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Comment by jfoucher | Hacker News Reader

I very clearly remember eating there for my twelfth birthday. Absolutely mind-blowing in every possible way. I still remember the cheese cart as if it was yesterday. The food was excellent and the service was... I don't know how to put it. An anecdote may be clearer: at one point I dropped my fork on the floor, as sometimes happens where you're a kid. Well I didn't have time to bend down to pick it up because a waiter had run over and grabbed it before me. About 5 or 10 seconds later he returned with a clean fork, set on a cushion, itself carried on a large silver plate. So there you go, as far as I'm concerned a well deserved reputation and a sad day for french cuisine.

Edit: just to clarify, that this was 27 years ago and I haven't returned since.

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I had the pleasure of dining at a 3-star Michelin restaurant last year. My co-workers and I summed it up as: 2-star, you get excellent food but things could be pointed at as better, at a 3-star, you can't possibly think of anything that could have been better after (apart from a lower bill)

>Well I didn't have time to bend down to pick it up because a waiter had run over and grabbed it before me. About 5 or 10 seconds later he returned with a clean fork, set on a cushion, itself carried on a large silver plate.

JFYI, service in a Restaurant is "coded".

A bad/slow service is when the ratio waiters/customers is 1/25 or even higher, such as 1/30.

An excellent/fast service is when the ratio is 1/8 to 1/12.

Michelin starred restaurant can often go as high as 1/6 or even 1/4.

Basically you have the waiter being dedicated to your table for all the time you are there.

Personally I find it even a little disturbing as you have the waiter constantly focused to each of your movements, ready to fill your glass or intervene for whatever may seem as looking for something.

Not to take away from your story, but every single restaurant I have ever been in my life does this - if a waiter sees something drop on the floor, they'll bring you a new set. This is an expectation and not the exception when you go to any sit down restaurant.

At most restaurants they do not manage to pick your fork off the floor before you can take 1-2 seconds to do it yourself. (The silver plate and cushion thing is a bit unusual also.)

The GP did not mention that they picked up the fork. They just simply brought a new set. Silver plate / cushion - perhaps this was a fine dining restaurant.

There are of course times when a waiter is busy and they don't see/hear you drop something. In that case, if you simply ask, they'll bring you a new set of silverware.

> Well I didn't have time to bend down to pick it up because a waiter had run over and grabbed it before me.

> perhaps this was a fine dining restaurant.

Actually many would consider Bocuse's to be THE fine dining restaurant.

According to HN, their claim to fame is.. they can get forks off the floor super fast. We are talking seconds here.

>> At most restaurants they do not manage to pick your fork off the floor before you can take 1-2 seconds to do it yourself

Where I live, local KFC can do it in 0.68 seconds. I saw it when I was 9, 25 years ago, so it is legit.

I don’t believe the point of the antedote was that they brought him a replacement piece of silverware.

I understood the point that the service was excellent. All I am saying is that bringing a new set of silverware is very common.

I really dont know how someone could read that story and think the point he was trying to make was "i'm impressed that this restaurant brought me new silverware".

Not trying to be a dick, but I think the word you meant to type was "anecdote."

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anecdote

>> for my twelfth birthday.

Not sure if serious or trolling.

What a strange reply. Assuming it's in good faith, what makes you think his reply was trolling?

Paul Bocuse is considered a God among the chefs.

What we have here is someone telling us they had a great meal there, 27 years ago, at the age of 12, and the most impressive thing was: some waiter picked up forks from the floor super-quickly!

So that looked like some (inappropriate) joke to me.

Fair enough. Thanks for clarifying.

Well it was Bocuse so I assumed that the food being exquisite was a given. No need to add to the praise he received along the years.

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