Posts: 1,000
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Joined: Feb 2008
I think a lot of this stems from restaurant policy, not so much the extra plate, as much as expecting the back of the house to split the entrée, and then garnish with extras. Kid you not, one day Patty came back to me with and order to split a club sandwich and fries four ways, on separate plates. From the back of the house point of view, I was livid, literally counted out the 4 French fries each of them got with their quarter sandwich!
I expect that I will stir up a hornets nest, but from a server's point of view, we would cringe when a group of Red Hat Ladies would grace us with their lunch. Sorry if I am offending anyone, and the generalization was not always accurate, but probably 90% of the time. Inevitably, Mildred would split the sandwich with Sallie down at the other end of the table, and Mildred would like hers on toasted wheat, no mayo, please, and Sallie wants hers not toasted and can she have lettuce and tomato, extra mayo. And would you split an order of fries and a piece of pie, and of course the check. And then they would sit for the next 3 hours, drink lots of tea and coffee for the free refills and eventually haggle over the 10% tip they were going to leave.
If you are just bringing a plate, I would never charge a plate fee, but I was sorely tempted when I had to prepare 4 plates 'cause they all just wanted a taste!