Restaurant Swindles
by Michael R Burden - Website
Michael has some interesting things to say on this subject and while some things are a tad
extreme, you'll probably recognise parts, we certainly did!
External Appearances or First Impressions
The waiters are standing outside the premises, touting for trade and accosting passers-by or anyone who looks at a menu if one is displayed.
They are probably doing this because they are not very busy or the establishment is empty or almost empty.
Avoid such places - if they are empty or almost empty it is not a good recommendation anyway.
The place
appears empty or almost deserted
It is poor value for money or serves mediocre food - you should be aware that the other reason may be that the staff are prone to overcharging or ripping off customers.
Avoid such places, because a 'rip-off' is much more likely to be tried on in an empty restaurant or in a place where there are no impartial witnesses if things become unpleasant - just as a crime such as a mugging is more likely to be carried out in a street where no-one is present except a mugger and his victim.
It is a good principle to avoid other kinds of establishments such as tourist souvenir shops that seem empty, for the same reasons.
The place appears packed out, with customers waiting for tables, standing at the back of the restaurant or in the entrance hall, or even queuing outside.
It is equally probable that such places - in total contrast ostensibly to the deserted places - are 'tourist rip-off' joints. They are packed not because they are genuinely better than other places or because the customers have discovered them but only because they are well listed in all the tourist guidebooks. The tourist customers have blindly or ignorantly hurried along to them for this reason, oblivious to any other restaurants which would have offered much better value. It is very likely that the restaurant has paid for the entry in the Guide Book - A very common practice.
The moral of the story is to pay no attention to guidebook listings because as likely as not the restaurants listed there are only tourist rip-off joints. Instead when you venture out for dinner, take your time and make your choice of restaurant after a leisurely and observant half-hour walk during which you have studied a variety of menus.
The restaurant's clientele seems to be made up of tour groups and coach parties usually seated at long tables - with only very few or no lone diners, couples or families at separate tables
With a tour group clientele, the restaurant staff have little or no opportunity to cheat or exploit customers because their meals will have already been ordered at a fixed price by the tour operator. The only opportunity the staff have to 'make it worth their while' is in the situation where such tour group customers have to purchase their own drinks. However even in this case, the restaurant staff realise perfectly well that it would not be 'worth their while' because if a member of a tour group had cause to complain about overcharging and reporting it to their tour operator, it could result in the tour operator taking his groups elsewhere. The benefits accruing from cheating tour group customers are just not worth the risk of losing the tour group trade altogether.
Be especially on your guard - and especially careful when reading the menu. On the other hand,
cheating lone diners, couples or small groups of customers has no such adverse repercussions,
as explained, and can be freely tried on in the knowledge that only one or two customers will
be lost and not a whole tour group (and tourist customers even if satisfied and treated fairly
hardly ever return to the restaurant anyway!) For this reason, customers not belonging to
a tour group are regarded as 'fair game'. (It is incidentally a good principle for this reason
that tourist customers should join tours or parties in other situations, e.g. in going on
guided tours or boat trips. Better to be a customer of a reputable tour operator than of a
rogue freelance guide or boatman.
The restaurant has musicians or a small band serenading the diners. However, whereas in a respectable establishment (usually a restaurant attached to a hotel) the musicians will be static, probably performing on a stage or podium, they will in the 'tourist trap' restaurant be wandering from table to table in search of tips
This is yet another ploy for extracting money from the customers. (You may be wondering why in addition to being host to such strolling mendicants, the restaurant does not allow all the beggars, buskers and pavement artists in the streets outside to come in and try their luck at the tables too. And of course some "tourist trap" restaurants do!)
If you do not wish to give a tip, make it quite clear to the musicians that they are not welcome if they approach your table. Although a firm shake of the head may suffice, remember that in some countries this gesture means something other than 'no'. An obviously dismissive gesture of the hand may be better.
The restaurant is "buffet style" (help yourself) as opposed to waiters
serving meals prepared to order.
A buffet style restaurant has the following disadvantages:-
(i) You are not waited on, but have the chore of repeatedly getting up to help yourself, sometimes joining long and slow queues to the food tables if the restaurant is busy, and then finding that they have just run out of the dish you particularly wanted at the moment you reach the table. (This is aggravated by the fact that in self-service buffet restaurants, especially those serving pizza, customers always help themselves to more than they can eat and then leave the food on their plates uneaten!) (ii) The food in 'buffet style' restaurants is more likely to be recycled, reheated from remnants of previous meals, or left lying around uncovered for several hours before being served or eaten, all of which increases health hazards associated with the food, and the risk of an upset stomach after the meal.
However, in mitigation, 'buffet style' restaurants have the following advantages:-
(i) You can see the food before you eat it, and decide for yourself exactly how much or how little you wish to eat. There is not the worry of ordering a large portion of one dish and then discovering that you do not like it after all, having in many cases when this happens being misled or deceived by a menu description. (ii) The buffet style restaurant generally has an 'eat as much as you like' policy for a fixed price known before you start the meal, so there is no need to puzzle over an ambiguous or misleading menu or pit your wits against a sly or cunning waiter - and risk being swindled if your brain is not in gear! It is a case of risk assessment on your part - the risk assessment of going down with a tummy bug or food poisoning as balanced against the risk of being overcharged or swindled. However, I think you may come down in favour of the buffet style restaurant after reading the remainder of this article!
|
