Posted on 06/27/2018 6:58:37 AM PDT by Simon Green
Souvla, a Greek restaurant with a devoted following, serves spit-fired meat two ways: in a photogenic sandwich, or on a photogenic salad, either available with a glass of Greek wine. The garnishes are thoughtful: pea shoots, harissa-spiked yogurt, mizithra cheese.
The small menu is so appealing and the place itself so charming that you almost forget, as a diner, that you have to do much of the work of dining out yourself. You scout your own table. You fetch and fill your own water glass. And if youd like another glass of wine, you go back to the counter.
Runners will bring your order to the table, but there are no servers to wait on you here, or at the two other San Francisco locations that Souvla has added or, increasingly, at other popular restaurants that have opened in the last two years: RT Rotisserie, which is roasting cauliflower a few blocks away; Barzotto, a bistro serving hand-rolled pasta in the Mission district; and Media Noche, a Cuban sandwich spot with eye-catching custom tilework.
Inside these restaurants, its evident that the forces making this one of the most expensive cities in America are subtly altering the economics of everything. Commercial rents have gone up. Labor costs have soared. And restaurant workers, many of them priced out by the expense of housing, have been moving away.
Restaurateurs who say they can no longer find or afford servers are figuring out how to do without them. And so in this city of staggering wealth, you can eat like a gourmand, with real stemware and ceramic plates. But first youll have to go get your own silverware.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Does the aroma of the city streets add to the ambiance of the place?
Well, maybe, but I’ve been eating out in NYC over the last few months and I’m not busing my own tables.
The good old days:
* Gas stations had attendants who would swarm your car to fill your tank, check your oil, put air in your tires, etc. they did all the work.
* The clerks at the supermarket emptied your cart, punched in the prices, and took your payment. No “paper or plastic” questions. No 25 cent charge for each bag if you forgot to being your own “green, reusable” bag.
* Streets didn’t have “Adopted by” virtue-signaling signs. Your modest taxes actually kept the streets and roads clean without extracting more from businesses and organizations.
* A human always answered your phone call. You didn’t get a useless robot that knows less than nothing and doesn’t understand you. Sandeep in India didn’t answer the phone and go by the lying nom-de-service of “Fred Jones.”
I will never understand why this is the “service era” when overall service is really crappy.
Mighty expensive cafeteria.
We live in a small town in western N.J. (no jokes please) It is 12 miles to the nearest large grocery store, Walmart,
Home Depot etc. I have no clue as to what these restaurants are serving. Give me a good breakfast or lunch at Uncle Bucks and I am a happy camper. I guess I am just a degenerate conservative who don’t need no stinkin lib stuff.
On the rare occasions we go out to eat....the whole idea is to be served.......so I guess if this catches on in my rural area, we won’t be eating out and spreading our small but sufficient wealth.
To each their own. I'm a huge fan of Thai and Japanese cuisine, myself.
The effect of this is to put a good portion of the Gay community out of work....+Instead of market forces determining the value of labor they’re forcing an unrealistic value to it. This is a recipe for failure....a failure we are seeing time and again where ever this is tried.
It’s ironic that the people that these laws are designed to help will, in the long run, be the people they hurt the most. Typical result for liberal/socialistic policies.
“How many straight waiters in San Francisco does it take to screw in a light bulb?”
Both of them.
Driving through SF NOW
why anyone would live here astounds me
It’s 55 and foggy and summertime
Start with that. And then you have the liberals and million dollar condos and no parking
Obviously, the NYT is not going to say the truth: that the mandated minimum hourly rate is too much, and that someone getting paid that much is not worth it to the business. You know, the free market thing that the NYT hates.
Rate things are going, they'll make you slaughter the cow.
“...you have to do much of the work of dining out yourself...”
THAT’S what I do at home.... and that’s why I go out. :)
Get up and get it yourself! (gratuity surcharge of 25% will be included in the bill)
Sorta like the Tiny Home movement. Can't afford a house in town? Live in a sardine can on wheels! It's sooooo cool and you're helping to combat climate change! You're a free spirit! Be the envy of your friends!...
Marketing...
How much would you pay and be willing to do to escape the stench out in the streets of San Francisco for 45 minutes?
It sure makes a bad day worse
Didn’t Dan Ackroyd do a comedy ad on SNL with that theme in the early years. The chainsaw was a good touch.
The main reason I do most of my grocery shopping at Harris Teeter over Food Lion or Krogers.
We call these “food trucks”.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.