Tue 4 Dec 2007
This routine happened to us at a restaurant last night. It’s becoming a common occurrence. This is one of those steak and chop houses where a strip steak is $39 and a rib-eye is $42 and everything else is a la carte.
We’re seated at the table. One waiter brings water and says, “You’re waiter will be here in a moment.” So the official waiter 
comes, says hello, my name is whatever and I’ll be taking care of you tonight — taking care of us? — hands each of us a menu and puts the wine list on the table.
“May I start you off with a cocktail or a glass of wine?” he asks.
I say, “No, we’ll look at the wine list and the menu.”
So he ambles off and we look at the menu, compare ideas about what we might order and what kind of wine we’re in the mood for. Usually LL and I order either fish or red meat so one bottle of white or red wine will do. So we’re mulling these things over, and I’m looking at the wine list, and the moments flee by, and LL says, “We haven’t gotten any bread.” Indeed, we have not. And she adds, “I wonder if there are any specials we should know about.” Indeed, we have not been told about any specials.
The waiter shows up finally and asks, “Have you had a chance to select your wine?”
I say, “Well, yes, but could we have some bread?”
He looks amazed. “Well,” he says, “don’t you want to order the wine first?”
And I say, “No, the wine is to go with dinner, and when the wine comes we’ll want some bread to go with it.” So off he goes to bring us some bread.
Which he does, and then we order the wine, and then he has to go get the wine and then he opens the wine and goes through all the folderol and THEN we get around to the matter of reciting the specials and ordering dinner.
By now, a time zone has slipped away to the east. Friends, life is too short to sit in restaurants where the preferred method of business is to get the cocktails and wine on the table as fast as possible and get patrons good and oiled before allowing them to decide what they want to eat or even bringing them some bread with which to buffer their stomachs.
It’s not — to be fair — the waiter’s fault. He was only doing what management tells him to do. But, lord love a duck, isn’t it enough that we’re paying $60 or so each for dinner? Must we be led down the path of inebriation too?
Waiter image from images.inmagine.com.
December 4th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
After living in Germany for three years, it still amazes me to note the difference in food service back in the States - my homeland. In Germany, you can take as long as you want to order. Take as long as you want to eat it. Order dessert and/or coffee if you want. Smoke a butt. Whatever. Then - when you’re ready - signal your waiter/waitress that you’re ready to pay and leave. Very relaxing. But here in the States it now feels like waiters/waitresses are only interesting in flipping your table. “Here’s the wine list. What would you like to order?” Uh, can you let me actually read it first?! Take your time!
December 5th, 2007 at 2:08 am
I wouldn’t be too sure the management has told him to do that. It’s not at all unlikely the management hasn’t told him much of anything at all.
December 5th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Different strokes for different folks, I guess, but I agree with Dale that the European meal is much more civilized. I actually prefer it when I am asked about a drink and given the chance to enjoy it before ever seeing a menu. A smaller point, of course, is that I’d prefer to order a wine that benefits from breathing early, so that we do not wait to open it until after the meal has arrived.
December 6th, 2007 at 7:16 am
These are all good points, Rob’s from the perspective of a seasoned waiter. Americans, at least under most circumstances, are used to not so leisurely a pace as diners in Europe. I think my main complaint is the waiter’s combination of haste (”quick, get that drink ordered”) and slacker attitude (”the bread will get here when it gets here, dud”).