Adam Reiner

you know, there's not dinner and a show anymore.

Now dinner is the show.

Yeah, there was in the in the 90s, late 90s in New York, particularly, there was like a theme restaurant wave that happened for a little while with places like Planet Hollywood and Hard Rock Cafe.

And, you know, there were quite a lot of places that existed then that don't exist anymore.

But again, I think that that era of time really shows us how

much more centered restaurants were in terms of like how Americans think about entertainment and wanting to commune in spaces and restaurants being kind of a gathering place to share for occasions.

I mean, think about the pandemic and how disruptive that was to people's routines.

I mean, I feel like for a lot of people that love to meet their friends at bars and restaurants, not having them available was like, it felt like you're living in some sort of like post-apocalyptic world.

Yeah, I would say it's not come back anywhere near the same, but I don't think anything can really be the same.

If anything, I think the biggest change has been in terms of dining habits and the move toward food delivery at home and people maybe not necessarily feeling like they need to go out and sit down in a full-service restaurant.

To have that experience.

I think we're seeing more of these kind of fast casual brands popping up where, you know, food is kind of looked at a little bit more as a convenience or, you know, you might be able to have that sort of restaurant like feeling at home if you order from a nice restaurant, but to have it delivered.

I cannot really in good conscience defend the tipping system.

All I can say in terms of my perspective as an author and somebody who wants people to have better restaurant experiences is that this is the system that has evolved over time in the United States.

And in this country, we often have these sort of commission-based sales jobs like

talent agencies and real estate brokers and things like that.

It's kind of a part of our culture in a way that most likely has a lot of negatives to it.

But I think what's most important with tipping is that you just understand that it's a way, it's something that you can do that you can make it work for you.

It's a way that you can

reward people for great service.