Fine Dining Madness: The Rules & Realities of Fine Dining

John Galloway
iUniverse (2005)
ISBN 0595670067
Reviewed by Paige Lovit for Reader Views (8/06)

“Fine Dining Madness:  The rules & realities of fine dining,” should be required reading for everyone that dines out.  John Galloway writes about his personal experiences in the restaurant business from the restaurant employee angle. From his experiences, I learned a lot about what not to do if I don’t want bad things happening to my food.  Since I am a pretty considerate diner, I always felt that I was relatively safe from waiter or chef retributions; however, I learned that dining with rude guests can result in both of us getting food that has been tampered with.  There are acquaintances that I will never dine out with again.  As a matter of fact, after reading this book, I would like to invite some of them over to dinner and do what some of the waiters have probably done to my food just because I was with them.
           
While the stories are entertaining, I also learned a great deal about dining etiquette, not just how to treat restaurant employees, but also useful information about subjects such as ordering wine.  Galloway does the reader a huge favor by providing a lot of useful information in a format that is totally enjoyable to read.  Galloway also talks about diners
who earned top respect and treatment from the staff, a lot of it is based on their behavior and not all of it involves how much they tip.  There are some heartwarming stories about dining guests who earned a great deal of respect from the staff.  To Galloway, decorated war heroes ranked highly, and this was justifiably so.  He includes some historical facts that help highlight the importance of what these people were involved with.
           
Galloway also talks about the colorful personalities that he dealt with on a daily basis, either being his co-workers or being the guests, several of which were celebrities, including President Bush.  Galloway’s recollections tend to be hilarious.  He uses his dry wit to make comments that instantly will make you laugh out loud.
           
I highly recommend this book as a gift to people who are rude restaurant diners.  Hopefully, they will recognize themselves and make some needed changes.  I also recommend it to people who enjoy a good, humorous, non-fiction book.  The subject matter is not typical, so it will be a fun change for them.  You will just have to read it for yourself to see what I am talking about.  Enjoy!

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