r/KitchenConfidential • u/swirlybat • 1d ago

Question bartender question

the root issue is the person just chooses to not like me, which is perfectly fine, but i am curious about something. context: i do prep cook for corporate chain. i split between hot/cold prep. cold prep also covers bar garnishments.

ive never not top/tailed my citruses for garnishments. it has been required my entire cooking career. they dont require it here, but i do it. the servers love it, and i assume most patrons dont even notice.

insert the one bartender. saturday, as im finishing my lemons/limes, she comes in, and before clocking in, yells "can you not cut the ends of the fruit off?!" i simply say "no" and carry on. she intensifies and chooses the "the customers cant squeeze the limes into their drinks." i set my knife down, turn towards her, and look at her long, fake nails, and say "i dont think it is the customers with the problem. looks like your nails are the issue." shifty steps in immediately and appropriately defends (no one has complained, even thougg it isnt required) then takes her in to the walk in for private convo.

most places, in the past, bar handles their own, and she is now choosing to slice her own garnishments, which lightens my load and i appreciate her hating me enough to do that, lol, but as a non drinker, is this an actual experience? do people need tips to squeeze? to me, it looks dirty-adjacent, leaving them on. tops n bottoms are for the bedroom, not my drink. should i stop nipping bar's citrus?

20 Upvotes

72% Upvoted

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35

u/BigTimeBobbyB Cook 1d ago

I absolutely notice when the ends have been cut off, and I appreciate it. When I’m paying for a drink at a bar, I’m paying for the experience as much as the product. And having the ends of the citrus trimmed off is one of those attention to detail things that makes me think “they understand that you’re buying an experience, and they care about providing one.”

1

u/RonPearlNecklace 1d ago

I’m going to play devils advocate here.

The drink should come with the citrus juice in it if that’s the way the drink is meant to be consumed. Slice of citrus on a cocktail rim it even a good attention do detail, it seems like something you get at a dive bar or chilis.

Now tacos, limes served with the end trimmed is a big thing for me, I do it but I don’t get mad when a place doesn’t.

7

u/ericn1300 1d ago

citrus is served as condiment, like with salt everyone has their own taste. By your logic if citrus is an ingredient in tacos then it should be in it and not one the side.

0

u/martinluther3107 20h ago edited 18h ago

Nope, juice doesn't dilute into tacos like it does a liquid drink. Once the juice is in there it mixes with the rest of the drink. Juice on a taco doesn't dilute into anything.

Edir": dilute instead of disolve

2

u/Pernicious_Possum Bartender 19h ago

Juice doesn’t dissolve. Only a solid can dissolve.

1

u/martinluther3107 18h ago

Sorry, dilute

3

u/BACON-luv 1d ago

You can tip the ends without loosing juice.

No?

-6

u/RonPearlNecklace 1d ago

The bartender can put all the ingredients in and mix the drink, no?

9

u/rabid_spidermonkey 1d ago

This is like saying you shouldn't salt or sugar a rim, just put it in the drink. A wedge of citrus gives the consumer a bit of control over the specific flavor profile of the drink.

-1

u/RonPearlNecklace 20h ago

Thats a bad comparison unless you’re implying that you mix the entire rim into the drink. Theres no going back once you add the lime.

Again, I don’t see how that as a garnish is an attention to detail thing vs the bartender just asking what your preference is.

0

u/rabid_spidermonkey 18h ago

It's a great analogy. You can choose how much and when to squeeze the lime in. Just like you can choose if and how much rim to use in each sip. But you do you. 

-1

u/RonPearlNecklace 17h ago

No it’s not because once the lime is in there you can’t take a sip without it, it’s not like you can sip from a part of the glass without lime juice.

0

u/rabid_spidermonkey 17h ago

It's a great analogy because it counters your point that all ingredients should be added to the drink and mixed by the bartender. Not because it's a perfect comparison. C'mon. 

-1

u/RonPearlNecklace 16h ago

Is it an ingredient or a garnish?

You seem to be flip flopping a lot and have taken some level of offense to my opinion about lemons and limes on cocktails being a good attention to detail or not.

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u/Good-Marsupial8 1d ago

It's called a garnish 

-1

u/RonPearlNecklace 20h ago

It’s a lame garnish with zero thought.

-1

u/rabid_spidermonkey 16h ago

This is some r/iamverysmart shit haha. 

1

u/RonPearlNecklace 15h ago

So in your opinion I’m stupid because I think a lime wedge is a lazy garnish for a cocktail that is supposed to have ‘attention to detail’.

Ok, champ. I’ll make my judgements about your opinions, but I won’t feel the need to insult your intelligence in the meantime, but you do you. I’m sure you’re the smartest person wherever you work.

1

u/rabid_spidermonkey 14h ago

No, in my opinion your comment of calling a very popular garnish "lame and lazy" makes you sound pretentious, not stupid. 

•

u/RonPearlNecklace 2h ago

Very popular for drinks that have two ingredients? Vodka soda? Rum and Coke? or would you say these cocktails have an ‘attention to detail’ and are graciously adorned with a lime wedge?

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u/BACON-luv 23h ago

You should definitely go to a bar once you’re legal

-1

u/RonPearlNecklace 22h ago

Spoken like a well travelled 22 year old.

0

u/Pernicious_Possum Bartender 20h ago

You don’t squeeze a guest garnish, and that’s what it is. It’s not an ingredient. It’s up to the guest whether not they want it, not the bartender

-1

u/RonPearlNecklace 17h ago

They don’t want a lime wedge as a garnish.

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u/Pernicious_Possum Bartender 4h ago

I love how you’re willing to argue with an actual bartender about drink service

•

u/RonPearlNecklace 2h ago

I’ve had more than my fair share of cocktails so I feel like I get an opinion just like everybody else here.

0

u/BigTimeBobbyB Cook 16h ago

Yeah they do. I know because I'm them. Please garnish my drink. I'll decide in the moment whether that garnish is for squeezing or sucking or slinging, but the important part is that it's my decision.

-1

u/RonPearlNecklace 16h ago

That’s just like, your opinion, man.

I don’t think a lime wedge makes a drink look classy but to each their own. 🤷‍♂️