Leena Eats, Gourmet Communication ... Food, Travel, Gastronomy

Hey, I’m with you. Literally, I was with you at this restaurant. I can validate everything you said. I’ve tried restaurant week in the past, thought it was moderately mediocre – thought I’d give it a try again. I had also heard great reviews for Farmerie 58. But – how hypocritical is it for a restaurant that claims to support sustainable, local, organic agriculture to put RASPBERRIES on your dessert? In Chicago? In FEBRUARY!?! Argh. The food otherwise was alright, but not worth the money. The wine was a disaster.

But the company was nice. Lemons to lemonade.

Hey, I’m with you. Literally, I was with you at this restaurant. I can validate everything you said. I’ve tried restaurant week in the past, thought it was moderately mediocre – thought I’d give it a try again. I had also heard great reviews for Farmerie 58. But – how hypocritical is it for a restaurant that claims to support sustainable, local, organic agriculture to put RASPBERRIES on your dessert? In Chicago? In FEBRUARY!?! Argh. The food otherwise was alright, but not worth the money. The wine was a disaster.

But the company was nice. Lemons to lemonade.

I agree whole-heartedly. I hate restaurant week. I really do. The food is usually mass produced and carelessly arranged. Quantity (in terms of servings, not mass) over quality reigns supreme when a restaurant tries to serve a ton of people. This makes no sense, since at least one reason for hosting restaurant week is to ‘recruit’ new customers. I have never been recruited by a restaurant week event. RW sucks, but not as much as your server! Unacceptable behavior. Hope you were brave enough to withhold tip. I never am, but wish I were!

I agree whole-heartedly. I hate restaurant week. I really do. The food is usually mass produced and carelessly arranged. Quantity (in terms of servings, not mass) over quality reigns supreme when a restaurant tries to serve a ton of people. This makes no sense, since at least one reason for hosting restaurant week is to ‘recruit’ new customers. I have never been recruited by a restaurant week event. RW sucks, but not as much as your server! Unacceptable behavior. Hope you were brave enough to withhold tip. I never am, but wish I were!

It’ll be interesting to see how our Restaurant Week here in Columbus measures up. Luckily, I’ve been to many of these restaurants before, so I have a baseline for comparison. I’m keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best.

It’ll be interesting to see how our Restaurant Week here in Columbus measures up. Luckily, I’ve been to many of these restaurants before, so I have a baseline for comparison. I’m keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best.

Claire- Thank yu for reminding me about the raspberries. Ugh,you know how eating terribly unseasonal food that was could only have been grown in another country makes me a bit queasy! But yes, the company definitely helped the evening;)

Anna-I am constantly on the fence about the whole ‘withholding tips from waiters if they suck’ debate. On the one hand, I completely understand that waiters in the U.S. don’t get paid a lot, so they make a living off of tips. If cooks and chefs cook a bad plate of food, they still get paid for a night’s work. But if waiter has a bad night or encounters an angry customer, they could easily lose a large chunk of their income. It is not completely fair to withhold tip, as the waiters expect and need it.

However, there are just some jobs in the U.S. were salaries are performance-based, such as sales jobs, taxi drivers and waiting tables, and if you choose one of those jobs, you have to accept the conditions. If you are good at the job, you make a lot of money. If you aren’t, you don’t make money. Deal with it! A chef may still get paid for a night’s work after serving bad food, but in a nice enough restaurant, the waitstaff often makes more money than the chef. How is that fair? Chefs could work the twice the hours under twice as hard & dangerous conditions as the waitstaff, and still earn significantly less than a waiter.

Point is–there are advantages and disadvantages to all jobs, so arguing that because waiters are paid less, they automatically deserve a tip from the customer does not seem to hold up. Like it or not, customers are the real judge of how good a job a waiter does, and if a waiter is rude or steers you in the wrong direction so they can make a bigger tip, they do not deserve a full tip of 20-30% (which is what I usually tip). We ended up leaving our waitress a tip, but not a full one.

Columbus Foodie-Welcome! I also hope your RW is better than mine, but I think you have the right idea by knowing the restaurants really well before going to them. Good luck!

Claire- Thank yu for reminding me about the raspberries. Ugh,you know how eating terribly unseasonal food that was could only have been grown in another country makes me a bit queasy! But yes, the company definitely helped the evening;)

Anna-I am constantly on the fence about the whole ‘withholding tips from waiters if they suck’ debate. On the one hand, I completely understand that waiters in the U.S. don’t get paid a lot, so they make a living off of tips. If cooks and chefs cook a bad plate of food, they still get paid for a night’s work. But if waiter has a bad night or encounters an angry customer, they could easily lose a large chunk of their income. It is not completely fair to withhold tip, as the waiters expect and need it.

However, there are just some jobs in the U.S. were salaries are performance-based, such as sales jobs, taxi drivers and waiting tables, and if you choose one of those jobs, you have to accept the conditions. If you are good at the job, you make a lot of money. If you aren’t, you don’t make money. Deal with it! A chef may still get paid for a night’s work after serving bad food, but in a nice enough restaurant, the waitstaff often makes more money than the chef. How is that fair? Chefs could work the twice the hours under twice as hard & dangerous conditions as the waitstaff, and still earn significantly less than a waiter.

Point is–there are advantages and disadvantages to all jobs, so arguing that because waiters are paid less, they automatically deserve a tip from the customer does not seem to hold up. Like it or not, customers are the real judge of how good a job a waiter does, and if a waiter is rude or steers you in the wrong direction so they can make a bigger tip, they do not deserve a full tip of 20-30% (which is what I usually tip). We ended up leaving our waitress a tip, but not a full one.

Columbus Foodie-Welcome! I also hope your RW is better than mine, but I think you have the right idea by knowing the restaurants really well before going to them. Good luck!