Was this the "norm" or was this restaurant going too far??
May 26th, 2001, 08:08 PM
#23
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Looks like there aren't many folks here who have worked in US restaurants. The bread is ALWAYS recycled and don't believe anyone who tells you differently. So are those containers of milk and the lemons with your tea. Ever eat in a coffee shop/diner with a bucket of pickles on the table? Guess what? Recycled. And the toast that gets dropped on the floor gets served. You've survived so far so don't be so squimish! <BR>
May 26th, 2001, 10:39 PM
#24
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Leftover White Rice in a Chinese Restaurant: I have worked in several and this is what happens... The leftover rice that you don't finish that is served in the pot on your table is all dumped together and saved to make fried rice the next day. Might not be that bad if I hadn't seen many people eating with the spoon served with the bowl, or right out of the bowl itself! Especially kids, yuk! As far as I was aware, the health dept didn't have a problem with this...
May 27th, 2001, 05:41 AM
#25
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May 27th, 2001, 10:52 AM
#27
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Funny artilce in today's NYX, on waiters and restaurant stories and they gave a website, I haven't checked it out yet and don't know if I will or I may never eat out again. <BR>Be brave, you try it first!! <BR>www.waiters-revenge.com
May 29th, 2001, 05:50 AM
#28
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Do I feel dumb!! I went back to my journal to see what this restaurant was called and found it is "Le Mossacce" which has gotten great reviews as a budget restaurant in Florence. I guess the experience was pretty overwhelming to us as the place was packed with noon hour locals, the chef's cigarette had a long ash hanging from it as he was cooking over a huge steak, the "toilet" was unexpected and you wondered how they kept track of the wine as they kept pouring from one person's jug to another. Having said all that the food was great and it was certainly a "local experience"...so for you folks who might like to give it a try it's on Via del Proconsolo 55r, near the Bargello. And I'll try and be less uptight about this sort of thing in the future!!
May 29th, 2001, 07:07 AM
#29
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We had lunch in the beautiful restaurant in The Musee D'Orsay. We were seated right as they opened. <BR> <BR>All the rolls that were served in bread basket were recycled into a large drawer, by the server's station, in the middle of the dining room. SO as they cleared tables, they would dump the rolls back into the drawer and then put them on the next table. <BR> <BR>I have been in foodservice for over 14 years, so very few things gross me out anymore. <BR>
May 29th, 2001, 11:24 AM
#31
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Like someone said earlier on this post, they recycle everything! individual butter patties, rolls, creamers. <BR> <BR>This happens everywhere- 4star restaurants, catering facilities, country clubs, diners. <BR> <BR>And don't get me started on those little metal pitchers of milk on the tables in diners and restaurants. <BR> <BR>And don't EVEN get me started on ketchup bottles. EWWWW!
May 29th, 2001, 11:36 AM
#32
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As a student in college working part-time in a cafe I was asked to make cole slaw. I was pointed to the basement and proceeded to spend the afternoon cutting cabbage and carrots. After mixing the mayo I proceeded up the stairs only to dropped the slaw on the dirty basement floor. Quite upset I got the mayo out and proceeded to mix in plenty of the magic white stuff. No one ever knew but you didn't see me eating slaw.
May 30th, 2001, 04:21 AM
#35
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Okay. Ketchup bottles. Picture this. In a 'better' restaurant , you are supposed to replace the ketchup bottle with a "new" one after the table is turned. They refill them. It's usually one person's sidework to refill them all after the shift. It can take a long time to do them all. <BR> <BR>They have what they call the ketchup cow where you dump all the half used ketchups, a bucket type thing with 4 little spouts that you fill the bottles up. all the germs meeting. That one guy who stuck his knife into the bottle to get it moving faster, after he licked it, or touched it... now contaminated all the other bottles that will be filled. <BR> <BR>And I once worked in a seafood restaurant where the ketchups would get all crusty around the lip. And then we would soak the lids in seltzer water to loosen the crust. It all smelled quite disgusting! <BR> <BR>Do I need to go on? I am making myself nauseaous. Blecch.
May 30th, 2001, 05:47 AM
#37
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This is hardly a horror story but in our minds a bit unusual. We stayed and dined in a small lake side hotel in Cernobbio, Italy. We half finished a bottle of wine. At dinner's end we were each handed a large, business size envelope and asked to write our name on it. At lunch the next day, we were presented with the unfinished bottle of wine and the envelope containing our dinner napkin from the night before. Never encountered that custom anywhere, before or since.
May 30th, 2001, 06:13 AM
#38
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Louise's experience is the same as my own and I think quite typical of small family restaurants in Italy. In France, in Biarritz some years ago I stayed at a samll pesion with a dining room. We "bought" a bottle of goo local wine, the first night , did not finish it but had it set aside for us with an envelope with our napkins beside it too, already for tomorrow. This is similar to what Wes described butalso gave me an idea for entertaining back home. In a moment of "Martha Madness" (you know who I mean), I was inspired to get little napkin rings on which I write the name of weekend guests when we are serving more than one meal...like the little pension, I recycle and save laundry. The guests seem to like it (after all who washes family napkins after EVERY breakfast,lunch or dinner) and we get to tell the story of the long-lost pension where we stayed for $10 a night.PS WE got the name from the Europe on $25 a Day guide and I did see one the other day for $100 a day which is my daughters budeget right now in Itlay in France...I think it may still be doable for her time of life (19 years old) as we were back then in Biarritz!
May 30th, 2001, 08:23 AM
#39
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Sorry LJ but I really think using the same napkins all weekend is yucky! Although I'm not a believer in paper napkins for formal dining I'd much rather have a "fresh" paper napkin that re-use my old one from night before! wouldn't make that breakfast too appetizing to me!
