I have a rule I don’t change more than one thing in a dish at a restaurant.
Last night I ordered a pasta dish at a chain restaurant, here is the description: Sautéed shrimp, asparagus, mushrooms and bow-tie pasta tossed in parmesan cream sauce. I asked for the sauce on the side. They brought it full of sauce and additional sauce on the side. I told the waitress it came out prepared with sauce, and she said they must have mistaken it for extra sauce on the side (which is what I assumed too). She was very nice took it back to get me a new one. Often I won’t bother even doing this, I’ll just keep it prepared incorrectly.
They brought out a new one full of oil with the seasoning all over the pasta. I ate ¾ of it, I wish I had not eaten any and just took it home where I would have added more pasta and veggies so it wasn’t so oily.
The worst part is the Parmesan sauce was delicious. If they had just served it with “dry” pasta I would have really enjoyed it. I should have specified over dry pasta.
I order pasta with no sauce all of the time at Italian restaurants and other chain restaurants, but I usually do say “no sauce, no oil, no butter, just dry.”
@janbb @jeruba I wanted plain pasta. No sauce is plain I would think, but I wasn’t clear enough. As far as an insult to the chef, would you feel that way at chain restaurant like Chilis or Red Lobster?
If a salad is typically dressed by the chef is it so different than wanting less sauce on a pasta dish?