I spoke with my niece today (via text), and I thought I'd relay some of what we talked about, to get a few opinions here.
The scenario: she was eating breakfast in a resort hotel restaurant. She's not traveling, it's just in her neighborhood and serves the public and hotel guests.
Anyhoo, the menu had set meals or plates, so no a la carte or even sides on offers. Simplifying things a bit, one plate was something like eggs with potatoes and toast, and another plate was something along the lines of French toast with bacon, and maybe a third was a plain omelette with a bit of fresh fruit on the side.
Well, my niece wanted the French toast from this plate, and the potatoes from that plate, so she asked for a substitution, which they refused, even after she offered to pay any difference in cost.
She was a bit miffed and texted me about it, and I gently came down on the side of the restaurant, and her feeling, being the diner/customer, was that the potatoes are already back there, "just put some on my French toast plate" and keep the bacon.
Having never worked in a restaurant, my assumption is that inventories, especially in a place that doesn't offer items a la carte or as a side, is kept pretty close to what they think they'll sell for the day, and if this server takes an order of potatoes for this table, and that server does the same for their table, pretty soon, you've got more eggs than potatoes, and your whole plan for the day is wrecked.
After that long-winded story, my first question is to the professionals on the site (garlichead, Rocklobster, Windigo, PabloLerntKochen, and apologies to anyone else I forgot): how do you feel about customers who want to substitute this for that?
My next questions is for everyone who dines out: do you ever ask for substitutions, or do you prefer to just order something as-is? If you do like to customize things a bit, do you expect to have a "customer is always right" experience, or are you more understanding if the restaurant says no?
I do understand there's a difference between the situation I described above, where all the meals were predetermined versus a place where there are plenty of individual items on offer versus a more "chef-driven" establishment where the chef has worked to create a particular dish, and maybe you want to dismantle it a bit.
I'll get started by answering my own question as a diner: as someone who's not particularly fussy over restaurant food (I'm just happy to be eating out), once I see something I like, I order it as it's listed, and that's that. My wife will ask about changing things around a little about half the time.
The scenario: she was eating breakfast in a resort hotel restaurant. She's not traveling, it's just in her neighborhood and serves the public and hotel guests.
Anyhoo, the menu had set meals or plates, so no a la carte or even sides on offers. Simplifying things a bit, one plate was something like eggs with potatoes and toast, and another plate was something along the lines of French toast with bacon, and maybe a third was a plain omelette with a bit of fresh fruit on the side.
Well, my niece wanted the French toast from this plate, and the potatoes from that plate, so she asked for a substitution, which they refused, even after she offered to pay any difference in cost.
She was a bit miffed and texted me about it, and I gently came down on the side of the restaurant, and her feeling, being the diner/customer, was that the potatoes are already back there, "just put some on my French toast plate" and keep the bacon.
Having never worked in a restaurant, my assumption is that inventories, especially in a place that doesn't offer items a la carte or as a side, is kept pretty close to what they think they'll sell for the day, and if this server takes an order of potatoes for this table, and that server does the same for their table, pretty soon, you've got more eggs than potatoes, and your whole plan for the day is wrecked.
After that long-winded story, my first question is to the professionals on the site (garlichead, Rocklobster, Windigo, PabloLerntKochen, and apologies to anyone else I forgot): how do you feel about customers who want to substitute this for that?
My next questions is for everyone who dines out: do you ever ask for substitutions, or do you prefer to just order something as-is? If you do like to customize things a bit, do you expect to have a "customer is always right" experience, or are you more understanding if the restaurant says no?
I do understand there's a difference between the situation I described above, where all the meals were predetermined versus a place where there are plenty of individual items on offer versus a more "chef-driven" establishment where the chef has worked to create a particular dish, and maybe you want to dismantle it a bit.
I'll get started by answering my own question as a diner: as someone who's not particularly fussy over restaurant food (I'm just happy to be eating out), once I see something I like, I order it as it's listed, and that's that. My wife will ask about changing things around a little about half the time.
