough, it came cut in half, and we had to figure out how to cut it into 5 pieces, ultimately destroying the sandwich in the process. How exactly is a menu item like this "meant to be shared?"

My point is if you're going to say your dishes are meant to be shared, or if it's implied by being an appetizer, make sure it's actually easily sharable by the number of people at the table. I understand this might cost more and I'm more than willing to pay.

Shared implies 2. Not 5. That would be family style. And no chef is going to cut a sandwich into 5 pieces. As you discovered, it destroys the sandwich. In your example what would you want, 2.5 bagels? And you know how big a bagel is, there’s no way one is going to serve 5 People.

That's my point. I don't expect them to split one bagel into five pieces. But why tell us that the dishes are meant to be shared if they really aren't? At places like this, that's the first thing the servers will say, that their dishes are meant to be shared. I then proceed to roll my eyes when I see things like bagel sandwiches or burgers which can't easily be shared. An easily shared burger would come out as sliders that match the number of people at the table, charged appropriately.

Part of this is also my wife's fault. I told her ordering a bagel would be a bad choice to try and split amongst the five of us, but it falls on deaf ears.

And wait..are these sandwiches listed as apps, or are they in the entree/main dish area? Because if they are, I can’t stress this enough, shared means between 2 people.

No. These are restaurants where the whole menu is meant to be shared. Some of them call it family style. Getting more and more common.

if the concept is small plate/tapas/dim sum, etc we can expect share to include more than two. that is hard to envision for bagels and certain sandwiches.

I am not sure building a menu around "create your own sized appetizer" is a reasonable ask.

now, if you have five in your party and your spring roll app has four pieces, i see nothing wrong with asking the server/chef if there is a way to add pieces to the order (as you mention- at a cost).

I think part of the problem is that small sharable plate restaurants are trending right now, but they aren't serving the right kind of plates, like my bagel example.

For the spring rolls example, is it really that hard for the kitchen to just add the fifth and match it to the party size? I assume they are making a ton of spring rolls anyway for the dinner service. Matching the number of pieces should just be a plating issue.

i would agree that the menu should be more clear with expectations/plate.

Let's take this to an extreme:

tapas restaurant-
should a server have to ask the table "how many would like the croquets?" for every item ordered?

for cost, waste, and efficiency it should be noted how many are in an order. table should decide how many orders imo

The menu should say Croquets.... $2.50/piece. The table orders however many they want. That way, a table of 3 can get 3, and a table of 5 can get 5 instead of both tables getting 4. Either way, the kitchen is making 8.

this would be very burdensome for the servers and cooks/chefs, and a poor business model in F&B. tremendously inefficient and costly as a general practice.

How is it more burdensome? I'm not doubting you, just trying to understand. In this example, the chef still has to prepare 8 croquets. The only difference is he's serving 3 on one plate and 5 on another instead of 4 on each. Is it because reproducing the same plate of 4 over and over is pretty mindless and introducing a bit of complexity is too much?

there are a lot of moving parts in a busy kitchen. having to calculate each dish for every table is going to create back ups and mistakes even with high skilled individuals.

 

[Instinctive]

up properly? I was assured 1 was "enough for the table". Sure enough, it came cut in half, and we had to figure out how to cut it into 5 pieces, ultimately destroying the sandwich in the process. How exactly is a menu item like this "meant to be shared?"

My point is if you're going to say your dishes are meant to be shared, or if it's implied by being an appetizer, make sure it's actually easily sharable by the number of people at the table. I understand this might cost more and I'm more than willing to pay.

Shared implies 2. Not 5. That would be family style. And no chef is going to cut a sandwich into 5 pieces. As you discovered, it destroys the sandwich. In your example what would you want, 2.5 bagels? And you know how big a bagel is, there’s no way one is going to serve 5 People.

That's my point. I don't expect them to split one bagel into five pieces. But why tell us that the dishes are meant to be shared if they really aren't? At places like this, that's the first thing the servers will say, that their dishes are meant to be shared. I then proceed to roll my eyes when I see things like bagel sandwiches or burgers which can't easily be shared. An easily shared burger would come out as sliders that match the number of people at the table, charged appropriately.

Part of this is also my wife's fault. I told her ordering a bagel would be a bad choice to try and split amongst the five of us, but it falls on deaf ears.

And wait..are these sandwiches listed as apps, or are they in the entree/main dish area? Because if they are, I can’t stress this enough, shared means between 2 people.

No. These are restaurants where the whole menu is meant to be shared. Some of them call it family style. Getting more and more common.

if the concept is small plate/tapas/dim sum, etc we can expect share to include more than two. that is hard to envision for bagels and certain sandwiches.

I am not sure building a menu around "create your own sized appetizer" is a reasonable ask.

now, if you have five in your party and your spring roll app has four pieces, i see nothing wrong with asking the server/chef if there is a way to add pieces to the order (as you mention- at a cost).

I think part of the problem is that small sharable plate restaurants are trending right now, but they aren't serving the right kind of plates, like my bagel example.

For the spring rolls example, is it really that hard for the kitchen to just add the fifth and match it to the party size? I assume they are making a ton of spring rolls anyway for the dinner service. Matching the number of pieces should just be a plating issue.

i would agree that the menu should be more clear with expectations/plate.

Let's take this to an extreme:

tapas restaurant-
should a server have to ask the table "how many would like the croquets?" for every item ordered?

for cost, waste, and efficiency it should be noted how many are in an order. table should decide how many orders imo

The menu should say Croquets.... $2.50/piece. The table orders however many they want. That way, a table of 3 can get 3, and a table of 5 can get 5 instead of both tables getting 4. Either way, the kitchen is making 8.

this would be very burdensome for the servers and cooks/chefs, and a poor business model in F&B. tremendously inefficient and costly as a general practice.

For things like burgers/sandwiches, put this in the non-sharable part of the menu and don't instruct your servers to tell the tables that the entire menu is sharable so people like my wife dont try to order a bagel to share between 5 of us.

This i completely agree with

Agreed. And it would lead to single orders on things as well. “I’ll have one shrimp please. And a water. With extra lemons and sugar on the side”.

Although it does work with Sushi

In Most sushi places an order of nigiri is 2 pieces. Some will do single pieces, but the usual order is for 2 pieces.

I mean yes, but that's the same concept, isn't it? I guess it's a little different because any nice sushi place is handmaking it right when you order, to order too.

 

[DA RAIDERS]

Agreed. And it would lead to single orders on things as well. “I’ll have one shrimp please. And a water. With extra lemons and sugar on the side”.

Obligatory:

"Man, the CUP costs 10 cents!"
"[Forget] the cup -- just pour it in my hand!"

I was going to lead with that, but wasn’t sure everyone would get it