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Should a restaurant indulge a diner's request for utensils so he can eat dessert he brought with him? Movie blogger Jeffrey Wells thinks so, and he's unleashed one of his signature, off-topic rants on Hollywood Elsewhere to slam West Village restaurant Sant Ambreous. Wells says he sensed something off about the place immediately, in part because "the waiters wore pink shirts with black ties. Village restaurants should always use waitresses who look like Sylvia Plath and who wear black leotard tops or somewhat tight sweaters." And after dropping $62 on dinner for two, the manager refused to let him eat a piece of Dean & Deluca cake he'd brought. Wells says, "I saw red. I told him I would never return to his place, and that I would do what I can to dissuade others from visiting." His diatribe's sparking a heated debate, dividing those who think "it is the absolute height of low-thread count when you try to eat your own food in a fucking restaurant," and others who think it's outrageous for a restaurant to impose a fee on outside desserts—such as a "cake cutting" fee during birthday parties. Who's right?
Should Restaurants Charge Fee for BYO Desserts?
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restaurants exist to SELL FOOD. you want to eat your own dessert, DO IT AT HOME.
If the restaurant doesn't sell dessert then I don't see a problem, but if they do have a dessert menu... EAT IT AT HOME.
While i agree with #1 wholeheartedly, but it's sort of a weird debate. you can bring your own wine, but not a dessert? On the other hand, what's to stop someone from bringing a main course and just ordering a sparkling water? My feeling is wine is one thing, and actual foodstuffs is another.
Eat your dessert at a dessert place or at home, don't wield your internet blogging powers because you weren't happy that the restaurant wouldn't allow you to eat outside food.
Usually when you bring your own wine there is a corkage fee.
And i have no problem with that at all. Usually it's a minimal $5-$10.
BYO wine is only acceptable when wine isn't offered. Seems to me it should be the same for dessert, or anything else.
Restaurants usually make desserts, they don't often make wine, so that's part of the difference. This guy's a schmuck. He could have gone to Dean & DeLuca afterwards and had the cake there - problem solved.
This topic has been discussed ad nauseum on food blogs. The upshot is yes, the restaurants should charge you.
1. The servers are doing the work cutting and plating the cake.
2. The restaurant is responsible for washing the utensils and plates you are eating the cake on.
3. The restaurant most likely offers its own dessert options of which you, the patron, is not partaking in.
4. The restaurant is waiting to turn over your table to other customers waiting to eat food provided by their establishment.
They're both right. You shouldn't bring your own dessert (some exceptions for special occasions, with forewarning to the restaurant), and the restaurant shouldn't charge you.
Addendum: And you should increase your tip accordingly.
Isn't there some health code that actually prohibits consuming food from somewhere other than the kitchen of the restaurant you're in? The Beer Garden in Astoria has all sorts of xeroxed notices citing some ordinance for the other as their reason for not letting anybody bring any food in-which is a bummer when you bring a home-baked birtday cake all the way from Brooklyn only to be told you can't bring it in!! I think that if for some reason there is absolutely no desert offered at that establishment, then fine, eat your cake, but tip really well.
Reasons to badmouth a restaurant include getting food poisoning, getting a bone in something boneless, having your waiter behave like Nicolas Cage. Being a douchebag who wants his precious D&D cake NOW, GODDAMNIT! is not a valid reason, however.
Tell you what... Buy a bottle of vodka in a liquor store and bring it into your favorite bar. Hand it to the bartender and tell him that you brought your own booze, and you want him to pour this for you.
So, what exactly is the difference between doing that and bringing in your own f___ing cake?
ugh get over it. How would you feel if you go over to a friend's house for dinner and you bring your own dessert to eat by yourself? It's rude.
Wow, I had no idea people did this except for birthdays and other special events. I honestly think it's a little tacky to bring your own dessert in a place that serves desserts (and this coming from a person who wears shorts to dinner and sees nothing wrong with splitting meals).
I've never heard of bringing your own dessert, with the obvious exception being birthday cake or cupcakes (and the restaurant should be free to impose charges for these listed in post #4). It is indeed tacky.
What i don't understand is where people got the idea that ruining someone's business is their right or prerogative. 9 times out of 10, the comments left on sites like yelp are negative, and even downright nasty. And for this guy to write an entire article about what a miserable person he is - he was obviously looking for a reason to hate his experience at this restaurant - it's just sad.
If you have a bad experience at a restaurant, you don't have to go back. But you also don't need to take it upon yourself to ensure that no one else eats there. The old saying put it best, if you don't have something nice to say, shut the f*%k up!
"it is the absolute height of low-thread count when you try to eat your own food in a f*cking restaurant"
This comment is filled with win.
What a douche bag.
Dean and Deluca's cake??
Way to support your local restaurant assface.
Leave New York like Rush and share John Stewart's E-Z Pass with him.
Oh, I hope you are reading this Jeffrey Wells, you stupid assface.
It's no different than when sob76 tried to take a bucket of KFC chicken, along with his box of white wine, into 21 and ordered a glass of club soda and ice. Make that a double garcon (pronounced "garkon.") Pour favori.
Other than a special event cake brought in from outside, it's ridiculous for a restaurant to allow food from outside to be brought into and consumed in their establishment.
Let's deconstruct. Seriously, a cake from two nights ago? in tinfoil? he planned on eating dessert from somewhere else? waitresses in leotards or tight sweaters? he's obsessing about the ties? did he think Maynard G Krebs would be his server? $62? for two? he spent that much, or that little, and sat there for how long? sitting at the bar eh and a friend spent $62 for dinner? what did they drink? tap water? Lets say this "relatively good time" lasted about two hours, that means that after the cost of the food itself, the four people he mentioned that served him plus the kitchen staff who made his food were working for about $4.50 an hour to indulge him. This is not someone who grasps reality well.
I bet he brings a thermos to his local coffee shop and asks for a mug--and also uses its milk and sweetener.
This is stupid.
I go to restaurants so I don't have to worry about anything other than eating, paying and leaving.
Why don't restaurants allow outside food?
LIABILITY
For more details call 1-800-SUE-MY-ASS.
"We'd already spent about $62..."
Ummm pssst- that is not a lot for a dinner for two, and you are a complete douche for bringing dessert FROM HOME!
p.s. - get a decent haircut.
I like to go to fancy restaurants for a soda and order pizza or Chinese take out. Then I loudly call my friends on my cellphone before going into the bathroom where I stuff as much toilet paper into my counterfeit purse before I leave a lousey tip.
I wasn't sure what I'd find in the comments section here after the debate on tipping that took place here not that long ago.
I'm glad everyone seems to agree what an ass this guy is. Some people are just narcissistic jerks and seem to go out of their way to be difficult.
This might be going a bit far in some of your opinions - but as a waiter, when someone brings in food or even when they order to go and then "change their mind" and sit in a dining room where someone else is trying to make their rent for the month I get a little irked.
At best it's just rude and makes you look dumb, and at worst it's tantamount to taking money out of the waiter's pocket who is working there.
People who do this are always quick to get angry and defensive, which seems suspiciously like someone who knew they were doing something wrong and just got caught.
Except for the special occasion cake, and only if the restaurant is fine with it, it's the dizzying height of douchebaggery to: not only pull out and eat a store bought cake for dessert, but to then blog on about it like a cranky cheap c*nt after being denied by staff. Come to think of it, that's exactly what Jeffrey Wells is.
I'm off to Sant Ambreous to enjoy a tasty dessert from their menu.
I'm so happy that pretty much everybody agreed on this one! I work at a restaurant, where the policy is "bite your tongue; the customer is always right" etc.
You guys made my day!
you can't buy class.
or a decent hairdo-this guy is a tool
I very much believe that restaurants should charge a fee for serving someone else's desserts and they even have a right to byo beer or wine. The reason is the cost beyond the item itself. There are plates and utensils involved and it costs to wash them. Even to have the waitstaff prepare and bring it out is a cost. Even if it's just one dessert. At the restaurant I work at they absolutely charge a fee for a cake for a birthday or we have a party room and they can bring a cake but if a customer brought in a single dessert I'm sure they'd be told no emphatically by the owner himself who is a tough Sicilian guy. My defense is cost only and I definitely say charge!