OK, today some friends and I meet for breakfast at a local diner. When the waitress appears to take our order, I ask her (as I always do) if they use real butter. She says no, that they use a "blend".

Right there, I should have demurred, but I order
pancakes without the "blend", never thinking that they fry the pancakes in that same gucky "blend".

Sick all day.

Most places here seem unaware that margarine is not “butter”. I share your disgruntlement.

quote:

Most places here seem unaware that margarine is not “butter”. I share your disgruntlement.

That is a long-standing pet peeve of mine, along with non-dairy coffee "creamer."

I don't return to restaurants that claim not to have butter - O'Charleys

The waitresses at the diner my wife and I frequent for breakfast always bring me extra butter.

There is a pricey breakfast place near me that serves artificially flavored syrup. For the prices they charge, they should be importing pure maple syrup directly from Vermont.

I don’t know whether this is fact, but somebody told me that the Cracker Barrel chain buys around 30% of Vermont’s annual maple syrup sales.

Real maple syrup is hard to find in New York diners, and we produce tons of it. Any Vermont diner will unfailingly serve the real thing!

Also, do you all hate that restaurants don't slice bread loaves all the way through?

You better grab the bread first, because your tablemate may have just been hand-sorting weasels or something and will grab that loaf and tear off a chunk--or right after a long visit to the bathroom.

quote:

Originally posted by CoolRich59:
There is a pricey breakfast place near me that serves artificially flavored syrup. For the prices they charge, they should be importing pure maple syrup directly from Vermont.

I hate that. Quality condiments make a meal more enjoyable. The country club I belong to tried that switch. The menu even claimed "warm Maple syrup" with pancake order. I went off on the waiter and then the chef and then the manager. They just changed the menu wording.

Occasionally go to "The Egg and I" by my house for breakfast. They are kind enough to make (off the menu) pecan pancakes for me. I honestly don't know why they're not on the menu and I've told them every time they should be. They would [ahem, cough] sell like hotcakes.

At any rate, I'm at another location with my bro by HIS house and order (again...off menu) pecan pancakes. The waitress comes back and says the manager can't allow pecans to be in the pancake batter...allergies. With a puzzled look, I tell the waitress I've ordered them at another location and to boot, the cook doesn't have to put pecans in the ENTIRE batch of batter. Just pour batter on the griddle for "MY" pancakes and put pecans on them. I even offered to go make them myself. No dice. Yeah...I haven't gone back.

Hope you're feeling better, Agnes!!

A restaurant rant by someone who goes by "Black Angus," say it ain't so.

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:

A restaurant rant by someone who goes by "Black Angus," say it ain't so.

It ain't so.

My restaurant rant:
When I enter my local eatery, I look... Surly. The entire crowd expects me to shout "get off my lawn"!
And what does my waitress (oops... server) do? Leads my crabby ass right to the table or booth that has the largest possible clan of screaming, mouth breathing, snot producing "children". The parents of this disgusting mob are neck deep in their phones and the kids could begin carving each other with the steak knives before they would exercise any riot control. That is until my waitress (server) returns with the cutlery and I announce I want to be seated elsewhere. The parents then glare in a most unfriendly manner and the brats immediately morph into visions of angelic cherubs. I am then lead into the back of the place to a table of shame.
The butter is the least of my concerns!

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
I don’t know whether this is fact, but somebody told me that the Cracker Barrel chain buys around 30% of Vermont’s annual maple syrup sales.

Live down the road from a Cracker Barrel, tis the good stuff

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
My restaurant rant:
When I enter my local eatery, I look... Surly. The entire crowd expects me to shout "get off my lawn"!
And what does my waitress (oops... server) do? Leads my crabby ass right to the table or booth that has the largest possible clan of screaming, mouth breathing, snot producing "children". The parents of this disgusting mob are neck deep in their phones and the kids could begin carving each other with the steak knives before they would exercise any riot control. That is until my waitress (server) returns with the cutlery and I announce I want to be seated elsewhere. The parents then glare in a most unfriendly manner and the brats immediately morph into visions of angelic cherubs. I am then lead into the back of the place to a table of shame.
The butter is the least of my concerns!

I try to head off a bad situation earlier in the process. I always survey the dining room before the host/hostess begins to lead my party to a table. If the location they choose is not to my satisfaction, I request a table or booth of my choosing. The last time that happened I was told they had to put me where I didn't want to be to balance out the servers work load. I told them they could seat me where I wanted to sit or I'd be more than happy to take my business down the street. Amazingly, they were able to accommodate my request.

One of the strange laws in Wisconsin:

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If you eat a meal in a Wisconsin restaurant and want margarine instead of butter, you have to ask for it. Wisconsin law forbids the substitution of margarine for butter in a public eating place. A few lawmakers tried to overturn the law in 2011 but failed in their effort. Under the law, students, patients, and inmates in state institutions will be served butter with meals unless a doctor says that margarine is necessary for their health. And when you shop for margarine in a Wisconsin grocery store, you must buy a whole pound colored a certain shade of yellow and labeled in letters of a specific size. And don’t even think about making that margarine with imported oil—only domestic vegetable oil can be used in Wisconsin margarine.

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That is a long-standing pet peeve of mine, along with non-dairy coffee "creamer."

LOL, my wifes been drinking International delite and Coffemate. I read the ingredients. You're drinking vegetable oil and flavorings LOL. There are coffee creamers that have milk and cream (Baileys, Dairygold), but you have to read the ingredient list. Otherwise, you're drinking....


Vegetable oil for breakfast.

LOL

If you eat a meal in a Wisconsin restaurant and want margarine instead of butter, you have to ask for it. Wisconsin law forbids the substitution of margarine for butter in a public eating place. A few lawmakers tried to overturn the law in 2011 but failed in their effort. Under the law, students, patients, and inmates in state institutions will be served butter with meals unless a doctor says that margarine is necessary for their health. And when you shop for margarine in a Wisconsin grocery store, you must buy a whole pound colored a certain shade of yellow and labeled in letters of a specific size. And don’t even think about making that margarine with imported oil—only domestic vegetable oil can be used in Wisconsin margarine.
^^^^^

Protecting the dairy farmers. I lived there for a time. Liked the people a lot. Probably still more cows than people. My wife from the South got annoyed everytime she ordered tea, they brought hot tea, even in the summer. LOL

quote:

One of the strange laws in Wisconsin:

Well, butter is how Wisconsin makes their bread, after all.

Butter and (gasp) lard have been demonized for so long yet they're actually better and healthier than the substitutes pushed on us.

As a small part of a potentially MUCH larger rant, we found it convenient to stop at Micky D's today.

Yes, I know, but they haven't managed to fuck up the Egg McMuffin. Yet.

So, we walk in. 6+ people in line, ONE doofus working the counter. Bad, but it gets worse.

Said doofus has a REALLY bad cold (or maybe tuberculosis or lung cancer...) and has a coughing fit that literally drives her to the floor on her knees behind the counter. She eventually gets back on her feet and at least has the courtesy to walk over to the sink and wash her hands and face before returning to work.

An order of 2 Egg McMuffins and a cup of hot water (for SWMBO's tea) took 15 or 20 minutes to complete AND I had to ask for the hot water a second time when I picked up the order.

Seeing as the counter person didn't actually handle the order, we're unlikely to contract whatever strain of Ebola she had, but still...if you're THAT sick, don't fucking come to work in a food service job, mmmmmkay?