nyc xyz

Say, what's this crazy fee for sharing that, apparently, some
restaurants charge??

There is this spanish restaurant that charged me some kind of penalty
fee for sharing a pot of seafood paella (or whatever the hell it's
called) with my date who doesn't eat much. The pot of boiled rice and
seafood bits (big deal!), a salad, and two soups was like $30 already,
and the manager charged me like another $6 for sharing! WTF is up with
this??? Is this a very common practice in hoity places?? el senor
claims it's for having to wash the "extra" dishes and ultensils...?how
do you say WTF in espagnol? I dine rather widely and have never heard
of this BS.

ericka kammerer

Yes, it is not uncommon. It is extra work for the
restaurant and the server.

Best wishes,
Ericka

spope33@speedymailorg steve

A waitstaff angling for a better tip will leave out the
plate sharing fee even if there is one mentioned on the
menu. Especially if you are not under-ordering in general,
it's reasonable not to charge it. It's really there
for people who are taking up too much table space in
exchange for not ordering enough -- such fees go to the
house, not the server.

Steve

ward abbott

On 17 Apr 2006 15:34:13 -0700, "NYC XYZ" <jack_foreigner@yahoo.com>


YOU need to get out more in the real world. A "sharing charge" is
common....just like there are no take outs at a Ryan's Steakhouse hog
trough.

nyc xyz

Thanks Steve and Ericka...I guess the place was much more "hoity" than
my usual ethnic haunts! I've never had such a fee in any Asian
restaurant (Chinese, Thai, Indian, Pakistani, etc.), even those with
waitstaff and real china, so maybe it's a European cuisine kind of
thing. Though...I've dined at other Spanish restaurants before, and
Italian ones, too, and this plate-sharing fee is news to me. That's
just plain ridiculous...I wish I had the presence of mind at the time
to ask for a $6 salad instead of paying a $6 fee....

nyc xyz

Wish these hoity places would post their menus in the window like some
Parisian joints do so I can avoid them and their stupid fees. It's not
like I'm taking up a table during weekend dinner for $10 of salad and
mineral water!

trippinkpj

I'm not a big eater, so I get grumpy at that plate sharing charge. Most
of the time, my husband orders an entree and I get a bowl of soup
and/or small salad. We usually don't get charged extra.

miss elaine eos

Wait until you bring your own favorite bottle of wine or birthday cake,
and they charge you to uncork/slice it (whether it is you or they who do
the uncorking/slicing)! <G>

While I admit to agreeing that this is unsettling, it is also quite
common enough to be considered customary. The places which do not do
this are "a cut above."

--
Please take off your shoes before arriving at my in-box.
I will not, no matter how "good" the deal, patronise any business which sends
unsolicited commercial e-mail or that advertises in discussion newsgroups.

zedbanty

In article <1145318859.185202.218220@v46g2000cwv.googlegroups .com>, NYC XYZ
says...

Possibly - this kind of restaurant gets impacted quite a lot by plate-sharing.

I know of one women's wear store that has a rather strict non-return policy on a
certain category of their stock. Before that policy, the returns were nearly
70%. That store and category of stock was a maternity wear store, and the
category was their dress and evening wear. The owner had grown tired of being a
free-for-rent outlet for maternity evening wear.

ZedBatny


--

zedbanty

In article <1145313253.221302.193370@j33g2000cwa.googlegroups .com>, NYC XYZ
says...


I don't know about that practice enough to comment on it as far as propriety (I
don't defend it or condemn it at this point), but you should know that
restaurants operate on a fairly small margin. And that margin is met by having
a certain throughput of diners per seat through the day. If their meals are
often shared (paella as a speciality may be especially subject to that), they
effectively have fewer diners than they've hosted. That's both an opportunity
cost and a real cost.

ZedBanty


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