What's your hot button for a restaurant?

Everyone has a hot button when dining that if a restaurant gets it right, they can gauge how the rest of the experience will go. For example...
The mix in the soda machine between syrup and carbonation. If I get a soft drink that is all carbonation and not enough syrup, well, I'm really bummed. My mind starts reasoning that if they are cutting corners there they might be cutting corners elsewhere as well.
For my niece, (as well as many many others) it's the cleanliness of the restrooms.
What's your hot button?

How the food tastes. I can look over almost anything if it is good.

I have to agree about the bathroom thing. A dirty bathroom, or lack of TP (a square to spare!) really irritates me.

Starts from the very beginning for me...

Is there someone waiting at the hostess/host stand? If not, does someone soon appear? If I am waiting at the stand, do employees, especially if these employees are not the host/hostess, acknowledge that I exist?

I completely agree with Matthew. I can think of one restaurant in particular where this happened to me, twice! Both times, I've walked in, found an empty host stand and have had to just stand there and wait. The servers nearby clearly see me, but they do nothing. I know I'm not invisible! I would appreciate it if someone would at least say, "Hey, I'm sure it'll be just a minute before ______ (host) seats you. Thanks for waiting."

Recently it's been attitude from servers changing when not ordering drinks with dinner. Experienced twice last week at fine dining establishments on vacation (so not local). I'm sorry if you are mad that it means a lower ticket and a lower tip, but you aren't doing yourself any favors on that front by looking put out when we order water only.

My "Hot Button" I have two

1) My 10 min. Rule...After being seated, if I a server does not come and acknowledge me and take my drink order within 10 min. I leave. It has been my experience that service never…never gets better.

2) When Presented by bill…if the servers asks if I would like change back…His tip just went to 15% if not less. It is truly my number one pet peeve.

How the food tastes. I can look over almost anything if it is good.

This.

1) My 10 min. Rule...After being seated, if I a server does not come and acknowledge me and take my drink order within 10 min. I leave. It has been my experience that service never…never gets better.

2) When Presented by bill…if the servers asks if I would like change back…His tip just went to 15% if not less. It is truly my number one pet peeve.

I definitely agree with both of these especially the first one but one of my biggest ones concerns reservations/call ahead seating or should I say lack of.

It's kind of like doctors' offices that don't think your time is worth anything. They make you wait forever when you could be doing something else. Restaurants that don't take reservations or have call ahead seating are doing the same thing in my opinion. They don't care if you have to sit around for an hour or more they just want you to spend money there! I understand they want to keep the table filled but they could just as easily do this while being more considered of their customers time.

Well yeah, I can agree with all those but I meant what one little tip-off that might be a clue or an indicator that things may go awry.( By the time you've gotten your bill you know what kind of meal you've had) I'sy I didn't make myself more clear.

It's all about the attitude of the first person who greets you. And I I say "thank you," and that person says "no problem," there's a problem.

My "Hot Button" IWhen Presented by bill…if the servers asks if I would like change back…His tip just went to 15% if not less. It is truly my number one pet peeve.

I may not be clear on what the point is behind this one. Could be circumstantial. If we had a couple of sandwiches and iced tea and put down a C note and got that question it would be one thing. Often I'll put a collection of currency down and our wait person asks that question. Sometimes I do want change and sometimes, between my wife and me, we include the typical 20% or whatever and don't want anything back. Honestly, I've never been in a situation where the question about change was a negative experience as a diner. I would never want a server to assume I DON'T want change back. Most servers offer the more skillful "I'll be right back with your change" giving me the "That's OK, we're good" or the "Yes, please and can you make that with [insert appropriate denomination breakdown for whatever we need for our intended tip]" option.
If it's the method by which the information is elicited from the customer that's at issue, then your sentiment is instructional to servers who read the blog who can learn a better way to go about the transactional details. But the server should find out, otherwise he/she could end up going off to get change and make a wasted trip back to our empty table if we included the tip we wanted to leave. I would not feel right if I wasted someone's time on their job that could be better used in attending to the business of other customers.

Hot button: How long does it take to get from drink order to drinks on table. From that point on my spidey sense tells me what kind of night its going to be....

My "Hot Button" IWhen Presented by bill…if the servers asks if I would like change back…His tip just went to 15% if not less. It is truly my number one pet peeve.

I may not be clear on what the point is behind this one. Could be circumstantial. If we had a couple of sandwiches and iced tea and put down a C note and got that question it would be one thing. Often I'll put a collection of currency down and our wait person asks that question. Sometimes I do want change and sometimes, between my wife and me, we include the typical 20% or whatever and don't want anything back. Honestly, I've never been in a situation where the question about change was a negative experience as a diner. I would never want a server to assume I DON'T want change back. Most servers offer the more skillful "I'll be right back with your change" giving me the "That's OK, we're good" or the "Yes, please and can you make that with [insert appropriate denomination breakdown for whatever we need for our intended tip]" option.
If it's the method by which the information is elicited from the customer that's at issue, then your sentiment is instructional to servers who read the blog who can learn a better way to go about the transactional details. But the server should find out, otherwise he/she could end up going off to get change and make a wasted trip back to our empty table if we included the tip we wanted to leave. I would not feel right if I wasted someone's time on their job that could be better used in attending to the business of other customers.

Lonnie, 90 % of the time that is how it works.
Even though cash transactions as a whole are going away as the Dodo.

My "Hot Button" IWhen Presented by bill…if the servers asks if I would like change back…His tip just went to 15% if not less. It is truly my number one pet peeve.

I may not be clear on what the point is behind this one. Could be circumstantial. If we had a couple of sandwiches and iced tea and put down a C note and got that question it would be one thing. Often I'll put a collection of currency down and our wait person asks that question. Sometimes I do want change and sometimes, between my wife and me, we include the typical 20% or whatever and don't want anything back. Honestly, I've never been in a situation where the question about change was a negative experience as a diner. I would never want a server to assume I DON'T want change back. Most servers offer the more skillful "I'll be right back with your change" giving me the "That's OK, we're good" or the "Yes, please and can you make that with [insert appropriate denomination breakdown for whatever we need for our intended tip]" option.
If it's the method by which the information is elicited from the customer that's at issue, then your sentiment is instructional to servers who read the blog who can learn a better way to go about the transactional details. But the server should find out, otherwise he/she could end up going off to get change and make a wasted trip back to our empty table if we included the tip we wanted to leave. I would not feel right if I wasted someone's time on their job that could be better used in attending to the business of other customers.

There's an easy work around as a server here:

"I'll be right back with your change"

9 times out of ten if a guest doesn't want change back they'll tell you here. Otherwise you didn't risk offending anyone.