Cocktail menus

Dear restaurant managers/owners:

I would like to talk menus. Not what you put on the menus, but how you hand them out.

Let me run through a common (well, for me; readers, feel free to chime in...) scenario for a night out. You get seated at a table with your girlfriends. The four of you are chatting it up, soaking in the scene, glancing at your menus. "Oo, the duck looks great!" one of you exclaims. Then your waiter comes over and asks what you'd like to start with to drink. As one of you pours over the extensive cocktail list, the waiter impatiently stands there, looking around, rolling his/her eyes the longer it takes for each of you to individually look through the cocktail list and decide. You finally, to spare the server, say we'd like a few more minutes. An awkward start to the night.

Does this sound familiar? Here's what I propose, dear restauranteurs: hand out more drink lists!! Imagine if they just handed out one food menu. It would take forever to order! Same goes for cocktails and wine. I think this simple step would help everyone out in the long run.

This isn't a rant against impatient waiters-- I certainly have been there, as in the past I've been made to awkwardly wait at the table while everyone reads over the menu. However, all of this can be solved by simply either allowing more time, or even better, handing out more menus!

Let's start a revolution, shall we?

Love,
Dish Gal