At 4:00 p.m., I'd say the restaurant was just being pig-headed, and the customer would be well within the bounds of reasonableness to tell the matre d' exactly what he was intending to do. If they can't accommodate a regular guest at that hour of the day, I wonder how well they do ANYTHING at, say, 7:00 p.m. BTW, I know Patrick's quite well and have always been well-pleased with both the food and the service. I wonder what unpleasant detail may have been left unsaid in your fellow's tale of woe.

Yes, that was what I wondered, too. I was assuming the actual hour was maybe closer to dinnertime.

One would assume that the kitchen is staffed by more than the chef. Why don't they just get a sous chef or someone else to chop up the salad? It's definitely odd that the customer can't manage this himself, but there should be some reward for being a regular....it's called customer service.

I not sure what is meant by having his salad "chopped in the kitchen". Is that like "Ma, can you cut up my meat for me?"

I expect my salad chopped and my tablecloths steam-pressed.

I’m in the business, and this story seems to have the earmarks of a chef (or kitchen, under the chef’s authority, being unreasonable and putting his/her foot down about something trivial that grates on his or her nerves) This is not uncommon, as people skills are rarely a chef’s strength - and putting the front of house staff in the uncomfortable position of refusing a simple request. Often, situations like the one described above occur without knowledge of the maitre di or the owner, as the server is in the uncomfortable position of conveying the message to the customer without bringing on the chef’s ire by tattling on him, a position no waiter wants to be in.

Or alternatively, chopping the salad may actually be the server’s responsibility (salad preparation is often a server task), and the server is committing one of the worst common cases of poor service, blaming the kitchen for his or her own mistakes and/or laziness. I’d recommend the customer either politely complain to the maitre di or write a polite complaint to the owner. Mailed complaints ALWAYS receive more attention from management than verbal complaints.

Am I missing something here? Why would any able-bodied person want his salad chopped? When he and his wife eat at home, does she cut his meat for him?

Sometimes entree salads -- like Chef's Salad and Cobb Salad -- are beautifully arranged in undersized dishes. And trying to mix the salad is an adventure in flying lettuce leaves and runaway tomatos. It's a lot easier when these salads are chopped -- which happens to be my personal preference. And which hardly seems an unreasonable request.

Michael A. Gray is right on! I don't mind a salad that requires cutting at the table, as long as it is served in a large enough plate or bowl that the job can be done without making a mess.

The worst thing, though, is salads served with dressing on the side in a plate or bowl not large enough to toss the salad in the dressing. As a general rule, I hate dressing on the side.

Disclaimer: I have no idea how the chef's salad at Patrick's is served.

I never realized so many men eat salads :)

Although I consider myself retired from the hospitality industry, my motto was and is that you do whatever it takes to please the customer. There are several places where I am a regular and now at some I don't even need to request how I want my food. They just take care of it. A good server should be able to ask any of the kitchen staff for this type of request. Normally there isn't just one chef in the kitchen. I am surprised at Patrick's!

I'm still confused by the "chopped" salad. Save a few whole grape tomatoes or whole, pitted olive, most salads at the restaurants have the lettuce or major green already diced and slice, right. I can't imaging getting a salad with whole lettuce leaves, large carrot sticks. Even when I get chicken with a salad, it's usually sliced into smaller strips and not the whole chicken breast. But I'm a c'est la vie kinda guy. Have all the "chopped" salad you want, disappointed@patrick's guy. I guess the next trend is to have the food pre-chewed by the chef and have it regurgitated into the customers mouth.

I can't address the specific subject of "chopped salad", but I can relate that my wife and I go to Patrick's quite frequently, and I'm shocked to hear that they would be the least bit hesitant to honor any reasonable culinary request.

We often get their club sandwich for lunch, and my wife ALWAYS asks for a hard boiled egg to be sliced up and layered on the sandwich... a request that has always been honored with no hesitation.

A "chopped" salad is basically a "shredded" salad. It means to dice the salad so it's very fine, kind of like like cole-slaw. Personally I think the term "shredded" is more appropriate to use, but most restaurants that serve them call it a "chopped" salad.

Saying "no" to a regular customer for something so simple is in poor taste. The customer should have asked for the MANAGER (not the maitre d') right away, and politely explain what hapened. Any manager worth a salt would have made sure it was done right away, would have comp'd the salad all together, and perhaps bought them either a round of drinks or a dessert, if not comp the entire meal all together.

Thanks for the explanation, PJ. I looked all over the web and couldn't find one.

I'm still iffy on this "chopped' salad. Simple salad preparation is part of the enjoyment of a salad. Looking at the different shapes, textures, colors, and experiencing the different tastes. Shredding a salad as proposed by PJ is something that McDonald's does. Are we in such dire need for conformity and blandness that we have to make special, entitled requests for a chef "chopped" salad? To those who say yes, I say live a little.

Chopped salads are vey popular in South Florida [perhaps because we seniors don't have the teeth to deal with the regular salad?]. And didn't the late, lamented Marconi's serve a chopped sald?

One of Marconi's Tsignature items was the chopped salad. It was great, and the waiter chopped it up right in front of you.

Also, if you type in "chopped salad" into a Google search engine, the results are endless.

While searching the web, I came across this blog entry - as the Chef of Patrick's ...this is news to me! We chop many salads at all different times of the day, busy or slow. In my defense, a mention to the manager of the day could have remedied this - we are never too busy or too unapproachable to chop a salad. Perhaps the server didn't understand the request or if so, I would have made sure this never happened again!
It offends me when a restaurant can't make a simple request happen! We are known for our "over the top" service! We know you have many choices where to dine & we appreciate your patronage!