43874 Fri Feb 24 15:56:38 -0800 2006 6 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 215206 We'd like to go here while visiting in May for good food reviews but am wondering if it's worth going thru the surly, almost nasty waiters I keep reading about. Would like your experience with this. Thnx. Fri Feb 24 15:56:38 -0800 2006 0 chuckles 1 215209 The notion that the waiters are Tadich are surly and/or nasty is utter nonsense! They are professionals who are there to wait on your table (a job they usually do very well), not be your friend. Fri Feb 24 15:58:57 -0800 2006 215206 0 DavidT 2 215214 Amen! This is old-fashioned, professional service. Unless you consider anything less friendly than "Hi, I'm Steve and I'll be your waitperson tonight" to be surly, you'll have nothing to complain about. Fri Feb 24 16:27:54 -0800 2006 215209 0 Ruth Lafler 3 215217 I've been eating at Taddich since the early 50's and eat there at least 5 times a year these days. There are (with luck they've been let go) a couple of very irritating waiters (both have been at the counter). One was there last month, the other more than a year ago. I posted about these guys a while ago. One was phony palsy-walsy and made several mistakes in orders (both for us and for the parties on either side of us) probably because he was so busy being Mr. Personality. The other guy got our order totally wrong and was pretty rude. We still love Taddich and will continue to go there as the huge majority of waiters are great - nice and professional, but not overly friendly. It's not true, however, that all of the waiters are great. By all means go, but maybe you should avoid the counter since both bad apples worked there. Fri Feb 24 16:45:58 -0800 2006 215214 0 oakjoan 4 215251 I've never had a bad experience with service, even at the counter. I was at the counter with two friends just last week -- we got in fairly late (around 9:30), and the waiter was as friendly as can be, and kept cracking jokes (but not dominating the conversation, as bad waiters do -- he would just make his comments as he brought things to us -- sort of flirting with the two women I was with, in a very unoffensive, old fashioned way). He also spent plenty of time helping one of my friends, who had never been to Taddich, decide on her entree, and went back to the kitchen to hold the last order of lamb shoulder for me, since she was taking so long to decide. All of this at at time when he'd probably rather be cleaning up his station and heading home. I find it refreshing to be waited on by a pro like this guy. Fri Feb 24 18:55:40 -0800 2006 215217 0 Zach Georgopoulos 1 215233 I've always found the waiters at Tadich to be very professional. We eat there often enough that many of them know us by sight yet don't know our names nor do we know theirs. It's just not that type of place. They bring your water, get your drinks and delivery your meal, exactly what a waiter is suppose to do. The Tadich is a "must go to" place in SF. Go, enjoy, have sand dabs if they are on the menu or the cioppino, maybe the patrale sole. Enjoy a glass of white wine or better yet a martini, even if it is at lunch. Fri Feb 24 17:41:24 -0800 2006 215206 0 Monty 1 215304 i would say that the tadich front staff have a fully intact appreciation of public dignity. they have the sense of respect--for their profession, for their establishment, for Ladies and Gentlemen, and for themselves--that recalls the generation which chose eisenhower to assume the responsibilities of the oval office. theirs was a social covenant predicated on gracious self-composure, not what they might consider mutual coddling of over-nurtured and over-exposed psyches. what this means is that when they come to your table, their spines are straight. and if yours isn't, their carriage has a way of quietly but firmly communicating to you that your generation, charming as it may be, has perhaps not learned all that it might from theirs. this may rub some folks the wrong way. but to me, it is a fine lesson i gladly take with my meal, especially at the venerable tadich. Sat Feb 25 01:01:57 -0800 2006 215206 0 ed