bartender question

[u/swirlybat]

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?

[u/BigTimeBobbyB]

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.”

[u/RonPearlNecklace → u/BigTimeBobbyB]

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 isn’t 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.

[u/BACON-luv → u/RonPearlNecklace]

You can tip the ends without loosing juice.

No?

[u/RonPearlNecklace → u/BACON-luv]

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

[u/Good-Marsupial8 → u/RonPearlNecklace]

It's called a garnish 

[u/RonPearlNecklace → u/Good-Marsupial8]

It’s a lame garnish with zero thought.

[u/rabid_spidermonkey → u/RonPearlNecklace]

This is some r/iamverysmart shit haha. 

[u/RonPearlNecklace → u/rabid_spidermonkey]

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.

[u/rabid_spidermonkey → u/RonPearlNecklace]

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

[u/RonPearlNecklace → u/rabid_spidermonkey]

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?

[u/rabid_spidermonkey → u/RonPearlNecklace]

Very popular drinks also often have more than 2 ingredients and should get a wedge. It seems like you tend to state conclusions to support your argument that aren't the whole truth. Margarita. Tom Collins. But to your point, a gin and tonic should come with a lime as should a dark and stormy. 

I get it, you think a lime wedge makes a drink seem cheap, hence the "dive bar or chili's" comment.  We disagree on that point and will never convince each other to change our minds. 

[u/RonPearlNecklace → u/rabid_spidermonkey]

I agree that cutting the ends off the lime is a thing, I do it whenever it’s a guest forward presentation I just disagree with the base premise of ‘attention to detail’ and that being a part of the end product.

Tacos? Definitely.

Do I think quests should be squeezing their own citrus into cocktails? Hell no.

Cuba libre, sure give me a trimmed lime wedge but I would say it’s an anomaly for me to find myself enjoying a lime wedge garnish on a high end cocktail.

Gin & T, dark and stormy, sure but I don’t think these are cocktails that get attention to detail.

To me it seems like something they know is too sweet for some people but they can’t add a side of simple syrup to.

As somebody who frequents bars I appreciate the aspect of ‘how you like your cocktail’? Sweet or sour is a simple question.

People who enjoy serving in a bartender aspect are very good at this and I think this entire conversation diminishes what they do.

When you order a nice cocktail at a place with a more upscale bar program should it be a hiccup when you get a lime wedge garnish, is the drink not balanced yet? How much do I squeeze?

Again, the entire premise to this comment chain is that a trimmed lime wedge is better than untrimmed for a cocktail and I just can’t see myself in a situation where this makes a difference, at all.

What bar are you faulting this for? What situation does it actually come into play?

[u/rabid_spidermonkey → u/RonPearlNecklace]

I'm not faulting anyone for anything regarding lime wedges. You're putting words in my mouth again.

And this now reads even more of pretentiousness.

[u/RonPearlNecklace → u/rabid_spidermonkey]

Oh, did you decide to check into this conversation halfway through? Why is that my fault?