Ordering food how you like it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is what I learned waiting tables: when you ask to hold something, it’s either possible or it’s not (ie, with a soup, it might be fully batch made in the morning, not made to order - all our soups were like this), but if it is possible - it is absolutely NBD.

People ask for stuff held all the time. You click a button, the kitchen keeps it out. Done.

I never asked for modifications before I waited tables because my parents thought it was rude/high maintenance and once I started waiting tables I started asking for stuff to be held all the time. I do limit myself to two modifications per order, as it is a bit annoying once you get to like 5 and your dish is totally different.

What IS annoying: lying about allergies (this triggers a whole protocol! If you don’t like tomatoes just ask to hold the tomatoes!) and recreating something from scratch (“I see you have a chicken Caesar salad and you have a turkey wrap - could you possibly make the chicken Caesar salad into a wrap? Since you have all the ingredients?” - yes people do this and it sucks)

Bottom line: ask to hold the noodles!

I have a severe shell fish allergy that can kill me protocol do they do? I had no idea I just thought they wont use the same spatula in the kitchen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As an adult, you should never order anything special, unless you’re at Burger King.

A fast-food place seems like the most obnoxious place to order something special. A bunch of overworked teens having to adjust something on an assembly-line that's meant to be as efficient as possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is what I learned waiting tables: when you ask to hold something, it’s either possible or it’s not (ie, with a soup, it might be fully batch made in the morning, not made to order - all our soups were like this), but if it is possible - it is absolutely NBD.

People ask for stuff held all the time. You click a button, the kitchen keeps it out. Done.

I never asked for modifications before I waited tables because my parents thought it was rude/high maintenance and once I started waiting tables I started asking for stuff to be held all the time. I do limit myself to two modifications per order, as it is a bit annoying once you get to like 5 and your dish is totally different.

What IS annoying: lying about allergies (this triggers a whole protocol! If you don’t like tomatoes just ask to hold the tomatoes!) and recreating something from scratch (“I see you have a chicken Caesar salad and you have a turkey wrap - could you possibly make the chicken Caesar salad into a wrap? Since you have all the ingredients?” - yes people do this and it sucks)

Bottom line: ask to hold the noodles!

I have a severe shell fish allergy that can kill me protocol do they do? I had no idea I just thought they wont use the same spatula in the kitchen.

PP here. This definitely depends on the restaurant. At a bar and grill I worked at, they changed the serving utensils, didn’t include the ingredient and moved forward. If it were a life or death thing, I’d be hesitant to put my life in the hands of our line cooks who were stoned like 50% of the time.

At the fancy place I worked for? The chef had a chef friend who had a patron die at the table from an allergy and he did not mess around. The allergy goes on every single ticket multiple times in all caps (you’ve got a shellfish allergy? The dessert staff will know, and they had their own room! The serving stations were sanitized, everything was wiped down, managers would observe, hands were scrubbed, everyone was informed… I actually would have eaten there with a life threatening allergy.

But either way, even if it’s just changing out serving utensils - don’t freaking lie about it!! No one cares if you don’t like something, just ask for it held! Sometimes we’d go through the whole rigamarole because someone would say they were allergic to eggs or something and then they’d order the soufflé for dessert, which had eggs and when we pointed that out they were like “oh, worth it!”

We hated those people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Chiming in to agree with all of this advice, ask for them noodles to be held but there won’t/shouldn’t be a price reduction (however for me half the fun of ramen is slurping the noodles 😂).

I love the noodles. I will be anyone's lunch partner and eat all your noodles.
I am also available to eat unwanted pickle spears.

[Anonymous]

Paris restaurant was the first place that gave me the keyword for things I don't like and don't want: aversion.

As in, "Are alliums an allergy or an aversion."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an adult, you should never order anything special, unless you’re at Burger King.

A fast-food place seems like the most obnoxious place to order something special. A bunch of overworked teens having to adjust something on an assembly-line that's meant to be as efficient as possible.

It was a reference to Bk’s slogan in the 80’s…something like “have it your way.” McDonald’s was known as the assembly line with no substitutions, and bk was the place where picky eaters went to get no onions. Lighten up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As an adult, you should never order anything special, unless you’re at Burger King.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an adult, you should never order anything special, unless you’re at Burger King.

A fast-food place seems like the most obnoxious place to order something special. A bunch of overworked teens having to adjust something on an assembly-line that's meant to be as efficient as possible.

Burger King is very well set up to give you a burger without tomato. Or with extra mayo. Or whatever. Overworked teens as staff, or not.

[Anonymous]

Sure, ask! Just don’t be surprised if the portion seems smaller without the noodles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, ask to hold the noddles. Lots of places add the cooked noodles to the broth after the order is placed because otherwise the noodles get soggy. [b]Just don’t expect them to lower the price.

This part is key.. my dad is always omitting ingredients due to a medical diet but then asks if the price will be lower. Always the answer is no and then he speaks to the manager (he is never rude and smiles the whole time but he Does Not Give Up) and after a lot of hassle he gets $2 off or whatever. So embarrassing.

OMG. I would literally never eat out with my Dad if he did this. I had a physiological cringe reaction shoot through my body just reading this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a restaurant near me. They have a delicious light soup with very fresh vegetables, some meat and a lot of noodles.

If I ate the whole bowl it would be very filling, but what I prefer is to order it and just eat the meat, veggies and broth and then get another dish that I also enjoy.

But that means that I am leaving a whole bowl of noodles. I can do that, I am not allergic or celiac or something. But I feel bad about the waste.

Would it be weird to order noodle soup without the noodles?

Simply ask the server, “Is the soup pre-made with noodles?”

If not, no biggie to omit obviously. If it is, just keep not eating the noodles. Literally nobody cares a patron “wasted” the noodles in a $10 bowl of soup.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sure, ask! Just don’t be surprised if the portion seems smaller without the noodles.

The other thing to understand is that omitting the noddles may impact the consistency of the broth (starch from the noodles thickens it slightly)?