Just wondering ...

[Robin Garr]

If a restaurant visibly shifts into overdrive when they think there’s a critic in the house, I wonder if they’re giving 100% the rest of the time.

Shower Thoughts by Robin Garr

Love it!

I take it for granted that nobody gives 100% all the time. It's literally impossible. What sets the good apart from the bad is whether the ordinary, day-in, day-out effort is more like 85-90% or 40-50% (or worse).

[Robin Garr]

I take it for granted that nobody gives 100% all the time. It's literally impossible. What sets the good apart from the bad is whether the ordinary, day-in, day-out effort is more like 85-90% or 40-50% (or worse).

Can't disagree. Maybe I should put it this way: If they put out 110% for a critic, and 80% for everyone else, is a review based on that special treatment valid? In the real world, I try to deal by looking past the fluffing and focus more on things that can't be easily tweaked. Also, is my portion twice as big as those at nearby tables? )

[Robin Garr]

Shower Thoughts by Robin Garr

Love it!

This old Ruth Reichl piece came to mind: http://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/29/arts/ ... wanted=all

[T]here are a lot of restaurants where I am still not recognized. In most places I am just another person who has reserved weeks in advance, and I still have to wait as more important people are waltzed into the dining room. I watch longingly as they are presented with the chef's special dishes, and then I turn and order from the menu just like everybody else. ... Over the course of five months I ate five meals at the restaurant; it was not until the fourth that the owner ... figured out who I was. When I was discovered, the change was startling. Everything improved: the seating, the service, the size of the portions. We had already reached dessert, but our little plate of petit fours was whisked away to be replaced by a larger, more ostentatious one. An avalanche of sweets descended upon the table, and I was fascinated to note that the raspberries on the new desserts were three times the size of those on the old ones.

[Robin Garr]

This old Ruth Reichl piece came to mind ...

I've seen stuff like that. Once a "free dessert" that was actually four desserts. I bagged the review, somewhat regretfully because I didn't get paid, but it was just too over the top.

I take it for granted that nobody gives 100% all the time. It's literally impossible. What sets the good apart from the bad is whether the ordinary, day-in, day-out effort is more like 85-90% or 40-50% (or worse).

Can't disagree. Maybe I should put it this way: If they put out 110% for a critic, and 80% for everyone else, is a review based on that special treatment valid? In the real world, I try to deal by looking past the fluffing and focus more on things that can't be easily tweaked. Also, is my portion twice as big as those at nearby tables? )

It's all part of the game, right? Their job is to snooker you, yours is not to be snookered. It sounds like (and I've always thought) you do a good job of trying hard to see through restaurants' attempts at presenting you with an out-of-the-ordinary experience.

Maybe snooker is a bad way to say it. I'm not dissing restaurants for trying to make a good impression. It's only natural to add a little extra spit and polish when the General is coming for inspection.

[Robin Garr]

It's only natural to add a little extra spit and polish when the General is coming for inspection.