Ferry Plaza Seafood Blog

Sometimes It's not Just About the Food

2012-02-13T11:28:00.000-08:00

Something really special happened for all of us at Ferry Plaza Seafood on Saturday.

In the midst of all the excitement around our beloved 49ers, we had a large group of about 17 people come by. 2 of the people that came are regular customers of ours though we hadn’t seen them in quite a while. As the party trickled in and the bottles of wine and sparkling flowed, the party was joyful.

At one point the gentleman hosting the party said they were going to go outside the restaurant for a group photo by the water and just wanted to let me know. I said of course take your time. Sometime later, they returned and the party wound down.

They graciously paid the bill and began to disperse. After the last of the guests were slowly leaving, the host came to me and said I just want to thank you for taking such good care of us. I said of course, it was so great to see you. He said a loved one used to come all the time with him and she had passed away. Since Ferry Plaza Seafood was her favorite spot to come to, they all gathered here in her memory and placed her ashes in the bay right in front of our restaurant so she will always be here.

I think one can get a higher compliment than knowing that a customer’s final resting place is with us. A place she loved to come.

Thank you so much dear customers for loving us so much we love you too!

Rest in peace.

We just swooned over Stevie Wonder

2011-11-16T11:18:00.000-08:00

The other day we had a wonderful table with a 4 legged friend in tow. I immediately remarked that I wanted a couch in the dog’s fur color and texture, but little did I know that I also would fall in love with his personality. The dog’s name was Stevie Wonder. He was a silver Shar pei and he was born without any eyes. He was so adorable and we were all making excuses to visit the table just to visit with Stevie Wonder. His little face was so sweet and kind even though he didn’t have any eyes. It was quite a tribute to the relationship he had with his owner and we were all thrilled to meet them both. I mention this because I try to encourage people to bring their well behaved dogs with them to our restaurant. They are always encouraged.

Meanwhile back to the grind:

Why do people look for things to eat other than what a restaurant specializes in. I know one person on Yelp was frustrated with our lack of non seafood offerings. To me, it’s so odd to look for a non seafood item in a restaurant called Ferry Plaza Seafood. I wonder for example how may pieces of salmon the House of Prime Rib sells per week.

Typically, the next question is do you have any gluten free items? I am often amazed by this question and perhaps I should “go the extra mile” to read up on all the different diet restrictions and fads there are out there at the moment. The reality is, please folks, you need to tell me what your restrictions are, don’t make me guess as to what ingredients (or if you are from the Housewives of New Jersey and your name is Theresa, you say: ingrediences) are OK or not OK. Just say, I can’t eat, blank, is that ingredient in your salad dressing. The worst is, “I am a vegan or I have a food allergy, what do you have that I can eat?” This is my worst nightmare. First of all, I don’t want you to go into some sort of seizure on the spot and second of all, I can’t go through every item on the menu until we find the one that suits your situation.

I just want every person on the planet to start taking responsibility for their own stuff. That means, I want you to take responsibility for your own health issues, your own children’s behavior, your own awareness of others around you. I don’t know what happened, but somewhere in the last 15 years, everybody wants to pass the buck and hold someone else responsible for their well being.

Seriously………….?

2011-08-31T15:04:00.000-07:00

Children LOVE fish!

One of the things that has been on my mind lately is how much we at Ferry Plaza Seafood love, I mean LOVE, children who eat vegetables and seafood. It’s so refreshing and a wonderful change from the usual question, “Do you have a kids menu?” and “Do you have anything besides seafood?” We have had children chowing down on raw oysters, steamed mussels and steamed clams. It makes me believe that it is possible to encourage “the little foodie” in the youngest of generations. Thank you so much parents and way to go kids!

When did paying your restaurant bill become elective?

Sometimes, I am confused by the rigidity of some people. I don’t know how else to explain this situation except to just dive right in: You would be very surprised how many people don’t know that smoked salmon comes in a few different forms: Hot smoked (generally dryer texture) and Cold smoked (generally a more delicate “lox” style). Because the fish is “smoked” technically it’s raw. It is not the same as having a piece of fish that’s baked or grilled. At our restaurant we serve smoked salmon (both hot smoked and cold smoked) and we serve a piece of salmon that is baked with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.

So after my salmon lesson, I will share with you that we had a group of people in the restaurant and pretty much everyone ordered soup, but there was a woman who ordered a smoked salmon sandwich. We delivered the sandwich and she said it was “raw” and she didn’t want it. She said that when she had had smoked salmon in Sacramento, it was delivered on a board and that this was not the same and therefore unappetizing. I tried to explain to her that she probably had eaten Hot smoked salmon and this is a different style and that all smoked salmon is technically raw, blah, blah, blah. So she said well I’m not going to eat it. I asked her what she wanted me to do since there’s nothing wrong with the sandwich and in fact it’s very popular in our restaurant. She said I don’t know, but I’m not eating it reiterating the version of salmon she had eaten in Sacramento which I guess to her was the “be all end all” of smoked salmon dishes. She asked me if I could cook it. I said “Wow, I’ve never been asked to do that, I don’t think that’s going to work given that it’s already smoked. Why don’t I take it away and bring you another cup of clam chowder.” She said “I’ll take a cup of clam chowder.” I went back thinking you know what, I am going to cook the salmon just to show her how it’s not going to work and deliver the soup. So I dropped off the cooked smoked salmon sandwich and the chowder. She looked under the bread and refused to touch the sandwich. So at that point, I let the table wrap up, which incidentally was a table of 6. I dropped the check off with a free cup of soup, the salmon sandwich still on there since there wasn’t anything wrong with and a gratuity.

As they left, they paid for the meal and her companion said here is your money, there is no tip and we have subtracted the price of the sandwich off the bill. I was so frustrated because they tried something new, thought it was supposed to be like the salmon in Sacramento, and then because it wasn’t, refused to try it and pay for it. So, I discussed this with them all over again and finally they simply walked away and we swallowed the situation.

Why are people so rigid? Honestly, I don’t think there is a customer service rule that states that when you don’t care for something you get it for free. Shoot I think I must be the only fool that has been trying new things and paying for them whether I liked them or not for the last 25 years of my food, wine and cocktailing experiences.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, my last experience of the day was a lovely one that ended up with my boss telling me that a customer of mine that had enjoyed 6 oysters, 2 glasses of wine a whole crab and a cup of coffee, who went on and on about how great the meal was to me, didn’t pay for her bill in full after I left. She elected to pay $40.00 on a tab that was at least $59.00 and in fact, I think it was closer to $60.00. I was soooo upset. Who does that? Who eats a meal, raves about it and then cheats me and the restaurant of payment and tip? I don’t know what is going on in the world that this behavior is justifiable and that payment is “elective.”

Next time you go out to eat, especially if you have children, challenge yourselves not to ask the restaurant if it has anything fried or if there is a “kid’s menu.” Remember when children grow up, there won’t be a “kid’s menu.” Finally, don’t put sauce on fresh food or veggies, you are adding calories and disguising your food’s true flavor. Seek out restaurants that don't hide their ingredients underneath, frying, blackening, and "saucing." Fresh food speaks for itself other than a little olive oil salt and pepper what more do we need.

Eat Fresh Food!

If I could control the position of the sun, do you think I would be working here?

2011-07-27T15:11:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel like "have it your way ruined Americans." When did it become OK to be rude, demanding and entitled as you move through the world. I know some of you probably think that I make up many of the stories that I share and I whine a lot, but let me tell you, in speaking to servers in other restaurants, if you can work in the Ferry Building, I think you can work in any restaurant.

Generally speaking, serving is hard work and to be a good server means you have the ability to multi-task, possess a sense of humor, are able to channel your inner psychologist and describe every item on the menu and determine if it's safe for pregnant women, gluten free, sugar free or any other "fill in the blank free" that is the current culinary/dietary fad of the moment. Honestly, I'm sure my point of view isn't necessarily popular from a service standpoint, but honestly, why is my job as a server to know all of these things. I'm not pregnant and I eat everything. You should own your own dietary restrictions.

Then on top of that, you need to be able to explain why your restaurant is not modeled after the Cheesecake Factory where "having it your way" is like a visit to "culinary purgatory." It's neither great food nor bad food, it's just about choices (about 10 pages as I recall) and volume. That's what the average American wants, variation and volume. I think somewhere in the shuffle, simple, clean, fresh food has been dealt a bad hand.

I've talked about how people get down right offended that we don't have a kid's menu or french fries or root beer or Budweiser or blah blah blah, but this month I am speaking on controlling the position of the sun. If I hear one more person ask me if we could move their table out of the sun, put their table in the sun, provide part shade and part sun, and while I'm at it, align the stars or cross the Moon with Mars, I think I shall fall over in frustration.

When you ask a customer if they want inside or outside, almost always they say outside followed by (If it's a foggy day) "Don't you have anything in the sun?" Or my favorite (if it's a sunny day in SF which we cherish by the way) "Don't you have anything in the shade." It's like no one is ever happy with how things are and easy going. I mean, I don't go out to Half Moon Bay with anything less than 4 layers of clothing and a blanket because I know want to eat outside and there may be any number of weather conditions from sun to no sun.

Special requests come from our "special" customers all the time beyond just trying to key in the position of the sun for them.

At least no one asked me for a "steak knife" though.

Oh yes, a customer asked for a "steak knife" one evening.

The server said "I'm sorry, we don't have "steak knives."
"What do you mean you don't have a steak knife?"
"Mam what is it that you need a "steak knife" for?"
"I need to cut my sandwich (she had a crab melt sandwich). I never touch my food with my hands."
"Oh......"
"Would you like me to cut it into small bite size pieces for you in the kitchen?"
"Yes please......."

That was a first.

One early evening late afternoon a few weeks ago, I served 4 crab cakes to 4 different people. All but 1 loved it and became new members of our ever growing "clean plate club."

There was one "special" customer that said she wanted another glass of wine to which I responded and said "Sure, I'll get that for you. How's the crab cake?"
"Well to be honest......." This response is so difficult to hear because 70% of the time it will be followed by a complaint of some kind. Of course, it was and then she said, "You know all day long I have waited for this crab cake and I am sooooo disappointed. I mean it's chewy, rubbery, and dry. I can't believe it........... pause...........I mean, really I am just soooo upset."

I thought to myself, wow, I hope this is your biggest disappointment in life, because I don't think you could handle anything bigger.

"Well, that's strange I said because it's one of our most popular dishes and I served the same cake to 3 other tables and they all loved theirs." I'm sure I shouldn't have said that because I'm sure it put her on the defense.

"What would you like me to do? I could order another one, but I can guarantee it will be the same as this one so I think you should choose something else from our menu."
"Well, I'll just eat it but I just wish they would have cooked it properly. I mean I waited all day for this and on and on and on she went followed by "You know I never send food back (The people that send food back all the time, they always say that FYI)."

Followed by "I don't like a thing on the menu other than this crab cake and it's been ruined."

Then she started on another rant about her disappointment around the crab cake. It was like a broken record, that would not stop repeating the same lyric over and over and over again. I thought I was in the twilight zone. You know that feeling where you think is anybody else hearing this person the way I am? Or is it just me?

So I said, "Mam, I really find it hard to believe that you can't find another thing on our menu that you would like. I understand that you are disappointed with the crab cake, but we need to move on from that now and get you something that you like."

After a minute or so, she ordered a small crab louie salad.

I said, "Perfect. It will be up shortly." So I removed the source of her disappointment, the crab cake, and came back in 2 minutes to her with the salad. I said, "Enjoy!"

I returned a couple minutes later and passed her by to notice she had this look on her face like her best friend had just died. I came back and said, "Mam, how's the salad."
She said, "Well I tried to catch you before you placed the order, because I really wanted the crab tower. This is disgusting and I couldn't possibly eat this."
I said, "Mam, we sell 100's of this salad every week. It's not disgusting and I have yet to encounter one person who doesn't love it. Why don't you just try it?"
"No it's disgusting and what's that dressing supposed to be I mean it looks like Thousand Island, I can't eat that."
"It's Louie dressing Mam it's not as sweet as Thousand Island, but though it looks like Thousand Island, it's not. It's the traditional dressing served with this fish salad."
"I'm not going to eat it she said I just want a crab tower."

At this point, I just couldn't get her out of my tiny little world fast enough it was like she was just trying to torture me.

So I said, "Mam, I'm not going to prepare yet another dish for you. I'm going to buy your two glasses of wine for you. You should relax and finish your wine and choose to eat at any of the multitude of restaurants within the Ferry Building because I don't feel confident that we will be able to satisfy your taste."

So I picked up the salad, returned it to the kitchen and left her sulking like a 4 year old in front of her wine glass.

But wait there's more. Then, after all this drama, she get's up and walks away towards the Golden Gate Meat counter and takes our wine glass. I sent a busser after her and when she saw him, she took off running in the hall of the Ferry Building. I just died..... About an hour later she comes back, looks me square in the eye and says, "here's your glass back." I guess she needed to have the last word.

Sometimes people order things and then they just try to say there is something wrong with it before they even touch it.

A gentleman came in last week for dinner and our owner was talking to him about one of our specials, the albacore tuna sashimi which was sooooo yummy. I was telling people to order it as well because it's rare that we get that fish in and when we do, it just melts in your mouth.

He ordered the sashimi and when it arrived, he said, “I don’t eat raw fish.” The owner said, “The definition of Sashimi is raw fish,” and she removed it from him.

Then he ordered halibut which we always tell customers is baked in the oven, with a little salt and pepper and served with whatever the daily vegetable is a scoop of Japanese brown rice and a sliced orange or nectarine or seasonal vegetable. Simple clean fresh fish.

Then the Halibut arrives and he says, "That's not a fillet, it's frozen." So she got really offended especially since she brought it in just this morning and they were talking back and forth and she said "please leave." Everyone around him was astonished at the entire altercation.

Trust me, we get all kinds. Of course that piece of halibut went back to the kitchen and we ate it and it was soooo good!

Bud Light, a National Obsession?

2011-06-30T07:35:00.000-07:00

They must put something in Bud light…………

Because seriously people that drink Bud light take no substitutes. They are hardcore brand loyalists. I can’t think of any other beer that people literally can’t comprehend our restaurant doesn’t serve other than Bud light.
I mean no one looks down and says, “What do you mean you don’t have Pilsner?”

I wish people would think before they speak. I had a customer tell us that “we shouldn’t prepare our clams the way we do because that’s not how they have ever had them.” And my all time favorite, “Can’t you just do them like everybody else and not with ginger and soy? That’s ‘weird’.” I mean if we were talking about a clothing store for example, this is the person that would say, blue t-shirts are correct and black t-shirts are wrong and “weird.” So everyone should wear blue t-shirts. I just don’t think they get how ignorant they sound, but perhaps using the retail analogy, I could get them to understand.

I don’t think anyone means to be rude. Sometimes, they are starving and are short because they haven’t eaten in a while. Some people just move through the world in a direct, short and sweet way. In other words, “Why exchange pleasantries? I need to get back to work.” However, others still just act like they were raised in the wild by wolves and usually this customer carries with them an attitude and can’t possibly understand why anyone would do anything differently than the way they do it at home.

I shall now go into my case study of these types of customers:

The Bud Light Devotee

“Do you have Bud light?”

“No Sir, but we have Amstel light in a bottle or Sapporo. Sapporo is my favorite though; light beer with flavor.”

“Is that the only beer you have then on tap?”
“No Bud light then huh?”
“Do you know where I can get a Bud light?”

“In the Ferry Building? No Sir, I don’t. But good luck to you and enjoy the game.” (Giants were playing that night.)
I don’t think that any other beer drinker on the planet is that devoted. Now personally, I don’t indulge in Bud light, but seriously, these people will not drink beer unless it’s a Bud light. Nice job Budweiser!

The “I Only Eat What I Eat at Home” Customer

A group of 4 ladies came in on a Saturday a few weeks ago. I don’t know where they were from, but the first thing that they said after they scored in my opinion, the best table outside, was do we have fried prawns?

I said “No we don’t have anything fried in our restaurant actually.” I always say this with pride, because we try to be really tasty and super healthy; thanks to our owner.

“But we do have a crab cake that you would think was fried unless I told you it wasn’t.”

“The only seafood I like is fried prawns,” the woman said.

“Really? Wow, there is so much great seafood out there that’s unfortunate. Why don’t I get you some drinks while you ponder the menu?”

Another woman who was clearly just trying to get through the day said, “Yes, let’s get some drinks….. I’ll have a Sapporo, make that 2 said the other woman.”

It was clear at this point that it had been a trying day and that it was going to be a trying lunch, to say the least.

I brought back the drinks and the table ordered the following items:
The I-Only-Eat-Prawns Lady decided, with a whole discussion of multiple choices between the two of us, to go with a Prawn Caesar Salad. The Matriarch of the family ordered 6 oysters on the half shell and the other two women order sandwiches, as I recall.

I delivered all the food and to my surprise, everyone was happy except The Matriarch. She turned to me and said, “Aren’t you going to cook these oysters? They’re raw.”

I said, “No Ma’am, we don’t cook our oysters. That’s what ‘on the half shell’ means; raw.”

“Well, I’m not going to eat these” she said and quickly moved them into the air above the table wherein the two beer drinking women grabbed them quickly and said “Oh, um… We will.”

I said, “Something else for you then, Ma’am?”

From there we went into a 3 minute discussion about everything on the menu, and I think she finally settled on a crab sandwich.

At the end of the meal, the Prawn Caesar Eater said, “That was a really good salad” and she really enjoyed it. I was so elated that I changed her mind and now, she had 2 whole items in her repertoire of seafood, Fried Prawns and our very own Roasted Prawn Caesar.

But wait… Just when I thought we were best friends, she asked me for a “To Go Box.” I always tell folks, don’t go wandering about for hours because it’s seafood and therefore very perishable.”
She said, “What do you mean seafood? I ate all the roasted prawns already.”

I said “Well, there’s Anchovies in the dressing so I don’t want you wandering about too long.”

She turned to me and said, “You know I really liked that salad and now you’ve ruined it for me. I wish you hadn’t told me that.”

I said, “What? Told you what?”

“That there are Anchovies in the dressing. I don’t eat Anchovies and I’ll never touch the leftovers now so forget the box. We’ll just take our check.”

I was… well, stunned to say the least. I don’t have to tell you how alarming it is that, based on the principle that she doesn’t like any other seafood; and apparently especially not Anchovies, she won’t eat the rest of her salad because she knows there are Anchovies in the dressing. It’s like talking to a 5 year old, really.

My final case study is the I Don’t Need a Menu Because I Know Exactly What I Want Customer

This is the customer that sits down and says this to you before you can get even a greeting out to them or ask them if they want something to drink.

I made the unfortunate mistake thinking that this woman, who was from Colorado, knew what Smoked Salmon was. I mean, common, there is water in Colorado, which means there is fish in the state and I’m sure that smoked salmon gets imported there right? I don’t know, maybe I am the clueless one.

So she orders a cup of white Clam Chowder and a half of a Smoked Salmon sandwich and water.

The salmon sandwich arrives and literally, her life’s blood drains from her face and her inner 5 year old comes out and she carefully, peels back the rye bread only to look at the smoked lox style salmon and say, “What is that?”

I said, “It’s your smoked salmon sandwich Ma’am.”

“I thought it was going to be grilled, can you cook it for me?”

“Um… Cook your Smoked Salmon, Ma’am?’

“Yes, cook it.”

“Unfortunately, no Ma’am, I can’t. That would be… Unusual and it would probably stick to the pan, Ma’am.”

“Have you ever had Smoked Salmon before?”

“No, not like this.” (She still didn’t get it).

“Well, you should try it. It’s very popular and though it’s technically raw, it is still smoked; so it is not like Sushi, if that’s what you are concerned about. Why don’t you try it? After all, that’s what the whole Ferry Building is about, trying new things.”

“Alright”, she said with grave hesitation.

I checked back with her and she had eaten it. Once again, I thought, “Wow, another new experience and she actually liked it.” Nope… She hated it and left me the payment and whispered in my ear, “I don’t like raw… salmon.”

“Alrighty then”, I thought as I added on her tip into the computer and waited desperately for the day to be over.

I just wish so desperately that people would be more open minded, patient and, ultimately, have a sense of humor about new food, experiences and ideas. Unfortunately, these days I feel as though we could be in danger of sliding backward in our development. ‘Til next time.

Congratulations Chef Michael Tusk

2011-05-17T06:27:00.000-07:00

We are so happy to show our support to Quince's Chef Michael Tusk Wins James Beard Award for Best Chef Pacific.

Don't forget to check out his other restaurant Cotogna for a more casual experience.

Why Don't People Read Signs Anymore?

2011-05-16T10:09:00.000-07:00

I don’t know when it happened, but at some point folks stopped reading signage. Maybe it’s just that they choose to ignore the signage or perhaps they think they are special and that the signage doesn’t apply to them. It happens all the time. I always say part of my job as a server is to study human behavior. I talked with some women the other day and I realized that not only is it a study in human behavior, but there is something about food that brings out the best and the worst in people.

In any case, I noticed the other day that people don’t read the signs that are posted. I was looking for ways to improve our signage, but then I realized it’s not exclusive to the signage in our restaurant. I’ve seen people at Blue Bottle’s counter enjoying a whole meal not from Blue Bottle right next to the sign that reads “these seats are for Blue Bottle customers only.” The thing that get’s me is that the people that do that, ignore the fact that they are taking seats away from their customers, but I guess it’s obvious that they feel entitled to sit there anyway. I really wish that people could put themselves in other people’s shoes and imagine if they owned a little coffee place that they paid additional dollars per square foot to provide seating for their customers would they still sit inappropriately?

There are many rhetorical questions that could be avoided as well. This phenomenon is something odd. People will read a sign that says, “please wait to be seated” or more simply, “closed.” After they read the sign they come up and ask “is someone going to seat us outside?” or my personal favorite, “Are you closed?” Why do people do that?

The conversation usually goes like this:
“Is someone going to seat us outside?”
“Yes, if you just wait by the sign that says ‘please wait to be seated,’ someone will be with you in a moment.”
Oh, well there’s no one seating us…
Well, if you wait by the sign, someone will be with you as soon as they have a free moment.
So, we should just wait by the sign?
Yes, just wait by the sign. ………….
Half way through this conversation, I swear, I just want to shoot myself.

The other conversation usually goes like this:
Are you closed? (They always ask this right in front of the Closed sign)
Yes.
Oh, so you aren’t serving anymore?.......
No.
Oh. Not even a drink?
No.
Why do you close so early?
Then I go into why we close at the time we close……
Seriously, are we really having this conversation?

These rhetorical conversations happen constantly. Here’s another one we get all the time:

The menu says, oysters on a half shell. So people ask us are you oysters served raw?

“Yes.” (In my mind however, I’m thinking, that’s what on the half shell means)

OR

“I read on the menu that you charge for bread. Are you really going to charge us 50 cents for bread?”

“Yes, would you like some?”

“No, not at 50 cents per bread.”

Oh, yes and the other response is, “well, what does the bread look like?”

“Oh it’s a roll.”

“Yes. Would you like some?”

Sometimes it’s a “yes” after they examine how much 50 cent bread is worth and sometimes it’s a no “thank you.”

Oh yes, the other question I get around bread is as follows:

“I’d like the Salmon (for example)”

Followed by, “Now does that come with bread?”

“No, you have to order bread. Would you like some?” Then the conversation continues often as I shared above.

I know we get criticism for being “snarky,” “condescending” and or “deliberately trying to make people feel stupid.” The thing is, we don’t make up stories, but we do share with you what we are really thinking and most of all we do it with a sense of humor. I really hope that through our BLOG, people can learn to be a little more aware, a little less self absorbed and most importantly, that they can laugh about how silly we can all be. I guess it’s a good thing that the woman who just sent us a criticism using the above sorted adjectives, regarding our FAQ, didn’t read our BLOG, she would have really gone bonkers.

You know what they say: love to hate us or hate to love us, at least you are talking about us so I guess that means our opinions are still, well, relevant.
Till next time………EAT MORE FISH!

Tacky Ain’t Pretty and Other Stories of Customers Behaving Badly

2011-03-22T14:01:00.000-07:00

I am truly amazed at human behavior: I think I’ve talked before about how being a server in a restaurant is not only serving food and drinks, there’s somehow more to it. It’s really a study in human behavior.

I have developed a sixth sense for cheap people, angry people, fun people, contrived foodies, real foodies and on and on. This sense helps me and many of my fellow servers stream line our approach to customers. Sometimes however, I still miss things that people do and find myself rolling my eyes and thinking, wow, not only would I never do “that,” it wouldn’t even occur to me to think about doing “that.”

For example, if someone orders a beer and in the middle of pouring it, the keg empties, I drop off the 2/3rds full beer and tell them it will be few minutes until we change our keg out, but please start on this and I will come back and top you off. That way, they don’t have to wait at all for the beer. Until this past Saturday, no one has ever taken this opportunity to “slam” the beer back so that when I return to “top it off,” it’s empty. Essentially the guy got his first 2/3rds of a beer for free. I came back and was thinking, Wow, you are so tacky! The funny part was after about 45 minutes, his companion said “is that your first beer still?” I didn’t pause to hear the answer, I just thought TACKY!

Another thing people like to do is, when you drop off a tea caddy, people will take two or 3 or 4 bags out of the tea caddy and put them in their personal belongings so that later, I guess at home, they can have a free cup of tea. I never thought of even doing that. Plus guess what folks the restaurant buys everything you are using. So just to clarify, that’s called stealing! Here’s how the social rule works, one tea bag per cup while you are in the restaurant, and no not one for later or for home or another restaurant where you are going to just ask for hot water. TACKY!

Did someone send out a memo that when you’re eating out, it’s no longer necessary to put your napkin in your lap like a proper person? Lately there has been a steam of patrons that unroll the cloth napkin with the silverware in it (we call it a rollup), simply pull out their fork and leave the napkin half unrolled with the rest of the silverware still in it on the table. Then they leave that in the center of the placemat, often at a diagonal, so when someone like me comes to drop off the food, I can’t put it down. To top it off, typically, I have to put all the plates down that I am carrying, move the rollup out of the way (no they don’t always move it for me to the side), then deliver the plate. So is this a big deal no, but here’s the part that kills me: Let’s say at a table of 4 people, 4 bread plates, 4 bread, butter, 4 water glasses, 4 wine or beer glasses, dressing, 4 main course plates, shell bowl and well, yes, and the rollup all precariously balanced on the table, you would think just for practicalities sake they would put that roll up on their lap, but no no, they leave it. TACKY!

Sometimes, rarely, I just can’t hold back and when my sixth sense goes on overload, I have to just let it rip! I do this so that as servers we will survive the service and as patrons, you can enjoy your meal in peace. Saturday a couple came in and sat down. We always ask that patrons don’t sit with a chair empty between them unless it’s slow because especially on Saturdays, it maximizes our seating capacity and when it’s raining as it was this past Saturday, there are people waiting for seats inside for quite while and well they are hungry! We did have to ask the woman to move down, but unfortunately the woman was really annoyed. My fellow server asked what they wanted to drink and they had a beer and an Arnold Palmer. Then the woman asked if we had any King Crab legs. He said no, but we have whole fresh Dungeness Crab or we have Dungeness Crab leg in both the Fish Stew and in the Cioppino. Unfortunately we didn’t have what she wanted so he asked for a few more minutes. (As a side note, the servers all work as one big team because as the restaurant is set up, it’s very difficult to divide it up into sections.) I came by and saw they were looking at the menu and asked if they were ready to order when the gentleman said “no, please just give us a few more minutes.” “OK,” I said.

I went through to the dish room where there’s a window and I turned around after dropping off some dishes and said to the server that they first talked to, “they aren’t happy, and she looks really cranky.” That’s when he told me about the King Crab Leg story. I said Oh, OK. I came back a few minutes later and she said “I’ll have the Cesar Salad.” I said “great!” Then she said, “does it have anchovies?” I said “Yes they are pureed in the dressing.” She said “Oh…… no, never mind, I’ll have a crab cocktail.” Then the gentleman said, “no, you know what, can you just give us a few minutes.” I said, “sure…..”

So another few minutes passed by and I said “listen you two seem like you are not finding what you want to eat. Please, don’t feel as though you have to stay and pick something you won’t be happy with. Why don’t you go out to the main hall, discuss amongst yourselves what you really want to do with no pressure, and if you come back we’d love to have you, but if not, that’s OK too and I’ll buy your drinks for you.” To this, the woman responded, “Well! Now I really don’t want to eat here!” and they left. The people next to them were laughing and laughing and we filled the seats in less than 2 minutes.

I know, I know, perhaps, I should have let them stay, but trust me, my sixth sense tells me, that they would have sent back something and it would have cost us a lot more than a beer and an Arnold Palmer. Plus, we would have had to deal with their odd interpersonal issues the whole time. Anyways, please dear reader, don’t be tacky in public it’s not attractive.

Give Me a Break!

2011-03-01T13:40:00.000-08:00

So did you know that the Caesar salad isn't Italian at all?

A few weeks ago we had a customer ask for an”Italian style Caesar salad.” Well, in doing some research I learned that the beloved, sometimes bastardized version of the salad was actually first made in Mexico. Yes, Tijuana, Mexico but, the salad was created by an Italian -born Mexican, Caesar Cardini (which is probably why there is the Italian association). The salad was born out necessity when according to Wikipedia, "His daughter Rosa recounted that her father invented the dish when a Fourth of July 1924 rush depleted the kitchen's supplies. Cardini made do with what he had adding the dramatic flair of the table side tossing."

Interestingly, the original recipe does not include anchovies or parmesan cheese.....

Chilled romaine lettuce, croutons, lemon juice, lemon juice, olive oil, egg, Worcestershire sauce, black pepper.

Well the month wouldn’t be complete unless I told at least one customer encounter story.

Two women came in for a snack a few weeks ago. The first part of the conversation was about wine tasting. For some reason, even though we have 2 different size pours of wine, a tasting size and a full glass, occasionally we have customer try to get us to give them “a taste.” In their mind, “a taste” is not the same as a “tasting.” Yes, I’m serious I have this conversation with people fairly often. This dialogue goes on for a minute or so and of course, they typically give in and have a tasting. After we got through this, the woman tasted her friend’s tasting, and decided she didn’t care for it so she got a full glass of something else from a different server. I asked how her wine was and she said “she thought the glass she was about to have would be better than the tasting.”

By this point you know I’m thinking oh lord here we go……..

Next question was, “what kind of oysters do you have today?” I said we have two from Washington State. Now I think sometimes I’ve seen it all, but literally, she leaned back in her chair, rolled her eyes toward the back of her head, and said “Oh.” I was so taken back, that I said, “I’m sorry is there something wrong with Washington State?” She said “No, no, I just, well, I don’t eat oysters from there.” I said “Oh, well that’s unfortunate, they are quite lovely and people have been enjoying them all day.” So off I went leaving her and her companion with a cup of soup and bread.

Oh, yes she loved the bread and soup….. I mean luuuved the bread and soup.

Later, our owner came by to check on them and she told me the woman asked if she could buy half of a crab cake. I started laughing……. Then our owner was laughing and then I was thinking to myself who does that? “I said what did you say?” She said, “I said, no so they ordered a shrimp quesadilla.”

Anyway, another day another dollar as they say, but I guess this is one of those John Stossel moments, who I think came up with the phrase, “Give me a Break!”

Go Green!

2011-02-02T12:01:00.000-08:00

Looking for the familiar is a typical American past time.

In our world at the Ferry Building, for the most part, there is a balance between the exotic and the local. We have a variety of folks that both live and work in San Francisco mixed with tourists literally from all over the nation and the world. In general, I’ve found that most of the American tourists have a very unusual, but predictable approach to food when they visit our restaurant and the Ferry Building. For example, while the average American tourist will not blink an eye at an exotic pairing of chocolate with bacon, salt, and caramel, God forbid they should try fish that is anything other than blackened, broiled, grilled or fried. It’s sort of like, they can’t wrap their brain around a restaurant that doesn’t have Bud or Coors, and yet they will pay extra for some kind of exotic beef they haven’t tried before.

This is on my mind lately, because so many people order a simple ½ a sandwich and a cup of soup. I feel like they are missing out on so many amazing, healthy dishes we offer. Maybe it’s because when it comes to ordering a whole meal, the fear that something may arrive at the table that is too exotic and therefore unrecognizable and of course therefore uneatable, is too much for them to handle. On the other hand there are customers that thrill me when they say, “What do you recommend?” Followed by, “why don’t you just put a few things together for us to try?” If people knew how much joy they bring me when they say those magic words, they would be really surprised. I can honestly say that over the years at our restaurant, I didn’t have one customer not care for a single dish I asked them to try that’s outside their comfort zone.

The next time you go out with friends or your family and your Uncle says, “They don’t have Bud.” You should say, “yes, but let’s see what they have that’s similar it’ll be fun to try something you haven’t had before.” Your Aunt says, “What do you mean they don’t serve Fish and Chips?” You should say, “yes, but I've heard they are know for their quality of freshness. You know what, have you ever had sautéed fresh calamari, you rarely see it on the menu. Why don’t you try that?” It’s all a matter of perception really. “Going Green” is such a buzz phrase right now, it’s so over used, but I am going to challenge folks as they get about town this next year, get your family to “Go Green.” Think of eating out as an adventure not as a meal you don’t have to cook tonight. Find something new and give it a try. How can we understand that buying a hybrid car or changing our building materials is exactly the same thing as trying new food, cooked in a simple way, with local fresh ingredients? It’s actually even easier and less expensive.

Have It Your Way

2010-03-25T11:25:00.000-07:00

Somewhere along the line the average person decided “have it your way” applied not only to McDonalds, but to any culinary experience. I don’t know about you, but it wouldn’t even occur to me to ask for some of the things that folks ask us for at Ferry Plaza Seafood. The other side of the coin is that I have always approached food as an experience. I don’t approach it with the idea that I will eat out as I do at home. For example, I am one of those folks that put everything but the kitchen sink in my salad at home. When I go out, I don’t ask to have the same salad or to change a salad on the menu to mimic what I have at home because I am looking for something other than what I usually eat.

The other day, a woman came in and asked to taste our salad dressings. Seriously? Could you imagine asking a restaurant to taste their salad dressings? Usually if someone has difficulty finding dressing they like or don’t like they just say dressing on the side please. After all I already wrote about a woman who took out a bottle of her own salad dressing from her purse. I have since learned that Patti Labelle actually carries around her favorite hot sauce in her purse. Perhaps that’s not as unusual as I once thought. In any case they certainly don’t ask to have a salad dressing taste testing. Of course, we said sorry, we don’t do salad dressing tastings. So what happened? She left because we wouldn’t let her taste the salad dressing.

Last Saturday, a table of 4 came into the restaurant. 1 person ordered our Mussels, but the other 3 people all ordered our Crab Caesar Salad. This is the funny part: 1 wanted the crab on the side of the salad, 1 wanted the dressing on the side, 1 asked for light on the dressing. When you work in a restaurant in San Francisco, I believe that most people work in the restaurants they work in because they stand behind the food they serve. In our case, we are in the Ferry Building which is all about “good, sustainable food.” Why don’t people trust us to get our flavors and proportions right? Having said that, many people do trust us and love our food, but some people, I guess, have been scared in the past by bad food so they have developed a laundry list of “special requests.” To finish this little story, the one with the light dressing asked us for more dressing. Of course.

Beyond the “have it your way” bargaining for food seems to also come to our restaurant. A woman came in and ordered a Shrimp Louie Salad, but she wanted extra egg, extra cucumber extra tomato etc, but she didn’t want the shrimp on it. The server said that it would be $10.50, the same as a regular with Shrimp, since there were so many extras. The woman said how about $8.50 so the server said “excuse me?” The woman repeated herself. The server said, I’m sorry Miss, but it’s $10.50. She ended up ordering a regular shrimp salad, but simply giving her shrimp to her friend. Couldn't she have just done this from the get go?

At this point, I feel compelled to explain the world of substitutions to all of you who are not familiar with the inner workings of a restaurant. Anytime you have to substitute something, the server needs to “modify” the order on the computer and hand type in anything other than the most basic request like “dry” which is just a tap on the screen vs. “light dressing” which one has to type in separately. Once the order goes through, the “Expo” needs to make certain the special instruction isn’t missed by the line (folks in the kitchen) and finally when it comes out, the “Expo” needs to make certain that the one Crab Caesar with “light dressing” gets to your table and doesn’t go to another table because you can’t really tell it’s the one with “light dressing.” In the case of the extra’s on the salad in lieu of the shrimp, by the time all those steps are taken and the person on salads pulls all the “extras” it would have been easier to just make the standard shrimp salad.

Finally please all of you out there that order a seared Ahi Salad please please stop asking us to “cook it to medium.” It’s a seared, slim piece of fish it’s going to taste like cardboard on top of mixed greens. The intent of the salad is to have a fresh piece of seared fish “raw in the middle” so fresh that it barely needs much but perhaps a wee bit of salt. Trust us, we know what we are doing and we want you to love us for that!

Surfer's Wave

2010-02-23T16:12:00.000-08:00

For many years people thought that only cheap wine had a screw top, but going green has hit the wine industry as well and many people don’t realize that we are seeing many many wines internationally and domestically coming to us with screw top caps.

Alas alack some of our customers unaware of this trend seem to have many preconceived ideas about this new trend.

Last Friday evening, a woman came in with what we determined was her son and daughter in law for dinner. They ordered a bottle of Bonny Doon Rose. When the bottled arrived at the table the Mother saw that the wine was screw top and from Santa Cruz. She seemed to believe that she would be sick if she drank the wine because it was screw top and that the only thing that happened in Santa Cruz was surfing and that no good wine could possibly come from there. So, she had a diet coke and refused to drink any wine.

Sometimes, folks come to our restaurant thinking they well, know more than we do about wine. Sometimes people do, but for the most part, we have a very good grasp on what we are selling. Last Saturday, someone insisted that our French Riesling should have bubbles. Now being open to a mistake, I did take time to double check to make certain one can't buy a Riesling with bubbles and in fact, no bubbles in Riesling everybody. Where our patron got that idea and then refused to accept our information that they don't have bubbles, I really don't know.

Finally, my favorite this week was..... "Excuse me, I'd like a Mimosa refill please." I guess they thought they were in a buffet....

Really everybody, trust us..., we want to make you happy. Maybe for April Fools Day, I should try to sell a made up bottle of some sort. I know, I will try to sell a screw top bottle of Riesling and call it our newest sparkling white from Santa Cruz, and call it Surfer's Wave. Nah, that's not nice!

You Can’t Believe What We Have Seen Around Here

2010-02-10T12:53:00.000-08:00

It’s been a while since my last entry, but for those who follow my little Blog, here’s a selection of stories from the last few weeks at Ferry Plaza.

Many people, who visit the Ferry Building, think for some reason, it functions much like a food court. Even in a food court however, most people get that if you eat at a Chinese food restaurant, you don’t take napkins, forks etc. from the Taqueria to eat your Chinese food. Well, we had an incident the other day where a gentleman bought a meal at another restaurant and apparently needed a fork. Why he didn’t simply return to the restaurant he got the food from and acquire a fork we don’t know. One of our servers saw him and watched him take one of our rollups (restaurant language for a cloth napkin with utensils rolled up inside) unroll it and pull out stainless steel fork and leave the rollup on the table.

Excuse me, “What are you doing?”
“I need a fork.”
“You are stealing our fork.”
“Well, I needed a fork.”
“Then you should go get a plastic one at the restaurant where you purchased your food.”

So he left without apology and a bit baffled as to the fact that he was confronted for stealing.

Last Saturday, a large table of appx. 10 or 12 people sat down for lunch. We were really happy because apparently a few weeks earlier 2 of the people in the party had enjoyed lunch with us and then brought back this large group. We brought all of the beverages out which included one hot tea. We serve tea in a cup with hot water and an accompanied caddy of tea selections. After we dropped one hot tea, the gentleman next to the woman that had the tea took another tea bag out of the tea caddy and put it in his pocket. Then a couple of minutes later he ordered a “cup of hot water” not another hot tea. So essentially he stole a tea bag and then ordered a hot water so the table saved a couple of dollars for the additional cup of tea. I have never seen such a thing. Why did he do that? It was so odd and frustrating. In any case, because we saw all of this happen, we charged the table for the second cup of tea. This gentleman was a guest at the table and didn’t have to pay for his meal anyway. I thought wow, people have no shame.

People will try absolutely anything to scoot around rules. Restaurants have to cover a lot of costs in replacing lost items. This is really tacky. A woman took a glass from Hog Island across the aisle from us, and brought it to our restaurant. When our manager asked her if she would like a glass of wine, the woman said no thank you, I already have some. So our manager asked why she had a glass from Hog Island, in our restaurant, she said “she wanted to finish her wine.” Why is it so hard to imagine that it is inappropriate to drink another restaurant’s wine in our restaurant? We of course walked the glass back over to Hog Island.
My question would be, listen I haven’t finished my wine, would you mind if I pour this into your glass and return this one to Hog Island. Of course we would prefer that she drank our wine, but at least that would have been a more honest approach.

Finally, need I say more: Don’t take the Tabasco. We have these big bottles of Tabasco, I mean these are about 9” tall. Our manager has seen people stick the whole bottle in their bag. Of course, she asked for it back. I like to think they will think twice one day before they steal something from another restaurant.

What Are We 5 Years Old?

2009-11-13T14:13:00.000-08:00

I took a few weeks break from my usual passive aggressive blog, but you know, I needed to get back to some more silly server stories so here’s this week’s memories:

Seriously I have never had someone ask me, even before they ordered their food, the following question: “Do you have free refills on soda?”

Not only have I never been asked that as a priority question, I personally have never even thought about free refills when I go out.

I did tell the woman yes we do, but I have to say, I was wondering if the dumb bread discussion was going to come again since that’s how we started our interaction together. Fortunately, she and her husband had a lovely lunch and everything worked out well.

A table of 6 came into the restaurant, 3 couples. Anybody who has ever been a server knows that when a table this size wants to have separate checks, it’s going to be “oh so fun” to serve them. There was one woman that was particularly well, not demanding, but high maintenance. When I originally approached the table the woman was putting in packets of Crystal lite tea into her water. When she ordered she requested a cup of clam chowder and a Crab Caesar Salad with no dressing. The rest of the table essentially ordered soup and sandwich combinations and some other basic lunch items.

As the self elected spokeswoman for the table, our discussion went something like this:

“Which chowder would you like, Manhattan or New England?”

“Oh, Manhattan of course that New England is fully loaded with so many calories, I mean who can eat that!”

I was thinking to myself wow, nice way to make anyone within ear shot feel guilty about eating their New England clam chowder and insulting our soup, but you know ok, you are entitled to your opinion.

“Now on your salad, you said dressing on the side yes?”

“No. No dressing at all.”

I was thinking wow, it’s going to be a dry salad, but that’s what she wants.

“Should I bring bread for the table?”

“No. She jumps in.”

“No bread right? You don’t want bread it’s so fattening.”

Guess not. I mean if I was at that table, I think even if I wanted it, I wouldn’t eat anything but lettuce and water in front of her. It must have been a super fun day out for the rest of them.

“Ok great. I will be back with your soups.” I said.

I came back with the soups for the table and they began eating. Out of my peripheral vision I see a hand waving me down as if she was calling a cab:

“Excuse me Miss…. Excuse me….. Excuse me Miss?”

“Yes…”

“Does this Manhattan chowder have any wine in it?”

“Yes, it does.” I replied.

“What?” She drops her spoon as if she had been stabbed in the heart….

“Who puts wine in chowder?”

“Well our Chef does Mam.”

“Well, I can’t eat this, I am allergic to wine. You should have told me it had wine in it.” She said.

“I apologize; I will take it away and off your bill Mam. I wasn’t made aware of your allergy to wine.”

So she continued to rant and rave about how we put wine “FOR SOME UNKNOWN AND ACCORDING TO HER, UNCESSARY REASON IN OUR CHOWDER” while everyone else ate their chowder in virtual silence.

The remaining food arrived and here’s the best part of the whole story. She puts another Crystal lite in her water and from her purse on top of her Crab Caesar Salad she busts out a bottle of Ranch dressing. She then proceeded to use the ranch dressing on the salad. I swear I have never seen anything like that. I wasn’t sure if it was the fact that she put Ranch dressing on the salad or the fact that she had her own personal bottle of salad dressing with her.

Anyway, I was so happy when they left and those 3 separate bills were only a couple of dollars difference. I don’t know why I could have just paid the bill with 3 cards rather than creating 3 separate checks.

People are really odd sometimes. Another woman came in with her husband or boyfriend and another couple. They were from New York. I always get along with New Yorkers because they are so straight forward and to the point. They had a super simple order 3 Crab Louie salads and 1 sandwich. The sandwich part is still a mystery to me, but let me mention the issue with the Louie dressing first.

One of the women says to me, and my supportive readers, I am not making this up: “Do not let me see the Louie dressing anywhere near my plate or next to my place setting. It’s going to make me throw up if I see it. I just want lemon, lots of extra lemon.”

Wow! Ok, are we five years old? I was thinking to myself. Immediately, her table mates said, don’t worry, so n so, we will keep it on our side of the table.

But this table get’s better. The guy that ordered the sandwich hated Mayonnaise so he said he wanted a crab sandwich with just crab on bread.

“Sir, are you sure you want that, because you’re sandwich is going to be really dry without any condiment on it. Maybe you could have a Crab Louie with vinaigrette or lemon like your friend and have a little bread on the side from Acme.”

He said, “Nope, I just want a dry Crab Sandwich. I hate Mayo, it’s so disgusting.”

I was like, wow, these two must be together they speak the same way.

I don’t get it though who wants to eat dry crab on a dry sandwich. Whatever, I’m just here to serve. In the end they were really happy so that’s all that matters.

Don’t be a Crabby Trout!

2009-11-06T10:59:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago there was an article in sfgate.com talking about restaurants turning to trout. Trout is a wonderful, tasty, less expensive fish to order when you go out to eat. Many restaurants including yours truly are including trout on the menu.

Did you know Salmon costs up to three times as much as Trout and California is banned from fishing salmon for the third year in a row.

Last week we had a really great fish called Corvina. For those of you that aren't familiar with this fish, it's a type of SeaBass like Bluenose or Striped Bass. It’s found on the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific Ocean.

We serve our fish baked in olive oil with simple salt and pepper, some seasonal sautéed vegetables, Japanese brown rice and sliced seasonal fruit. Right now we are serving our fish with persimmon.

Other fish we commonly serve based on availability are as follows:
Sole
Black Cod
Ling Cod
Wild Salmon
(We get it from the Columbia River near Seattle Washington)
Halibut
Mahi Mahi

Moving into November always means 2 of my favorite meals. Thanksgiving and our annual family Dungeness crab feed. Every year my family has a crab feed the day before Thanksgiving. We pick up one crab per person, some nice white wine and some beer add some melted butter, a loaf of Acme bread and get cracken!

This meal is perfect for a few reasons: 1.) There’s virtually no prep if you get your crabs cracked and cleaned prior to bringing them home. 2.) There’s hardly any table set up: A few crackers, poking utensils, a small bowl of melted butter per person, a couple of large metal bowls (figure one bowl for every two people) for catching shells, and you are done.

The whole point of this is to spend quality family time so don’t make it fancy just have a great time. I highly suggest a pair of jeans or sweat pants and simple tee shirt you can down and get crabby!

In San Francisco, our Dungeness crab season is from about the middle of November to the beginning of May.

You can always call us to see if we have whole Dungeness crab in house for purchase.

Originally posted in November of 2009.

Try something new. It's fun!

2009-10-30T14:47:00.000-07:00

I love the nights when a group of people sit down and you ask them what they would like and they say “Whatever you think it good.”

What happens then is a dialogue about food that turns an otherwise ordinary meal into something extra ordinary and special. Last Friday, a really nice group of 4 came in and they started off with our oysters and some wine and sparkling wine selections.

From there they had our Crab Cake, Crab Tower, sautéed Calamari, and a few different types of fish as I recall. I find in general that if I describe something the way that I would describe it if I was talking to a friend, it becomes less esoteric. For example, I could say our Crab Cake is a combination of Dungeness crab, whipped egg blended with mayonnaise, mustard, herbs, celery, and 2 types of Acme bread. It’s then baked in a bit of olive oil and salt and pepper served over mixed greens.

Ultimately folks just want to know, is it yummy? Or not? I just tell them “It’s not a gooey little hockey puck, like so many can be.” And that it’s “High and light, served on a simple bed of mixed greens.”

I often get asked “What should we get here?” I always say our Calamari, or fresh Albacore sashimi, or any of our fresh fish. I always try to get folks to try something that not every seafood restaurant has. Every seafood restaurant has a Louis salad for example or a Crab sandwich of some kind, but I try to steer folks to something they may have never had fresh or something interesting. That’s part of the fun of eating out and part of the joy I experience when I am serving someone something they never had, but really loved.

Anyway, back to my table of 4: The evening was so fun and they tried lots of things all based on what I thought they should have next. They ended with some snuggly fleece blankets, a little port and a yummy sweet treat selection of Pot du Crème and Panna Cotta with huckleberry and elderflower sauce over top. My favorite part of the evening was what the table said, “Everything you chose for us was great!” I was glad that they trusted me and I had a great time serving them.

This week, I wanted to thank all you folks out there that trust your server to steer you in the right direction and challenge you to think outside the box!

Random thoughts of food and people or things that make you say wait what?

2009-10-14T10:39:00.000-07:00

Why is it that no one can accept change?…. Some folks just complain for the sake of complaining. Yesterday we changed our Louie Salad by adding a few things to it. The day before a woman came in and had the Louie Salad and really liked it. The next day, she came in and she ordered it and then said that it’s not the same and she wasn’t happy. We of course said it’s the same salad, it just is on a bigger plate with added carrots, hard boiled egg, cucumber and additional tomatoes. She asked us to put all the new items on a separate plate.

The funny thing is, this customer comes in every so often and apparently always complains about something each time she comes in. I think it’s odd that she keeps coming back, but true that you just can’t please everybody.

One of the things I ask myself all the time is would I say something or ask someone to do something like that for me?

I mean just the other day, I went to dinner with my folks and we had some left overs we brought home. We had a nice dinner and I went to this restaurant cautiously because some years ago I ate there and while I liked the space itself,the food was just not yummy. I was surprised and happy because we all thought it was good.

I brought our leftovers home and my partner said that the short ribs were burnt and we should have sent them back. She said she couldn't eat them. We noticed they were a little "over carmelized" is what my Dad said, but honestly we didn't think much more about it since aside from that, they were good. So I guess it's just not my nature to send food back or be "difficult." When I do send something back though it's got to be horrible.

The other day I was browsing our endless critics on YELP and couldn’t believe that the bread charge is still (my goodness aren’t we over this boring topic yet?) a hot talk topic. Seriously, I thought I had been boring my own readers with it by this point, but people still continue to bring it up.

They likened our bread charge to charging for water and asked if that was next thing we would charge for. This particular critic wanted us to “just add the .50 cent healthcare charge to our overhead somehow.” These are of course the very same people that complain that all our food is too expensive and that they can’t eat in our restaurant for less than $20.00 which I know is in fact not true. Additionally, people are just crazed that we don’t have crackers (Oh Lord!)and they get this desperate look in their eye when I say, "No, we just have bread." I know what they are thinking, "Yea, bread you...... charge for....."

By the way, I thought about crackers for a minute, and I think people who are really into crackers at a restaurant are either a.) cheap and looking for something free or b.) Genuinely into crackers in their soup. It has never occured to me to put crackers in my soup in my life. I think I just don't get it and well, I'm ok with that.

Anyway, lest I digress.... It's so odd to me that you take an item like bread which you can take or leave and charge for it and that offends people somehow. But....some people would rather not know and simply pay more overall for their meal just so they don't have to know about it. Wait what?

Oh, this was exciting in my little world of waitressing at the restaurant. This woman came in and sat at the bar. There was a gentleman on her left and then 2 women on her right separated by 2 seats as I recall. She asked for a Stella and I said we don’t have Stella, the closest we have is Sapporo so she said ok. I walked back to pour the beer and I just felt that something wasn’t quite right about her, but whatever, that feeling happens a lot in the City and I’m used to it.

So I served her the beer, and realized she had a bunch of bloody scratch marks all over her arms and then I was thinking to myself, oh, she’s probably a drug addict, but whatever that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have the right to eat or drink out. While she sat next to the people at the bar, she began singing to herself, but it wasn’t really to herself, because even I could hear her from a good 15 feet away. I decided after a while that all the folks in the bar next to her were definitely uncomfortable and that I should probably have her quietly removed from our restaurant. She was removed about 20 minutes later and the people around her were relieved.

Ironically, the gentleman sitting next to her was a Psychiatrist and I felt badly because he was trying to wait her out, but he just said he needed to leave since she kept singing and touching him with her creepy looking arms and glassy vacant eyes. He said I handled it well given that she was definitely high on something. He said to not to let things escalate is the best move in that scenario. Anyway, it was interesting to have that little scenario happen as one of my first hours back from a holiday away for a week and a half.

After the woman was escorted out about 20 minutes later, a tourist and his wife sat down and ordered a seafood platter, but he wanted to know the size of the prawns on the platter.

I took my pen out and illustrated the size of the prawn and he said:

"Can't you just show me one on a plate?"

I was thinking to myself once again, I so wouldn't ask to see prawn if I was on his side of the counter.

I said, "Ok."

I got a prawn and showed it to him and he said:

"Well it's really a large shrimp, but ok, let's get the platter."

Why do people, complain, and then order the dish when going into it, they aren't happy? Plus I was really thinking what, were you born in a barn, who acts like this in a restaurant(Thank goodness our customers aren't mind readers)?

Anyway, so after that, he said,"you seriously charge for bread?"

I said yes sir "it's for healthcare."

"That's ridiculous" he said.

I said "would you like some bread then?"

He said "No." I was thinking what a shmuck (I was using more explitives in my head though to be honest).

He and his actually ate the platter had some steamed clams and were really happy in the end. I mean I guess so because they bought some of our Hot Lime Sauce and left a nice tip. I don't know like I said, I think some folks just like to complain or perhaps they like to be heard.

This is classic: Now you know I've talked about this concept of outside food, but this story I think is really a self absorbed tale of nonsense and disreguard for any social edicate.There were 4 people inside at 2 two person tables. 2 of the patrons were children about 10 or 11 upon quick evaluation and 2 were older adults. The children had food from another restaurant, I mean burgers, fries, sodas etc. spralled all out and were quietly eating their food. So I came to the two adults and I said "Hi there, tell me are you joining us for dinner?"

The gentleman said "Yes."

I said "Are these two children part of your party?"

He said "Yes."

I said "Well we don't allow outside food and most especially not at a table for two where none of the food is food that we have made in our restaurant."

I went on to say my usual.... "Sir this isn't a food court, this is a restaurant, and we want you to eat our food together."

He said "Well what do you suggest we do?"

"If you would like to sit together, we can do a to go meal for you from our restaurant and you can join the children at the communal tables outside of Peets. It has the same view and then you can all sit together eat whatever you want. Or, we can set up a table for 4 and you can enjoy our food all together."

Can I just tell you that the man looked at me as if I was the most rude person ever and gathered up his family and stormed off. We of course put away the linens the silverware, the water etc. that we had put down for the 4 of them and sat our next patrons. What are people thinking?

Anyway, another day, another dollar.......

“No” is not a four letter word

2009-09-11T12:21:00.000-07:00

Has life come to such a place that when one hears the word “no” it’s considered rude and shocking. It’s almost as if nowadays if we don’t all agree to let everybody do whatever they want then there is going to be a problem. I think part of this is a result of everybody trying to not step on everybody else’s toes or offend them in anyway.

In our society, rules seem to be loosely open for interpretation, a guideline, not an absolute, rather than something that is in place to keep peace and order. For example, a red light should mean “stop” unless you think it is “pink” which means you can make it through the intersection before it is “really red.” Who hasn’t been with a friend that at some point has said, “that wasn’t red it was pink, I didn’t run the light.”

People also like to ignore rules or comments in print. People will say things like “oh, I didn’t see that sign” or “I didn’t read that.” The assumption is that it doesn’t apply therefore. I missed it or didn’t see it so it doesn’t apply to me……

How does this relate to the blog this week, well I’ll share my inspirations for this week’s thoughts:

4 people came to the restaurant sat down and ordered ice teas and beer. After the server gave them their beverages, he asked them if he could get them something else and they said, “no, just the drinks” and then proceeded to open 4 togo boxes.

The server was new, and our Manager asked him why the whole table was essentially picnicking at our restaurant. She said, “Remember no outside food in our restaurant.”

She went over to the table and she said, “I’m sorry no outside food.”

The people said, said they had purchased the drinks.

She said “I’m sorry I can pack your drinks in a togo cup for you, but not the beer.”

The gentleman at the table said “You are rude.”

She said I am sorry it’s stated on the menu “no outside food.”

He repeated “You are rude!”

Why is it so hard to simply say “Oh, ok, didn’t see that and can you tell us where we can go to eat our lunch?” And besides that, who would think it is ok to bust out an entire meal for 4 in a restaurant from another restaurant?

Our Manager was baffled to say the least, and quite frankly so am I, even still. Are we not allowed to have our own rules in our own restaurant? And if you don’t like them, then do you just ignore them? If we call you on it, then we are the bad rude people.

I don’t get it.

I'm going to write a letter to someone!

2009-09-11T11:24:00.000-07:00

I'm going to write a letter and tell people about this!

So a few weeks ago there was this guy that said he was going to write a note to "someone" (unclear who that someone was….), because after he ate with friend, we wouldn't let him save another seat at our bar for a friend that was coming at some point to join the two of them in the Ferry Building. In otherwords, they had paid, and were just sitting there for an undetermined amount of time until the friend appeared. They may or may not stay at our restaurant since they didn't know what the friend was in the mood to do.

I just don’t get why folks get so upset when they can’t save a seat. This gentleman additionally crowded in a chair from the opposite side of the bar and then proceeded to crowd the rest of the patrons enjoying their meal.

We didn’t fully understand where Miss Manners was at that moment, but we sure could have used her guidance. In the last few weeks, I have become quite infuriated with the lack of understanding and respect that people show to others. As you know if you've followed my bloggy thoughts over the last few months, I have been on a tirade that people haven't got a clue how to act appropriately in public anymore.

Here are this week's thoughts:

I am sure that saving a seat on a crowded day at the Ferry Building with many people waiting to eat is not ok.

I am sure that intruding upon the space of others while trying to squish in an additional chair for your friend is not ok.

I am pretty sure that pulling chairs away from another area of the bar while paying no attention to the inconvenience caused on that side of the bar with the lack of that chair is not ok.

I am most certain that generally announcing that he would write a letter of complaint because we told him he couldn't save the seat should someone need it prior to the arrival of his friend is not our problem and is rude to other folks that are present and waiting patiently for a seat.

As a side note, shortly after that incident, we did have to post a sign stating that we wouldn't seat a table outside until the whole party is present and ready to sit.

I think I am going to approach another topic, with utmost caution since many people seem to think that the behavior/activity I am about to describe is totally acceptable.

In a crowded space, (let me be specific: A restaurant where a line of patrons are waiting to eat that is appx. 10 to 15 people deep) it is generally pretty rude to pay your bill and then sit for another 30 minutes or more especially in a small restaurant, and most especially if you have a party of 4 or more. I mean really, can't you continue your conversation at a bench outside or sit next to the water or sit at the open tables next to Peets.

Here's another one that happens constantly to many restaurants in the Ferry Building unless you chairs are bolted down. It's not ok to take a restaurant's chairs and make a camping spot for you and your friends to enjoy your picnic of items purchased from all the vendors in the Ferry Building. We need the chairs for our customers and they aren't communal. Why do you people who do that feel that's ok to do?

Perhaps I can illustrate this in a different way: Let's say you are on Valencia St. where there are may places to eat and drink next to each other.....and let's say that you and a couple of friends are short a chair, but you want to sit at Blondie’s for a beer. Do you really go to Luna Park and get a chair from them and bring it back to Blondie’s? Think about it...... The only difference between that scenario and the Ferry Building is that those two places are on Valencia. Where as in the Ferry Building we just don't have a formal doorway entrance and we are all under one roof. Seemingly, this doesn't even phase people who do this.

You know I even saw a guy hanging out at The Gardener the other day, for at least 30 minutes having lunch in their display Adirondack chair and he couldn't have been happier. He didn't think this was inappropriate at all and he had to have been in his middle 30s. Seriously, hello?, your are eating your lunch on someone's display chair!

I don't know, I have talked a lot about how somehow, the Ferry Building is perceived as some kind of giant food court and I feel as though I really need to remind visitors that it's a building that houses individual restaurants, and stores so just pretend you are walking down a street and act the same way you would on a street as you do in the Ferry Building.

Oh I get it now........

That’s why bars have the seats bolted to the floor. Note to self: bolt chairs to floor should we ever get different bar stools.

The blog you love to hate, or love, or hate, or love?

2009-08-06T07:49:00.000-07:00

Dear sweet Paolo, I believe I am in love with you! Whether you hate us or love us your comments about our blog are just what I needed. Thank you!

So this week I have all kinds of things to comment on, some of which are inspired by the comments on sf.eater.com. Many of you seem to think our blog is about posting a list of complaints about our customers. Actually, I started the blog because I really didn’t believe half of the stories I had heard about customers until I lived them myself. You see, I’ve only worked in this one restaurant and yes, as if that wasn’t odd enough, it’s not even my primary profession. What I am is an absolute food lover and honestly, if my pocket book could afford it, I would eat out 5 days a week. I’m the kind of person that sets up whole vacations around food.

Having said all that, I want to address the servers in the world and support you for all that you do. I can’t speak for all jobs, because anyone who has to deal with people on a daily level, has their own set of stories, but I think there’s this thing that happens when one is serving food.

I don’t think I have ever thought of this before, but a restaurant serves food and that’s something personal, something important, something that can change, alter or destroy or improve your mood. People get engaged at restaurants, break up at restaurants, celebrate, birthdays, anniversaries and even deaths at restaurants. So yes, I believe that serving food and working in a restaurant is in fact different than any other profession.

Additionally, whole families can come to a restaurant and trust me, some of those families don’t get on well with each other and guess what, servers often bare the brunt of their discontent.

Our blog is a highlight of the most challenged serving experiences because it is my personal crusade to have people relax and understand that honestly we care a lot that you are having a good time and when you don’t we want to work on it, but some people just need to read about their own messed up patterns of inappropriate behavior to really “get” how offensive they are for all our sakes (regardless of what side of the table you are on).

Love us or hate us, come in to visit us. If your experience was fun and yummy then you will really see how irrational the folks we mention are. Or, you may find out we are totally annoying and our food and our attitude are just what you thought, inappropriate.

If you’ve read the blog before, you may recall my entry where I mention the comment cards we have. This weekend the same server had what I would call a “hate card” and a “love card.” I was just laughing and laughing about this. It’s actually turned into a game I play with myself to see how many good comments I can accumulate in a day.

This day, my co worker got a hideous review and even one that said she ignored them because “they didn’t order any wine, forgot her tomatoes and didn’t bring the bread they wanted.”

By the time I got to them, they seemed to be less frustrated, but I assured them it had nothing to do with whether or not they ordered wine. About 2 hours later however, she got a review that said she was basically “the most kind, thoughtful server the family had ever had and that they had a great time during their meal and didn’t want to leave.”

Oh, but wait a minute, it was a pretty manic Saturday now that I think about it. I remember two other polar opinions about her…..

One table said that she was rude, short and inattentive while yet another table said they come for raw clams to our restaurant and loved them so much that whenever they are in town, they come by as much as possible.

So, thank you again sf.eater.com, Paolo Lucchesi, and all that have read our blog and commented on it. We appreciate you and hopefully you can’t wait to read our next blog since we can’t read to hear your next round of comments.

Oh and remember, EAT FISH!

You Know there are Rules to Eating Out

2009-07-28T11:48:00.000-07:00

This weekend started off a bit bumpy, but ended up sorting itself out as it usually does.

This story strikes me because it calls to question so many different things about people.

Some people move through the world trying to get something for free. They can’t help it, It’s in their fundamental character. Here are a couple of examples of what I am talking about:

We have all seen people comb the aisles of Costco who bring their friends and family and hit all the tasting stands to get a free meal. It never really matters what it is as long as it’s free. So they will have some kind of yogurt drink and a chicken sausage, a dried blueberry, a cracker and a hot chocolate.

How about friends who have a closet full of odd clothes because they got it “for free” or someone gave it to them and instead of turning it down graciously since it’s not their style or they don’t like it, they accept it and then never wear it.

Or there are people who will buy something just to get the rebate or the coupon. These are the folks that don’t care what it is it’s just a sport or a game to them.

I myself am all about the 2 for one or buy one get one free, but this is when I am at Safeway which is something we all are used to seeing. I am not looking for it at Whole Foods, because it’s not one of their marketing strategies. It’s kind of like there’s a time and a place to be price savvy and driven and then there’s the time to relax and just shop for what you need or like.

Having said all of this here’s the latest:

A woman came in with friends and ordered a series of oysters and clams on the half shell, some wine, some chowder and a crab cake. All of these items are cold and the soup is ready in a hot pot all day long to go out immediately. The crab cake on the other hand needs to cook, so it takes a bit longer. The table got all of their food with the exception of the crab cake which came 10 minutes later. The woman got very upset and said it took too long. So as a gesture, we didn’t charge her for the crab cake. Without the crab cake the bill came to appx. $68.00. She looked at the bill and wanted more taken off because she repeated that the crab cake took too long! We said we felt that 10 minutes was reasonable to cook it, we already took it off the bill and truly this was asking too much. Please, take care and have a good day.

Here’s the oddest part, remember when I said to some people getting something for free is just a game. One would think that after she appeared so upset, she wouldn’t tip……. well, she did, she actually even tipped.

I don’t understand why, if you were so upset, why you would tip at all. If I was at the table, I would be embarrassed and I can say, I don’t think I would go out to eat for a while with that individual. Oh my gosh, here’s my other pet peeve when I go out to eat with people or if I am the server who has to split this all up.

New story……………….

When folks go out to eat, why can’t people do their own math and simply divide a check into 6 and pay for the bill. Quite frequently we get people saying “we want separate checks” so each time you come to the table, you need to add the next item on the proper person’s bill. Trust me, it’s always on a table of like 5 or 6 people or more. What is that?

Why can’t people get the bill and just divide it by the number of people and pay it. Why do people have to nit pick over which person had the Mimosa vs. the glass of Vin Gris? 99% of the time, if we don’t split it up individually into separate checks the price difference is typically 1 or 2 dollars tops. Can’t people just get that when you are in a large group of people, it’s not the time to work your server over or work over your guests to try and divide everything up exactly down to yes, you’ve guessed it, who had 3 pieces of bread not 5 pieces of bread. Who had a 5.00 dessert vs. a 7.00 dessert. It’s just so tacky! I am pretty sure when they developed the saying “we are going Dutch treat” the term referred to 2 people not 5 or 6 or more. Good Lord! To top it off you don’t necessarily know if you are sitting at a table with these kind of people or not until the end of the meal when some says….. Um, excuse me, “Sorry, can we please have separate checks?” That’s when I’m like wait, I wasn’t keeping track of how many bites of so and so and so’s dessert I took or how many glasses of wine I had.

I do have a personal story about this. One night many years ago, I went for a lovely holiday dinner with two alcoholics one of which had a double addiction to food and all of us knew each other because we were all working on our addiction to spending money. We went to Zuni as a celebratory special dinner. I love! Zuni. So when I go, I always have a lot of cocktails and a lot of food because it’s so yummy. So the conversation went something like this to my best recollection:

“Isn’t this nice to finally have time to visit and during the Holidays? What a lovely idea.”

“What are you going to have to drink? Oh, I’ll just have water, I don’t drink.”

“Yeah, I um I’ll just have water as well. I don’t drink either.”

“Ok, well, I’m going to have a Bloody Mary.”

The drink comes………

“So, what looks good to eat to you two?”

“Um, well I can’t have anything with gluten.”

“I can’t have anything with sugar.”

“I can’t have anything with carbs.”

“I don’t eat meat.”

“I don’t eat chicken.”

“Actually, I am really trying to focus on being vegan.”

I’m thinking to myself, oh God, this is going to be some night! I want the anchovies appetizer, then the Caesar salad, then the roasted chicken, then the flourless chocolate cake and by the way if anyone will share, I’d love to have some oysters as well to start. Then, with each of those, I think I will have a glass of Riesling with my anchovies, a nice buttery Chardonnay with my Chicken and glorious Sauterne with my chocolate cake.

They looked at me like I had four heads and 6 arms….. I swear it.

Let’s just say that I don’t know what the heck they ate. I am sure that it was like a Caesar salad with no dressing, croutons or cheese and 6 oysters. ……By the end of the meal, when “the separate checks were requested,” I want to get out of there so fast! I might as well of dined alone with a fantastic book it would have been way more fun! Oh and by the way, our conversation was all about how maybe I have some issues with drinking and over eating. I’ll tell you more about that another time……..I’m telling you, I have never had a bad time at Zuni, but this one, Lord I barely escaped with my left over chicken alive!

So here are my rules when eating out with friends:

Go out with people who can afford to go out to the restaurant you choose. Don’t bring your friends to Quince if they can only afford McDonalds it’s going to be uncomfortable.

Go to places where there will be something to eat for everyone: Don’t go to House of Prime Rib with some vegans or vegetarians, they are going to flip out and the salmon is going to suck!

Narrow down what your friends like to do, if your friends don’t drink, then Absinthe is probably not a great choice of restaurant.

If you eat everything, let the friends with the most special needs choose the restaurant so that you don’t get the blame should they not be able to find something to eat.

Lastly, don’t try to convince your non foodie friends of your foodie ways, they just won’t get it. If every time you want to visit a friend and they suggest a hike and you would rather have a lovely dinner, maybe go on a walk and through a power bar in your back pack, because trust me, dinner will not be fun!

Watch out Low Flying Ducks!

2009-07-23T21:21:00.000-07:00

Some days, we end up being some kind of wharped dumping ground for people who have had a bad day or simply woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I have to say, that until I worked here, I never knew how many odd ducks are wondering the streets of San Francisco.

I have to believe this is not exclusive to our town, I’m sure even in well, Omaha, yea, yea Omaha, they even have their fare share of odd ducks….

So, with that, here’s an odd duck story. By the way, I swear, I don’t make this stuff up:

A patron ordered a Crab Sandwich. The Sandwich arrived and she said that’s not what I ordered….. The server said you said you wanted a Crab Sandwich….

I do, but I want a Crab Sandwich with cheese.

Oh… So you want a Crabmelt (She shows her the menu).

Yes she says.

The Crabmelt arrives. I want it open face…..

The Server says, Ok…. you want it open face.

Yes, I want it open face.

So our Manager overheard the conversation:
Would you like me to remove the top for you?

She said no…. I don’t want it anymore.

Our Manager said, Alrightly then.

So she just gave her the bill.

Seriously, how can a sandwich get soooooo complicated!

That’s it, I’m moving!

2009-07-23T21:19:00.000-07:00

I think I may have to move out of California since people’s senses of humor have just gone and left!

We wanted to get more feedback from folks who have visited the restaurant after they ate. So we came up with a short and sweet comment card. Now who doesn’t hate a comment card, but honestly it’s been really helpful, and important for us to review.

When we developed the comment card, we wanted to at least make it sort of cute and funny to encourage people to fill it out.

Here are the multiple answer questions we asked.

Was your server pleasant and helpful in describing the menu?
Very Helpful Sort of Helpful Not Helpful at All

Was your server pleasant and helpful in describing the wine list?
Very Helpful Sort of Helpful Not Helpful at All

Was the service timely?
Very Fast Ok I was starving by the time it came

How did you enjoy the food?
Super Yummy It was alright definitely not my favorite

Did the fact that we have heated outdoor seating play a part in
why you chose to dine with us? (circle one of the options below)
Very Important Somewhat important Unimportant

How likely are you to return to our restaurant?
Very Likely Possibly Unlikely

A few weeks ago we got a comment card back that said the patron was totally offended by the language we used when we said “I was starving by the time it came.” He said he
doesn’t believe this generation has faced starvation in their lives. He went on to say I have been there..... and starvation is not a funny subject and I am offended by statement.

My Manager came to me and mentioned the comment and we both were quite taken back to say the least. I just don’t know what has happened to everyone’s sense of humor. Are we really truly becoming a society of people that can’t take a light hearted approach to life. Life is serious as it is, but when a comment card becomes offensive I think we need to take a deep breath and relax. RELAX……………RELAX…………..RELAX……..

Are we really talking about the 50 cent bread charge again? Seriously?

2009-07-16T11:56:00.000-07:00

From 07/13/09

Just when you thought it was safe to poke your head out and see what Yelpers are saying, BLAM, another odd comment I’ve got to address.

Here’s what the Yelper said:

Get ready for shockingly small $16 portions.

$5 for a cup of chowda. $0.50 for a piece of bread?

I don't get it.A little too gimmicky.

I know the rent there must be outrageous, so I understand.

In these hard times, it's tough sell.

Here are my thoughts: $5.00 for a cup of chowder is pretty reasonable for a daily soup with fresh clams in it. Have you been to a movie lately sir, you can barely get a soda for $5.00 which comes out of soda machine, no one made it!

Ah yes, fish is expensive and I have honestly not heard anyone ever complain about our portion size. I was trying to figure out what this gentleman had for $16.00, but alas, I can’t. I feel as though our portion sizes are appropriate for the average eater, but maybe he should have had a crab melt or something heavier. His comments seem to be driven primarily by portion and price. Anyone who has been to the Ferry Building knows, that’s not the scene at the Ferry Building.You have to pay $10.00 for two fish tacos and a drink at Mejita. That’s not a mission price, it’s a quality price.

Who lives in San Francisco and hasn’t heard of the City’s healthcare initiative? Even my beloved Zuni finally started charging 4% of the overall bill to cover healthcare. Our restaurant charges for bread which I am sooooo tired of talking about, which is the least expensive approach to assist the restaurant in covering this overhead. Plus…… it’s a choice to eat bread not a flat rate like most restaurants attached to your bill. My kind Sir, healthcare is not a gimmick and neither is our 50 cent charge for it.

Having said all that I shall move on from my rant with the following closing thoughts, before you write a review of a restaurant, identify what you look for in a great dining experience before you take cheap shots like complaining about bread being 50 cents. Just say, when I ate at “blank” I went in looking for a cheap quick meal…… Or, when I ate at “blank” I went in looking for some really great clean fish with good flavors…..

No one owns a restaurant and doesn’t care about the product they put out and yet, we are a business and we need to tow the line between the product and the price every day.

Think before you write a review, think about the surroundings, the kind of people, that go there, the type of food you are looking and the staff that serves you. From there, take time to write an accurate, thoughtful review.

Thank you Yelpers. As usual, whether I am either pleased, or frustrated I am provoked to respond and think about what you all have to say.

Dissed By Mean Girls

2009-06-02T13:25:00.000-07:00

Waiting in line and telling us how we should set up our tables. Yes, yes, you know who you are……

While waiting in line, some folks get really impatient because they can’t believe there’s a line in the first place, but on Saturdays, in the Summer, in the Ferry Building, outside, there will be a line folks.

Here’s a little side lesson about seating in a restaurant: Most restaurants, unless you are a really regular customer, who orders a lot of food, we don’t prefer (not that we won’t) to sit 2 people at a 4 person table, because each chair makes money. If there is no body in the chair, than it’s wasted space. Generally speaking, we will have you wait for a 2 person table.

So, a gentleman had 5 people and he wanted a table. 5 was a wee bit tricky, because we can’t fit 5 folks at a 4 person table it would be tight. If you want to sit together, which most folks do, we have to get a 2 top and a 4 top together, next to each other to create the table. In the end, he had to separate his children, 2 teenage girls from his son and he and his wife. So we did 3 and then 2. Since seating is not a very compelling topic, I will tell you how I got “dissed” by 2 teenage girls. So I greeted the girls, I am thinking 15 ish and they asked me for my all time favorite thing (not) clam chowder in a bread bowl. Now all of you out there that come to San Francisco, and you are on the hunt for soup in a bread bowl, I swear, I just DON”T GET IT!. Think about it, a gooey soup inside mushy bread. Now once you are done with your chunky monkey soup, what are going to do?, eat the that gooey bread bowl. I typically keep all of these thoughts to myself, because of course, I am a professional, but also because, I try to be pleasant.

“Hi there, what can I get you?”

“Yes, we would like to have 2 clam chowders in the bread bowl please.”

“ I’m sorry we have clam chowder and we have bread, but not the two together.”

Sigh, eye roll, oh, um……. (I so wanted to have one of them flip their hair to one side)

“Is that going to be ok or would you like something else (Secretly I was thinking I am a 41 year old woman who so just got dissed by 2 15 year old girls, It’s like I was just bashed by the “Mean girls!”)?”

“Um, well that’s ok then just the soup and bread then.”