A server corrected my plating the other day... and she was right

I've been a line cook for 8 years and thought my plating was clean, but this server from the brunch shift pointed out my sauce was pooling on the cold side of the plate. She said "you're losing the color contrast" and after I fixed it, that dish sold twice as fast that afternoon. Has anyone else had a front-of-house person teach them something about presentation?

2 comments

2 Comments

carr.brooke1mo ago

Oh totally, I've been there. One time a server told me my garnish was "aggressively sad" (their words, not mine) and that the wilted parsley looked like I was passive-aggressively punishing the customer. Fixed it with a microgreen and suddenly the dish was "elevated" or whatever fancy talk they use. It's humbling when the front-of-house knows more about looks than you do, but hey, free education (and my sauce doesn't look like a crime scene anymore).

the_wren1mo ago

Ha, nothing like getting roasted by the waitstaff to fix your plating real quick.