re: Dining board: A-hole chef or A-hole customers?

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you always be allowed to stay as long as you want


no matter what

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If the restaurant is busy...then I completely disagree with this statement.

As being a former restaurant owner, I can certainly see why you would want to trun tables, that's obvious. On the other hand, I would never have approached a table to leave, no matter what the circumstances. the customer is always right. Word of mouth travels a lot faster in the restaurant biz than you think. Being a customer at a restaurant, I can assure you I would be offended if I was asked to leave. In the few times I have felt we stayed too long at a table I would surely make up for it in the tip to the wait staff.

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As being a former restaurant owner, I can certainly see why you would want to trun tables, that obvious. On the other hand, I would never have approached a table to leave, no matter what the circumstances. the customer is always right. Word of mouth travels a lot faster in the restaurant biz than you think.

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There's certain things restaurant owners/managers need to be able to chalk up to the cost of doing business. The occasional table of "campers" is one of them.

Great thread. One of my pet peeves is when at a restaurant people want to sit around and talk after we have already finished eating and paid the bill. It just annoys me, I wanna scream at the table... "We're done here, let's go!"

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you always be allowed to stay as long as you want


no matter what

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with due respect, bullshite.

It's a business. It needs to turn tables over to make money. If you are done eating and want to hang out, move that arse to the bar.

Check this story out about the same chef: This was the chronicles food critic.

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I got the attention of our very nice young waitress, and told her apologetically, "I hate to do this, but this steak isn't medium rare." She bore the plate away to the kitchen. In the meantime I swiped tastes of Chris's fisherman's stew, which featured a lively, tart broth and a trove of spicy andouille sausage. I liked it every bit as much as the feisty chicken gumbo we had as a first course.

Next thing I know, chef-owner Jonathan Levine was bearing down on our table with a plate in his hand. He had removed the thickest [CLARIFICATION: WIDEST] piece of steak at my original cut, stripped it of its mushrooms, and placed it on a clean plate, leaving the rest of the steak in the kitchen.

"What's wrong with this?" he snapped. I discerned nothing neutral or conciliatory in his tone. Jonathan is a burly guy, and his restaurant is a narrow slot, so he loomed over our two-top, not even attempting to conceal his displeasure. For a moment or two, both Chris and I were struck dumb; when we found our voices, we both offered that we didn't think the steak was medium rare.


The chef turned on his heel, muttering, "I'll cook you another one," as he strode toward the kitchen. My brain was still trying to process what had happened, but by the time Jonathan reached the kitchen door, I realized I didn't want a dish re-cooked by a resentful, ticked-off chef. I mean, I've read Bourdain, people. So I called out, "Sir! Do not re-cook it! I'll eat that one."

Minutes passed. I fumed. "I can't believe this," I sort of laugh-gasped to Chris. "I've never been treated so rudely in my life. Thanks a lot for convincing me to send the steak back." We ate a little more of the fisherman's stew, and then here comes Jonathan again. He was holding a plate with my steak, all three cut pieces now reassembled, the mushrooms and demiglace re-applied. The first words out of his mouth--and he spoke first-- were, "You know, this is just a little neighborhood joint. It's not Tony's, or Mark's!"

That's when I lost my temper. If he had sent the original steak back with our waitress, the jarring incident would have blown over and the evening salvaged. But apparently he felt the need to return to our table a second time in order to set me straight. He seemed to be looking for a confrontation, and he got one.

"I cannot believe how ungracious you've been about this," I told Jonathan heatedly. "I have never lost my temper in a restaurant before," I continued, while he kept making his case that my expectations were out of line. By now I was furious. "I do not appreciate you trying to shame me for sending this steak back!" I told him.

"I'd like you to leave my restaurant," he told me.

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much more to read


and another story. Chefs an A-hole. Question answered.

This isn't France, but if it were the restaurant is at fault. It is every Frenchman's inalienable right to sit at a table till hell freezes over if he buys so much as a bottle of water. No questions asked.

Owner should use his business head, as someone already said, bribe them out. That was you do not imperil future business.

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I wanna scream at the table... "We're done here, let's go!"

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I agree. It is time to take it to a bar at that point.
The chef sounds like a ego asshead. The women sound like ignorant bitches.

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when a restaurant is packed as hell and other people are waiting for a table and you have already finished and paid for everything you are going to pay for, you need to GTFO. If the restaurant is not busy, its another story and they probably wouldn't mind.

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me and my friends are guilty of camping out. but, i tip extra if we are taking up a table so the server doesnt get the short end of the stick.

if they needed that table, they should have apologized to the ladies, asked them if they minded relocating to the bar for some drinks on the house for the inconvenience. if they ladies didnt care to consume anything else, they should have given a gift card for a future visit for the inconvenience imo.

those are two customers that will NEVER return & they are obviously spreading the word on their ill experience.

i think its bad form to tell a patron of the restaurant to leave unless its well after hours and the bar and kitchen are closed.