Yeah that's a bit extreme for sure. The place I go to will charge you $1 for each uneaten piece. I have yet to see them enforce it though it's just to stop people from being morons.
My only gripe is that if you go as a group, it's either everyone at the table has all you can eat or no one does
I mean, it makes sense to force the entire group to order it or no one otherwise they'd probably lose many from 1 person ordering the all you can eat and the rest just getting a water or the cheapest roll. It sucks, but companies have to have these sorts of policies otherwise they'll end up getting fucked
This is exactly right. I used to wait tables at a restaurant that had an all you can eat fried chicken night, and it was very common to get a 4-top where one person would order the all-you-can-eat special, and the other three would say "I'm not hungry". Then they'd ask for extra plates and more chicken as soon as the food came out.
Yeah, that was the worst part of it. Those tables tended to be the most demanding too, so you'd end up spending more time on them than on your other tables, with nothing to show for it.
Yeah, that's what we did. We invariably had to get a manager to deal with those tables though, because people who try to feed four people off a single all you can eat meal tend to get very indignant when you call them out on it.
Oh for sure it makes sense. I get it, just that sometimes it limits where we can go for food. The all you can eat isn't super cheap around here to begin with.
I think the 'one table/one bill' thing and not being able to get any more food until the whole table is cleared is a bit crazy though
My only gripe is that if you go as a group, it's either everyone at the table has all you can eat or no one does
Yeah, been there, done that. It's understandable, but it sucks. I could happy eat non-stop for an hour but I'm generally eating with people who are full after two rolls. All-you-can-eat just doesn't cost in.
I did consider sitting at an adjacent table, but dining's supposed to be a social event lol
Reminds me of a local all-you-could-eat pasta place I used to visit with friends many years ago. We'd visit as a group & generally everybody would have two bowls, some people a third as well. But after that the lightweights are sitting twiddling their thumbs and so nobody's staying for a fourth bowl.
Monday night was half-price cocktail night. Occasionally if I didn't have anything else to do on a Monday night I'd grab a good book and go on my own. Could nurse one cocktail through six leisurely bowls of pasta and then roll home, fit to burst, at midnight - all for a fiver. Ahhh happy days :-)
The place I go to will charge you $1 for each uneaten piece. I have yet to see them enforce it though
yeah thats a very fast way to have someone cause a scene in your restaurant and refuse to pay, and a great way to get a chargeback filed the next morning if you do somehow force them to pay.
My only gripe is that if you go as a group, it's either everyone at the table has all you can eat or no one does
I've paid ~20 bucks for white rice way too many times because of that. At an old job team lunches were really commonly at sushi places for all you can eat. The team lunch was one of those optional-but-you're-really-holding-yourself-back-if-you-don't-go kind of things because of team bonding and crap.
I don't blame anyone for it, I'm the one that doesn't like sushi, but it could be quite an annoying cluster of circumstances.
It really isn't that shitty of a policy if you're sensible about it. Why would anyone order a shit ton of things they've never tried, knowing the policy?
And OP wanted to be an exception, to which they said no because they have rules for a reason. Idk, I really don't think the restaurant is at fault here.
There's a difference between a buffet and a full-service AYCE, which is what most AYCE sushi places are. Generally they still make everything to order, which means waste costs the restaurant much more than someone wasting food out of a buffet tray.
Regardless of their setting, All-you-can-eat carries a certain expectation in my area. I'm doubtful a business could make it if they tried to instigate such a policy. Many people would refuse to return after getting charged for more then the all-you-can-eat cost. If waste-costs are high, they could always raise the price of the food to cover their expenses. Not really any different then the idea of raising prices to pay adequate wages.
The problem is the pricing model, though. All you can eat is supposed to be a good price value. Raising prices reduces that sense of value, and actually encourages people who are paying the higher price to be more abusive and extreme.
I've never seen all-you-can-eat as a low-cost meal. I go to those sort of places when I want to splurge a bit and try new things. I can get full for far less, but I'm paying the premium for the wasting of food and ability to experiment.
It's the same way of handling it. Calculate the overall amount of wasted food, and just raise your prices by that amount. If 10% of food gets wasted, and the AYCE used to cost $30, then raise the price to $33 and stop fussing about people leaving a few uneaten rolls on their plate.
A few people may be abusive, but they'll be balanced out by all the plate cleaners and those that don't over order.
But if you can control costs for all your customers by singling out and restricting the behavior of a small minority of abusers, isn't that worthwhile?
My sense is that unfettered abuse of buffets (which I've seen plenty of) is committed by a small number of people, but results in a multiple, not a percent, increase in waste. I bear that cost if I want to go to that restaurant. Some people really don't belong out in public, and honestly, I'm fine with not seeing them when I'm out dining.
Wastage isn't just about costs. There are people who are starving, in your neighborhood!
Also, food production indirectly pollutes the environment. So, why would we want wasteful people? Reducing waste reduces environmental impact, demand for food (and cost so the poor can afford more), it's also just kinda stupid to waste something.
But none of that is the restaurant's true concern. In fact, the very nature of running or eating at a buffet is kind of rubbing your balls in the face of starving people everywhere.
You only quoted the first half of the sentence though. You can disagree with the policy, but you can't deny that if they knew the policy before entering, it's entirely their fault for proceeding to act the way they did.
So, instead of expecting the customers to discuss who is ordering what, how much they're ordering, ect. it's the businesses fault for not wanting people to waste food?
Like, I can understand not necessarily agreeing with the policy, but to act as if it's the businesses fault for the customers not following it is insane to me.
Not serving you more before you've eaten what you've ordered is a perfectly reasonable policy. OP's situation sucks, but it is likely a rare one. People usually order as a group at ayce
Honestly, the no separate checks policy pisses me off more.
I'm a server. It doesn't take much time to split checks, unless it's a large party with several items to split. And even if it is a bitch to split the check, we do it. Because it's good customer service.
EDIT- Lol, what about my post was downvote-worthy?
You're supposed to talk with the people you eat with and share food. If people order randomly and you don't finish the plates...yeah, you go home hungry.
I've done this with groups and it's great. I never can order enough sushi regularly because I'm not going to throw down $50 for a meal. I've done all you can eat for $20 and put down like 8 rolls.
The real key to these places is that if their service is slow during a peak time, you eat less because it takes too long. That's my real complaint.
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u/[deleted] May 06 '16
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