A best-of-the-year list of restaurants doesn't really work. Restaurants go downhill (and uphill) and, in any case, an annual survey cannot hope to cover the field.
So, in lieu of a best-of list*, here's a list of pet peeves, by way of advice to the restaurant sector. I am, by nature and professional assignment, a fault-finder after all, and we could all do with a bracing antidote to the sickly sentimentalism of the Christmas spirit. Here goes:
1. Write it down: It is very cool to commit an entire table's orders to memory. But the chic factor slips a little when you have to return to check, and disappears entirely when the wrong stuff arrives. (Note: Suggesting the customer must have forgotten to order something is a perilous escape route, particularly if he is a restaurant reviewer).
2. Nor any drop to drink: Don't ask the water question. You know, the one that begins "Are we having sparkling ...?" Arrive at the table bearing a glass of water for each diner. We can manage from there. Honest.
3. Know the food: All the waiting staff should know everything about each dish. Ideally they should have tasted each one. It's a bad look to say "I don't know".
