Tag: restaurants

  • Tyler Cowen’s Ethnic Dining Tips and Rules: An Economist’s Take on Eating Out

    When it comes to finding, ordering, and eating at ethnic restaurants there’s only one place to look for advice: economist Tyler Cowen’s Ethnic Dining Guide. I’ve mentioned Cowen’s guide before (if only in passing), but it’s time I dedicated a post to this treasure trove of dining advice and, especially, the tips from Cowen’s General…

  • Bribing and Restaurant Seating

    Does bribing your way into a busy restaurant work as well as it seems to in movies? Is it even possible?Ā Bruce FeilerĀ decided to find out by visiting some of New York’s most overbooked restaurants with nothing more than a pocketful of money (i.e. no reservations). His results were not quite as expected, finding thatĀ bribing hosts…

  • 100 Tips for Providing Perfect Restaurant Service

    Bruce Buschel–author, co-creator of a musical, director and producer–isĀ opening a seafood restaurant in New York. In his Small Business column forĀ The New York Times he offers 100 tips to ‘restaurant staffers’ (waiting staff) on how to behave front of house (that’s the first 50 tips;Ā here are the second 50). I (unexpectedly) found myself agreeing with…

  • In Defence of Fixed Service Charges (or: Why Only Tip for Service?)

    Tipping: that most contentious of issues that–depending on your location–can be illegal, required, or the most heinous of etiquette crimes. It’s a complicated business (as the Wikipedia entry indicates by the size of the Tipping by region section), and an odd and occasionally uncomfortable tradition. As a self-proclaimed ‘socially awkward Briton’ David Mitchell laments the…

  • Observations on Dining

    Ben Casnocha compiles a list of grievances and observations on “restaurants, tips, and bread baskets”. For example: If I were a restaurant manager I would spend 30 minutes with each of my waiters explaining the research around how to maximize tips from patrons. For example, leaving a mint with the bill or drawing a smiley…