Restaurant Resolutions You Should Make in 2024

Put down the phone, pick up the menu, and remember your glasses.

The start of a new year is an opportunity for a clean slate, as unblemished as freshly fallen snow. True, that by February our attempts for new behavior may be as failed as the snow is dirty, but it’s always nice to try. Not everyone compiles a list of New Year’s resolutions, but I can guarantee that restaurant servers hope customers will so they will start doing certain things and stop doing others. New year, new you!

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Tip on the original bill not on the discounted total

Whatever percentage is deemed appropriate for a tip, make sure the calculation is based on the right number. If there’s a complimentary cocktail on the check or a two-for-one special, the tip is for everything that was served, not just for what was paid for. A server shouldn’t be tipped less because the customer has a coupon.

Adhere to restaurant hours

Opening and closing times for all businesses are so easy to find, there’s no excuse to plead ignorance. Let your fingers do the walking and look it up on Google or the restaurant's website. You can even call the restaurant if you’re someone who still likes to talk on the phone. Showing up before opening time and then glaring through the glass of the locked doors informs the employees inside that you’re impatient and it does not make them open sooner.

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Even more importantly, know what time they close. Arriving two minutes before closing time and patting yourself on the back with a “We just made it!” is a sure way to make people in the restaurant not want to serve you.

Read the menu

Ask any server their number one pet peeve and it’s likely to be about a customer’s refusal to acknowledge the menu. It’s the Rosetta Stone that will unlock the mysteries of what can and cannot be ordered and its powers should not be underestimated. Questions are welcomed, but only after perusing the menu. Don’t ask “What should I get?” immediately after sitting down. Be specific with your queries and base them on what information you cannot find on the menu. And bring your glasses. Font is small, lights are dim, and QR codes aren’t going anywhere.

Listen to the server

Some may think of servers as unskilled laborers who don’t have real jobs, but they do have the answers to your questions. After rattling off the specials down to the most minute detail about the wild salmon served with asparagus and beurre blanc, it’s blood-boiling to have a customer then say, “So, what are the specials?” When I waited tables, my rule was to announce all eight salad dressings only one time per table. If someone asked me to repeat it because they weren’t paying attention, their options dwindled to oil and vinegar or ranch.

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When you say you’re ready to order, be ready to order

You don’t have to make a split second decision between the split pea soup and the secondi portion of your meal, but make those decisions on your own time. Saying you’re ready to order and then picking up the menu for the first time is grounds for immediate disdain from your server and it makes it awkward for all involved. If the server says, “I’ll give you a few more minutes to decide,” that’s code for “You are wasting my time and I have about a million other things to do right now.”

Put down the cell phones

Believe it or not, cell phones are not permanently affixed to our palms. Unless it’s needed to see what time the restaurant closes or to look at the QR coded menu, pull yourself away from it while the server is at the table. If someone didn’t hear the specials, it’s probably because they were busy posting a photo of their cocktail on Instagram. There’s nothing wrong with doing that, but focus on the person taking your order first.

And when the food arrives, move the phone off the table. The server is carrying plates hot enough to permanently alter fingerprints and the plates need the table space more than the iPhone does.

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All of these resolutions for customers are things servers want customers to aspire to. They may fall by the wayside just like going to the gym, learning how to knit, and practicing ukulele will likely do for me, but it’s always nice to know that we can start anew.

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