Innocuous things that make you irrationally angry (a list thread)

Was she appropriately abashed?

it was only the second time I'd been there and I wasn't sure if that's what you're supposed to do anyway (hipsterish diner-type place) and she was like "sorry, I'm kinda spacing out tonight" ¬_¬

i would empathetically accept that as an explanation tbh

I hate whe I order an entree that includes a side, then say that I would also like a side of Mac and cheese and immediately be told I can't substitute. No fucking shit, I didn't say anything about substituting, I want them both.

idgi

Oh yeah, "I'll have a Chicken burger with latte, a chicken salad with latte"

and I got the salad, so I "Where's the Chicken burger?", and she's "oh, you want both? I thought you'd changed your mind!"

Because it's confusing when there's less people at the till than are actually eating.

it was only the second time I'd been there and I wasn't sure if that's what you're supposed to do anyway (hipsterish diner-type place) and she was like "sorry, I'm kinda spacing out tonight" ¬_¬

Where were you?

Bite on Western

nb I was not *that* annoyed, but the restaurant is not that big and she wasn't helping anyone else

haha was recently talking to friends about the current trend of one short banal word for a restaurant or store. more fake IA than real though. "Bite" "Fork" "Counter" "Couch" (actual furniture store I saw somewhere in CA) "Flavor" "Sweet" "Basil" argh think I'm working myself up to real deal IA now...

Jeff are you referring to your dinner last night?

No

The 'how is everything' seems REALLY needy in semi-fast food places like Chili. Because it's usually nano seconds after the food has been set down, and it is usually the whole point of them stopping by, is to ask that question. It's sort of shorthand like "PLEASE GOD TELL US THERE WASN'T ANY HAIR IN YOUR FOOD".
I like at a good restaurant with good service that they'll tie the question into refilling your water glasses, or somehow know to wait til there's a lull in conversation as they're passing by.

Ha, there's a "Fork" I'm Chicago, too.

The 'how is everything' can be annoying but it's ok if it's just once. I was at this place the other day with a table of about 8 people and they kept asking us! 'how is everything.... everything still ok? how's everything...?' til we began to suspect they'd put something gross in the food and wanted to see if we'd noticed.

Jeff and I once ate at a regional chain in NC where every ten minutes the waiter would stop and ask "Is everything DELICIOUS???" and I wanted to strangle him.

(flicks spoonful of mashed potato at face)

The third time I cut him off. "Is everything -" "DELICIOUS??? YES IT IS!" And then the next time he came, he said, "Is everything d -- wonderful?"

On investigation, it was not a regional chain. It was a Carrabbas, which had trees growing on the roof and which I had never heard of until it opened. For the first six months there was a consistent two hour wait for dinner there because I guess people were all tired of Olive Garden.

I suspect managers lean on servers to constantly check on customers. Servers probably get demerits or whatever if they don't ask enough times. I'd be willing to bet that the servers hate asking repeatedly as much as the customers hate being asked repeatedly.

I know that to be true, but this fellow was definitely wearing 37 pieces of flair.

Got 98% in a test that's worth 2.5% of the total mark. The points they took off were because of mistakes THEY had made in the questions, not my answers. I just.

Oh and I'm sure it's been mentioned but web site polls that ask a very simple y/n answer but provide FOUR options, all of which are a freaking essay e.g. http://www.tuaw.com/2011/09/05/youre-the-pundit-will-ios-and-os-x-merge/#poll68668

It was a Carrabbas, which had trees growing on the roof and which I had never heard of until it opened.

i think i've seen these in some deep-suburbia malls. definitely for affluent/aspirational ppl who don't want the olive garden stink on 'em.

what's the deal with macaroni grill btw? never been to any of these places.

I can't go there, it just makes me think of grilled macaroni, and flee.

exactly, if you tried to grill macaroni, it'd get stuck and fall apart.

Notable former employees

Eva Angelina - Adult film star
Tal Berkowitz - Vaccine advocate
Ragan Fox - Big Brother 12 (U.S.) houseguest

Macaroni Grill is okay, I think? It's one of those "paper on the tables, server kneels down and writes his/her name on your table paper" kind of places, plus they put jugs of wine on the table and then charge you for whatever you drank, and the portions are LOLhuge.

I mean, it's gimicky strip mall Italian but it's better than Olive Garden. So if you are very tired and hungry after a long day at the outlet malls, you could do worse.

writes his/her name upside-down on your table paper

I had one co-worker treat me to a birthday lunch who wrote his name back upside-down *plus* with a little caricature of himself ala John Lennon.

Getting sung "Marcella Bella" to was only the third-most embarrassing moment of that trip.

Macaroni Grill is orders of magnitude better than Olive Garden. They have actually somewhat decent Italian food and the whole character of the place is nicer. And I think the owner is known for being a big do-gooder w/r/t to feeding starving people. (insert obvious but potentially hilarious joke here)

But yes, the name always makes me think of macaroni noodles on a grill.

Macaroni in an oven-proof dish, and *that* is put under the grill.

Blimey!

not the Tal Berkowitz??????

macaroni grill blew my mind as a 14 yr old, which is sad

This discussion is actually making me crave mid-level chain Italian food. Jesse! Let's go to Maggiano's one night this week.

Blew your mind how?

Isn't Maggiano's more legitimately fine dining? I thought it was a Ruth's Chris level fine dining chain.

It's prob nicer than Macaroni Grill but it's a LEY tourist-targeted Italian restaurant. It is a certain Lesbian's terrible girlfriend's favorite restaurant, if that tells you anything.

I wonder if out public email is making anyone IA?

Ha.

It's only LEY in Chicago! In the rest of the country it is its own restaurant. I know this b/c I applied there when I first moved here.

The Maggiano's in Boston is pretty decent, although kind of useless given the existence of the North End

Thread now making me irrationally HUNGRY.

I could've KILLED a plate of baked ziti last night, if my neighborhood only had Italian restaurants.

What? Really? How does that business relationship work? Is LEY (note: Lettuce Entertain You, a restaurant corporation in Chicago that owns a shit ton of diverse restaurants) a franchise holder?

I didn't even know Maggiano's was a chain outside of being part of LEY.

Laurel OTM re baked ziti.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggiano%27s_Little_Italy

From Lettuce Entertain You's own written history: LEYE continued to expand its Italian Division in the 1990s with the opening of Maggiano's Little Italy in Chicago (1991) and Oak Brook (1992), re-creating the classic pre-World War II dinner house featuring family size portions; Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Inc.'s Richard Melman founded Maggiano's Little Italy and its sister franchise, Corner Bakery, in Chicago in 1991.[2] Both concepts were sold to Brinker International Inc. in the mid 1990s.[3]

blew my mind as in "wow what a bright, huge, open dining area...hehee lookit all the jugs of wine stacked up...whoa they charge you in the honor system w/r/t wine, wish i was old enough to drink...holy shit there's pasta here other than lasagne and spaghetti w/red sauce".
maggiano's def a step up, but overpriced for what you get. though last time I went (had a gift cert from work) they had a $5 dessert sampler which was kind of totally awesome.

I get a bit annoyed (at my own ignorance) that Italian-Americans refer to dishes, such as baked ziti, that despite being half-Italian I've never tried or even heard of in Italy itself.

That's probably because it's...American. Which would explain it.

xp I was shamed that you Googled that for me until I read the part about Corner Bakery and now I'm just excited. I have embarrassingly positive feelings about Corner Bakery.

ilx hipster debates

corner bakery >>>>>>>>>>> panera

it's almost pumpkin whoopie pie time...

ilx hipster debates

I read this as ilx hipster diabetes.