Classy Restaurant Etiquette

Yesterday, my wife and I took another trip to Atlantic City.  This was my third trip in about 6 weeks, since my exam on November 3, which is the most often I’ve ever been to AC.  But instead of just playing cheap with complimentary room and drinks, I decided to take it up a notch for variety’s sake and made reservations for dinner at Il Mulino at Trump Taj Mahal.

The restaurant experience was great.  After they sit you down, they don’t give you the menu right away.  First came fresh cheese, which was a bit too hard for my taste, then some type of zucchini/garlic/hot pepper dish, then came bruschetta and 4 pieces of pepperoni.  Finally came bread and garlic bread.  After all that complimentary food, we were given our menus.

Now, whenever we go to a fancy restaurant like this, we order at least an appetizer, dessert, or wine, along with our two main courses.  I assumed this was standard practice and something that people are expected to do when at a restaurant like this.  I did not want to look cheap ordering just two main courses.  But I’ve read a few opinions online where people disagreed with this sentiment and that no one is expected to or pressured to order anything.  So this time, we only ordered two main courses.  No appetizer (easy choice, given all the free food we had before the meal), no wine, and no dessert.  We also used a $25 in comps that I earned over the past few AC trips.  Our total cost was $75 minus the $25, so $50.  I tipped $15, so we paid $65.  But I couldn’t help but feel that our waiter was not quite as friendly as he was when we first arrived.  Well, this was just one time so I can’t be sure, but this made me think waiters at high-end restaurants expect high-end clientele, who like their high-end dinners with all the trimmings like bottled sparkling water, appetizers for each person, and a dessert even if main course was not finished.  We are not those types of people, and do not like to order more than what would get us full.  We also don’t like to spend more money than necessary, and enjoying just two main courses is fine with us.  I guess these restaurants expect those who is not fine with just the main course and orders a full 3-course meal, and if we do not order the way they do, maybe we are seen as not being at their level.  Or to put it simply, waiters just get mad when you don’t order more.

I would like to order whatever I want, but I do not live in a vacuum.  Every society has unwritten rules to follow, and maybe each class of restaurants has its own unwritten rules – rules I am not aware of because I do not frequent them very often.  Or maybe it was all just me being sensitive because I’ve never just ordered two main courses when dining at a restaurant of this caliber before.  I guess I will do some research.  I am still willing to try that restaurant again, though.

As for our trip, we were extremely lucky at the beginning, winning $210.  But then we lost it and more, so we lost about $120.  Not too bad, and we had a good time.

Gambling

I was trying to think of some angle for today’s post.  Something interesting, something insightful.  But it is 10:45pm already, and I should spend the rest of this day watching Up with my wife instead of blogging.  So I’ll just let you know how yesterday went.

We got a regular room at Taj Mahal, which is fine for us, especially at a cost of $5.  We played a little video poker, Let It Ride, and slots.  We had some pretty good luck until I wanted to try this Reel ’em In slot game and we blew $40 on it.  But it was fun, I guess, and overall we won about $40, including drink tips.  We also got $30 food credit, and $25 bonus for my wife signing up for the players club card, so it was good fun while even making a few bucks.  Once again, our casino trip didn’t result in us becoming millionaires, but we would take a trip like this any day.  Free drinks, free room, fun games, and if it doesn’t cost us that much, how can we resist?

Taj Mahal has been offering me complimentary rooms on weekends lately, so I have rooms booked on December 10 and December 18 also.  Hopefully, those trips will be winners also.

Atlantic City Trip

My wife and I enjoy our occasional trips to Atlantic City.  We take advantage of the complimentary room offers when we get them (usually in non-summer months only), and have a one-night or a two-night getaway.  However, there is one thing I cannot really do when I go to Atlantic City with my wife, and that is poker.

Playing poker takes hours of sitting there and patiently waiting for good hands and good opportunities.  This is something I do not feel comfortable doing, because I don’t want to leave my wife alone for that long.  When we went to Las Vegas two months ago, I was determined to get some poker time, and I did play for a few hours but ended up losing about $250.  Well, we do have a trip to AC planned for next week, but poker will not be involved since I was able to get that out of the way yesterday.

My brother and I decided on Bally’s, since they have a 1-1 cash game ($1 small blind, $1 big blind).  Before I hit the poker table, I started with a $20 at a video poker machine.  Well, the day got off to a good start, as I hit a 4-of-a-kind, and made $40.  Off to the poker room I went, and took my seat with $80 in chips.  I played careful, but solid, poker, never bluffing and not taking any unnecessary risks.  Luckily, I was able to make some hands, and my $80 became $300.  As the clock neared 7pm, I was looking for a good time to leave the game to sign up for the 7pm tournament.  I should have left a couple of hands earlier than I did because my top pair lost to a straight, and cost me $60.  Regardless, I tripled my investment, and was up by $160.  I took $75 of that and entered a tournament.

Tournament had about 45-50 entrants, and the top 5 players got paid.  Again, I was playing very conservatively, doubling up a few times going all in with good hands that luckily stood.  To my surprise, other players were getting knocked out while I stayed.  5 tables were reduced to 4, then 3, then 2… then I found myself at the final table.  At this point, the blinds were so high that if you didn’t win for a couple of rounds, you were blinded out.  But the 10 became 7, then 6.  Top 5 paid, but at this point, players were talking about this thing called a bubble bonus.  I didn’t completely understand it, but when people started pulling $20s out of their wallets, I had to ask what was going on.  Turns out, since no one wanted to finish 6th in a tournament where only the top 5 got paid, everyone was putting in a $20, and that $120 would go to the 6th place finisher.  I was definitely cool with that.  Well, it turns out that was a good idea, since I was the “lucky” recipient of that bonus.  So I invested $75 + $20 into this tournament, and won $120, for a $25 profit.  That is not much, since it took me about 4 1/2 hours to get to this point, but I was just proud of having outlasted so many other people.  Looking back, I should have really pushed hard for the top spot, instead of just trying to make it into the money.

Afterwards, it was one last round of video poker, and I got lucky again with another 4-of-a-kind, for a $55 profit.  So overall, I left with $280 more than I came with, which makes for a successful trip.  The trip involved a 1 1/2 hour drive each way with my brother, which is another subject I will go into on another day.

So after my exam on Tuesday morning, I spent Tuesday and Wednesday with my wife.  Thursday went to dinner with my wife’s family.  Friday was dinner with friends, and yesterday was the AC trip.  Today was the first day I had to start doing some of those organizing that I talked about, but looks like the day is now almost over, not having done any of those things.  Oh well, back to the old 5-day workweek starting tomorrow…

Pokering

In Atlantic City, playing poker.  Doing okay today.  Posting just to keep my daily streak going.  I will update tomorrow.  Good night!