“How is everything tasting?”
I’m not sure when it started, but at some point, servers in restaurants, when coming around to your table to check on you, started asking “how’s everything tasting?”, rather than the formerly prevalent “how is everything?”. It seems as if a universal email went out to all wait staff everywhere, with the decree that this is now the proper way to phrase the question. But while it’s no longer a new practice, it still grates on my ears whenever it’s asked of me. I mean, this is FOOD: When asking about someone’s satisfaction regarding food, isn’t the sense of taste implied? Are they otherwise expecting someone to reply, “Well, it TASTES great, but it looks disgusting and smells terrible”? To me, asking “how’s everything” instead would imply not only the food, but also the congeniality and promptness of service, the atmosphere... ie, the overall experience. By narrowing the inquiry down to taste only, it seems to make the statement that the establishment doesn’t much care about the patron’s OVERALL satisfaction! I think this is the aspect of it that disturbs me: I can prepare all sorts of wonderful food in my kitchen, and for a fraction of the price of eating out. What I feel I’m paying for when dining out is the experience as much as the food, and it is my satisfaction with that experience that this new question (besides its annoying redundancy) seems to deliberately avoid.
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Even worse, in Norwegian, we have "smakte det?", which literally means "did it taste?". I've always hated that way of saying it, because the answer might be "Yes, it tasted terribly!".
Gustav Mar-12-2014
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@Erroll
I'm with you. "How's everything?" or "Everything OK" do seem to be more appropriate than "How's everything tasting?".
@Gustav
Same problem exists in German.
user106928 Mar-12-2014
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The best practice is, of course, to encourage waiting or any other serving staff to use their own language rather than a formulaic question, whatever the question is. John Cleese used to be involved in an educational TV company, and in one programme on retail sales suggested there were two questions sales staff should never ask a customer - "Can I help you?" and "Who's next?"
I also remember a management guru suggesting that in a McDonalds in Bristol, for example, they shouldn't be saying "HI, how are you today" (which makes absolutely no sense to a Brit when it comes from a complete stranger), but rather "Hello my lovely, what can I get you?" or something to that effect.
Warsaw Will Mar-14-2014
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So glad someone else noticed this. I like the "universal email" theory.
Tim Erickson Jun-20-2014
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Clearly some consultants somewhere in the restaurant business came up with this and has spread it throughout the industry. I, too, find it incredibly annoying. It seems designed to limit customer statements of dissatisfaction. Even worse, some places have gone even further and trained their wait staff to ask "Is everything tasting great?" Um, yeah, sure. Such a closed question is clearly designed to NOT elicit any form of real feedback while maintaining a pretense that the wait staff is actually interested in the customers.
Michael MMc Mar-27-2015
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Yes this saying is soooo unprofessional ! It is much better to ask " Is everything prepared to YOUR liking?" Yes food tastes, what kind of question is that. Please if your a server stop saying that as your tip will not be taken away !
natej1976 @gmail.com Mar-06-2017
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It bugs me because, while the food may possess flavor or "taste", it is NOT "tasting". My taste buds are doing the tasting.
A woman may be wearing a hat.
A woman may be tasting food.
A food may have a taste but does not engage in tasting.
And it's weird that they seem concerned not with whether the food is good or flavorful but with the immediate-right-now-interface of the food and my tongue: "how is everything tasting" implies RIGHT NOW.
It does seem like it just suddenly appeared and I don't know why.
mrcdsmith Jul-19-2017
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I travel. I'm sitting at a restaurant right now, and was just asked this question, for the hundredth time. When I pulled it up on Google, got this site, and was delighted. The most remarkable thing for me is the rapidity with which this question about how your food is tasting was adopted throughout the entire restaurant industry, across nearly every chain, and even into local diners such as the one where I'm sitting now.
My theory is that one guy who makes a living as a consultant decided it was a good idea for servers to be more specific. And voila! it was suddenly a standard.
I want to meet that one guy. Or woman. And I want to try and figure out how he got his notion penetrated across the entire country, within a matter of months. Or at least, that's how it seemed to me a few years back when this suddenly started.
(Then I want to get him to have servers stop asking me if I'm "still working" on my meal. But perhaps not complained belongs in another chain...)
user108028 Jun-22-2019
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Personally can't stand "How's it's tasting?" It's pretty idiotic considering what the job entails.
Seems to coincide with general restaurant service deteriorating. Come to table take orders, bring order, bring check but making sure to stop by to ask "How's it tasting?" But won't refill drinks, take empty plates or stop by more than once during the middle of the meal, maybe. Usually they will ask "How's it tasting after a few bites, never to be seen again until they bring the check.
user108256 Sep-25-2019
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My wife and I usually respond "the food is tasting very well". It goes right over the waiter's head.
user1084721 Dec-07-2019
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