Dining Dilemma

[Doc]

I'm sure you guys have all come up against this.

You are out for a beautiful dinner with the missus and she has chosen the restaurant. You get there and the place is very nice and the food menu looks great and the aromas from the kitchen are fantastic.
You have a look at the drink selection and your heart sinks. VB, Crown Lager, et all.

This was my situation on Saturday night. They did have Pikes Oakbank on the drinks menu so I had one of those to start. Not bad, but heh not a wow beer either.

So what do you guys do in a situation like this ?

Beers,
Doc

 

[bonk]

order a glass of coke or look for a beer that tastes better then ones mentioned, ie pikes etc

 

[Bobby]

a glass of brockenwood cricket pitch usually goes down nicely.

 

[Wax]

Only ever dine at byo restaurants and take your own keg

 

[Jovial_Monk]

I look at the wine list. Heresy I know

Jovial Monk

 

[Kai]

I want to vote for give the drinks waiter a hard time but I know it's not their fault.

Where's the option for get a new missus?

 

[mikem108]

Got the Missus trained so we only go to places with decent beer if not in house then somewhere nearby for before/after dinner.

 

[mandaloril]

order 3 shots and then drink whatever swill they are peddeling.

 

[Gough]

I know this is almost an unmentionable, but as well as really liking beer I also really like wine, so to be honest if the beer menu is crap (which in Newcastle is almost always the case) I either bring my own or make the best of things and order some great wine. Most local restaurants are either BYO anyway, or have excellent wine lists these days so it isn't a major drama for me. Also with an almost 3 year old and another little tacker on the way our 'eating out' days have reduced somewhat of late <_<

Shawn.

 

[Batz]

I always drink wine when going out dining

 

[RobW]

I always drink wine when going out dining

Absolutely agree

 

[Tony M]

Got a good story here. Went to our local Spag diner a couple of years ago. Whilst he is licensed, he allows BYO wine. A mate who was with us pulled out a can of Guinness and mine host was over like a shot "Cant let you bring beer " he said. We agreed that rules wos rules so we put our tinnie away and ordered a Guinness. "Sorry, we dont sell it, you must order something else!"
Needless to say it was goodbye time. We had been dining at that place about 10 Friday nites a year for four years and never been back.

 

[Tallgum]

I Always drink a good wine with dinner but I find a good beer or two while waiting for the food to arrive improves my appitite and enjoy the food better, I would go out to the nearest bottle shop and buy a couple of Grolsh or something similar. :chug:

 

[jgriffin]

I want to vote for give the drinks waiter a hard time but I know it's not their fault.

Where's the option for get a new missus?

I went to a restaurant the other day and saw "James Squire" on the beer menu. When i asked the drink waiter which JS it was, he looked at me like an idiot and said "James Squire of course". It took me a while to convince him that JS had different beers.

 

[Gout]

i stick with water or coke and eat then grab a beer at home, but often i will order what i think is the best of the bad beers just to remind myself why i think they are so crap, however drinking VB or Crown might be going to far

at a party on the weekend as they handed me a beer, i said thats what is it, "beer" i said ok.... what beer is it? .... "VB" i finished that one over 30 min then said i was driving i better stick to coke

I woke up feeling like a hangover, dam 1 VB

 

[timmy]

If I felt like a beer I'd get off my high horse and just order one.

Otherwise wine if it was a flashy place.

 

[barfridge]

Worst places are the ones where they have good beers, but dont put them on the menu.

For instance I went out to a nice local restaurant the other night, and happened to be wearing my james squire t-shirt. After perusing the beer list, and see crown, heineken or corona *retch* as the 'premium' beers, I decided to have a JD and coke.

As we were leaving, the manager noticed my shirt, and said to me "We have those beers in the fridge, but they dont seem to be selling very well at all". I tell ya...I could have reached over the counter and throttled the guy!, but I politely asked how people were supposed to know they sold them when they weren't on the menu?

He just processed out bill and gave me a blank stare....

 

[devilsaltarboy]

I normally tell the waiter to let the manager know there beer list is dismal. Particularly if they dont have james squires, little creatures, coopers, etc. I tend to deliberately avoid places with crap beer. Luckily my g/f is starting to see my way of thinking. Also be wary of microbrewerys with dropping standards. Went to duckstein on sunday (swan valley WA) and the beer was disgraceful (better than megaswill). The wheat beer had never seen a wheat yeast, the pilsner was not even close and the vienna lager was like mud. I wont be going back until I hear the beer has improved. I think the change in owners has seen a gradual decline in quality.

 

[barfridge]

I had the same experience last time I went to the duckstien. The food was fan-bloody-tastic, simply amazing!
But all I can say for the beer is...lucky I was driving that day

 

[Trev]

In the poll, I voted "Give the Waiter a Hard Time" but in reality that's not quite what I do. I normally ask what beers they have and invariably you get the same response of VB, Swan Crown etc. I then ask (politely ) if they have any premium beers. Even so often they do - I even managed a Peroni Gran reserve recently.

At least by making the effort it may mean that the odd place will add a few nicer lines onto the menu.

I did ask at the Wharf Rest in Sydney (upmarket overlooking the harbour etc), when handed the wine menu if they had a beer menu - just to get up the nose of the waiter. the best they could do was the Cascade Winter Warmer which they described as a Stout!

Trev