From: rhs@world.std.com (Richard H Schwartz)
Subject: Re: Deceptive menu practices
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Distribution: ne
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 00:09:54 GMT

jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com (Jim Mann) writes:

>But one of your complaints was about the String Beans.  Of all
>the Chinese restaurants I've eaten this dish at, only one
>DOESN'T put pork in the string beans. So this is the standard
>way of preparing the dish.

The email and postings have pointed this out, and I have admitted 
that my judgement on the string beans was faulty.  Some restaurants
do, and some don't, put pork in the string beans.  Some do, and 
some don't, note it on the menu.  I consider those that list it 
under "Vegetables" on the menu and do not note the present of meat
in the dish on the menu to be doing less than a perfect job of 
serving their customers.  I admit that I did less than a perfect
job of identifying the ingredients of the dish from memory. 

>Yep, most chefs, if told in advance, can avoid putting certain
>things into certain dishes, or can prepare a special item. But
>they have to know about it in advance.  I'm sure if you tell
>the waitress up front "I can't eat pork. If any of the dishes I
>order have pork in them, tell me, so I can order others (or can
>they be made without port?)"  you have a very good chance of
>getting what you want.

With the language barrier in many ethic restaurants, this is not
as easy as you presume.  It is especially difficult in a Chinese
restaurant where some people in my party observe a restriction and
others don't, and some dishes are shared and some are not.  

>90+ percent of their customers don't care.  Now, the question is,
>can they respond to the needs of most of the remaining 10%, and
>what is the best way to do so.  Do they need to put "WARNING: PORK"
>on the menu next to all dishes containing pork?  

No.  "Pork Egg Drop Soup" or "Egg Drop Soup with Pork" will do just fine :-)

>How about
>"WARNING: MILK" next to any item that contains a dairy product, in
>case someone is allergic to milk?

If there's milk in something that normally doesn't contain milk in
other restaurants, yes (but not in those exact words).  If you ordered 
a Black Russian and got vodka, Kahlua and milk, wouldn't you be just
a bit surprised?

>And Yen's Wok, based on your description, did a fine job of 
>responding to your needs.  They replaced any of the dishes that
>bothered you.

Yes.  Absolutely.  I did not fault their reaction to the problem.
I tipped the waitress well for dealing with it efficiently.  It's not their
fault that I had a two-year old child with me and had to request that
the waitress remove the food from in front of her.  Have you ever tried
that?  Do you know what it's like to take food from a child?

My complaint pertains to the *menu*.  That printed piece of cardboard that,
had it simply labeled the Egg Drop Soup as "with Pork", could have avoided
the whole thing.  Yeah, we could have asked.  Honestly, how many of you
out there would have thought to specifically ask "Does the Egg Drop Soup
have Pork in it?"  Remember, this is a crowded restaurant, and you're
unsure of your waiter's command of English (I did, in fact, have to point 
to one of the dishes on the menu that we were ordering), and you have 
already knowingly ordered one soup that does contain pork.  Be honest.

-rich
-- 
             Richard H. Schwartz, Scheduling Systems Inc.,
            1000 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA  02138
                  (617) 864 8330; FAX (617) 864 8377
                          rhs@world.std.com