Our sister site HLN reports that a Houston, Texas family claims they were locked inside La Fisherman restaurant after refusing to pay a 17 percent tip on their meal. The restaurant's policy states that the percentage will be automatically added to the tab for parties of five or more.

Customer Jasmine Marks told Click2Houston.com that the staff was rude, the drinks weren't refilled and her group received generally poor service. Marks asked if she could speak to a manager to have the auto-gratuity stripped from the bill, but claims the staff locked the doors and told her that her options were to pay the 17 percent or speak with the police outside.
FULL POST

You say broo-sheh-tah. I say broo-ske-tah. Should we just call the whole meal off?

Dining out gives people a night off from cooking and clean-up duty, but it can also serve up a buffet of pronunciation pitfalls.

The Wall Street Journal recently revealed that, after years of testing, Olive Garden’s gnocchi sales finally took off after the dish was further described on the menu as “traditional Italian dumplings.”

In the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, a study titled “The name-pronunciation effect: Why people like Mr. Smith more than Mr. Colquhoun” further proved people are more likely to favor easy-to-pronounce names than difficult-to-pronounce ones. In the case of Olive Garden, traditional Italian dumplings (Mr. Smith) won the popularity contest against gnocchi (Mr. Colquhoun), and added an extra comfort level for diners.
FULL POST

Would you eat at a restaurant without knowing if the food has gotten a good review? How about basing the night's dining destination on how well its employees are treated?

A new guide has been released rating restaurants not on the quality of their cuisine, but rather on fairness.

"Diners' Guide 2012: A Consumer’s Guide on the Working Conditions of American Restaurants" evaluates establishments nationwide, from fast food to fine dining, ranking them on their labor practices.
FULL POST

Alec Baldwin and Martin Luther King Jr. did it. So did Zach Galifianakis and Jon Stewart. Table bussing is generally one of the lowest-paid, least glamorous restaurant gigs, but it's almost a rite of passage for those entering the service industry.

The word "busboy" (or girl) comes from a combination of "bus," derived from omnibus - meaning ‘dealing with numerous objects and items at once - and "boy," because at the time (1910 or so) most positions were filled by young men.

Duties typically include removing finished plates and glasses, resetting tables and, fairly often, cleaning up diners' spills and messes. Restaurant labor was divided this way so that servers could spend more time tending to tables. Some restaurants even go as far as to separate table setting, bussing, refilling water and food running into individual jobs.
FULL POST

5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors, and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe.

Yesterday, we learned if the restaurant is already out of the snapper special during the first seating and the waiter wants to know your family tree, chances are Sean Elder, editor in chief of the digital food magazine Real Eats, isn't going to be returning to said eating establishment anytime soon.

More than 400 of you weighed in to agree, disagree and agree to disagree on Elder's restaurant red flags - and now he's back, counterpoint style, to identify the clues that your meal ahead is in capable hands.

Five Signs You Are In A Good Restaurant: Sean Elder
FULL POST

5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors, and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe.

Whether it's no one at the host stand to greet you, overly perky waiters wearing vests with 'flair,' or a mixologist sneering from behind the bar at your libation of choice, there are serious red flags when you walk into a restaurant that the meal ahead is going to be nothing but bad news bears.

Sure, there are a few exceptions where the food speaks louder than the curmudgeonly waitstaff - but don't say Sean Elder, editor in chief of the digital food magazine Real Eats, didn't warn you.

Five Things You Never Want to Hear in a Restaurant: Sean Elder
FULL POST

Celebrities have been frequenting restaurants for a while now—the Algonquin Round Table was in full effect in the 1920s. So we won’t pretend it's news to see a famous person sitting in a dining room. But it’s quite amazing to see how far some restaurants go these days to protect their more recognizable guests.

Here’s Ken Friedman, co-owner of such NYC celeb hang-outs as the Spotted Pig and the Breslin, sounding like Brad Pitt in Fight Club. “The first rule at my restaurants is don’t talk about who’s eating at my restaurants.”

Here are some other rules we've seen NYC restaurants employ.
FULL POST

Jim Boulden is a CNN Business 360 correspondent

I've just gotten back from a ten day holiday trip in the U.S., which included a lot of meals, bars, baseball games and hotel rooms – which means, of course, a lot of tipping, or not as the case may be.

I may be American by birth, but I have spent 20 years overseas and so I have to re-learn when to tip, how much to tip, and how to get out of tipping when it feels right.

I am also cheap. I hate the pressure to tip but I am quite happy to tip well when the service warrants. I also know well that many an American teenager survive off the tips, something non Americans don't seem to readily understand.

Read Jim's tipping tips at Tipping traps in the U.S.

The composed salad tasted of Spring, the Turbot special was sumptuous and buttery and the first glass of Prosecco di Valdobbiadene unexpectedly and delightfully dry. I would gladly have ordered a second, but the offer never came.

Nor did a check-in after the food arrived, a smile of any wattage, or any indication at all that we were welcome in the restaurant at 8 p.m. on a slow-ish Thursday evening. Just the check at the end. Was it something we'd done?
FULL POST

5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors, and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe.

Don't let its charming jingle fool you: hard decisions abound at the ice cream truck.

Some of us can hardly figure out which pant leg to put on first in the morning, let alone decide between a cup or cone. And don't even get us started on whether to go with sprinkles or without - we may bust a coronary.

In general, ordering food can be sensory overload for those who hem and haw. That's why owners like Douglas Quint of the über-popular Big Gay Ice Cream Truck (and soon-to-open shop) sometimes have to take matters into their own hands.

Customers Who Are Better Off If I Decide Their Orders: Douglas Quint of Big Gay Ice Cream
FULL POST