Does anyone actually miss table service?
 

I don’t. Honestly I’ve found the service in most restaurants to be really pretty lousy in recent years as a general rule and am bothered by the whole expectation that I leave a tip of 15% to 20% for it.

I’ve learned to enjoy making healthy food at home and / or occasionally getting something to take out. For one I don’t really lament the loss of table service restaurants here in the U.S. (although I do sympathize for those who have lost incomes / livelihoods and hope they can find new careers and opportunities quickly).

In other countries where table service is considered a valued career path and pays a real wage (not the idiotic US model of slave labor plus tips) it works a lot better IMO. I guess I’ll have to wait until travel abroad opens up again...

Anyone else think differently? The same?

I miss going out and experiencing a different atmosphere when I eat and drink. I enjoy doing it at home with my wife too, but a change of scenery is always fun.

My small town diner is great. The waitresses are almost always high school kids and there is good level of familiarity. We do have some haughty people that use our town on weekends and they can get a bit of stick, but not usually. I do miss my seat at the counter and the "mature" waitress who always greets me as "Tommy honeeeeey!".

Great food and lousy service < average/OK food and great service < great food and great service.

Like you said, service can be very hit or miss from restaurant to restaurant and sometimes from night to night or server to server within a restaurant. If we experience frequent poor service, we probably stop going to the restaurant. If we get the occasional moderate/bad service, we chalk it up as a fluke. Some restaurants are pretty consistently good. At the same time, two diners could go get the same service from the same server and both could come away with a different theory about the quality of the service based on personality differences.

We do like to go someplace when there's great service. It can really elevate a meal.

I enjoy/don't mind cooking or doing take-out, but often take out loses a little something after having been brought home in the styrofoam or plastic containers.

It is occasionally very much appreciated to NOT have all of the cooking before eating and cleaning after eating.

I almost never eat out. Delivery, that's where I tip bigly.

Yep. We have a few places where going out is a treat. We went once a month. Looking forward to them opening up.

I even kind of miss the adventure of different places we hit when we traveled. I'd say the hits were less than 50%, but there were some extraordinary experiences.

Yes, because my favorite bars/brewerys/restaurants are my favorite because of the food, beer/drinks and the people that serve it.

I used to, but it's so expensive, and I have porsche parts to save for. And boat parts. And snowmobile stuff. And ski trips. And a mortgage. etc.

For two people, it's hard to have a couple drinks each and some food for under $50.

I miss going out with girlfriend and with friends, especially Sunday night dinner and movie nights. Nothing better than talking over good food with great friends. Eating out is as much about being social as it is the food as it is the experience/atmosphere.

Most places we frequent here in the midwest have very good table service.

There is a Denny's (I know) in SoCal that was as bad as anyplace I have ever been. She actually reached behind her back and grabbed a glass of water from the table next to us. Yes, the table had unfinished food on it. No, my wife did not drink it. They also brought a banana split that was 3 scoops of ice cream and a banana. No toppings, no whipped cream. The other in our party had some sort of dairy soup that was supposed to be a parfait. Those are the better times.

i love going out for dinner and drinks. it just isnt about the food and drinks for me. it is the social aspect. i love people and i get along with them. friends and family are a gift.

i dont want to be one of those BahHUMbug guys that enclose myself with being alone and cloak it with " i prefer to be a loner" to make it all feel right.

social skills are a perishable skill. talking face to face, reading expressions and body language, etc. takes getting out there.

tableside service is an awesome venue for it. i love being out and about.

Yes. There are 20+ great restaurants within a 15 minute drive, missing some great Italian, prime rib, french onion soup, kielbasa burgers, peirogies, and fantastic breakfasts. Take out is OK, but some foods don't travel well, even for short trips.

i googled San Francisco HOUSE of Prime Rib last night. THEY are doing take out!!

talk about a meal that wont travel well. cold yorkshire pudding? gross. cool AuJUs. nah.

if i had a Sprinter Van, i would park right outside the joint with some real plates.

^^^ Hey..that's a great idea. Set-up tents, tables, and silverware just outside of fine restaurants.
Charge a couple bucks per seat...let them order.

i am patenting that idea..back off sucka

Yea we do.

My wife and I have done "date night" every Friday since we got married 27 years ago. We always go out to eat on Friday nights. Usually nicer places and never fast food. Two prime rib dinners and salad can run $75 to $80 with tip. It is rare to spend less than $45 for the two of us. We have several favorites and throw in new places regularly. In the past I tipped 20% to 25% depending on the meal. A breakfast place on a Sunday morning I tip 30% For the prime rib, 20% Just because they brought me a stack of pancakes instead of prim rib does not earn the same percentage. And I round up a lot.

I plan to "blow" the entire government check I recently received on LOCAL owned restaurants, and larger tips.

Hell yes, I do. Depends where you are but in L.A., I eat out all the time. In Minneapolis, not as much, (though they have a few great restaurants), in rural Wisconsin, not at all. Actually, I amend that...in Madeline Island in Lake Superior, (WI.), there is exactly one good restaurant and it’s a banger. Some great chef moved there and opened her own place. It’s sublime.

There is no reason to go out for average food, you can make it better at home and it’s cheaper. I recently had a close friend owe me $50 for something I did for him, I told him that I don’t need the $50, how ‘bout you take me out for a steak dinner? He thought it was a great idea and being who he is, he took me to the best rated steak house we could find on a quick search. Arroyo Chop House in Pasadena for locals. Holy balls was it good....cost a little more than $50 a head but he had the Wagu, ($120), I had the NY Prime and a Caesar salad made table side.

I’ll remember that meal for a long time and I eat out constantly. Sometimes, it’s all about the experience. :cool:

I should add that my typical meal from a restaurant is nowhere near as expensive as my example above. Just needs to be good food and a cool place.

I long fer the day when I can bellow out BREAD! when the service sux :D.

I don't do that very often tho'...

I love that 70s nostalgia.

Come down to Half Moon Bay and borrow my Westy. You could even drink too much and spend the night right there.

yes. this sucks. typically I would go to lunch somewhere every day during the work week and the wife and I would go somewhere on the weekend. The food I like doesn't travel well. BBQ ribs and all the sides? no thanks. Brisket Pho? no thanks. hot dogs and cheeseburgers, obviously these are fine but most other things, I would prefer not to take out. I have no job now thanks to China so Im not going anywhere and im about ready to punch someone in the face if I have to eat another ham sandwich.

I guess on a positive note, im not spending tons of money on lunches.

If you're ever in Lake Tahoe try The Sage Room at Harvey's casino. Been there since 1947. Caeser salad prepared table side for two with Chateaubriand. Boy is that a great meal!

I would often frequent a family owned Indian restaurant with my son and his GF... I haven't seen him IRL since this crap began!

So yea I miss it but not for the service. :(

Yes I do,

I miss taking my girlfriend out for a nice dinner..

I miss meeting friends for cocktails and dinner..

Seriously I cant believe how selfish some of the posters on Pelican are...

I live in New York... Long Island.. basically ground zero...

Just because you selfish A-holes are not seeing with what I am seeing every day.

Id love to sit down and order a meal..

The OP and that one guy from the midwest are such half glass empty peeps, and selfish as all get out.. ohh " They are taking away my rights"

Before CV we ate out (sit down with tips) 2-3x a month tops. As Denis alluded to when that happens its for something we don't normally cook (or can't) at home. Sushi is a line item there, as is a really good ribeye or lamb. That said we do takeout 2x a week (pizza Friday night movies, Mex/Thai/CCP the other) and Sprouts did have 50% off sushi on Wednesdays which if you order from the prep there was decent (certainly not great). So a long winded NO response to do I miss table service. Wife and I both worked service industry throughout college and learned alot. Good and bad. The good we practice at home, the bad is but a memory :)

A friend just posted this gratuitous corona pic from HH SC.
I rest my case!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1588724927.jpg

Yes, I do. My girlfriend and I went to Paris in February and had a wonderful meal at Le Grand Vefour and I would love to be able to do that again.

Restaurants and bars are soooo important for culture. They just have to be there and be open. Social lubricants for societies common people.

Last night was the first night restaurants were “allowed” to be open (makes me sick to type that). We went out to a locally owned favorite with another couple, it was awesome. We love trying new food, new drinks, and going out with friends and family. So did we miss it? Hell yes.

I miss escaping the house after a crummy day, going for a drive, and letting somebody else worry about cooking...

I miss having a really good laugh with friends. it's very healthy. It makes me realise how lucky I am to have happy, good fun, friends.

Hard to top the Arroyo Chop House, but any local Happy Hour with our closest friends is what my wife and I miss. The eats are always so-so, but some cold cold beers catching up with friends can't be beat.

Yes, I miss it very much
I can’t wait for it to be a daily occurrence again

You know what man....screw you right back. You don't live in the Midwest, or the West. Go eff yourself, New York. The rest of New York has my sympathies, but you don't speak for anyone else.

I like a waiter who knows his business and am happy to pay for the service. I don't go out to eat much though

Yes, the food, the service, the view, just excellent.

One time we went and there was a delay getting seated, had to wait a bit in the bar. Dad mentions the name of friend of his who is a bit connected to the bartender. Abracadabra, we are at a corner table looking out at the lake.

That does sound amazing!

On the topic of caesar salads, we go to a restaurant here a lot, Mooo, who has one of the best caesar salads, a lot of anchovy in it vs. the ubiquitous Americanized garlic/lemon/parm flavor.

My wife and I have been married 42 years and every Friday is/was " date night " which has always been going out to dinner . And yes we miss it a lot . It's all about getting out of the house , watching others , interaction with wait staff and enjoying a good meal with some adult cocktails :D . We live in a small rural town but are fortunate to have at minimum 5-6 good down home type places to eat . No chain restaurants just mom and pop type places . So yeah we miss it and will wait a few more weeks and hopefully our routine can continue .

Things would be a lot more civil and rational if people turned off the news and actually sought out some realistic information, and also STFU about the situation of others. NYC has a legitimate issue, but the vast majority of the USA does not, especially the Midwest. I posted about having a dinner out on Monday night in accordance with all state and local guidelines that quickly devolved into a CV pissing contest, with people accusing me of being careless and irrational. Unless you live here you don’t know the local situation, just like I won’t profess your know what it’s like to live in NYC right now. What I can say is that in Wichita we have very few deaths, that violent crime is through the roof, and that medical facilities are closing and medical professionals have been furloughed due to lack of work. My firefighter and cop friends tell me this is the worst they’ve ever seen it, CV isn’t a concern but the nightly violence is. Of the 5 medical professionals in my extended family, 1 is on furlough, 3 are on reduced hours, and 1 is still working normal hours in a hospital but is bored out of her mind. Meanwhile the urgent care clinic around the corner from my house just closed because nobody was going. But if you watch the news they are still beating the panic drum with all of their might.

Back to the topic at hand, I can’t wait for my wife and I to resurrect our Friday sushi lunch tradition this week! I’ll probably try to go grab a beer somewhere tonight, just because.

^^^ Turn off, get out, and drink up ;)