Farren's : asked to leave after paying
Marc Banik
and paying for almost $55 worth of unexceptional food and mediocre service,
we stayed a while to chat, and perhaps order another round of drinks. Less
than 10 minutes after we had paid and included a fair tip, the waitress
asked us to give up our table which was completely occupied, so could make
room for another party. (This place does not take reservations). We gave up
our table and left the establishment.
This is the first time any of us have ever gone to a restaurant only to be
asked to leave in order to make room for another party that did not have a
reservation. We'd rather take our business (and our tip) to more sensible
places. How about you?
marc
Jay Kreibich
I've never had it happen, but I tend to be very aware of other
tables. If the group I'm with looks like we are going to end up
talking for more than a few minutes (I've spent hours), I try to be
sure there are empty tables around. If the place looks full,
especially on weekends, I try to suggest we head somewhere else. If
there continues to be other empty tables I don't worry about it.
Restaurants make money by moving people. Get them in, feed them, get
them out. They aren't making money off people just sitting there,
and a few drinks for an hour of chatting does not make up for the
meal they might have served to the next party. This is true not only
for the resturant, but also the wait staff. Even if there are empty
tables, if my party stays longer than normal I try to leave a
slightly larger tip, because we are talking up tables in that
person's "zone". If we had left, another party might have been seated
in that area, even if there are empty tables else where.
The resturant and wait staff aside, it only seems fair to give up
your table so that others that are waiting might also have a chance
to eat-- especially if the place does not take reservations. Imagine
how frustrating it would be if two people just started to talk at the
front of the line at McDonalds, right in front of the only register,
and the only thing you could do was sit there and wait until they
were done! Would you think the staff would be out of place asking
them to move along?
All of that aside, 10 minutes does seem a bit short. In the case of
Farren's, my first thought would be to wonder over to the bar, but I
suppose that was full too... then again, the place is more or less a
bar, I'm sure you'd be welcome to grab a drink and just stand around
where ever. At a more traditional restaurant, asking to give up your
table is basically asking you to leave, but I would not make that
assumption at a place like Farren's.
I happen to have had pretty good food the handfull of times I've been
to Farren's, but the wait service was a bit slow -- mainly because
they were overworked. I understand running and managing a restaurant
is a very tricky business, but I would also agree that some changes
need to be made. If they improved their wait staff, people wouldn't
have to wait so long for their drinks and orders, etc., then that
would allow the customers a little more time for chatting at the end
of the meal, but maintain a profitable turn-over rate over business.
-j
--
Jay A. Kreibich | U. of Illinois at U/C
j...@uiuc.edu | Software Dev. Group,
<http://www.uiuc.edu/ph/www/jak> | Computing and Communications Services
Marc Banik
>Restaurants make money by moving people. Get them in, feed them, get
>them out. They aren't making money off people just sitting there,
>and a few drinks for an hour of chatting does not make up for the
> meal they might have served to the next party.
Yep, you said it. That seems to be what they were doing.
I gues it is the right thing to do...provided you can continue to get people
in after throwing them out.
Jon Roma
Once you've indicated that you no longer need additional food and drink items
and especially after you have received your check and have paid it, you've
implicitly told the establishment that you're finished and no longer need
service. In this light, asking you to give up your table to other waiting
customers isn't as ghastly as it would be if you were still dining or
drinking and hadn't closed out your check.
Nevertheless, it IS possible that your waitperson might have either given you
a little more time or phrased their request a bit more delicately. Asking a
lingering party if they'd mind moving to the bar is a bit less severe than
asking them to leave the restaurant.
It's interesting how different the dining protocol is in parts of Europe.
In France, for example, diners are never offered the check, but are expected
to ask for it when they're ready to leave. For the garcon to ask you for
your check is, to the French, tantamount to asking you to leave -- and is
counter to the French philosophy that dining should be a relaxing, un-rushed
experience. (Of course I don't know if there are also unwritten rules that
French diners will voluntarily shorten their stay when others are waiting or,
more likely, that the waiting patrons accept a wait for a table as the price
they pay for an un-rushed meal once they sit down.)
Stuart Laird
--
The most dangerous element in any society is ignorance
-Emma "The Red" Goldman
www.laird.com
"Doug McDonald" <mcdo...@scs.uiuc.edu> wrote in message
news:390EF5C5...@scs.uiuc.edu...
> Marc Banik wrote:
> >
> > Farren's
>
>
> What and where is this place. I don't know it.
>
> Doug McDonald