A good restaurant?

I love going out for meals.

I love the simple Italian and I love the Michelin posh. I really don’t mind. Either way I do love a good night out with good, honest food.

So what constitutes a good restaurant?

One thing that the Swiss do well (and it is not cook by the way) is to have only one sitting in a restaurant. In some parts of the world, you chose the early or the late dinner to allow the restaurant to have two sittings at the table. I hate that.

It really ruins the experience. It takes away the chance to laze around, maybe taking a digestif, just taking your time to enjoy the environment and relax. So a good restaurant is one with only one sitting.

Another thing I love is excellent service. Professional waiters who know their job and do it as a career and not just for extra money. For me there is nothing more impressive than a waiter/waitress, taking the tables order and not writing it down. I am so impressed by their memory for the detail, the complete order and who gets what. To me that is a dying art and when I see it, I love it.

The last thing I like, is when they serve you drinks very quickly. I really dislike having to grab the attention of a waiter to order a beer or an aperitif,  10 minutes after I have arrived. Clearly there is a period of time when its nice to settle in, look around, peruse the menu, have a little chat, but then, the drinks need to be ordered. Having to flag down the waiter drives me nuts.

Clearly in addition to this the food needs to be excellent, but that goes without saying!!!

What are your restaurant criteria??