Restaurant terminology

          Through your emails and comments about my posts, I see that there are a bunch of you out there that are not in the business or are new to it. Some of the things I write are confusing because of the terminology. I hope that this post will help you out.


                                   The following are terms and their meaning

• 86... to be out of an item on the menu. example; 86 baked potatoes means we ran out of baked potatoes
• in the weeds...when a guest has a need and your to busy to take care of that need. example; A bartender is standing behind the bar with 50 people yelling his name wanting drinks, he's got a hand full of money in one hand, three drinks in the other and no idea what or who any of it is for.
• Pocket check...an order has been taken and was forgotten. example; OMG I forgot to put this tables order in and they are asking for their food!
• On the fly...when you need something ten minutes ago. example; OMG I forgot to put this tables order in and they are asking for their food! I need it on the fly
• two top, three top ect...The number of guests at a table. example; hostess goes to a waiter and says "I just seated you a 4 top, the waiter knows there are 4 people there
• on a wait...when guests come in the door and there is no where to seat them. example; the hostess tells the manager that there is no where to seat the people coming in the door and they are getting pissed off. The manager will say put them on a wait , tell them thirty minutes.
• MFD...make fucking do example; server says to the manager "we are out of silverware" the manager, uable to shit any out, will reply "MFD"
• Mo Mo... A customer that comes in and wants mo of this and mo of that, but you ain't getting no mo money example; A guest comes in asking for water with lemon, when you bring the water with a wedge of lemon, the guest says I need mo lemon, when you return with more lemon wedges the guest then asks for mo sugar because they have used all the packets at the table making their fresh squeezed lemonade that you can't charge them for.
• Spoda...A customer that has different expectations for what they had ordered. example; A guest orders Grilled chicken with a baked potato and  a salad, when the food is delivered to the guest he says"oh hell no its spoda be fish!"
• pima...pain in my ass. no example needed

          i hope that this will help you understand my posts a little better. If there are any questions about anything I have written, please feel free to email me.