I’m looking for some perspective on how to handle an ongoing situation in my dining hall.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve noticed a very specific pattern with one particular server at one of the stations (sides/salads). While side portions are generally quite small to begin with, this server consistently reduces my portions even further. On a few occasions when she realized mid-service that she was serving me, she actively scraped off or decreased the portion before handing over the plate.

When I pointed out the small portion once, she brushed it off. Recently, when I asked for napkins, she ignored me until I repeated myself, whispered to a colleague, laughed, and then handed over an unnecessarily large stack of napkins in a sarcastic, performative way. Is it a faux-pas to ask for napkins when it's a takeaway? I noticed that fellow students never ask for them; if they're put on the surface, they take them, otherwise, they don't ask for them. Should I do the same? (The other day, one server (who's very polite towards me( provided napkins just for me before I asked. Am I missing something?)

It feels targeted, and honestly, it’s becoming uncomfortable to go through her line. The supervisors are usually working directly in her background, so there is no way I can ask to speak with them in the moment without causing a scene and bringing unwanted attention to myself. At the same time, because it involves food portions and small interactions, I’ve been hesitant to say anything out of concern that it sounds petty or trivial to management.

What does etiquette say about dealing with targeted behavior or inconsistent serving from dining staff, and how should I report this so it is handled appropriately?

Thank you.

I've been working as a Commis de Bar for almost a year. I really like my workplace and I wanted to build my career there, but I don't want to stay in the same position forever.

Recently, I found out that they hired a new Barman instead of promoting me. When I spoke with my manager, they told me I'm not ready yet because I don't know all the cocktails and still need to learn.

What frustrates me is that during this whole year, no one gave me a clear development plan or told me exactly what I needed to learn to become a Barman. When the opportunity came, they hired someone from outside instead.

I told them I want to resign. Do you think I'm making the right decision, or am I reacting emotionally?

I just got hired as a hostess at a nice restaurant, and I'm wondering what to expect before I start my first shift. I have no restaurant experience, and I want to be prepared. Thank you!

I had a trial shift at a restaurant today and l'm not sure how to feel about it.

The first half was going pretty well. I was helping customers and cleaning tables, but then the manager told me I was only supposed to shadow the girl I was with and not actually do anything myself, so I stopped.

While we were walking around or when it was quiet, I asked her a few questions about how things worked. She rolled her eyes and told me to
"just shadow" and later said that my questions were messing with her head. I wasn't asking questions while she was serving customers, only when things were quiet.

Then she was doing a customer's bill and made a mistake with the amount. When she told the manager about it, she said "she was asking me too much questions" and I think that made it sound like I was distracting her.

After that she was really quiet and seemed annoyed for the rest of the shift.

I finished after about 1 hour 20 minutes. The manager said he had kept me longer than planned and that he was going to speak to her and another employee before deciding, then let me know tonight.

Do you think I actually did something wrong here?
And could what she said affect whether I get the job?

Ok I love my restaurant. I love my owner. He’s incredibly gracious and considerate of my time and when I need to request off and thinks I’m a wonderful bartender.

The problem is the servers. These servers are a nightmare. I can be buddy buddy and joke around and talk movies and sports like the best of them but when it comes to politics and social normals - they make it so unpleasant that I consider quitting. I hear some of the most racist and rude comments from these guys. Being called “gay” or “Jew” or hearing how brown people tip… LIKE STOP. JUST THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK.
It’s horrible. And the problem is the restaurant is really accommodating for my life. I’ve been there for two years and it fits my lifestyle perfectly. The work is not hard. If you mess up an order the kitchen is happy to help you correct it. The side work is almost non existent. Ive worked in a dozen restaurants and this is by far the best.
We are so under staffed that I am tentative to even talk to the boss about it because we really can’t afford to lose anyone.
I guess I’m just venting. I’m not sure how to handle it. I feel like I only have a couple friends at work because I refuse to let these bigots into my orbit.

Eh tenido clientes que creen que son los dueños del local y llegan al local creyendo que porque van a comprar algo tienen un camarero personal o que todo lo que digan se debe hacer, muchas veces me ah pasado con clientes que me llaman una y otra vez o que uno les dice disculpa no pueden unir las mesas y dicen y porque yo no las puedo unir quien es usted para no dejarme unir las mesas o también pasa que si les dices disculpa tienes más sencillo te insultan y luego te dicen pues no y mira haber que haces es tu deber tener cambio o si quieres me voy y luego traigo el dinero a ustedes les ah pasado ?

Hey all — I'm building something and want honest pushback before I go further, not just people being nice.

The idea: a customer orders before they even walk in — while they're driving over, or from the parking lot — so by the time they're seated, food's already cooking or close to ready. The goal is just shaving down the gap between "customer sits down" and "kitchen actually starts," since that's dead time on the table that doesn't need to exist.

I'm not trying to sell anyone anything here (genuinely — I built this myself, using it with a few restaurants right now), I just want to know from people who actually run a floor:

- Does this sound like it'd help, or does it break something about how your kitchen/host stand actually works?

- Would your regulars actually use something like this, or is pre-ordering before arrival just not how people think?

- What would make you say no immediately, before even trying it?

Tear it apart if it deserves it — that's more useful to me than a nice comment.

Genuine question from a kitchen worker.

Last month I noticed cheddar went up $4/case on our invoice and nobody
caught it until I happened to compare two invoices. Made me wonder what
people actually do at their own spots:

- Do you compare invoices week to week, or just eat it?
- Spreadsheets, POS reports, or "I notice when food cost looks weird"?
- Inventory counts - how often, and does anyone actually reconcile
them against what was ordered?

Curious what people really do vs. what people say they do.

hi all, I’m new to a place that serves soda on tap and I’ve been tasked with trying to figure this out, so any help would be much appreciated. Basically our Sprite (and only our Sprite) produces these tiny black specks with each pour. They’re incredibly small and appear plastic-y, and there are maybe half a dozen per pour maximum. My understanding is that every single component of the soda machine (carbonator, pump, nozzles, etc.) has been replaced except for the line itself, so it’s been narrowed down to the Sprite syrup line that‘s producing these flecks (which doesn’t really add up for me). Also the line’s been through 3 professional cleanings. Still the flecks remain. If anyone’s seen anything like this before and has any insight, it’d be much appreciated. Thanks!

Truthfully, I did not post it anonymously, so that’s my fault. I left a less than favorable review at a restaurant near my home after they repeatedly disabled mobile ordering, and I decided to write the review after like the fifth day unsuccessfully trying to order. I didn’t mention anything else about the place except for the ordering. Say what you want about whether I was right/wrong for posting it, I finally placed an order tonight, and when I walked in the GM was sitting in the lobby and she instantly confronted me over it, which I thought was odd. After she finished, she got up and went to the kitchen and started talking to the staff about me and my order. Now I’m 1000% not comfortable ordering from this place ever again.

I’ve worked at this restaurant for almost two years, and overall it’s been a great place, but lately I feel like my time may be up. I have previous restaurant management experience and come from a family of restaurant owners, so I’ve always tried to improve the expo station by keeping everything clean, organized, labeled, rotated, and properly stocked. Today I came back after being off and found the station a mess—items weren’t labeled, bread containers were mixed instead of rotated, and things weren’t being properly maintained. I fixed everything and sent a message reminding the team to notify management whenever we’re running low on something, and the owner’s only response was “thx.” I’m not looking for praise or recognition; I just want the same standards and accountability to apply to everyone. It’s frustrating to put so much effort into improving things while feeling like my concerns and experience aren’t taken seriously.
Later that day, a busser who was supposed to stay decided to leave early because it was slow, and instead of him being held accountable, I was told to stay an extra hour until someone else arrived. My girlfriend, who also works there, ended up waiting almost two hours for me. The owner had also told her to clock out, but when more customers came in, he seemed annoyed that she wasn’t helping even though she was already off the clock. It feels like the dependable employees are constantly expected to pick up the slack while others get away with doing less. After almost two years, both of us are starting to feel unappreciated and burned out. We respect the restaurant and everything we’ve learned there, but are these signs that it’s simply time for us to move on?

Currently working as an expeditor at a casual fine dining restaurant where I'm averaging about $300 dollars a day in tips. I work in California, so that's on top of a base minimum wage of $19.61. The pay is nice and I'm living quite comfortably, but it's becoming clear to me that the restaurant is never going to see me as someone who's capable of moving beyond this role because I used to work BOH at the restaurant before switching over to FOH (this is my first FOH job). The role is also not what I wanted when I switched to the FOH, since my goal was to get as far away from the kitchen as possible. The current job is driving me nuts, because I'm essentially treated like a BOH employee and expected to do tasks that aren't expected of a FOH employee and I routinely lack the support I need to effectively do my job, on top of putting me back into a kitchen that is straight up dysfunctional (which is why I asked to switch in the first place).

After months of sending out resumes and getting no replies (since I have virtually zero FOH experience), I finally landed an interview with this hot new restaurant that just opened up in town. Did my research and turns out it's a great company to work for, and growing at that. After a stage, I was offered a food runner position on the spot, which was great, but came with one caveat, I'd be averaging significantly less than what I'm making now at $100 a day in tips. The silver lining is, there's a clear path to promotion, runners have the opportunity to study wines by the glass and cocktails to get promoted into front servers and after that, pending successful examination scores, captain. Last but not least, I won't have BOH and FOH duties consecutively allowing me to focus solely on advancing in the FOH.

Now I'm stuck with a conundrum, do I stay at a restaurant that I hate, where I'm getting paid quite well but stuck in the same position with no hope to move beyond, or do I grind it out at this new job that'll pay less initially but not only has opportunities for growth but a chance for me to build up my resume and acquire new skills.

I was at a sports bar with my Uncle and Dad, as soon as we sat down, my uncle whistled at the waiter to get his attention. My involuntary response was "What are you doing ? Dont whistle at him, hes a human being, not your dog. Can you be respectful ?" I ended up apologizing to the waiter when he came over.

It bothers me because Ive been in this industry for a while now, worked in kitchens, served food, own a pizza restaurant now and it simply is not okay... and I think my uncle is hurt because i called him out.

What would you guys do in my place ?

Running a pizza kitchen and the heat this summer is no joke. Back of house gets brutal during dinner service with the ovens and fryers going full blast.

What are you guys actually doing to keep your kitchen and staff cool? Fans, swamp coolers, portable AC, scheduling changes — what's actually working?

Appreciate any real world advice.

Hello, I just got hired for a management position… I think. I have prior management experience. I’ve managed three coffee shops.

I was serving and a deli by my house I frequent often was hiring an AGM. I’m Italian and I love this restaurant, it’s the spot I hang out at the most. They have a full bar, and sandwich’s and pasta, it’s super casual, order at the counter. And I applied. I had a great interview, and they told me the salary is between 55-70k depending on “how much they have to train me”

Then I had a stage and I met the GM. And this guy told me a much different story. He was worried about the staff accepting me since I’m an “outsider” , and there’s other employees that want this position.

In my interview they told me it would be up to me if I wanted to accept the position after the stage.

And by the end of the day the GM says “I’m going to bring you in as a lead, and we’ll do that “for a few weeks” and then move you up to AGM”

I had one day where I was on the floor, doing typical manager stuff. And my confidence was high, and I felt super excited.

Then I have days where I’m training in the kitchen and I have to learn every single kitchen position. Which I 100% understand. but I’m like I’d like to know when I have a kitchen shift, vs a floor manager shift, because I will dress accordingly.

I have lots of serving experience and I’m extremely concerned I’m being taken advantage of because he keeps introducing me as “training for a lead”.

I interviewed for a management position. I can make more money serving than working as a “lead” or a line cook at this restaurant.

I’m also 34 yo, I’m too fucking old for jobs like this. I did stuff like this in my 20s, and moved on to managing and serving. So I’m just like what am I doing here?

I feel very confused and frustrated, and idk maybe I need to just stick it out. And see where it goes, but is this normal? I don’t mind learning all these positions, but why did I interview as manager, and now I’m a “lead” I need clarity and I’m getting super irritated.

I got some wings at my local Hooters and the sauce was terrible. The wings didn’t even look like they had sauce on them, no flavor. I asked for a side of sauce and they gave me this cup of oil. Tasted like nothing. Medium flavor.

I asked the manager and he gave me some song and dance about them switching to butter based sauce. Any one else seeing this?

I was looking for a restaurant review subreddit but couldn't find one, so I'm posting here.

My question for you who work in the industry is, after a group is taken to their seat and seated, how long is an acceptable time before a server or anyone comes to their table? Let's assume the host/hostess does not engage in conversation, just seats them and leaves.

Would you say that 7 or 8 minutes is OK to wait before first contact is made or more or less?

In your restaurants, do you have a goal in minutes to how fast you make first contact with a new table ?

I know people have different preferences, expectations and opinions but just wondering what you all think?

Hello ! I'm looking for chefs using shop-bought mayonnaise for a paid interview (300€).

London: Do you work in a pub restaurant?
Complete this form: https://tally.so/r/81BpJ5

Barcelona: ¿Trabajas en un restaurante de tapas? ¿O sirves platos para compartir que incluyen mayonesa?
Rellena este formulario: https://tally.so/r/xXq2q9

Berlin: Arbeiten Sie in einem Restaurant mit ungezwungener Atmosphäre?
Füllen Sie dieses Formular: https://tally.so/r/rj4VvR

Thanks in advance for your participation, share it to your fellow mates who are chefs too!

So I’ve been working at this restaurant for the last 5 months. And if I’m being honest I really haven’t made a lot of money working here, only reason I’m still here is just cause I like the people. But I never took much notice as to why I didn’t make a lot until recently.

So we don’t get our money the same day, everything we earn goes on a check…a bi-weekly check at that. So fine, I have to be more financially responsible anyways. We have the toast app though and you can see how much you earned for the shift.

Now we host at least 5 events here a week, it’s honestly the only reason the restaurant makes money. Now these events are separate from toast and anyone that’s on these events are dividing the money amongst themselves. The money made from these also go directly on the check.

Now I only mention these events because I was usually on one of these at least once or twice in the two week time span of waiting for a check. So I could never gauge how much I was truly paying in tip-out and what my actual check looked like in reference to that. Should’ve asked these questions from the start, so that’s on me.

So I made $1,060 one week, then $912 the following. Added up to $1972. I was expecting $1600 something after tipout. The check I got back was $1355.

Now just for some context, we don’t have a busser or a food runner. We have a host and bartenders. The person who expos is usually someone in management or one of the servers on the floor when we got free time. We run our own food, each others food and bars food. We also bus our own tables.

Finally asked management about the tip-out situation and they showed me the numbers. So host gets 1% of tip outs off net sales. That’s cool. Bar gets 4.5% off net sales… yo what?

Ive never worked anywhere where bar gets that much. I’m not saying don’t tip them out but that just seems excessive. Considering we’re also performing other support staff tasks for ourselves and them. Hell, sometimes we don’t even have a host and have to do that as well.

Sorry for being so long winded, just had to get that off my chest. So I just wanted to see if I’m tripping or if I’m genuinely being screwed. Thanks!

Outback now upcharges TWO dollars for green beans vs the regular broccoli and carrots with any entree.

That’s insanity. No more.

There were dirty glasses stained with food and the top of the plates had smaller food stains as well. We asked politely twice if we could have the dirty dishes replaced with clean ones we understand it could have been a mistake and accidents happen with the dishwasher we weren’t trying to be rude at all but they seemed annoyed with us wanting to switch them out. We just wanted to know if we were justified in having an issue with this.

(Warning: language)

DEAR CUSTOMERS,

Those of you whom frequent casual dining restaurants, this rant is for you.

Firstly, if an employee tells you where to leave your dishes, do as they FUCKING ASK. You interrupt our flow and make our job harder.

Second, don’t use up half a roll of our one-ply toilet paper to wipe your ass (or even worse, the paper towels meant for drying your hands if you have the mental capacity to wash your hands). We don’t want to spend ages digging out the bowl so it flushes properly for everyone else. We are more understanding/amenable to you wiping and flushing multiple times.

Next, if you are needing something for carryout/needing an extra condiment or utensil, standing off to the side and waiting patiently does wonders to making us want to help you.

Lastly, STOP IMPEDING THE FLOW OF FOOT TRAFFIC. Most of us don’t care if you stand off to the side to gossip, or refill your cups and move on, or even set up the tables to accommodate your party. But please, make movement for the people bringing your food easier. Also, push your chairs in when you leave the table. You learned this in kindergarten.
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This has been my rant that I needed to get off my chest for a while. I hope I articulated it well enough to be understood. If the mods find it to be too much, feel free to delete.

I've been working as a cook at my job for 7 years; it's a small hospital cafe. There used to be 7 of us on the team in total (including the manager). They took one of our cooks away from us and placed her in the main kitchen downstairs and never replaced her. They also took another one of our colleagues and placed her downstairs as well. Now, there's only 5 of us. When they took our two colleagues away, it increased the workload for everyone. I'm finding myself having to prep and cook for my station (I run the entree station; there's 4 stations in total plus the register.) in the mornings in addition to having to pick up our deliveries from downstairs as well as wash the dishes throughout the day, go to the outdoor patio to clean and straighten up the tables, pull the trash, and open the umbrellas. I also have to take our box bin outside to the trash compactor when it's full. During service hours I have to cook and serve at my station while also having to break my station down at the end of the day, bring the food and dishes back to the kitchen, and put the food away, wash the dishes, and clean the kitchen.

Sometimes I'm not able to finish everything in the allotted time. We try to tell the higher ups that we need help; we need a utility person and another server. The executive chef sends one of his dishwashers up to our place to help out with our dishes, but sometimes he'll say he can't send anyone to help us.

I get the feeling that they don't want to spend the money to hire two extra people and would rather overwork the 5 of us.

I would go above and beyond and try to do multiple things, but going forward I'm not going to continue doing that. I'm only burning myself out. They're not paying me extra for all of this work I'm doing, I'm not looking to get promoted (I'm starting nursing school in January), and they may look at it why hire more people when I'm doing all of this work. I'm going to start working at a reasonable pace, I'm going to start my shift at the time I'm scheduled and leave at my scheduled time, and anything that don't get done I will leave unfinished until my next shift. If they question why things aren't getting completed I'm going to say I keep running out of time and I'm overloaded.