Salt on the table?

Took my wife out to dinner for her birthday Friday night. Decided to try a place we hadnt been to before. Bistro 1860.
Service was attentive and the classical guitarist and saxophonist on the patio were nice. Only had two problems. Firstly, drinks kept taking 15 minutes or more to get to us, from the time we ordered to their arrival.

Secondly, and the reason for the thread/topic was that a number of items we ordered that night were fairly bland ie lacking salt. Most noticeably asparagus and brussel sprouts. Enough so that even my wife, who never salts her food beyond what is done in the kitchen, noticed it. Given the older clientele we assumed the owner had made a conscious decision to cater to those customers by serving everything with little or no salt?

But there were no salt shakers on the tables either. And that got my goat up. The impression for us the customers is our tastes dont matter, the chef is always right, and as far as the food is concerned we can take it or leave it. I hope that isnt the atmosphere they are shooting for. But it was enough, that again, given the wide breadth of excellent dining options in town why come back for what might also be a disappointment?

So what are your feelings on restaurants salting food or at least providing salt on the tables?

...So what are your feelings on restaurants salting food or at least providing salt on the tables?

People (including chefs) have different tastes and sensitivity to salt. If there was no salt on the table and I wanted salt, I would have said to the server "Please bring us some salt". That's 5 words. Your post is 236 words. Life's short. Move on.

I am a salt fiend. There are very few restaurants I support as a customer where no salt and pepper shakers is fine with me (the most notable one is Seviche, I have literally never pined for a salt shaker there.) It is a strong chef statement to not have salt and pepper on the table, so your food's seasoning had better be on point if that's your philosophy.

That being said, I've never had anyone give me the stink-face for asking for salt. And they could, because when I do have to ask for salt, I usually ask for a tiny ramekin of kosher salt, because I hate iodized table-salt.

Restaurants: If you serve frites and there's no salt on the table, and those frites don't come sparkle-y with salt, I chastise thee.

To clarify: I do not mean to say that Seviche's food is salty. I only mean to say it's always correctly seasoned, so it doesn't make me automatically wish for salt.

...So what are your feelings on restaurants salting food or at least providing salt on the tables?

People (including chefs) have different tastes and sensitivity to salt. If there was no salt on the table and I wanted salt, I would have said to the server "Please bring us some salt". That's 5 words. Your post is 236 words. Life's short. Move on.

I see your point.
However, should I also have to ask for dining utensils or a napkin? Things that I consider a basic part of table service and the dining experience?

As Marsha says not providing salt on the table, in my mind is making a statement.

I haven't encountered this issue at a restaurant, but I have at my mother-in-law's. My sis-in-law does most of the cooking these days, and doesn't believe in salt. Her food would be so much better with some salt and ground pepper, but she adds little, if any, and they NEVER put it out on the table. I'm afraid of insulting the cooks by asking, except for corn on the cob (twice in a bunch if years). When it's a 'guest' scenario, how do you recommend handling this situation? I consider my in-laws pretty formal/old-school, or it wouldn't be a big deal to simply ask. Uncomfortable.

People (including chefs) have different tastes and sensitivity to salt. If there was no salt on the table and I wanted salt, I would have said to the server "Please bring us some salt". That's 5 words. Your post is 236 words. Life's short. Move on.

Jay-
You must be completely bored to bother counting the number of words in a post.

Here lately I've noticed this almost everywhere we go. It's irritating. I have a salty palate, so no disrespect to the chef, but I'll probably need a little dash.

People (including chefs) have different tastes and sensitivity to salt. If there was no salt on the table and I wanted salt, I would have said to the server "Please bring us some salt". That's 5 words. Your post is 236 words. Life's short. Move on.

Jay-
You must be completely bored to bother counting the number of words in a post.

There's probably an "app" for that.

People (including chefs) have different tastes and sensitivity to salt. If there was no salt on the table and I wanted salt, I would have said to the server "Please bring us some salt". That's 5 words. Your post is 236 words. Life's short. Move on.

Jay-
You must be completely bored to bother counting the number of words in a post.

No, copy/paste to MSWord and it does the counting. It took seconds.

Jay-
That's cool. Guess there was an "app" for that.

Wow! I'm old school minority on this one!

In fine dining salt on the table is gauche. It is the sign of a chef not confident in his/her execution of his/her menu. "Here, I have no idea if this tastes good, please, patrons, feel free to adjust it to make it taste right." Why not put some lemon juice and some fresh herbs out there too, just in case? If I'm paying more than $20 for a plate, I expect that baby to hit my table and be perfect. I do not expect to have to fix the food. If the food comes out bland, lesson learned: this place has no right to charge $20+ for a dinner I have to fix, no return. I go out to eat to be treated to a wonderful meal, not to do the chef's work for him/her, nor tell them how their food should taste. I like it or I don't.

Outside of fine dining, yeah, go ahead, put out whatever tools you feel will help the guest enjoy your food, although personally, I would like to see table condiments only by request. We put hot sauce and s&p on the tables at J. Gumbo's, and I get it, but I'm not a fan.

Let the barrage of dissenting opinions begin!

I think the customer should be able to adjust the amount of slat to their preference, especially in fine dinning. I'm not that big of a salt fiend myself, but I know people who just prefer things much saltier. So, with salt on the table we all win!

My wife had a poor dining experience at a well liked restaurant in town. The dish was sea scallops with some kind of sauce. So, the sauce was *very* briny and the scallops were crusted in salt. Salt was the only flavor that came through. Now I know for a fact that some folks like that, but for her and I, it was inedible.

This really doesn't have anything to do with salt shakers on the table, but just had to throw it out there just in case anyone knows about anti-salt shakers.

Wow! I'm old school minority on this one!

In fine dining salt on the table is gauche. It is the sign of a chef not confident in his/her execution of his/her menu. "Here, I have no idea if this tastes good, please, patrons, feel free to adjust it to make it taste right." Why not put some lemon juice and some fresh herbs out there too, just in case? If I'm paying more than $20 for a plate, I expect that baby to hit my table and be perfect. I do not expect to have to fix the food. If the food comes out bland, lesson learned: this place has no right to charge $20+ for a dinner I have to fix, no return. I go out to eat to be treated to a wonderful meal, not to do the chef's work for him/her, nor tell them how their food should taste. I like it or I don't.

I would agree with you except for the fact that everyone's taste buds are different, a fact that is demonstrated on here regularly by the variation in opinions about a given restaurant. If everybody liked or disliked the same thing seasoned the same way life would be very boring and restaurant menus can be very short! I personally like a dish with more pepper and less salt, others may prefer salt over pepper, etc. What do chef considers a perfect dish is not always perfect in the eyes of everyone who tries it.

Wow! I'm old school minority on this one!

In fine dining salt on the table is gauche. It is the sign of a chef not confident in his/her execution of his/her menu. "Here, I have no idea if this tastes good, please, patrons, feel free to adjust it to make it taste right." Why not put some lemon juice and some fresh herbs out there too, just in case? If I'm paying more than $20 for a plate, I expect that baby to hit my table and be perfect. I do not expect to have to fix the food. If the food comes out bland, lesson learned: this place has no right to charge $20+ for a dinner I have to fix, no return. I go out to eat to be treated to a wonderful meal, not to do the chef's work for him/her, nor tell them how their food should taste. I like it or I don't.

Outside of fine dining, yeah, go ahead, put out whatever tools you feel will help the guest enjoy your food, although personally, I would like to see table condiments only by request. We put hot sauce and s&p on the tables at J. Gumbo's, and I get it, but I'm not a fan.

Let the barrage of dissenting opinions begin!

I actually do pretty much agree with you. But given that we dropped $160+ that night on the two of us, the meal was bland, AND there was no salt on the table to fix it...we wont be going back. Where as having salt on the table might have saved my patronage to the restaurant.