Restaurant Pet Peeves

While food will always be the primary criteria for a good restaurant for me, there are just some things that can really increase aggravation and frustration, turning a perfectly good dining experience into one that you'll always remember, or rather, desire to forget.

Here's a list of some of my biggest restaurant pet peeves. I know you have yours too, so feel free to comment.

- Wobbly tables and chairs - nothing like leaning on the table and feeling like you're on a see-saw.

- Dirty/Sticky - words that should not be part of the table vocabulary - dirty menus, sticky tables, food stuck on plates, lipstick stains on your water glass/tea cup - yuck yuck yuck.

- Not informing you that they are out of something. This is where the kitchen and the waitstaff need to coordinate. Substitutions are fine, but it's sad to order what sounded oh so delicious and then find out later that they ran out.

- Foreign objects/food. Live worms (yes, it's happened to me), hair, dead flies, laundry clips, band-aids, you name it, if it's not supposed to be there and it is - that's no good.

- Poor service. Whether it's just long wait times, taking bribes, bad attitude, or not appropriately responding to foreign objects, even if the food is spectacular, sometimes the service is so poor, that I won't go back.

- When the service is the best upon receipt of the check. While recency plays a big factor in memory, just because you are attentive and thank me when the check comes doesn't mean that the rest of the service, or lack thereof, is covered by that winning smile.

- Coupon/Discount/Special Aversion. When they issue a coupon or offer a special, like Dine About Town, and then get upset when you use the coupon or order their special prix fixe. I've never understood this one. The wait staff is there to make your experience great. If the establishment offers a coupon, discount, or special, it's often the reason a customer will come in for the first time. Snooty servers make bad first impressions.