Course timing at restaurants

Completely depends on the practices & training of the staff.

Kitchen's fault IF the protocol is for the server to order everything in at once and then tell the kitchen when to fire each course but the kitchen fired all courses simultaneously.

Server's fault IF the protocol is to order courses one at a time & pace the courses out based on the speed at which you are eating and the anticipated preparation time of each item.

The first scenario requires a well trained kitchen staff & and good communication between FOH & BOH staff.

The second scenario requires an attentive server who understands the dynamics of the kitchen as it relates to food service.

Having never dined or worked at Cafe Americain, I cannot comment on their timing practices but it sounds like the server could have mitigated some of the error that caused all of your courses to arrive simultaneously.

I'd have been annoyed.

From my experience this is pretty much the norm today.

It's pretty much the servers responsibility, but if the kitchen is in the weeds things will get screwed up.

Frankly I would blame management and poor training. Also, it could be poor menu design.

On you for accepting it all.

You're paying for it; demand that it's right.

quote:

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I immediately complained that all the food should not be out at once. Plus my sons food was not even out yet. He said that was because he couldnt carry it all out at once. Lol yea.. thats part of the problem. He said if the entree got cold let him know. My wife's entree had to be re fired (likely microwaved). They ended up comping our soups after I already paid the bill. Restaurant just opened 2 weeks ago. That is my biggest mistake.

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This info would have been helpful in your original post.

Unfortunately only good restaurants get this right. I typically pace my order to ensure that I get timely courses. I.e. I won't order an entree until I have ordered an app or salad and I know it's about to arrive.

When a restaurant gets it right it's really refreshing.

If everything comes out at the same time it's the server in my experience

When I waited tables at the Chimes in 2000-2002, the order looked like this:

App
-------
Salads
-------
Soup
-------
Entree

The kitchen timed it from there and if they moved too fast, it was my job to slow them down.

Any kitchen worth a shite has an expediter that controls all timing. at lower tier restaurants it’s the server

Holy shite i can’t believe they opened another.

I worked at the one on jones creek around 2006-2007. Unless they got new owners and got away from the 1980s menu, this one won’t be open too long.

To answer the ops question the answer is the lead cook or Chef whose working as the expeditor.

I currently work in a kitchen where the expo calls out the orders. At first this was weird as I’m used to having tickets to reference. Chef doesn’t mind giving me an all day as to what I should have working.

This process looks like this:
Waiter takes order, submits it as you give to them.
Order is sent to Chef who then calls out: pick up one Caesar! Grill! order two burgers! Sauté order one Kid’s pasta!

Caesar salad is made and picked up by Chef who then tells waiter it’s ready. At this time the burgers and pasta have started working. Once the waiter says the salad is done or almost done, Chef yells: pick up two burgers! Pick up Kid’s pasta. These are then placed in the window where they are picked up and sent to your table shortly after your salads are done.

This is simplified and a place like cafe Americain or most in br doesn’t do this. They will do something more like waiter puts in order and a ticket gets printed to one or two stations where the food is cooked and possibly “fired” or finalizes once the previous course is nearly done.

Again, this requires communication with the waiter and the expo person.

Sounds like the waiter forgot to put in your food, had them rush it and just said that the kitchen messed it up. Nothing at cafe americain when I was there took longer than 20 min and that was the pork tenderloin.

It’s possible they were backed up but who knows. 45 min ticket time on first course is baaaad.