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

[Pip's Invitation]

I used to go out to lunch every day at work for a long time - once a sandwich, chips and drink eclipsed $10 I started bringing from home. I forgot the other day for the 1st time in a while and was shocked to see sandwich, chips and drink for $17. Thats over $350 per month for sandwich lunches - I know Im sounding old but thats crazy!

Wawa (Philly-based convenience store chain strewn between NJ and VA, and also in FL) used to be a go-to for cheap meals. Last month my wife, my son and I picked up dinner from there and it was more than $40. Gah.

 

[Doug B]

For Applebee's in particular:

Before the pandemic, about 13% of Applebee’s revenue was off-premise–mainly pickup. At the end of last year it was nearly twice that proportion with about half from delivery.

Going by what @massraider wrote ... that part in red is not healthy for Applebee's bottom line, at least at first glance. Could be making it up elsewhere, though.

 

[Da Guru]

To be fair Panera bagels are ok, but their sandwiches…I can find better stuff in the frozen food aisle

Panera to me is OK at best. All their food just had a blander tastes. Even the supposed spicier versions.

 

[Keerock]

To be fair Panera bagels are ok, but their sandwiches…I can find better stuff in the frozen food aisle

Panera to me is OK at best. All their food just had a blander tastes. Even the supposed spicier versions.

Those chicken sandwiches they started selling... OMG do they look putrid.

 

[Doug B]

Wawa (Philly-based convenience store chain strewn between NJ and VA, and also in FL) used to be a go-to for cheap meals. Last month my wife, my son and I picked up dinner from there and it was more than $40. Gah.

Sadly ... $14-15 a head for "a meal" is probably pretty reasonable in the Northeast in 2023.

But, I got you -- it's Wawa.

 

[Phil Elliott]

Was going to make a reservation for 8 at Trulucks downtown Austin for BD celebration. 18% gratuity plus a 4% service charge. Usually nice seafood. Automatic gratuity's are pretty standard for groups of 6 or more. But the additional 4% service charge. No explanation for what it's for except a way to get the gratuity to 22% and had to go thru their "large groups coordinator".
No thank you.

 

[FairWarning]

I remember a few years ago the mantra being "if you can't afford eating out, stay home". Looks like more and more are following that advice.

Restaurant stock prices say otherwise.

The chains and publically owned restaurants get preferred pricing, and also have national promotions. it is much harder for the independents.

 

[AAABatteries]

NOBODY ever should consider working the window at McDonald’s or selling shoes at footlocker as a career.

How dare you besmirch the great Al Bundy!!!

 

[New Binky the Doormat]

To be fair Panera bagels are ok, but their sandwiches…I can find better stuff in the frozen food aisle

Panera to me is OK at best. All their food just had a blander tastes. Even the supposed spicier versions.

ugh ...overpriced crap - the ONLY thing I get there are a half dozen Cinnamon Crunch Bagels to go - omg.

those things are truly amazing - I toast them and then load'em up with at least a half a block of cream cheese ...all those carbs knock me out, but it's SO damn good.

 

[Snoopy]

NOBODY ever should consider working the window at McDonald’s or selling shoes at footlocker as a career.

How dare you besmirch the great Al Bundy!!!

Foot Locker does not specialize in women's shoes.

 

[Galileo]

To be fair Panera bagels are ok, but their sandwiches…I can find better stuff in the frozen food aisle

Panera to me is OK at best. All their food just had a blander tastes. Even the supposed spicier versions.

ugh ...overpriced crap - the ONLY thing I get there are a half dozen Cinnamon Crunch Bagels to go - omg.

those things are truly amazing - I toast them and then load'em up with at least a half a block of cream cheese ...all those carbs knock me out, but it's SO damn good.

No cream cheese needed for those. Cream cheese with every other type - definitely, but the Cinnamon Crunch can stand alone.

 

[ChiefD]

Not sure if you guys are seeing this where you live but a few months ago we tried to make a reservation for my wife's birthday at Cheesecake Factory. We had a party of 8. They wouldn't even take a reservation anymore for parties over 6. Told us to just come down and wait.

So they lost out on a table that was worth about $350 since we get drinks and dessert there. I was shocked.

Called another restaurant. Same thing. I'm like: WTF.

How are families supposed to plan outings any more like this? What the hell is going with this stupid world.

 

[massraider]

. But the additional 4% service charge. No explanation for what it's for except a way to get the gratuity to 22% and had to go thru their "large groups coordinator".
No thank you

No.

Gratuity is the staff. The service charge goes directly to the restaurant. The sales coordinator gets a cut of that service charge, that's how they get away with paying that person 40 grand a year.

Geez, please do not believe ownership is being sneaky to give their servers more gratuity.

 

[Mitchie]

. But the additional 4% service charge. No explanation for what it's for except a way to get the gratuity to 22% and had to go thru their "large groups coordinator".
No thank you

No.

Gratuity is the staff. The service charge goes directly to the restaurant. The sales coordinator gets a cut of that service charge, that's how they get away with paying that person 40 grand a year.

Geez, please do not believe ownership is being sneaky to give their servers more gratuity.

Doesn't really matter who it goes to, still money customer is paying for no additional service or product.

 

[Ilov80s]

Not sure if you guys are seeing this where you live but a few months ago we tried to make a reservation for my wife's birthday at Cheesecake Factory. We had a party of 8. They wouldn't even take a reservation anymore for parties over 6. Told us to just come down and wait.

So they lost out on a table that was worth about $350 since we get drinks and dessert there. I was shocked.

Called another restaurant. Same thing. I'm like: WTF.

How are families supposed to plan outings any more like this? What the hell is going with this stupid world.

It’s because so many parties make large reservations and don’t show up or show up with like half the people. It’s a big problem for the restaurants.

 

[ChiefD]

Not sure if you guys are seeing this where you live but a few months ago we tried to make a reservation for my wife's birthday at Cheesecake Factory. We had a party of 8. They wouldn't even take a reservation anymore for parties over 6. Told us to just come down and wait.

So they lost out on a table that was worth about $350 since we get drinks and dessert there. I was shocked.

Called another restaurant. Same thing. I'm like: WTF.

How are families supposed to plan outings any more like this? What the hell is going with this stupid world.

It’s because so many parties make large reservations and don’t show up or show up with like half the people. It’s a big problem for the restaurants.

Yeah, I get that. But they could easily solve this where if all 8 of the party isn’t there at the registered time the table is released. And they state that loud and clear when the reservation is made.

Restaurants can easily convert those two 4 seat tables back to two 4 tops in a hurry.

 

[dkp993]

Not sure if you guys are seeing this where you live but a few months ago we tried to make a reservation for my wife's birthday at Cheesecake Factory. We had a party of 8. They wouldn't even take a reservation anymore for parties over 6. Told us to just come down and wait.

So they lost out on a table that was worth about $350 since we get drinks and dessert there. I was shocked.

Called another restaurant. Same thing. I'm like: WTF.

How are families supposed to plan outings any more like this? What the hell is going with this stupid world.

While it sucks as a restaurant operator I can tell you it often just come down to math. For a busy restaurant large parties simply aren’t as valuable as turning those tables used over multiple times for smaller parties. Large parties tend to take up a lot of real estate and a lot of time. 2 things that are at a premium for a busy restaurant.

 

[Snoopy]

Not sure if you guys are seeing this where you live but a few months ago we tried to make a reservation for my wife's birthday at Cheesecake Factory. We had a party of 8. They wouldn't even take a reservation anymore for parties over 6. Told us to just come down and wait.

So they lost out on a table that was worth about $350 since we get drinks and dessert there. I was shocked.

Called another restaurant. Same thing. I'm like: WTF.

How are families supposed to plan outings any more like this? What the hell is going with this stupid world.

While it sucks as a restaurant operator I can tell you it often just come down to math. For a busy restaurant large parties simply aren’t as valuable as turning those tables used over multiple times for smaller parties. Large parties tend to take up a lot of real estate and a lot of time. 2 things that are at a premium for a busy restaurant.

and I heard the tipping percentage is usually lower for a large table.

 

[Phil Elliott]

Not sure if you guys are seeing this where you live but a few months ago we tried to make a reservation for my wife's birthday at Cheesecake Factory. We had a party of 8. They wouldn't even take a reservation anymore for parties over 6. Told us to just come down and wait.

So they lost out on a table that was worth about $350 since we get drinks and dessert there. I was shocked.

Called another restaurant. Same thing. I'm like: WTF.

How are families supposed to plan outings any more like this? What the hell is going with this stupid world.

It’s because so many parties make large reservations and don’t show up or show up with like half the people. It’s a big problem for the restaurants.

I thought they overbook just for this reason and send everyone to the bar to get a couple rounds until the tables open up.

 

[FairWarning]

Not sure if you guys are seeing this where you live but a few months ago we tried to make a reservation for my wife's birthday at Cheesecake Factory. We had a party of 8. They wouldn't even take a reservation anymore for parties over 6. Told us to just come down and wait.

So they lost out on a table that was worth about $350 since we get drinks and dessert there. I was shocked.

Called another restaurant. Same thing. I'm like: WTF.

How are families supposed to plan outings any more like this? What the hell is going with this stupid world.

While it sucks as a restaurant operator I can tell you it often just come down to math. For a busy restaurant large parties simply aren’t as valuable as turning those tables used over multiple times for smaller parties. Large parties tend to take up a lot of real estate and a lot of time. 2 things that are at a premium for a busy restaurant.

and I heard the tipping percentage is usually lower for a large table.

Anything over 6, 18% should just be added to the bill. This needs to be stated at the time of booking also.

 

[FairWarning]

Not sure if you guys are seeing this where you live but a few months ago we tried to make a reservation for my wife's birthday at Cheesecake Factory. We had a party of 8. They wouldn't even take a reservation anymore for parties over 6. Told us to just come down and wait.

So they lost out on a table that was worth about $350 since we get drinks and dessert there. I was shocked.

Called another restaurant. Same thing. I'm like: WTF.

How are families supposed to plan outings any more like this? What the hell is going with this stupid world.

It’s because so many parties make large reservations and don’t show up or show up with like half the people. It’s a big problem for the restaurants.

I thought they overbook just for this reason and send everyone to the bar to get a couple rounds until the tables open up.

I just finished bartending for an Italian restaurant. We never overbook, but the walk-in traffic is huge (in a big vacation are). We do get a lot who do fill the bar, waiting on a table.

 

[need2know]

We have this great wings place in my area that has horrible seating but has been that way for years
Prices raised slightly due to the times but man I would die by these wings.

Point of this post is they could have raised crazy prices. They didn't. They are really busy though

 

[massraider]

I thought they overbook just for this reason and send everyone to the bar to get a couple rounds until the tables open up.

Not with 8 tops. You can't squeeze an 8 top in somewhere like a 2 or a 4 top.

A busy place like the Cheesecake Factory has been trained, by years of guests, to NOT want large groups. They're NEVER on time, expect to be seated whenever they get there, and stay forever.

It's a weird thing, why wouldn't a place want large parties? Blame your fellow American diners, because there's no one else to blame.

 

[Ilov80s]

Not sure if you guys are seeing this where you live but a few months ago we tried to make a reservation for my wife's birthday at Cheesecake Factory. We had a party of 8. They wouldn't even take a reservation anymore for parties over 6. Told us to just come down and wait.

So they lost out on a table that was worth about $350 since we get drinks and dessert there. I was shocked.

Called another restaurant. Same thing. I'm like: WTF.

How are families supposed to plan outings any more like this? What the hell is going with this stupid world.

It’s because so many parties make large reservations and don’t show up or show up with like half the people. It’s a big problem for the restaurants.

I thought they overbook just for this reason and send everyone to the bar to get a couple rounds until the tables open up.

I just finished bartending for an Italian restaurant. We never overbook, but the walk-in traffic is huge (in a big vacation are). We do get a lot who do fill the bar, waiting on a table.

Yeah the bar is for walkins waiting or just a lot of couples prefer the bar to a table.

 

[Ilov80s]

I thought they overbook just for this reason and send everyone to the bar to get a couple rounds until the tables open up.

Not with 8 tops. You can't squeeze an 8 top in somewhere like a 2 or a 4 top.

A busy place like the Cheesecake Factory has been trained, by years of guests, to NOT want large groups. They're NEVER on time, expect to be seated whenever they get there, and stay forever.

It's a weird thing, why wouldn't a place want large parties? Blame your fellow American diners, because there's no one else to blame.

There’s a cool bar distillery near me that I go to sometimes. I was chatting with the bartender and they were so annoyed with the last 3 weekends. They had a bridal shower, birthday and some kind of work event booked. The parties all claimed to be 30+ people. One party cancelled an hour before and the other two ended up being like 10 people. They set up staff and stage da whole area, block off seating, schedule an extra staff member they wouldn’t normally have been on a Sunday. There’s very real reasons why restaurants only really want parties of 2-4.

 

[Phil Elliott]

I thought they overbook just for this reason and send everyone to the bar to get a couple rounds until the tables open up.

Not with 8 tops. You can't squeeze an 8 top in somewhere like a 2 or a 4 top.

A busy place like the Cheesecake Factory has been trained, by years of guests, to NOT want large groups. They're NEVER on time, expect to be seated whenever they get there, and stay forever.

It's a weird thing, why wouldn't a place want large parties? Blame your fellow American diners, because there's no one else to blame.

Yet I made a reservation online for another fine restaurant a few blocks away in 30 seconds. Only requirement was cc to pay $8/person cancellation charge if cancelled less than one hour before or no-show. That is reasonable.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

Not sure if you guys are seeing this where you live but a few months ago we tried to make a reservation for my wife's birthday at Cheesecake Factory. We had a party of 8. They wouldn't even take a reservation anymore for parties over 6. Told us to just come down and wait.

So they lost out on a table that was worth about $350 since we get drinks and dessert there. I was shocked.

Called another restaurant. Same thing. I'm like: WTF.

How are families supposed to plan outings any more like this? What the hell is going with this stupid world.

Just had same thing happen last week when I visited my parents and wanted to have dinner with them and my sisters and their kids.
Cheesecake told me the same thing and when I told them that didn’t make any sense as bigger parties would be the ones that need the reservations more. They could not explain the policy to me, just responded “that’s how we do it.”

 

[Phil Elliott]

I thought they overbook just for this reason and send everyone to the bar to get a couple rounds until the tables open up.

Not with 8 tops. You can't squeeze an 8 top in somewhere like a 2 or a 4 top.

A busy place like the Cheesecake Factory has been trained, by years of guests, to NOT want large groups. They're NEVER on time, expect to be seated whenever they get there, and stay forever.

It's a weird thing, why wouldn't a place want large parties? Blame your fellow American diners, because there's no one else to blame.

There’s a cool bar distillery near me that I go to sometimes. I was chatting with the bartender and they were so annoyed with the last 3 weekends. They had a bridal shower, birthday and some kind of work event booked. The parties all claimed to be 30+ people. One party cancelled an hour before and the other two ended up being like 10 people. They set up staff and stage a whole area, block off seating, schedule an extra staff member they wouldn’t normally have fun a Sunday. There’s very real reasons why restaurants only really want parties of 2-4.

Understandable.

 

[rockaction]

It's almost like different restaurants have different policies and the ones that are more customer-friendly will get more customers, all other things reasonably constant. Quelle surprise!

 

[rockaction]

By the way, those Buzzfeed articles about "What Your Server Really Thinks Of You" mean about **** squat in this sort of environment. Especially when said server is making at least $15.50 an hour by law. Plus tips.

Yeah, I give a flying **** now.

 

[massraider]

Yet I made a reservation online for another fine restaurant a few blocks away in 30 seconds. Only requirement was cc to pay $8/person cancellation charge if cancelled less than one hour before or no-show. That is reasonable.

That is reasonable. A few things:

• This place is not as busy as Cheesecake Factory, right? Slower restaurants can handle an 8 top no show, they don't need to make uncomfortable decisions like refusing large party reservations. Slower places don't have to refuse other reservations to handle your large group. If you don't show, bummer, but they most likely didn't lose a guest.
• One call to your CC company will erase any cancellation fee the restaurant wants to charge. The only time I knew restaurants to bang people on cancellations was New Year's Eve, and even then they only got paid if they had a signed CC auth form. People do not stand by quietly and get charged $100 simply for cancelling a reservation. There's phone calls, a sob story about why they were unable to make it, insistence that they called and spoke to 'someone'.

What Cheesecake Factory is doing is a similar version of high end restaurants having two different reservation times--beginning and end. They had to do it because people would ask for 7:30 or 8:00 reservations, but only be able to get 6:30. They would just show up at 7:30, and demand their table. The nicer the restaurant, the more this happens.

So places would confirm your reservation, 6:30-8:30. You show up at 7:30, fine. You have to be out by 8:30. At the most expensive places in NYC and London (and I am sure other cities) this is what it has come to. Restaurants that don't want to tell anyone 'no' have issued curfews for every reservation.

Cheesecake Factory is corporate, they have seen the numbers. It's better for business to turn and burn the smaller tables, and let someone else take the large parties.


I'm not telling you this is the best thing in the world. I'm just telling you why it's happening.

 

[Capella]

Went out to eat last night and thought of this thread

- 11.99 for 4 deviled egg halves

- 6.99 for banana pudding, which was served in what was essentially a little pudding cup. Maybe 5 tablespoons. Crazy price.

- 20% service charge, which was fine, but then only 15% went to the server so I had to tip more. So I was paying the restaurant 5% to support their staff which I thought I was doing through ordering the food. Oh well.

 

[Tivoli]

I know not a shocking statement given the price of everything but restaurants in particular have hit a breaking point for me. I’m not taking the kids out nearly s much as I used to and I don’t enjoy going out as much as I used to either because of the feeling I’m being ripped off. I'm not in NYC or SF. I live in a foodie type town of around 100,000 people.

1. A good friend of mine and I used to go out every other week to a variety of nice restaurants. We would get a couple appetizers to split, a main course and each a cocktail. No dessert. Bill would be about $100 plus tip. This was two years ago. Now……..it’s impossible to get out of the same type of restaurants without dropping $150 plus tip. Bill is larger so the tip is larger as well so $120 to $180 in the course of two years.
2. Also every new restaurant is small plate tapas. Each tapa is the price of what entrees used to be but three or four bites each plate. We are typically informed that each of us will need to order a minimum of three tapas apiece to make a meal.
3. when did the minimum price of a cocktail become $15. I’m not talking about anything fancy here.
4. took my two kids to Elevation burger for lunch the other day. i got an elevation burger with no fries just the burger, the two kids each got a two piece chicken tender meal with fries. I got a fountain soda and they split a milkshake. Price……..$70. I mean WTF

Due to inflation, grocery/food prices are still up 6% which is having a negative trickle down effect on the restaurant industry. Also, flour, bread and sugar are up in the double digits percent.

 

[The Z Machine]

we have a bunch of people who vaguely think they are getting ripped off on delivery by the restaurants

Not I:

1) We have our favorite take-out places that we regularly show up for in person.
2) I regard the delivery services as priced well out of our range. Maybe down the road as we age and have to cut back on driving or something.

This is one of the advantages of living in the city. Even when i want takeout and don't want that sit down experience or the restaurant is basic take out only, I can walk and get the food to go and make it back to my house with the food still warm. There are some really good places within that 5-10 minute walk range from me.

During the pandemic it was even better as they'd give cocktails to go that you could drink on the walk back. Shame they cut that out as dining in came back.

 

[GroveDiesel]

Went out to eat last night and thought of this thread

- 11.99 for 4 deviled egg halves

- 6.99 for banana pudding, which was served in what was essentially a little pudding cup. Maybe 5 tablespoons. Crazy price.

- 20% service charge, which was fine, but then only 15% went to the server so I had to tip more. So I was paying the restaurant 5% to support their staff which I thought I was doing through ordering the food. Oh well.

The tipping and service charge thing is completely out of control. Wish we would just go to a European model of the prices are what they are and no tipping or extra fees. Just pay the workers what they’re worth.

 

[belljr]

Didn't even consider new-school delivery services. Almost all that take-out is app-based services these days?

I would say most. There is always outlier spots and towns.

The way it started, the push was, yeah, you aren't making money on this customer, but you are now REACHING them, they can find out how wonderful you are, and you can have a new regular. Loss leader.

Which all makes sense, fast forward 10 years, and every deli and pizza place has two different prices. They have Grubhub price, and price when you in the store. Well, maybe not every, but the smart ones do. The number of loss leaders has increased, and now instead of a bunch of new happy guests, we have a bunch of people who vaguely think they are getting ripped off on delivery by the restaurants. When in fact these delivery services are awful for restaurants.

I still don't understand how restaurants signed up for a "we are going to charge a fee for our service but it's going to come out of your cost model"..... I never understood how it wasn't an add-on to the order

 

[Phil Elliott]

Yet I made a reservation online for another fine restaurant a few blocks away in 30 seconds. Only requirement was cc to pay $8/person cancellation charge if cancelled less than one hour before or no-show. That is reasonable.

That is reasonable. A few things:

• This place is not as busy as Cheesecake Factory, right? Slower restaurants can handle an 8 top no show, they don't need to make uncomfortable decisions like refusing large party reservations. Slower places don't have to refuse other reservations to handle your large group. If you don't show, bummer, but they most likely didn't lose a guest.
• One call to your CC company will erase any cancellation fee the restaurant wants to charge. The only time I knew restaurants to bang people on cancellations was New Year's Eve, and even then they only got paid if they had a signed CC auth form. People do not stand by quietly and get charged $100 simply for cancelling a reservation. There's phone calls, a sob story about why they were unable to make it, insistence that they called and spoke to 'someone'.

What Cheesecake Factory is doing is a similar version of high end restaurants having two different reservation times--beginning and end. They had to do it because people would ask for 7:30 or 8:00 reservations, but only be able to get 6:30. They would just show up at 7:30, and demand their table. The nicer the restaurant, the more this happens.

So places would confirm your reservation, 6:30-8:30. You show up at 7:30, fine. You have to be out by 8:30. At the most expensive places in NYC and London (and I am sure other cities) this is what it has come to. Restaurants that don't want to tell anyone 'no' have issued curfews for every reservation.

Cheesecake Factory is corporate, they have seen the numbers. It's better for business to turn and burn the smaller tables, and let someone else take the large parties.


I'm not telling you this is the best thing in the world. I'm just telling you why it's happening.

"This place" is Perry's Steakhouse. Higher tier of food/service compared to Cheesecake Factory (but still a chain). Every time we have been there it is packed. I would think there is some good margin with wine/cocktails at Trulucks and Perry's even with larger groups. Wells Fargo will reissue your cc/dc if you refute a charge. Citi and MC will usual honor it but we don't do it unless service/product was not as offered and we didn't know of the additional charge up front.

 

[dickey moe]

Went out to eat last night and thought of this thread

- 11.99 for 4 deviled egg halves

All things considered, that's effing ridiculous.

 

[=Smackdown=]

Local watering hole Thursday night.

12 wings = $18.00

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Went out to eat last night and thought of this thread

- 11.99 for 4 deviled egg halves

All things considered, that's effing ridiculous.

Eggs: $72.00 a dozen. Seems about right.

 

[massraider]

Went out to eat last night and thought of this thread

- 11.99 for 4 deviled egg halves

All things considered, that's effing ridiculous.

These are the real ones tho. Not made with imitation devilmeat or anything like that.

 

[Mitchie]

Went out to eat last night and thought of this thread

- 11.99 for 4 deviled egg halves

- 6.99 for banana pudding, which was served in what was essentially a little pudding cup. Maybe 5 tablespoons. Crazy price.

- 20% service charge, which was fine, but then only 15% went to the server so I had to tip more. So I was paying the restaurant 5% to support their staff which I thought I was doing through ordering the food. Oh well.

you don't have to tip more, i mean obviously you can if you want, but waitstaff normally tips out other employees when you leave a tip. I would assume they wouldn't need to do this w/ this structure.

 

[Doug B]

Not sure if you guys are seeing this where you live but a few months ago we tried to make a reservation for my wife's birthday at Cheesecake Factory. We had a party of 8. They wouldn't even take a reservation anymore for parties over 6. Told us to just come down and wait.

So they lost out on a table that was worth about $350 since we get drinks and dessert there. I was shocked.

Called another restaurant. Same thing. I'm like: WTF.

How are families supposed to plan outings any more like this? What the hell is going with this stupid world.

While it sucks as a restaurant operator I can tell you it often just come down to math. For a busy restaurant large parties simply aren’t as valuable as turning those tables used over multiple times for smaller parties. Large parties tend to take up a lot of real estate and a lot of time. 2 things that are at a premium for a busy restaurant.

I think @ChiefD just got unlucky twice and should keep trying with other places -- maybe hitting up some non-corporate local proprietors.

I wonder if dining cultures have subtle differences place to place in the U.S.? Around here, calling to arrange large parties at restaurants is trivial and refusals like ChiefD experienced would be highly unusual. I can say, though, that not seating a party until almost everyone has shown up is common. If your party is for 12 people, and you've got nine or ten ... they'll seat you. If your party is 12 and you've got two or three ... you'll have to wait.

 

[Doug B]

By the way, those Buzzfeed articles about "What Your Server Really Thinks Of You" mean about **** squat in this sort of environment. Especially when said server is making at least $15.50 an hour by law. Plus tips.

Yeah, I give a flying **** now.

I know you know this, but for the house: This varies wildly state to state. I think in Louisiana, servers and bartenders STILL make $2.13 an hour -- an amount based on 50% of the minimum wage in the early 1990s. Yes, that two dollars and thirteen cents per hour before tips.

Now I'm going to go double-check that and see if it's changed. Was still accurate as of maybe seven or eight years ago.

EDIT: Yep -- still $2.13. Same in about half the U.S. (didn't count up the states). The California hourly wage ($15.50) for tipped employees ... with tips added in, that's a professional home-buying family-raising wage here in the N.O. area. But California housing is something like five or six times costlier there than here, among other considerations.

EDIT2: Not "half the U.S." -- 15 states are at $2.13. Several more are south of $3.00, though.

 

[massraider]

I know you know this, but for the house: This varies wildly state to state. I think in Louisiana, servers and bartenders STILL make $2.13 an hour -- an amount based on 50% of the minimum wage in the early 1990s. Yes, that two dollars and thirteen cents per hour before tips.

New Orleans bartenders HATE these 16 simple tricks for reducing their wages

 

[culdeus]

Not sure if you guys are seeing this where you live but a few months ago we tried to make a reservation for my wife's birthday at Cheesecake Factory. We had a party of 8. They wouldn't even take a reservation anymore for parties over 6. Told us to just come down and wait.

So they lost out on a table that was worth about $350 since we get drinks and dessert there. I was shocked.

Called another restaurant. Same thing. I'm like: WTF.

How are families supposed to plan outings any more like this? What the hell is going with this stupid world.

Just had same thing happen last week when I visited my parents and wanted to have dinner with them and my sisters and their kids.
Cheesecake told me the same thing and when I told them that didn’t make any sense as bigger parties would be the ones that need the reservations more. They could not explain the policy to me, just responded “that’s how we do it.”

Big parties are a pain in the butt and tend to bring ipad kids and old farts along. Or are otherwise annoying. At a chain restaurant I don't see the harm though. They should be taking those bullets.

 

[Ilov80s]

Not sure if you guys are seeing this where you live but a few months ago we tried to make a reservation for my wife's birthday at Cheesecake Factory. We had a party of 8. They wouldn't even take a reservation anymore for parties over 6. Told us to just come down and wait.

So they lost out on a table that was worth about $350 since we get drinks and dessert there. I was shocked.

Called another restaurant. Same thing. I'm like: WTF.

How are families supposed to plan outings any more like this? What the hell is going with this stupid world.

Just had same thing happen last week when I visited my parents and wanted to have dinner with them and my sisters and their kids.
Cheesecake told me the same thing and when I told them that didn’t make any sense as bigger parties would be the ones that need the reservations more. They could not explain the policy to me, just responded “that’s how we do it.”

Big parties are a pain in the butt and tend to bring ipad kids and old farts along. Or are otherwise annoying. At a chain restaurant I don't see the harm though. They should be taking those bullets.

Just depends on how busy you are and what time/night of the week it is. If it’s a Sat evening and you know you will having a waiting list all night, why bother? I’ve only been to the Cheesecake Factory once (wasn’t for me) but GD was is packed.

 

[massraider]

Big parties are a pain in the butt and tend to bring ipad kids and old farts along. Or are otherwise annoying. At a chain restaurant I don't see the harm though. They should be taking those bullets.

I like when parents don't come in with a charged iPad, and we get to see what their kid acts like in public without a screen to stare at.

Good times.

 

[dickey moe]

Went out to eat last night and thought of this thread

- 11.99 for 4 deviled egg halves

All things considered, that's effing ridiculous.

Eggs: $72.00 a dozen. Seems about right.

You can get a 32-count box of organic hardboiled eggs at Costco in my neck of the woods for $14.79. I guarantee that's what restaurants selling "artisan deviled eggs" are using too, unless they can get a better deal wholesale. Nice markup.

 

[NutterButter]

I haven't seen the ffa this united since the yoga pants thread