Hurry Up and Eat! Fine Dining in 90 Minutes ... Restaurants Want Your Table ...

HURRY UP AND EAT! As the $143 billion restaurant industry comes off its slowest year in a decade, it has a new item on the menu: shooing you out the door. To the dismay of diners who like to sit back and savor the cappuccino, high-end restaurants are turning to high-tech gadgets, efficiency experts and software to help cram as many customers into — and as much money out of — every single seating. The tactics go way beyond the usual glaring maitre d’. From reservation systems that automate a manager’s best guess of how long people will linger to red flags that pop up when a table is occupied for two hours, the dinner rush is on.

Across the country, the average full-service restaurant is doing 1.9 seatings a day, up from 1.3 daily in 1993, according to National Restaurant Association figures. To fit people in, restaurants are having to shave minutes off their seating times (15 minutes, for example, in just two years at Charlie Palmer Steak in Las Vegas). At many eateries, says Dan Rosenthal, co-owner of Trattoria No. 10 in Chicago, which has seen average mealtime shrink 15% in a decade, the strategy is “Greet ‘em, seat ‘em, feed ‘em — and delete ‘em.”

Just how fast are we expected to chew nowadays?
To find out, we dispatched reporters to eat dinner — at a relaxed but not obstinate pace — in upscale restaurants across the country. We clocked how long it took to be seated, counted how many times overeager busboys tried to snatch away our plates (four times at one Chicago foodie haven alone) and measured how long we could hang out after paying. All told, we had 20 three-course meals for two people, with coffee. They ranged widely from a languorous, “refill, please?” three hours and 21 minutes to a do-the-hustle 91-minute dinner that went by in a creme-brulee blur.

Overall, we found that paying more for a meal didn’t ensure we had more time to linger. Who would have guessed that at storied Le Cirque in New York, the waiter would try to reclaim our chocolate dessert before we’d gotten halfway through it? (He lost that battle.) Or that one of the kitschiest restaurants in frantic Las Vegas would provide one of our more leisurely meals? (Everybody else was out gambling.) We found out, too, that while Ritz-Carlton prohibits asking a diner to decamp a table, Disney World will do it, albeit with an offer of free drinks.

And, 60 courses and two belt notches later, we were savvy veterans of a variety of passive-aggressive table-turn techniques. At Chicago’s MK, for instance, the half-full bowl of lobster soup was a “go” signal to busboys collecting plates; at a hot Miami restaurant/nightclub, we were encouraged to stay on — but it was implied we didn’t really want to.

What’s the rush? To some degree, restaurants say, diners insist on high-speed eating, while some fast meals are just flukes. (Cello says Ms. Kleinman’s rushed dinner experience “rarely happens.”) But even many restaurateurs say they need to turn tables up a notch; while overall industry revenue grew in 2001, it fell 8% to 10% at upscale restaurants, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. Particularly hard hit: expense-account dining and pricey wine orders.

With people spending less, “there’s an enormous pressure to accelerate the dining process — you need so many dollars per chair per night,” says Larry Bain, operations director of San Francisco’s Jardiniere. To that end, the industry spent $3.2 billion last year on new technology, including software that can shave crucial minutes off mealtimes. In the case of one place, Harbor Restaurant in Santa Barbara, Calif., turning just 25 more tables a night means an additional $2,400 a day.

Still, restaurateurs know that hurrying guests can backfire, especially now, when diners are more careful about where they spend their money. “This is not a moment for attitude,” says New York-based restaurant consultant Clark Wolf. Interrupted mid-dessert at Le Cirque, we heartily agree. Below, the highlights from our fast-food binge.

Ian Schrager, the former proprietor of Studio 54, an ex-convict and now boutique hotelier, reopened the Clift Hotel in August — and the place was notorious from the start. Reservations at its flagship restaurant are hard to come by (two months for a table of four on a Saturday night) and the vibe is loud, busy and hip. The night we went, we saw, in addition to the requisite black-sheathed waifs that mark a happening place, four men in full Scottish kilt dress at the adjacent bar, sipping pink Cosmopolitans.

Our waiter appeared instantly — not too much mulling time — but the resulting good, if pricey, meal lasted more than two hours. (Don’t bring your own wine: The corkage fee is a stiff $25.) Such leisurely eating is rare at Asia de Cuba, where management says it aims for fast-paced turnover and allows 90 minutes for a table of two. Indeed, every computerized check is assigned a time stamp, and likely departure time, when the party is seated. Such speedy service, imported from its restaurant in New York, isn’t always a winner in San Francisco, says manager Joel Spalding. In California, “they have a tendency to drag it out.” But if Asia de Cuba did two seatings in an evening, rather than three, it would lose $7,000 to $10,000 a night, he says.

Dinner at this heartland haven for foodies was delicious, if only we could remember it. MK expects to turn at least half its tables of two in 90 minutes, and our dinner lasted only a minute longer — the fastest in our survey. The eatery’s secret? Each table is assigned two hovering waiters, who are backed up by a computerized system that red-flags tables where a server hasn’t punched in an update in 30 minutes. A manager pops in on lingering tables, too.

“Their rushing is out of control,” says software-company manager Cristina Lawrence. Her recent birthday dinner at MK lasted a little over an hour and ended with her father in a huff over the rush: The waiter unceremoniously dropped the check with dessert. “That’s not supposed to happen,” says managing partner Caryn M. Struif, noting that MK usually allots two to 2 1/2 hours for a party of five but that it adapts service to the diner’s eating pace.

But Ms. Lawrence wasn’t the only one startled by a three-star quickie. When we checked in, we were led across the restaurant, climbed the balcony to our seats, got menus, ordered drinks, heard the specials, received drinks and were asked if we were ready to order — all in the space of five minutes, 13 seconds. And four minutes after we signed our check, a waiter was at our table to whisk us off.

Over the top? Bien sur! This 50%-scale replica of the Eiffel Tower in Paris houses a restaurant about one-third the way up, affording glittering views beyond The Strip and to the suburbs — where real people live. Reservations can be hard to come by, but here’s a tip: Ask at your hotel — the restaurant reserves 12% of its tables for referrals through concierges.

Five years ago, it was hard to get a great cup of coffee in Las Vegas, says Chicago stay-at-home mom Jennifer Clesle, but now the level of the cuisine is “overwhelming.” Indeed, since Jean-Georges, Nobu, Charlie Palmer, Todd English and Le Cirque decamped there, Sin City has become a foodie’s paradise, especially for those with big savings accounts or lines of credit. Yet a haute steak can’t compete with high stakes, and Las Vegas restaurants play a supporting role to the circus going on outside: showgirls, loopy architecture, people-watching and, oh yes, gambling.

“There are lots of distractions here,” says Lyle Tolhurst, general manager at Eiffel, which counts on turning the dining room at least once a night, allotting about 90 minutes for a table of two. With time, instead of money, to kill, we managed to stay here almost three hours.

We can’t help envying Nobu Matsuhisa. He has outposts of his Japanese-food empire in New York, London, Miami, Tokyo and Beverly Hills, Calif., among other cities, and each venue is as stuffed to the gills with the Prada set as the next. His investors include Robert de Niro and Giorgio Armani. And his black cod with miso actually lives up to the hype.

This Malibu offshoot featured a strip-mall exterior, a star-studded interior and toro tuna so fresh it nearly made us stop thinking of producer Brian Grazer and Julia Louis Dreyfus, eating nearby. This was among our priciest meals, and our tastiest — but we felt rushed at the end. That’s when the waitress offered to refill our coffee. Our cup was full. She came back in a few minutes, but our cup was still full. This odd choreography repeated itself a few times. We felt like characters in an Alfred Hitchcock movie. We left.

Admittedly, we had well surpassed the 1½ to 2 hours the restaurant allots for a table for two, but is that really enough time to savor that tasty — and, at $231, pricey — a meal? Executive chef Gregorio Stephenson thinks so. “We’ve never had to go up to a table and say, ‘I’m sorry, but we need this table,’” he says. As for the coffee matter, it’s a case of “over-servicing.”

How trendy is Tantra? Its soft pretzel wrapped in smoked salmon, filled with wasabi-flavored creme fraiche and dotted with caviar was Playboy Magazine’s dish of the month in March. Its publicists keep tabs on the celebs who snack there: Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith, Dennis Rodman and Elizabeth Hurley, among them. And it features a grass-carpeted foyer and somewhat pornographic Hindu statues.

Not to mention some hurried customers. Michael Solovay enjoyed the restaurant’s “love juice” shots, but says a friend’s bachelor party felt rushed. “My sense is that they were trying to turn the table,” he says. “It’s a restaurant. Of course they’re trying to make money.”

As for us, we weren’t seated until 25 minutes after arriving, with no apology. We got a table right in front of the DJ station and right in front of the drum set. (Operations director Dave Grutman says “a lot of people request to sit there — that way they can soak up all the energy.”) The strobe lights and the dancers bumping into our table began at dessert. After we paid, “you can stay as long as you like, of course,” our waiter said, “but I notice you’re getting a little cramped.”

Wink, wink. We took that as an invitation to leave — this time, no sooner than we wanted to.

I've eaten at some of these restaurants, however, not recently. Didn't feel rushed, but apparently times are "a changing" in the restaurant business.

Usually, I have trouble trying to get the friggin' check so I can pay & leave.

That is a more typical restaurant experience. My wife and I were sitting in a restaurat recently and couldn't attract the attention of a waiter/waitress. It was like we were invisible. I remarked to my wife, we should patent this ability to be invisible and sell it the government ... the military might be interested.

People actually eat at places that charge like that! I would consider $20.00/person to be too expensive.

Around here you can get a good meal, a hot meatball sandwich (with potatoes and gravy) for $5.00.

Having moved to the DFW Metroplex about a year ago I have noticed a considerable difference in the "hustle 'em in and hustle 'em out" attitude of the big city as compared to the the small town I moved from. It seems one method of getting people to move on is the noise level. Most of the places where my family and I have eaten have had extremely high noise levels, making it almost impossible to talk at a normal level, seems like all you want to do is get out, which we have done. Apparently it works. Anyone else experiencing this phenomenon?

On one recent outing to a fairly pricey establishment, the waiter brought our appetizer dish to us, and less than 2 minutes later brought out the main entrees. He beamed and said, "Now how's that for service!" Needless to say, Sparky got an itty bitty tip...

Who the heck eats in these places? Is this even relevant to 99% of society? I make pretty average pay and I think $200 for dinner is a crime, unless they're giving me a room to go with it.

I can eat just fine for $25 bucks a person, and have all the time I want to eat and converse.

Of course, I would just as soon stay home and eat home-cooked food rather than blowing hundreds of dollars on salmon wrapped pretzels.

Just how fast are we expected to chew nowadays? To find out, we dispatched reporters to eat dinner

Ok, I'll change my profession now. I need to be a reporter on this never-ending story with an expense account (and a membership at an excersize club)

Lately I've been simply avoiding the mainstream restaurants altogether - it's big business and not very family oriented - they want your money & not your time.
I've found the smaller restaurants that aren't as popular to have much better quality in regards to just simply relaxing and eating - works for me.

I don't eat at those kinds of restaurants, even when I'm on an expense account.

At the places my family and I go, we haven't noticed any trend toward getting rushed out. But if we did, we'd vote with our feet and make sure the mgt knew, which is what the customers of these higher-priced establishments should do. I don't know why this is even an issue.

My wife took me to a very upscale restaurant for Father's Day serving French cuisine. Excellent food, doting service - homemade ice cream for desert. I'm guessing we were there 2 1/2 to 3 hours. The hostess wanted us to stay longer so she could play with our two year old some more. But then, this wasn't a chain restaurant that would use efficiency experts or computerized seating schedules.

Who the heck eats in these places? Is this even relevant to 99% of society? I make pretty average pay and I think $200 for dinner is a crime, unless they're giving me a room to go with it.

And the more expensive the food, the smaller the portions. Avoid any restaurant that brags about it's "presentation". That's a code word for "you'll leave hungry".

Best to avoid any place with a mispelled or foreign language word. Never eat at a "ristorante", or a "centre" or an "olde" anything.

We rarely eat out these days. We've seen too many restaurant workers leave the w.c. without washing their hands to make it an enjoyable prospect anymore.

I make pretty average pay and I think $200 for dinner is a crime, unless they're giving me a room to go with it.

Or score on your first date ;-)

Our paper recently did an article where they went around to various well-known restaurants in town and took decibel readings! The noisiest was a Mexican place followed by a trendy Italian restaurant. I have been to both and can vouch for the noise- can't even have a conversation. When they asked management about it, they said the noise adds to the buzz and energy that people want in a 'chic' dining experience!

Who the heck eats in these places?

Our company takes clients out to lunch at places like that all the time. I would never go by myself, but as long as the company is paying...

Man, you must have a well-off company then. From what I've seen, companies around here treat clients to Jason's Deli or Colter's BBQ.
I mean, $219 for a couple of dinners? For that price I could fly to California and catch my own dang fish.

I could fly to California and catch my own dang fish.

Unfortunately, in California, the Dang Fish is now an endangered species. Looks like you will just have to eat somewhere else..:^))

On one recent outing to a fairly pricey establishment, the waiter brought our appetizer dish to us, and less than 2 minutes later brought out the main entrees.

This happens frequently when the restaurant is slow getting the appetizer dish to the table. After waiting an inordinate length of time for the appetizer the main entree arrives within a few short minutes. Usually it's the servers fault when this happens, not the kitchen.

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.