book data
989 ratings,
3.47
average rating, 304 reviews
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published
August 1st 2008
by Ecco
binding
Hardcover, 302 pages
url
characters
setting
The United States
isbn
0061256684
(isbn13: 9780061256684)
description
According to The Waiter, eighty percent of customers are nice people just looking for something to eat. The remaining twenty percent, however, are so
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avg 3.47
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
Read in August, 2008
recommends it for:
Any one who has never been to a restaurant before and wonders what they are
The buzz surrounding this book likens it as a front of the house version of Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential . While superfically, they both concern themselves with working in a restaurant, that is where the similarities end. While Bourdain uses his mystery-noir style writing to tell a gripping tale of working as a chef, "The Waiter" is a competant writer at best. Bourdain's work is scathing and the mesmerizing. This author is a waiter trying to be a writer. I know this book us...more
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Read in October, 2008
If you ever waited tables at a fine dining restaurant, this is amazing. It so happens that's me. If that isn't you, I might guess you would rate it more like 3 stars. Anyhow, I'm giving it five and i could not put it down.
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Read in October, 2008
A painfully funny look at the other side of the restaurant industry. There have been plenty of books about life in the back of the house and now an account of what your waiter really thinks of you.
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2 comments
Having been a waiter for a while, I knew that I wanted to read this one when I heard about it. The anonymous author first caught the bug of pseudo-fame with his blog of the same name. Basically, the book (and the blog, too) share the waiter's experiences of becoming a server and his history in the field over the course of 10 years. Each chapter is a short essay focusing on different aspects of the job from the unique interaction between the servers and the kitchen staff to the challenges of havi...more
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Read in September, 2008
I had a couple of problems with this book...
1. The Waiter isn't a particularly good writer.
2. He could at times be a little condescending, which kind of pisses me off.
So in regards to numero uno...this wasn't necessarily a deal-breaker. I don't think Waiter thinks he's writing epic literature here, so his less than stellar writing didn't ruin my life or anything. It read like a blog - I suppose because it is a blog - so really, just like with any blog, I was hoping...more
1. The Waiter isn't a particularly good writer.
2. He could at times be a little condescending, which kind of pisses me off.
So in regards to numero uno...this wasn't necessarily a deal-breaker. I don't think Waiter thinks he's writing epic literature here, so his less than stellar writing didn't ruin my life or anything. It read like a blog - I suppose because it is a blog - so really, just like with any blog, I was hoping...more
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Read in September, 2008
Waiter Rant is a collection of vignettes from inside the life of a waiter at a fine-dining restaurant. The narrator, unknown to the audience from the beginning, but later identified as "Steve" is a 38-year-old man who had every intention of aiming higher in his career goals. He initially aspired to be a clergyman, but eventually went into a career in psychology. Then layoffs and a bad economy led him to find work as a server. It was supposed to be a temporary fix. Six years later, our ...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in August, 2008
The guy's a pretty good writer & I enjoyed the book. It did contain some of the same stories he's blogged about, and some new ones, too.
It is slightly irritating in as much as the author (ironically) seems to feel entitled to a 20% tip and a public who understands the restaurant business; interesting, considering his 'ranting' is often targeted at the entitled attitudes of others. I get that people can be, and are, jerks, and that this is often amplified when they deal with those i...more
It is slightly irritating in as much as the author (ironically) seems to feel entitled to a 20% tip and a public who understands the restaurant business; interesting, considering his 'ranting' is often targeted at the entitled attitudes of others. I get that people can be, and are, jerks, and that this is often amplified when they deal with those i...more
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03/17/09
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Read in March, 2009
I loved the blog, but if I read one more memoir about how somebody became a writer I'm gonna scream. If only there were some way to find out about people in other professions who actually are those professions, and not just a writer pretending to be that profession or somebody who's disappointment with said profession leads them to become a writer. I guess I need to read more ethnography and less memoirs, will I ever learn?
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Read in December, 2008
recommends it for:
everyone
i pretty much loved this book. i loved Steve's website Waiter Rant long before I heard about the book and eagerly anticipated its arrival. The writing is captivating. He really looks deeply into the human condition. I love that. I never waited tables, but I worked at K-mart which feels like the same thing. When I stapled my fingers together and rushed for medical attention, the Christmas shoppers cared as little for my dripping blood as Steve's customers cared about his stroke victim. People suc...more
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recommends it for:
bitchy self loathing foodies
Don't get me wrong- this books seemed like it would be right up my alley. I like cynicism, I like bitchy people... and if you're funny I'll listen to you complain all day and night. The Waiter was just whiny. Half the time he was trying to link a boring story into some grander theme (like wanting to be a firefighter when you're a kid- WTF?) and the other half of the time he was wistfully talking about how writing this book was going to save him from his woeful life of being a waiter.
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Waiter Rant is a quick and breezy read. If you eat out fairly often, it won't tell you anything you don't already know or suspect about the restaurant trade, but it will probably confirm some of your most cynical suspicions. It's a little heavy on stories about how customers can be such self absorbed, insensitive and demanding shits. The Rant drips with resentment. But then, the author proudly brands himself a "cynical waiter," so what else would you expect?
The Waiter is a...more
The Waiter is a...more
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Read in February, 2009
I'd never heard of the website waiterrant.net before I picked up this book by Steve Dublanica. The cover touted it as an "instant NY Times bestseller" and also there was a big blurb from Anthony Bourdain, and him I do know. As soon as I started reading this book, I knew I would hate it. This unfunny author writes as if he is hilarious, like a jolly king who has a whole sycophantic court on hand to boost his ego, exactly the way Anthony Bourdain sounds on TV as a matter of fact.
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Read in December, 2008
The subtitle of this book is Thanks for the Tip - Confessions of a Cynical Waiter, and it was written by "The Waiter," who fell into restaurant serving after losing his "real" job. While his intention was to stay long enough to pay the rent while he figured out his next career path, Steve ended up waiting tables in a high-end Italian bistro for seven years, all the while publishing his wildly popular and award-winning "Waiter Rant" blog. He has found his gift as a w...more
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Read in April, 2009
Only marginally interesting and occasionally annoying, this is the waiter/front-of-house version of "Kitchen Confidential," only with worse writing and less juicy gossip. Apparently the author has a successful (and formerly anonymous) blog about the trials and tribulations of being a waiter at an upscale New York restaurant. Alas, his insider stories don't translate all that well to book length. There are a few interesting tidbits, particularly the details about the personalities who a...more
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Read in January, 2009
Remember this, ...the people you're trying to step on, we're everyone you depend on. We're the people who do your laundry and cook your food and serve your dinner... don't fuck with us."
I thought Waiter Rant was going to be sickening. I thought it would be a book version of the movie Waiting. I was sure it would be filled with hamburger patties going down the pants of angry cooks, bodily fluids going into chowders. While Tyler Durden's infamous words still ring true, that is no...more
I thought Waiter Rant was going to be sickening. I thought it would be a book version of the movie Waiting. I was sure it would be filled with hamburger patties going down the pants of angry cooks, bodily fluids going into chowders. While Tyler Durden's infamous words still ring true, that is no...more
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Read in January, 2009
I enjoyed his blog back when it first started getting buzzed about on various websites and I'm glad to see The Waiter got his book deal. There's a lot to relate to in this book if you've ever held a customer service-type job. In writing about his interactions with restaurant staff and customers, he quotes Sartre: "Hell is other people". In a waiter's life, hell is the boorish customer, the bad tipper, the self-important "friend" of the owner, the back-stabbing co-worker, e...more
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Read in January, 2009
Anonymous New York waiter gives the reader an inside look at the service business from his experiences in front-of-house perspective. The book could almost be called a memoir as it takes you through the journey that brought him to waiting and is focused almost entirely on first hand experiences in two restaurants. He does a good job balancing of his perspective while keeping his ego in check throughout. The book also provides some reasonable and thought out sociological views on the people ...more
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Read in January, 2009
This book gives an accurate portrayal of the kitchen and staff of any restaurant, and I can testify to that. The Waiter speaks to all those with experience in the food service industry, blogging about his experiences for those who can relate. The attitudes and backtalk from customers is outrageous, and believable, which makes for some interesting stories. I only give this one three stars, though, as I find the Waiters writing good, but he ends chapters too often on an overtly-philosophical not...more
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Read in August, 2008
I discovered the blog years ago. I can remember one day that started at the beginning of the blog and read it straight through. I think that he is one of the best storytellers with a blog.
The book picks up with the author working in The Bistro. On the blog, he never really covered many of his experiences at his first restaurant. This book further explores the Waiter quitting his job and moving forward with this book and his life.
There were many parts that I identified w...more
The book picks up with the author working in The Bistro. On the blog, he never really covered many of his experiences at his first restaurant. This book further explores the Waiter quitting his job and moving forward with this book and his life.
There were many parts that I identified w...more
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Read in January, 2009
No false advertising here. This is a rant. By a waiter. I'll give the guy credit for stretching material that might have fit nicely into a decent magazine article into a book, but for me, much of this stretch was forced.
Unsurprisingly, the usual suspects of restaurant lore show up- demented owners, horrid coworkers, even more horrid ‘patrons’, cockroaches, mice, rats, and worst of all, vengeful, be nice or I'll spit in your food wait staff.
With all that, I did read it, which i...more
Unsurprisingly, the usual suspects of restaurant lore show up- demented owners, horrid coworkers, even more horrid ‘patrons’, cockroaches, mice, rats, and worst of all, vengeful, be nice or I'll spit in your food wait staff.
With all that, I did read it, which i...more
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quotes from this book
"Americans love cooking shows. Come to think of it, how many of us are eating when we watch a cooking show? As we watch the chef perform his or her magic, the humble ham sandwich we're gnawing on briefly transubstantiates into whatever the chef's preparing. There's always a small communion between viewer and chef, only you don't get to eat what they're making. It's like watching a Catholic mass on TV."
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