Restaurant Minutes

Photos: The new pineapple upside-down cheesecake, and fried shrimp with remoulade and fries. Cheesecake Factory's batter is pretty brilliant--light and crisp, not doughy and greasy. Oh! and the ranch...to die for. The garlic content in the ranch will make your breath reek of death for a few days, but the ranch should never be passed up when ordering fries.



There needs to be an official increment of time called the "restaurant minute" in order to bridge the miscommunication gap between diners and waitstaff. Eric and I had the waiting time misunderstanding twice today. Once at Walnut Cafe in Santa Cruz, another at Cheesecake Factory in San Jose. Imagine how much calmer customers would be if they could know exactly how long the wait for a table would be.

Customer: Hi. Table for 2 please.

Hostess: Name?

Customer: Bobert.

Hostess: Okay, 2 for Bobert. The wait for a table is about 20 restaurant minutes.

Customer: Restaurant minutes? Did you just say restaurant minutes?

Hostess: Yes. A restaurant minute is equivalent to 3.2 regular minutes.

Customer: Great! I'll just hang out on the patio and try to stave off auto-digestion.

...or...

Waitress: Thanks so much for waiting. Your food should be out in about 10 restaurant minutes.

Customer: ...but what if my car doesn't start when I get back outside?

Waitress: Hahahaha. Complimentary cheesecake?