i'm trying to figure out....

could it have been sliced or wedged lemons? I often ask for extra for tea for breakfast, whatever

I worked at a local prestigious restaurant a couple of years back. We hand sliced butter for each table preshift for bread. If a guest did not use all of the butter, which was served on a butter plate, we were told to dump it in a bucket in the dish room after clearing the table, even if it had been used. We were told the kitchen melted this butter from the bucket to cook with and it was "okay" to do as the butter was melted at high temperature and would this procedure would kill any germs!

I refused to do it, because I knew better, but the procedure was still practiced by others.

mustard?

maybe this is too forward but i would have asked the bartender. if i serve something to a table and they clearly do not touch it, i throw it in the garbage. no matter what it is. i know they didn't use it, but it still just seems unsanitary not to trash it. this one really has my wheels turning, anne marie. i think next time you are in there, you should just come out and ask.

It just sounds gross and unsanitary to me. Please tell where.........

Re: i'm trying to figure out....
by Kurt R. » Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:04 pm

It just sounds gross and unsanitary to me. Please tell where.........

I agree with Kurt.

Now back to your original question;

i'm trying to figure out....
by annemarie m » Mon Aug 31, 2009 10:10 am
. . . any ideas?

Yes, Annemarie. Remove that establishment from your "Go to" list!

I have worked in restaurants where the bartenders and patrons were friends outside of work and they would bring in desserts or appetizers to each other. I've seen homeade deer jerky and smoked pheasant and different dips. Could this have been personal food that the bartender was giving to his friends? Is this a regular customer's private stash of things to gnosh on when drinking? (Where that customer and only that customer consumes from that container). That still would violate numerous health codes, but that concerns me less than it being an institutional practice of putting food and beverage costs higher in priority than public health. That is really dangerous.

Did you find out?

One idea, but I would think the manager would know about this. My old church in Ohio had a lobster dinner every year and we collected all the used better, melted and all, and put it on one container that a local pig farmer took home to feed the pigs. Most pig farmers love to get dinner scraps like this as pigs will pretty much eat anything. I would think that, however, the manager would know if the restaurant was doing this.

So, Annemarie, can you possibly believe that it would take a manager a week or ten days to figure this out? I'm pretty sure you are in the category of "just wait and she'll go away." No fault of yours, but that's my guess.

If they think Annemarie will just forget it and give up, well . . . they don't know Annemarie.

i am so anxious to see what comes of this. also very curious about which restaurant we are talking about here. i'll be sure to check back wednesday night for an update. stick with it annemarie!

with the small knowledge that i have from the "inside" workings of a restaurant......servers DO NOT want to eat food that is left at the table, even if it seems to be untouched.

Also, from what i remember, they HAD to throw away anything that was not consumed/used by the customer. It couldnt even go back for any reason.

i would like to hear some other thoughts on this.....

Personally, i do not think the bartender was keeping it for themselves, i think it was more than likely going to be reused. But that is just me.

[Robin Garr]

the place was mimi's cafe ... what are your thoughts on this?

Chain. And not a particularly good one. <shrug>

and does this fall into any health code violation?

Can't imagine why, if the guy was really stupid enough to eat it himself. Resale would obviously be a concern.

disclaimer: i have witnessed these behaviors. i have not ever done these things myself.

on to my post...you guys would not believe what i have seen servers, bussers, and dishwashers eat off of customers' plates! i once worked in a place that served chicken fingers, pizzas, wings, etc. if a slice or finger or wing or whatever didn't have a bite taken out of it, someone would eat it. these things hardly ever made it into the trash can back in the dish area. i have seen customers send an item back after taking only one bite and disliking it, or perhaps a steak that they merely cut into (seeing it was not cooked to their liking) and sent that back. employees eat this stuff, people! espescially (what they see as) a perfectly good, free steak that no one has eaten off of that will otherwise go in the trash. i knew a guy that had some sort of drug habit and this is the way he got his dinner rather than paying for it! he would just nibble on things all night and get a full belly without spending a dime. hilarious. my gosh, i've even seen people finish off a glass of wine after bussing it off a table! it doesn't surprise me at all to hear that this bartender saved the item for himself. i must comment though that i work for a chain right now and i've never seen anyone there do these things. the place where i did see it every single night was a long standing louisville original.