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Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Sunday, November 18, 2007 - 5:52 pm
Grooch, thanks for the insider info! BTW, IIRC, all of the "launch" meals are freebies. They just don't tell us that. There is no way they are gonna get a full dinner seating if they don't bribe folks with free food!
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Stacey718995
Member
07-06-2007
| Sunday, November 18, 2007 - 6:06 pm
It doesn't surprise me that they are free. But, I would really think that an advertisement to possibly be seen on the show would fill the dining room in most areas with out the promise of free food, honestly.
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Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Sunday, November 18, 2007 - 8:24 pm
Depends Stacey. It wouldn't be anything I'd be interested in. I'd be one of the people with a blurred face. I'm not lookig for "TV time," thank you very much. Or free food, actually.
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Stacey718995
Member
07-06-2007
| Sunday, November 18, 2007 - 8:33 pm
Oh I am not either Costa, nothing about that would be up my alley unless I knew I was helping a friend. But, I bet that enough to fill a restaurant in a town are. Many people get way into stuff like that. Years ok my brother was on one of the Paris and Nicole episodes. There's was lame and had to do with marriage, at any rate, people were begging to get into the shot, no matter how stupid they would look. I bet the same would go for dining here.
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Tntitanfan
Member
08-03-2001
| Monday, November 19, 2007 - 7:17 am
Lots of restaurants have a free night or two for family and friends to get the kitchen and wait staff up to speed -
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Wednesday, November 21, 2007 - 7:49 pm
Another cliche episode. *sigh*
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Tntitanfan
Member
08-03-2001
| Wednesday, November 21, 2007 - 8:40 pm
Has anyone been fired before? Taking home left-over food that cannot be recycled is one thing, but THREE bottles of unopened wine!! I was sorry the restaurant didn't make it in the end - I really liked the owner!
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Wednesday, November 21, 2007 - 8:55 pm
Ummm.....the Indian restaurant in Ne York had that one really bad manager. He quit because Ramsay was bad mouthing him to the owner and he overheard it, but I am pretty sure he was on the verge of being fired. I'm surprised that Buzzard was fired, and still allowed for his face to be shown on TV. I wouldn't have signed the consent forms. I guess maybe he signed them PRE-taping of the show, and then couldn't go back on it once the situation went bad. I was also sad that owner couldn't make things work. There are honestly a LOT of restaurant owners out there, that just plain have NOOOOOO restaurant sense, and can't run a business.
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Wednesday, November 28, 2007 - 10:58 pm
OMG I love that Ramsay called that woman an old bag. There are TOTALLY those people out there that go into places looking for trouble where it doesn't exist. I missed the first 40 minutes of the show, but came in for the old woman complaining about her husband's tough steak. Man, what a crazy show! I've never seen so many people so snarkily dissatisfied. A lot of squeaky wheels. I'll admit that manager/chef didn't handle the situation at the table well at all, but it seems like a place with a lot of loud-mouthed clientele. Loved the lady in the parking lot telling off the other complaining lady!! hahahaha!! As a server, I find this show SOOOO entertaining!!! It bugs me that some problems on this show are treated like they can't be fixed, and the problems run on and on. Like the Chef being out in the dining room too long? It's SO simple when a manager is sucked into a table to walk up and say to the table "Excuse me, sorry for interrupting...Chef, when you're finished they need you in the kitchen for a moment" which then gives the chef/manager the out to say to the table "Excuse me, I'm just going to attend to that and I'll be back shortly." It's not horrible to politely command the attention of a manager or chef while they are with a customer. What was the deal with the owner/chef guy? What little "obstacles" did he have to overcome from the first 40 minutes of the show? I missed that part...
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Lexie_girl
Member
07-30-2004
| Thursday, November 29, 2007 - 5:13 am
Eeyores, there were several obstacles. First, the staff would play around in the kitchen the diners could hear the noise in the dining room. Second, it took forever for the food to come out and it wasn't very good when it did come out the kitchen. Third, the portions were so huge that the diners either had to take home leftovers or the food would be thrown out. Fourth, some of the kitchen equipment didn't work properly. Actually, the owner of the restaurant and the staff were very receptive to Chef Ramsay's suggestions. There wasn't the constant battling with him like in previous episodes. Chef Ramsay revamped the menu, replaced some of the kitchen equipment and cut down on the portions. Too much money was walking out of the door when every customer needed a "to go" container. On an average night, the restaurant took in $7,500.00 (and losing money due to the oversized portions) and on the grand re-opening the restaurant took in $21,000.00. Hope that helps.
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Sunshyne4u
Member
06-17-2003
| Thursday, November 29, 2007 - 7:09 am
just finished watching the tape. The older Italian lady was just trying to get a free meal IMHO. OR they were all used to the extra large overly cooked portions. But it is possible that her husband has bad teeth. Sometimes a different cut of meat will have more texture and if these people dont go out much, she might have been talking out of ignorance rather than malice. I personally thought that Ramsay was amazingly rude to her. Where is the motto "the customer is always right"?? That other lady who had too much to drink was just angry at being mouthed off to. Once again, what is the purpose of arguing with a customer? just say sorry, most people like it done that way and leave. I didnt understand her comment as per Ragu. Did she mean that she thought it was Ragu Spagetti sauce? Guess she was missing all that Garlic that used to be used LOL
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Sunshyne4u
Member
06-17-2003
| Thursday, November 29, 2007 - 7:10 am
you know, this is yet another example of a man running a restaurant which is owned by a wife or mother. Always the guy is just goofing off and not that serious even though Tons of money is being lost. I thought it very significant that his poor wife talked about losing HER house. it made me think that she must have supplied money for the business.
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Thursday, November 29, 2007 - 12:04 pm
Thanks Lexie!!! That's interesting that thee weren't the big arguments with the staff and owner. I really did get the vibe that they were receptive to change, even from the owner. In my 15+ years in restaurants, there are most DEFINITELY those people who are in it for the free stuff. They complain about anything and everything, as if their whole world has been ruined because you did not initially offer ground pepper. You know they're out for something, when they over-dramatize something small, and that's usually when managers won't give in. The second lady was weird, and I would have liked to have seen her whole complaint. It seemed like her complaint was reallllly vague, and from a management side of things, they can't really do anything about it. Honestly, most customers don't have a problem with hearing "I'm sorry". There are many examples of bigger corporate places that hear any type of complaint, and they just comp the item, but the customer is upset that nobody ever really apologized for the mistake. I've heard it a bazillion times. I found it interesting and revealing that the lady in the parking lot commented that the woman ate her entire meal. That is also a BIG indication that no comp will happen. If you eat the whole meal, despite the server coming for the industry standard 2-bite/2-minute quality check, and a second general check later in the meal, then you don't have a right to expect anything more than an "I'm sorry you felt that way," and a "We will have a word with our chefs" from management. And what person says back to a strangers "I'm Sorry? Sorry isn't good enough." I've never hear that in my life, except when my mother was yelling at me for something I had insincerely apologized for. Often, you can tell when a customer is trying to "lead" you to giving them a discount or a comp. I think that might have been what happened with that owner at the table, but she HAD eaten her whole meal, and was pretty vague about the actual PROBLEMS with the meal. So I sort of understand a bit how the owner was seeming pretty flippant about their complaints and trying to get away from the table. I love the mother of the owner, who was really to clock the older woman. hahahaha As for how he dealt with the older lady, I am willing to bet she was the first to break the code of respect. She was belittling him long before he called her an old bag, and she was still hanging out at the front door, just to cause trouble. Ramsay is not about to protect a chef for shitty food. He'd be the first to throw the plate at the wall and yell at the chef, so I'm pretty positive that woman was out of line. The customer is NOT always right. Once people caught on to that whole "the customer is always right" adage, they started abusing it to get free stuff. I think the pendulum is swinging back to not letting them run away with your business just because they know the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Many places are not just bowing down to the customer anymore. Too many people abuse it now.
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Puzzled
Member
08-27-2001
| Thursday, November 29, 2007 - 2:19 pm
I've never been a waitress, but those dead beats who try to get comped meals really cheese me off. The rest of us end up paying for their free meals, and I don't want to listen to them wrangling with the wait staff and/or the manager. AFIC, a restaurant should have the right to bar these trouble makers.
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Sunshyne4u
Member
06-17-2003
| Friday, November 30, 2007 - 3:23 pm
but why argue with the Customers? as a waiter without the authority to comp, why not just get the manager so you dont have to deal with it? a few years ago I went to one of my favourite restaurants and had my 'usual'. I say Usual as that was what I Always got everytime i went over the last seven years usually a few times a month. So my stuffed mushroomcaps come and they are cold and RAW with a warm melted blop of cheese over the seafood. When I call the waitress over to tell her that the Mushroom are raw, She snottily says they are always like that, that is the way we do it here. There was a small argument. she took them back and they cooked the crap out of the same dish and brought it back with burnt areas on the top of the previous cooked cheese. I didnt say anything. I stopped going there I was so angry at the treatment. I am nonassertive so I didnt ask for a manager. The RAW caps already ruined my nice night out. Sometimes there is a mistake in the kitchen, there should not be an overreaction by anyone if a customer complains. How do we not know that the drunk lady, who ate her whole meal, did not have a plate in which they forgot to season? or add a sauce? When it is a busy kitchen, it is easy to forget stuff I bet. I definitely could see some people I know eating their food and complaining that it wasnt 'up to standard'. NOT asking for FREE food, but giving feedback to the waiter/ manager to keep an eye on the kitchen. Just a combination of my theories and Experiences.
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Kiersten_love
Member
08-03-2001
| Saturday, December 01, 2007 - 2:05 pm
Sun, btw Ragu in Italy is sauce, thats how they refer to tomato sauce there, and in my family.
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Sunshyne4u
Member
06-17-2003
| Saturday, December 01, 2007 - 5:57 pm
oh.....so what she might have been complaining about was the new smaller servings. In other words, it was mostly Sauce!! okay, That makes tons of sense!!! we've got it figured out.
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Twinkie
Member
09-24-2002
| Saturday, December 01, 2007 - 7:13 pm
I don't believe I ever heard the word Ragu when I lived in Italy.
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Karen
Member
09-07-2004
| Saturday, December 01, 2007 - 7:47 pm
Ragu® is the commercial bottled sauce. Ragù, from the french ragout, is the Italian sauce in question.
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Kiersten_love
Member
08-03-2001
| Saturday, December 01, 2007 - 8:27 pm
No, Ragu is a word they use in Italy for sauce, they have many words for it, but being Italian and my family being Italian, and me being there most of my life, I think I would know what Ragu means.
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Saturday, December 01, 2007 - 8:30 pm
I thought lots of Italians referred to pasta sauce as gravy.
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Kiersten_love
Member
08-03-2001
| Saturday, December 01, 2007 - 8:37 pm
ragu [ra-GOO, rah-GOO] A staple of northern Italy's Bologna, ragu is a meat sauce that is typically served with pasta. Though different than the French RAGOUT, both are derived from the verb ragoûter , which means "to stimulate the appetite." Ragu usually contains ground beef, tomatoes, onions, celery, carrots, white wine and seasonings. Maybe this will help with what Ragu means to Italians. Oh and about the word Gravy, I know that its used by Italian Americans, sometimes my American relatives use that word, but mostly Ragu if using meat, and suggo and so on, like I said their are many variations of the word there in Italy. Gravy is an American variation of the word used by Italians who migrated here.
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Sunshyne4u
Member
06-17-2003
| Saturday, December 01, 2007 - 10:22 pm
the word Gravy is most definitely NOT Italian. mind you, what WE call gravy is called Brown Sauce in Britain. Funny how that is eh?
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Tntitanfan
Member
08-03-2001
| Saturday, December 01, 2007 - 10:46 pm
Gravy - in the south - must comtain meat drippings. All other such things are sauces - Funny how that is, huh?
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Twinkie
Member
09-24-2002
| Saturday, December 01, 2007 - 10:56 pm
And when I lived in southern Italy almost 40 years ago the sauce that went over spaghetti noodles was like stewed tomatoes. No meat. And I never heard any sauce called ragu. Of course, I've heard of the brand Ragu in this country.
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