Where restaurants still get it wrong

Peter Harden

Peter Harden, the younger of two brothers behind the increasingly influential Harden's Guides, is a self-confessed "cheapskate" who looks for value wherever he can find it. He also likes places that cook traditional British food, particularly pubs that take their food seriously. "The revival of pub food is particularly good for British cooking," he says, "and this has gone hand-in-hand with the sweeping-away of the Stalinesque grip of the big brewers."

Harden likes the way that Britain has moved away from its traditional slavish allegiance to all things French, embracing all manner of different cuisines and raising standards across the board. "Standards have definitely gone up," he says. "We have been doing the London guide for 12 years, and places which would have been absolutely remarkable when we first started up would be quite standard now."

Needless to say, this broadly positive view doesn't mean that Harden thinks things couldn't be better. Here's a selection of his bêtes noires.

1. Leaving credit card slips blank when a service charge is already on the bill
"I've never heard anybody say they would value the opportunity to leave a greater tip," he says. "It's a rip-off, plain and simple, and it should be illegal. Our surveys have shown it's consistently the single most unpopular practice among restaurants in this country."

2. Inappropriate service
"The British have always found it difficult to strike a balance between service and servility - something the Irish, for example, are particularly good at," he says. "I think one reason may be that there are fewer family-run restaurants in Britain and more business establishments, which means impersonal service has become the norm."

3. Bad food
"There is still too much mass-produced filth masquerading as food in some chains," Harden says, "particularly outside London."

4. Reluctance to serve tap water
Restaurants shouldn't make customers feel like criminals for asking for tap water, Harden says.

5. Ostentatious design
"It has become de rigueur for restaurants to say how they have covered their walls in suede, or whatever," Harden says, "but it is obvious those places which are most atmospheric are those on which least money has been spent. The underlying theme of places that people like, I suppose, is that they are cosy. So if someone came to me and asked advice on setting up a restaurant, I would advise them to be very careful about what they spend on design."

Simon Wright

It would be hard to doubt Simon Wright's independence and integrity after his highly principled resignation as editor of the AA Restaurant Guide last year. Wright is an eloquent supporter of the British restaurant business.

He has a high regard for the increase in standards and is optimistic about the future. But here are some of the things he doesn't like to find when he sits down to dinner.

1. Stained, dog-eared menus
"Many restaurants keep their menus in pristine condition, but too many don't," he says. "Spelling mistakes and careless use of culinary terms are also irritating."

2. Flowery descriptions of food
"I can do without dishes which are ‘a rendezvous between' this and that ingredient, or things that are found ‘on a bed' of something," Wright says.

3. Complex and pretentious cooking "Some chefs still try too hard to impress without attending to the fundamentals," Wright believes.

4. Wine temperature
"White wine is often served so cold that you can't taste it properly," he says, "and red wine is often too warm."

5. Inadequate refilling of wine glasses "If restaurants will insist on topping up customers' wine glasses, and then they put the wine in a bucket well away from the table, they should make sure they do top up glasses when necessary," he says. "If they can't do it, then they should leave the bottle on the table."

6. Silver service
"Not my favourite thing," Wright says. "It is much more important that staff appreciate and understand the food being served."

7. Poor cheeseboards "Too many cheeseboards are very poor," Harden says. "It is as important as any other part of the meal and, if restaurants are not going to do it properly, it is better not to do it at all."

Egon Ronay

Egon Ronay has been observing the British restaurant business for more than 50 years, both as an insider, when he was the youngest restaurant manager in London in 1952, and as the founder of the famous guidebook that bore his name.

There are many things that Ronay likes about the British restaurant business, including the growing army of young native talent, the skill of the new wave of sommeliers and the new-found passion for food. But there are several things he finds annoying when he eats out. Here are some of them.

1. Poor English-speakers among front of house staff
This has a number of consequences, Ronay says. One is difficulty in making a booking. "You get someone with a French accent who has no command of the idioms," he says.

Another is difficulty explaining dishes. "Take the amuse-gueules," he says. "They are put down by the most junior waiter, who is supposed to give a short explanation of what you are being given. Unfortunately, most of the time you can't understand a word of it."

2. Trying to put too much on the menu
"There are often too many dishes on the menu," Ronay says, "and some are becoming so complicated that understanding what the main components of a dish are is ridiculously hard. What you want to know is what the dish is mainly composed of."

3. Over-complicated cooking
"Nowadays," Ronay says, "you cannot find a dessert which is not a sculpture."

4. Novelty for its own sake
"There is a misplaced urge to concoct something new," Ronay says. "There are few good composers, but many good conductors."

5. Amuse-gueules
"They are a disease," Ronay complains. "I much prefer if, at the beginning of the meal, a small plate of olives is put on the table."

6. Unsuitable plates "Sometimes they are utterly impractical. I recently had a soup dish that was huge, but I had no idea where to put the spoon without it falling in."

7. Too much noise "It's very difficult to get the balance between buzz and the ability to have a conversation."

8. Inflated prices
"Really good restaurants are far too expensive, with wine lists unintelligently priced," Ronay believes. "The better the wine, the lower the profit margin should be."