What constitutes good restaurant service to you?

I think good service is being available in case there is anything else you need without it feeling as though there is someone hanging around the table.

I hate plates being left on the table for ages once a meal is finished.

For me it is the 'simple' things (I am quite simple myself you see) -

someone who can explain the menu if required and advise on ingredients/spiciness of flavours etc.

a good wine waiter/sommelier to advise on wines to go with my food choices.

a waiter/ waitress who will keep an eye on the table so that if we need/want anything a simple look should suffice rather than 5 minutes of trying to attract attention. likewise - occasional checks that all is well - but not 'hovering'.

waiting staff who are busy clearing tables/checking wines/adjusting curtains etc when not waiting tables (but NOT cleaning floors etc or up ladders cleaning shelves - that really annoys me as they are supposed to be waiters/watiresses and not cleaners. it just seems wrong to me).

If I get all these things I would say it was good service - not just 'acceptable' but 'good' as it shows trained staff who take prode in their work and in their place of work - which makes the customer proud to eat there.

Magenta x

I hate it when waiters come over and ask how your meal is when you are either deep in conversation, or have a mouth full of food. It really irritates me.

Good things - attentive but not OTT service so that if my plate is finished, it is not left sitting in front of me for twenty minutes, I like waiters that know the menu and can answer questions about the ingredients without having to dash off to the kitchen and I like it when they are able to make suggestions about side dishes based on honesty rather than greed (e.g. You don't need that many side orders of vegetables, two will be plenty, kind of thing)

What Mrs Winkle said about waiters asking how your meal is, it also really annoys me when you get waiters who come and ask if everything's OK more than once (this was mostly in America though).

I hate it when staff clear plates before everyone has finished - the worst one was when a waitress took my husband's plate and asked him if he wanted coffee or dessert while I was still eating my main!

Timing is key for me with service - don't leave us hanging around waiting to be served for ages, but equally don't rush us through our meal either.

Good timing is important to me. I don't like sitting around waiting for orders to be taken/food to arrive/plates to be collected. But I also don't like mains arriving within seconds of starters being finished.

The "how is your meal?" thing annoys me too. if theres a problem, they d know about it by then
i want a waiter or waitress to know we need something, not to have to sit and try to attract their attention.
plates left longer than 2 minutes after everyone is finished really annoys me too, but more irritating is when an untrained waiter tries to remove the plate of someone who s finished when others havent.
i also dont like it when waiters place the napkin on your lap, i want to do it myself
i want to fill up peopels wine glasses as well, i dont like it when they put the bottle miles from the table and keep topping it up every 2 minutes after you've had a sip
i want a decent break between courses - nothing more maddening than a main course arriving just when the starter plates have gone. i send it back if that happens
i like flexibility as well. usually madam wants something from the main courses as a starter, or vice versa, without the sauce, or with something else. recently we ate in a gastro pub and she wanted a caesar salad with the sace on the side. the waiter said he couldnt do that. why not? it was pre-mixed. wtf? she choce something else but i wouldnt go back.
i want a sommelier to suggest mid ranged wines if i ask him. its out of order for him to suggest top priced wines, esp if someone else is paying but they ve asked you to choose the wine.

in cheaper restaurants - packs of sealed butter being placed on the table. wtf? and its always fridge cold, so impossible to spread.

i want fresh bread, not somrtihng thats been hanging around for hours and is already going stale - pre-sliced is the worst, it goes stale within an hour

god there are loads, i could go on and on ?

i d have sent them away tbh. theres no way i d put up with that, its phenominally rude

Oooh yes, the napkin thing and topping up wine really grates too.

I hate hate hate it if they try and take plates before everyone has finished I always say something if they try it.

Unobtrusiveness. A smile - can be quite rare.

Not trying to hurry you out of the restaurant because they've chosen to put another sitting in - a good restaurant will manage that without you knowing.

Knowing the menu and having actually tasted the food. Menus in English that explain clearly what the food is.

Happy for a bit of chattiness at the start/end of the meal. Not leaving you for hours when you want to pay.

Lack of flexibility - one restaurant I visited with friends refused to let us swap tables claiming they were fully booked. We then sat in a mostly empty restaurant all night. So lying to the guests you do have and peeing them off! We complained at the end and haven't been back.

I hate this too, and it happens almost all the time here in NZ and in Australia. Big bugbear of mine, and I'm always telling waiters to go away and come back when the entire table has finished. They think I'm quite odd wanting to leave dirty plates on the table!

I also hate it when waiters try to push your chair in for you once you're seated. I'm quite capable of making sure my chair is the correct distance from the table myself.

I'm a fussy eater (I hate being one but my palate hates so many things despite plenty of attempts to try stuff) so someone who knows what comes in their food is good and also like others have said, flexibility to have something without x or y in it or something on the side or without the sauce etc.

I hate having to try and catch someone's attention when we want another drink or another fork or get our bill etc, sometimes it's a nightmare, the service staff seem to vanish into space when you want them!

On Friday me, my husband and my parents went for a meal, mine was lovely so when we were asked if everything was ok I said yes but before my mum had time to say hers was horrid the waitress had vanished! Not good!

I don't think it's odd - I think it's rude that they're trying to hurry you up by clearing other people's plates. I really hate it.

We went for lunch yesterday, a group of us, and it took 1hr20 mins for the food to come, and even then they forgot some people's orders, didn't offer any more drinks despite everyone's glasses being dry, it was awful.

I must be odd. Once I've finsihed I want the plate out of my way. If the table is big enough I will push it to one side but if it isn't then I get realy irritated by having to wait for eveyone else to finish before it's cleared away.

Unobtrusiveness. Being able to recognise you need something and acting on it. It is really nice to see staff not just hanging around a gossiping but busy with things yet ready the second you need something.

In 1 particular place in Bangkok. If you go to stand up to leave the table the waiter is there moves your chair, catches your napkin, and while you are gone genreally makes sure your water is topped up.

I do like being able to order being sat in the bar and then called through when Starters are ready.

i like when they allow a nice gap before bringing a main,

(A particulalry nice place we go regulalrly lets you have seconds! they also let you order coffee and desert and you can have this served in the lounge) It is fab I love it!

I really hate it when restaurants don't have or don't provide a wine cooler for white wine at the table. Also filling a large glass full of white wine, it's warm by the time I get to the bottom. nasty.

Having enough time between courses is a definite bug bear of ours. I rememver nights out when we lived in London where we'd go for a nice three course meal and be out the door within the hour...it became a running joke of ours but in the end it did get annoying.

Now we make a point of asking to have some time between our mains and ordering dessert. Depending on how full we are we may ask for between 5-10 minutes break which in the main is fine but we have experienced restaurants where more than one member of staff asks and in one case the manager came along to ask if we were ordering dessert, we explained that we'd requested a break, to which their response was that they needed the table by 8 so if could order our desserts soon that would be appreciated. ?......needless to say, we didn't leave a tip!

There are a number of gripes that people are taling about that are easy to deal with though. the waitress leaving before the MIL could say the food wasnt right. i take it she called him back? ditto the warm wine - ask for a cooler, and dont let the waiter pour a large glass.

the english disease is not complaining in restaurants. i ve heard all kids of moans and whinges that people havent raised at the time. its ridiculous not to complain when it happens, and it amzes me that so many people take the attitude of rather not go back, than actually saying something. i dont know anywhere else in the world where that happens, and it certainly doesnt happen elsewhere in europe

The wine thing drives me mental too, and it's even worse whn it's water. High margins, so they push it on you like you've just spent weeks in the Sahara. I only order tap water in restaurants anyway.

The napkin thing is the most annoying for me in restaurants, why would I want your hand anywhere near my lap even if it is to put the napkin on?! i'm more than capable of doing it myself.

I actually feel quite good now as I think that my restaurant provides all of the things that you have identified as being good service - the customers seem to think so too. I think that we get it right as we have eaten out at so many restaurants we know what annoys us!

I think good service is when you haven't noticed the staff at all. Not that they've been meek and scurrying, just that the meal was seamless, noone fussing at you, not having to wonder where they are, not being interrupted, being able / helped to order something you'd enjoy eating / drinking and being left to get on with it .

None of this restraightening the cutlery between courses, interrupting your conversation, hovering about topping up your wine glass every sip.... you can tell why I don't eat out much.

i agree.

For me its not having to attract the attention of the waitress/waiter. When they are always there to give more drinks or take away plates.

However, im not insistent of having my plate taken away asap. I dont mind if its sitting in front of me for 5mins. After all, i realise that my server probably is serving other customers.

However, I am a waitress, and i think im probably easy to please as a result.

As a side note, as a waitress I have noticed that sometimes when we are really quiet and our service has been good, we get less tips? I had a table of two yesterday, they didnt wait on anything, food out quickly, plates cleared, didnt have to ask for refills on their drinks, just exchanged a "knowing" glance with the gentleman. Anyway, no tip. This appears to be quite a common theme. I wonder if its cos the service is quite smooth and effortless, that they dont think we are working hard for our money? When it is busier, we do seem to sometimes get tips out of sympathy from some customers.

Or maybe im just crap at my job??

Just to add to all of these: waiters who make my children feel welcome.

TBH we haven't eaten out in proper restaurants since C was born (he's too young, ATM, he's 3) but we regularly used to eat out in nice restaurants when J was 5+. He was always quiet and well behaved; we used to bring a small toy and a book and no-one really knew he was there.

Waiters who made the effort to acknowledge him and be friendly to him (including, for example, allowing him to choose his own meal from the menu and ask for it like a grown up) always were appreciated, and got bigger tips.

No, we couldn't see her anywhere! My mum did look for her but this place had loads of little nooks and crannys and to be honest, we'd waited that long for our meals that mum didn't want to wait any longer but she did complain when they came to eventually clear out plates away. Shame as we've been there quite a few times and always had good service and good food.