Restaurants really need two closing times, kitchen closes at 9:30 dining room closes at 10

I don't like going to restaurants unless I have at least 2 hours before closing.

I’ve worked in a few places where when the kitchen is closed it really is closed, and we’re all gone. The customers and servers can argue all they want but there’s no one there to cook anything.

I always wanted to ask patrons, "Guess exactly how much time it is going to take to serve you. Then use your brain, will that time fit within the very limited time we will be closing?"

and that's why most places say last seating is "insert time". Can't believe people roll up at the last minute wanting to be seated. This isn't a damn McD's

You forgot to say that the kitchen starts cleaning / shutting down a good 15 to 20 mins before the restaurant closes so they can LEAVE by 10, so it's supposed to be common knowledge (ha) that you don't go into a restaurant expecting to get (hot) food right before they close! Cold food and drinks? Maybe.

YES!!!! I’m a cook and I know exactly what you mean. Great videos, dude keep it up.

My wife and I have a rule. We never eat at a restaurant if we arrive 30 minutes or less before they close. We like to be there no later than 45 minutes before they close.

I had one of those owners who said “if they’re in one minute before close, they’re ok to order!” So we’d have people order like a slice of cake and a cappuccino and “visit” for 3 hours past close. They never dealt with them as they’d leave halfway through the day everyday, leaving the employees to stay past.

5 minutes to close, let me go ask the kitchen... Returns 10 minutes later.

Anyone who goes to a restaurant at 10pm is drunk anyway. Tell them to go to the Taco Bell drive-thru window.

as a former worker at a restaurant i always tell everyone never i mean never go to a restaurant 30 minutes before close.

I always think that there should be a sign denoting a service window. That window ending about an hour before closing

When I first started working as a server a table came in and stayed late. Everyone closed up their stations and left. I had to wait for the customers to pay before I could close the til, it was an hour after close before I worked up the courage to go tell them to leave

I worked where they would seat you at 9:59 and you weren't allowed to say anything. So many nights I wished they didn't.

I LOVE this new segment.

And then your manager decides to let them stay and they somehow seem to think it's okay to try and order well done steak/items that take longest cook time.

Who would want to go in a restaurant at the last minute anyway? I'm sure they will feel like they're being rushed.

The cat fur sweater as a causal look? 😂 **chef's kiss** works so well

I won't go near a restaurant even if they have 45 min left to close.

I love you 😁 this is exactly what I wanna say ❤ I don't understand why people don't want to understand that closed means closed and what's with the last minute they had the whole day

Been there myself. If their that inconsiderate to pop in right before closing, they will most certainly screw you tip wise. Not to mention the kitchen needs to stay open as well. 😠

Exactly. You can just tell by the way those two guys look that they are crappy tippers.🤣

I've seen them come minutes before closing and staying an hour. That stinks.

One of the cool things that's really common in Japan is the "last order" at most restaurants. 30 mins or an hour before close someone checks if you'd like anything else, and after that no more orders are accepted. Depending on the restaurant they may ask you to leave at closing time. I've never stayed past closing time so idk how forcefully they'd kick you out haha

It's ridiculous that this even a thing. Closing should mean all customers leave and the door is locked. As in, closed, no more business. I don't care if you just arrived, closing means you leave. bye-bye.

Love this series.

Same in self-storage. People come in 5 minutes before we lock up the premises and expect to unload a packed 3.5 tonner. 😫

"Oh! We're just in time!" 😡

I can't fathom how people can go into a restaurant anywhere close to closing time. The entitlement is real with some folks.

POV you've never worked in food service: *Comes in 5 minutes before close*

I loved it when it was past closing and we're putting up chairs and they'd come in and ask, "Are you open?" I loved telling them, "Actually, we're just about to open. Seat yourself." *Our front door wasn't locked because we'd stock from another part of the hotel, but it also wasn't wide open. And the stand that states 'CLOSED' in the front doesn't mean a damn thing to a tourist that believes you owe them because they spent a fortune on their vacation. They also hate it when you tell them McDonalds' is still open. They still go though. Because it's the only thing still open.

My first and only restaurant job, one of the managers, 30 minutes before close, if there were no customers inside would walk up and lock the front doors. And of course, there would be people knocking on the door, 15-20 minutes before close pointing at the sign with the hours, and we would all happily ignore them as we finished working on cleaning up the stations getting ready to go home. Badass boss that dude was.

"So... Get out" is the most satisfying thing to say.

I have noticed more places will post a sign saying "last seating at x time" . People will STILL argue whether you have a sign or not

I used to have a manager that would seat customers one minute before closing and then would make me tell the kitchen staff to fire everything back up again. We didn't like her. Our other managers would handle "those customers" for us. We would sell them dessert to go and say bye-bye.

THIS LITERALLY HAPPENED TO MY BROTHER DOWN TO THE TIP. closing time is ten, group of 8 walks in at 9:50. They stay for about 30 minutes last closing, and don't Even leave a dime for a tip.

I work at a restaurant and I like the way you say get out 😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅

My favorite is “what time do you close?” Me, looking at the clock saying 8:55, “ we close at 9:00 pm. Them, “ oh, good we made it just in time!” Me cringing all the way to the kitchen to call open menus…..😩😩😩😩

😂😂 that is hella true.

I'd still tell them that. Even a to go order shouldn't be taken if there's only 5 minutes left.

Is that cat or dog hair there on that hoodie bro...😂

This actually happened to me as a customer… but it was 8:30 and they closed at 10 😅😅😅😅 I didn’t even fight it, I just left.

Plus the kitchen had already put everything away and cleaned up

Seating until 9:30 Closing at 10:00-10:30

Don't forget the "we were here at (only slightly less unreasonable time to show up) and there was no one to seat us!" Or they'll seat themselves (especially in the bar) and argue "why we were we seated if it was too late?!" or "we've been sitting here for x-minutes waiting for service!"

The holy truth my friend ❤

The restaurants I worked at in Spain almost had kitchen closing time and closing time. Usually 22:30-23 for kitchen , 12 for restaurant.

Preach. Same goes for retail. Just don't.

Been asked if i will cook after kitchen closed. I saved sure but there is an extra chare to the meal. Everyones hour wage for staying back to surve them.

the kitchen is clean and the ovens are off. if they want a salad to go they might be able to put in an order, but they have to pay extra to replace to wasted food wrap

"You’re probably going to leave me a $hitty tip anyways..." sadly true 😔 At the end you should pull open your shirt to reveal a big "SW" on your chest, and start with the "Zap!" and "Pow!" 🤣

Louder for the ones at the back! 👏 👏👏

This should absolutely be commonplace.

Yes it's always like that the last table is the worst

People that go into almost any place of business 5 minutes before closing just suck in general. If it's a store, the only time it's excusable is if you/your pet don't have food for the next day, or some other genuine emergency, you know what you are there for and you get it and get out. Dealt with so many people "just looking" right before closing and I wanted so bad to tell them to gtfo then cuz we're closing.

Nicole will likely say that. It should be standard by now.

Those people are bad but the worst are the ones who won't. flipping. leave.

10am? Damn, i clearly remember us not closing till 11 or even 12am minimum...

If you're trying to get a table in a restaurant at 10pm (seriously, just go to MacDonald's and get an egg McMuffin if you can't tell time) then you get what you get

If I arrive that close to closing time (30min max) I always ask multiple time if its really okay because I can grab a snack somewhere else and I don't want anyone staying longer than they have to. If they say it's fine I order directly eat my food quickly pay and leave 😂

You should have named this new serier "thing restaurant people say to you in Romania"!

Kitchen probably closed at 9 anyway 😂

The best spot I worked at listed when we stopped seating ahead of when kitchen and bar closed

For ever i will say anyone who comes to a restaurant in the last 20min b4 closing r the worst type of people

I used to work with a sassy waitress that was telling me she was trying to get off the floor on her shift and a customer asked her for more hot water for his tea and she actually got away with telling him "absolutely not!" Haha!

Yes, thank you sweetie ❤

I was a pantry chef ( meaning i did prep, pre-apps, apps, desert.)at a place that closed at 10. I never left before 2 am.

I ended a friendship because she said she gets a "power kick" by going to restaurants 10 minutes before closing. We were only friends for a couple of months, but that shot it in the barrel. WTH!!!

That’s why I loved last call when I bartended 💜💜 No more, get out lol

Plus the kitchen and back clean and help gone 😂😂

I remember working a restaurant in highschool it was 10 o'clock and I was locking the door and a dad walked up to the door as I'm locking it "hey you still open?" Looking at me Expecting me to let him in I said no we closed he looked at me and said "you gotta be fucking kidding me!" As I shut the door and walked away 😊

Worked in a restaurant that stayed open until 1am on Saturdays when I was young. Never failed that every single Saturday a party of at least 4 and sometimes more would show up at 12:55 am. Its BS for managers to make you serve them. Always gave a crappy tip or often NO TIP!!!

When I am that late I usually ask if there is anything left I can just take home. And I will take “no” for an answer. Used to have a like hole in the wall between me and the train station and they took to making me a “special” of the leftover corners of some of the prepared foods because they knew on Tuesdays I would always be late. Great food. I was sorry when they retired.

This needs to be a thing!!!

I rly wish I could say this when I work in the past

Damn that one nicked my soul. I hate people

Any place that serves food, if I’m not there at least one hour before they close, I move on and don’t even dare order food. Cause I’m not a prick

That sounds like the insurance client who calls at.4:55 pm for a quote on home insurance and auto with insurance which will include multiple drivers and multiple vehicles. Now I'm stuck at my desk until.6:30 and I still have to get home and make dinner. I don't get to eat until 8 pm or later and the caller goes with another brokerage. Oh, yeah, no overtime. But hey , you got your quote.

There is this rock-Metals group that I like and used to play them in the restaurant where I worked when I wanted people to leave. It was a Indian restaurant full of hippies... Most of the times it worked except for that one time that people actually liked the music... Then we had a problem 😂😅

You should absolutely be able to say that. That should be standard. The closing time is when the door gets locked.

10:00 means I'm locking the door and walking out of here

Well said. Act like a Chef.

actually in Europe you can hear them say it quite often

Or of course you can stay and order, however at this time of night there is a prepay fee of 300 dollars to cover the staff overtime bill .

Any good owner or manager will have those doors licked by 9:30.

Imagine Janet from accounting. Janet from accounting is about to leave her 9-5 on Friday afternoon. She just wants to go home, but then.. that boss from hell decided he needs Janet to file his mother’s taxes before leaving for the day. Janet says “It’s 4:55 and this would take me hours.” Janet’s boss retorts: “Your contract says you work until 5. This is work and it’s not 5 so you have to stay and do it because I asked you to before 5.” Just consider other people and stop being politically correct. You know who you are. P.S., I know taxes are exponentially more time consuming than closing a restaurant, it was just an example.

I felt this in my soul

I worked a kitchen for 8 years and people do this. Sometimes I would have already shut the grill down and would have to start it up again. So annoying

When the sign says they are open to 10, then they close at 10. How is this not what the sign says?

If I see I'm within a couple hours of closing in front of a store or restaurant, in my mind, they're closed. Period.

I had a party of 20 get sat in my section 10 minutes before closing, then stay until 2:30AM, & ask for separate checks at the end (to try avoiding the mandatory gratuity on large parties). That didn't work, so they graciously trashed my section before they left.

They are awful I just would have said Thank you and left nicely. If you want to eat late at night unfortunately you have to be happy with cooking yourself or a places like Dennys.

No tip better than bad tip

Legit had this the other night. Arrives 20 mins before kitchen closed, table of 8. Didn't leave until almost 11, moaned because they couldn't order deserts at 10.30 (kitchen last orders is 8.30). £300 bill, paid mostly in cash, no tip. Fuck them.

Oh, I like this series

Applies to retail stores too.

And that IS what the sign says.

I never worked food service but i did work retail and that is one thing i wish you could say. I hated when someone would creep in at 9:50 when we closed at 10, say “i just need 1 thing; i’ll be quick” then finally walk to the register at 10:45 with their arms full of stuff while they’re sporting a shit-eating grin., then act puzzled why im pissed and no chatty w/ them.

Just returned from Japan, where many restaurants besides the closing time also show a last order time, generally half an hour earlier. And even when you're already inside, they will come by and mention this. After L.O., finish your meal but don;t expect to get anything else.