I also think Gordan Ramsey needs to be bitch-slapped. Why all those pussies on his show let themselves be treated like that, is beyond me.

too bad cleveland is horrendous
anyone who was mad lebron james left had either never been to cleveland or never left cleveland

Grunch

Nowhere else in the UK have I ever seen a cover charge, or a pre-added donation, so that's way, way off for trying to throw hot grease over the UK "restaurant" (when you main airport) eating experience.

EDIT: also all these service issues are apples to oranges given the US wage and tip system is totally different to the UK's. Servers make more in the wage element here than tip, so service is sloppier. in the US, people work harder for the tip element and can hire someone specifically to mill about to fill water glasses. No sane eatery manager here will hire a water boy. I don't think either party needs to feel maligned about it, it's the way the economies work. I for one think minimum wage is too low, not a race to the bottom, so trying to magnify the tip element in the hopes it raises the service bar is a risky strategy here.

Also as our food costs are higher than the US (smaller farming economy) and the patterns of eating are different (eating out 1/week at most, not more), it's even further from an A:A comparison.

FWIW i went to a cocktail bar/eatery last night and got great service from hung over staff. If you look, you can find places that care about their food, presentation and service, even for a £9 burger, not just at 21212 or the Kitchin.

If you're going to a Chinese restaurant that offers free bread, you're doing something wrong.

I certainly considered this, but it seems to me that probability dictates it is more likely the tubes have spawned a troll. Anyway, if true, /mindblown.

Also, is like BASaint a Phil gimmick or cousin or something?

Yeah you at at a named chef's restaurant at a major international airport and got crappy service had to pay out the nose? Super shocker!

How about instead of freaking out about bottled water you consider that it's like 1/500 the price of your plane ticket and just suck it up? Drink a beer like a normal person traveling.

Also the medium stuff is priceless. "I expected all burgers would be cooked the same, so I ordered it the most standard way possible and confirmed my suspicions!" And the burger was even good which I'd consider a major coup in any airport anywhere.

This thread has brought back severe flashbacks of waiting on Canadians. Just awful awful customers. Order the cheapest things, complain, tip 10% if you're lucky (granted this was 20-ish years ago). Obsessed with every last dime. Just awful.

I'd love to hear airport horror stories or more $900 Moscow car rides and $150 mashed potatoes stories.

Sheremetyevo as an airport was fine in 2002 when I was there, and it was easy not to get rooked for a cab ride if you weren't stupid enough to use any of the guys yelling "taxi" once you go through passport control. I call BS unless this dude is talking about pre-1989 and was a feeeeelthy capeeetaleest peeg.

EDIT: I mean seriously, are everyone's experiences of a nation's cuisine and service from a sample size of 1? I'd expect better from a poker forum.

Slight derail, but if anyone ever flies to Sheremetyevo (Шереметьево) don't ever get a taxi to the city. There is an express train that takes you to the center for $10. I've been flying in and out of this airport for a couple years now regularly and if you are a tourist they will offer absurd prices which people know are way too much but don't know the city and another way to get to where they need to go.

As to the OP's issue, I would definitely be upset but if you travel you just have to know about this kind of crap and do a bit of research for the best places.

Ramsay gonna Ramsay. He is/was broke after all

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...staurants.html

Munich airport does a 'hangman's lunch'

bread roll, water, and a cigarette for a euro. Now that's value!

If in London away from airport go here

http://www.relaisdevenise.com/city/

here

http://www.tayyabs.co.uk/

or here

http://www.danslenoir.com/london/

if you like that jewish pricey food

here

http://www.bevismarkstherestaurant.com/

stinky,

Just noticed this: "also, shouldnt i be getting mayo with my fries??? WTF???"

Mayo? Make a decision, do you want Euro service or American service!?

yea its actually a greek restaurant,when i realized my mistake it was too late to edit. surprised how long it took for someone to figure it out tho.

I can see how it's easy to confuse the two.

In related us v euro service discussion, I've been in Paris for the past week and have gotten nothing but excellent service from low-end to high-end places despite my poor American-accented French and asking for tap water everywhere.

this isn't an airport thing, because it doesn't happen at airports outside of the UK. maybe it's a gordon ramsay thing.

well if im gonna get euro service shouldn't they at least be consistent???

it actually still seems pretty common for fairly well-off canadians to tip "10-15%" for "good service", meaning they tip 10%. i've often eaten with people (canadians) who were surprised that i want to tip "so much" when splitting the bill and suggesting tipping 15%. i'd bet that 25%+ tips are far more common in the US than 20%+ tips are in canada.

Huh - I would not guess this is typical Canadian behavior! I thought Canucks were generally polite, considerate people?

regardless, the fish move when you have a layover is doing anything except paying $30 to get into an airline lounge

free beer and drinks, sandwiches, snacks, tv, internet and no kids - this is the easiest money spent ever

and I'm Canadian but they tip just awfully. just imagine an asian female Canadian teacher!

isn't canadians just a restaurant euphemism for black people?

yeah, but I think it comes from the fact that actual Canadians are ****ty tippers too.

You made this same point in the red lobster thread. Nowhere I ever worked did we use the euphemism fwiw.

They're cheap and annoying as **** to wait on (at least the ones that somehow make it obvious they're Canadian).

wouldn't they be cheap in part because the canadian dollar used to be worth far less than the american dollar, so a $50 meal was like $80

Do you need to be a high mileage flier to do this? How much free booze do you get?