Petty coffee complaints

[moominmolly]

I went out to a restaurant week dinner last night. The company was excellent, the food merely okay, and the service -- well, the service was really crappy. I don't think they refilled my water glass all evening. I indulged in an espresso, since I allow myself a tiny bit of caffeine from time to time, and I was shocked! shocked! to discover that not only had I not gotten a demitasse spoon, but also, that the little saucer was entirely bare.

A nude espresso. How sad and lonely.

[Poll #558807]

I guess I have very strong feelings about my after-dinner coffee. One of the most delightful "me-too!" mealtime experiences I've ever had was with tafkar, where we shared our silly but firm after-dinner restaurant coffee preferences, down to the type of dishware.

Still, even a lonely nude espresso settles my stomach after dinner. It could have been worse.

Comments

[maighread.livejournal.com]

A smattering of dark chocolate covered espresso beans. And then I levitate & vibrate my way home. =)

Oh foo...now I crave a nice wee cuppa!

[goat.livejournal.com]

I had no clue that espresso was supposed to come with anything!

Bad Italian, Bad!

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

So...I answered "none of the above", but this means I don't show up in your poll results at all ;).

I mean, yeah, some of those things might be nice, but I don't expect any of them. I suppose for me espresso is mostly "a thing I might order in a coffeehouse", not "an after-dinner treat". So it's not so ritualized and I don't have dessert-like expectations for its accompaniment. (I also cannot drink caffeine that late, and many people don't have decaf espresso, which is moreover the most nerdish and embarrassing thing to order, so I often don't bother.)

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Ahhhhhhhh. Yeah! Whereas I basically never order espresso except after meals, or in France. Here, I just order, well, coffee. :)

So, in a French cafe, I expect a demitasse, a saucer, and a spoon, and a packet/tube of sugar. Individually-wrapped chocolate squares and wafer cookies are optional but recommended. I guess I have no expectations of what I'd get if I ordered an espresso in, say, Diesel.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

the other thing that really rattles me is if i order an espresso con panna and it doesn't come with the teensy spoon. this happened the other morning at diesel -- apparently the customers have THROWN OUT all the teensy spoons. i was hurt. they tell me they're hoping to have more silverware soon.

[dolohov.livejournal.com]

I'm with Uke -- I generally prefer that my coffee not come with any little extras. I admit, though, that while I do not expect anything, I do like the little bit of decorative lemon peel, just because it looks nice.

[razil.livejournal.com]

You should have heard the giggling upon ordering a decaf coffee late one evening in a Copenhagen cafe. Most embarassing and nerdish, indeed.

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

The service was bad, wasn't it? I mostly wasn't paying attention because, well, I was focused on other things, but did they put the right plate in front of anyone even ONCE?

[dilletante.livejournal.com]

after the little bit of banter at the beginning our waiter seemed to get very distant; i wondered if we'd pissed him off somehow. and he seemed very eager for us to leave...

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

I don't believe they did, no. I mean, CHANCE would have landed the plates in front of us more accurately than the waitstaff did.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

It's not that I *prefer* -- it's just that it never would have struck me to prefer accompaniment.

[amber-phoenix.livejournal.com]

sugar, preferabley raw, and a tiny spoon. anything else is optional.

the espresso, however, should be good! last time i got restaurant espresso it *sucked* - no crema, too long, waaaay too bitter. i dumped cream in it before i could drink it, only to discover later that it was also not, despite my request, decaf. silly restaurant. no repeat cusstomer for you. (the restaurant had other problems well, or i might have forgiven them.)

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

There was raw sugar on the table, at least! But as it happens, it had all been used by the time I started my drink, for which I can hardly fault my dinner companions. I go for it first, too. And I had to stir it with my regular spoon, which looked comical coming out of a demitasse. But whatever.

I like the irregularly-shaped raw sugar lumps best of all. Especially when there are little tongs! I like little tongs.

You're right about the quality of the espresso being vital, too! I did fail to mention that despite all the other things that the restaurant did wrong, the coffee itself was not bad. A bit bitter, but I recognize that sometimes my tastes are a bit off there.

That icon? Always a distraction.

[d3l1r1um.livejournal.com]

Coffee *settles* your stomach? I suppose after meals it might be different... I'm just not a big fan, unless it's got lots of cream and sugar (or splenda).

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Yeah, this is only after big meals. If my stomach is empty, it can make me feel a bit weird. But after a meal, it really feels as if it is helping me digest the food, or something.

[keyne.livejournal.com]

I expect either the lemon rind, or nothing, since those are what I usually get. :)

Will you tell us which restaurant, so we can avoid it?

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

I was reluctant to do that, because I've heard good things about the place from several different people. I was thinking that the food quality and service could perhaps be attributed to the annoying stress of Restaurant Week. Anyway, it was Henrietta's Table in Harvard Square.

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

I was just about to ask where it was...

That said, my experience with Henrietta's Table has been vastly different than yours.

Though I haven't been there in ages, the food was always good to very good and the service has never been less than competant.

I'd say give them another try sometime..

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm planning on giving them another shot at some point. I think this was a disappointing restaurant experience, and I'm not yet willing to call it a disappointing restaurant. :)

I should clarify that our food wasn't bad, it just wasn't great. It was exactly what it said it would be, and there seemed to be no interesting/exciting flavors in any of the dishes I tried. Out of the 2 appetizers, 3 entrees, and 2 desserts that I tried, exactly 1 dessert was fabulous (a little wild berry pie thing). Nothing else was BAD, it was just middle-of-the-road. I expected a better hit rate. *shrug*

[keyne.livejournal.com]

My one experience with Henrietta's Table was more like yours: decent but not great food, given the high prices, and indifferent (though not terrible) service. Another data point.

[d3l1r1um.livejournal.com]

it really feels as if it is helping me digest the food, or something.

Yeah, like it's eating through it... kinda like acid ;)

[harimad.livejournal.com]

Coffee is the single most disgusting thing I've even ingested.

YMMV.

[uberjay.livejournal.com]

I selected 'other', since my espresso typically comes with 'nothing', which was not a valid response to the poll. Then again, I usually get espresso in coffee shops and not for dessert. :) I think the few times I have ordered it in a restaurant I've received either a lemon rind or nothing at all.

[pneuma207.livejournal.com]

If my years working at a restaurant give me any air of authority on this matter...the customers have not thrown out the teensy spoons. The teensy spoons are adorable, and thus the customer have stolen them. I've heard the gushing first-hand: "Oh, it's precious! Oh, it's like a spoon for a doll! Oh, OH!" in that near-orgasmic state only a middle-aged woman can reach over cuteness. Either that, or the dishwashers tossed 'em instead of cleaning 'em.

[amber-phoenix.livejournal.com]

I *love* the little tongs.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

customers are assholes.

i mean, *i* adore the teensy spoons. but that doesn't mean i would *steal* them. that's just icky.

maybe i should bring my own.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

That is pretty reprehensible, yeah.

But: viral teensy spoon anti-thievery! Buy cheap spoons (http://pages.hyacinthhouseantiques.com/cgi-bin/google.fcgi?itemKey=674574&store=%2Fstores%2Fhyh&catId=Misc_Kitchen&itemNo=1982) in bulk and droplift them in local cafes!

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Hey, whatever works!

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

YMMV.

MMV!

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

I'm more of a cappuccino person, but if I do order espressso all I expect is some brown sugar and a spoon alongside.

[harimad.livejournal.com]

Most people's does.

[pseydtonne.livejournal.com]

I expect a cup of coffee to pour the espresso into. I see the red eye and black eye as the upper-lover's boilermaker.

-realizing I'm eternally gauche, Dante