Retired Washington Post restaurant critic Phyllis Richman lets loose with her own waiter rant. I've eaten with Phyllis, and she's smart, funny, and doesn't suffer fools gladly. Her pet peeves: Restaurant staffers who snatch plates at a table before everyone is doneDisappearing waiters who stop paying attention to their station, even whey Phyllis wants to pay the checkShow-off waiters who insist on asking how everything is What else do waiters do that drive serious eaters crazy?...
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Do men get better service than women at restaurants? asks Cynthia Kilian of the New York Post. Tim Zagat of the eponymous guidebooks says yes: "Women arriving together very often get shown to less-desirable seats. Men always seem to be offered the bill, regardless of who's paying, even the female boss. And when it comes to tasting wine, "very often they'll give it to almost every man at the table before they get around to [the woman] ordering the wine," Zagat says." Is the poor service because women tend to tip less than men do? Or do women tip less because they don't get treated as well? All I know is, shoddy service means I'll never go back—and I'll tell...
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