You order a burger. You took half of it out and then you bite into it like a taco without a bun. You don't understand burgers, order a steak or something
thank you so much for the kind words and any suggestions for the show are always welcome. You also are more than welcome to join me in a video. Just let me know.
"So we are tipping the chef to not make it the way we ordered it".......... That is so correct. That line made me laugh each time I rewound it, classic! The 3% thing is totally dumb, Just as a general rule, I will never go to a restaurant that does that kind of garbage.
+Chester Puffington THE 3% surcharge is fair. I think the chefs deserve that tip, since they are the ones in the hot kitchen (making the delicious food). Otherwise the chefs get no extra money, and end up making less money than the waiter (who did nothing but carry the dish). BTW top end New York restaurants are now deleting the tip line, and instead adding a surcharge that is shared with all the staff (they call it European style) .
+Chester Puffington These guys failed to highlight that Playground will not charge you for an item if you don't like it. They could have easily sent the burger back and requested a medium rare one, but they chose not to, and to just eat something that they didn't necessarily like for the purpose of internet fame. I have been there numerous times and I've never had a problem having something replaced if necessary. Also, why did he eat his entire half of the burger if he didn't like it? I was in Seattle recently and a service charge was a common thing to see on the bill. Every restaurant that had that charge also said it was ok to adjust gratuity. 3% of $30 is $0.90, so... leave a $5 tip if you're that bothered.
Its the chefs job to get it right every time. Its not like a waitress where you are tipping her for good service or faster service. The cook should get it right every time. And its up to the owner to show the respect to the kitchen staff to keep them happy. And if that means they raise their price to the customer (or lower their profit margin), then that is on them. Dont blame customers for why you pay your kitchen staff poorly.
My rule has always been this: 20% to start. If you tell me 18% then that's all I do. If you don't tell me what to tip then I do 20%. BTW, by law they have to remove any mandatory 18% if you demand it be removed. They can not force you to tip. I've never had it removed, but my wife was a waitress at Rainforest Cafe years ago and she told me they removed for many people who demanded it be removed.
Hi Jack, was just at Gordan Ramsay's Burgr in Las Vegas. I had the Farm Burger because of you. The taste was great, but the sad part to report here was, I think compared to your burger the size went down a good 1/3rd. For that price, I went to Hash a go go and got a delicious double burger stuffed with Mozzarella cheese and fries for $13.95 The burger was twice the size for less and just as juicy and tasty. Just letting you know the burgers shrank since you were there last.
It seems very stressfull there, when I watched the episode from BurGR that place looked so much calmer. And when you get to relax, the food will taste better too.
No problem. Keep up with the videos, great for a home cook man! Next time I do a pop up dinner in California would love to have to check it out. Best, Chef Joe
reading the menu it looks like half the stuff they serve just seems like they went into their fridge and found random ingredients to throw together. I get the farm to table idea but they executed it horribly. The fact that you can’t get the burger cooked anyway you want is off putting as well.
I love how honest you were. I'm actually surprised you didn't rant at the end about the ridiculous 3% surcharge bullshit. Great vid, can't wait til the next one!
I love how you ate that burger like a taco, Ive never seen that before. I have never seen any of your videos this is my first one so I am not a virgin to your channel anymore, but I have to say I enjoyed watching, Subscribed.
Hey Jack, you should give Playground another try but for dinner or try Playground 2.0 out it's their tasting menu popups they do Tuesday nights. I'm good friends with the chef and some of the cooks there. Will be doing a pop up there this summer
Good video Jack i have actually tried several restaurants because of you all tho i don't agree with some of your Taco wars but i'm glad you don't hold back and speak your mind...I Hope all you restaurants out there pay this man for making you Famous!!!!!
yes. automatic gratuity but not another automatic gratuity for kitchen staff. If you charge $14 for a crappy burger then there's plenty of money left over to pay your chefs what they deserve.
I think the concept of the restaurant is that it is a Playground for chefs, somewhat like MasterChef style, so the chefs get to think of their dishes in the kitchen and pull it off every week. That's possibly where that 3% charge comes from.
Herc Zeus That's true. They should just pay the kitchen staff more an hour instead of charging the customers an extra amount when a lot of them don't know about it beforehand!
+Herc Zeus THE chefs deserve the tip more than the waiter, and yet often the waiter earns twice as much as the chef (due to tips). BTW top end New York restaurants are now deleting the tip line, and instead adding a surcharge that is shared with all the staff (they call it European style) .
No cream or sugar in coffee!! No ketchup!! Thankfully I am across the pond and those places go to the wall pretty quickly. You've been to better places and I understand how annoyed and disappointed you were. Jack, thank you for being the honest reviewer.
Sure, I expect that they want to give the chefs formal recognition. Nothing wrong with that in premise, but I don't want to sit there and do math. Like Jack said, let the restaurant do the math. My guess is many people don't read the fine print and tip 15-20% anyway and don't notice the kitchen surcharge. Probably why they do it that way. Instead, put a big, bold notice on the menu that 3% of your tips go to the kitchen.
Yea it rains alot in Vancouver.Similar to Settle cause they R a close driving distance apart. Ive been there but a very longtime ago.If U like Nature(trees,mountains,water,etc..) I think the West Coast of Canada is better like Vancouver. Even in the Winter time it snows in Vancouver.Great skiing in the Winter&has the best mountains in Canada.Its less cold in Vancouver compared to the East Coast of Canada.Great seafood like Vancouver Crabs.They R huge&easy to eat:) I heard Calgary is nice as well
Jack that sound's like such a good idea! Maybe in the future when you haven't got as much going on as you have we could look forward too one? ;) Thank's -Jack from the UK.
Yup after cutting himself on the can opener. I couldn't believe he made it as far as he did but he did not even do anything with the ingredients nor use the pantry if at all. Just makes your review that much more validated
Color/race has nothing to do with it. Let's not vere from the food category. What bothers me most is that they think Santa Ana residence can afford $25 a plate for dinner. Did you not read the menu? I live in North Orange County and no one here would pay that either. That place looked like it was ripped out of Irvine Spectrum. It just was out of place. Does that explain it better?
i dont know if these guys are on par, but definetly some of the best burgers i have tried, theres a place in claremont called the Back Abbey its very popular here and tastes great, very german influenced, might be worth a go, also there is a semi chain gourmet burger place called eureka burger, i dont know how that would stack up against gordon ramsey but its definetly tasty
Hey Jack, thanks for taking the hit for us on this place,,,,,did they ever say why the don't serve cream and sugar for the coffee? At least it is one place that I will not visiting
I hate places where they don't think the customer can have it their way and charges them extra. If the food and service is good enough, more people would come and more money would be earned. No need for an extra charge.
That'd be awesome. Will let you know if I end up doing one on the west coast. I do progressive American cuisine focused on farm and sea fish ingredients with very modern techniques
Come up to Oregon. I'll cook you a burger! I can't believe after their cheeky signage, you still ended up with a well done burger. Looks like a cool place, too bad it comes with attitude. Maybe Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares will show up there once they lose all their business.
Perhaps you should rate these places for the burger, but also rate them separately on their food as a whole. Since burgers don't make a restaurant. Plenty of places I know have bad burgers but great food.
i think that it's actually a good idea to give some tip to the kitchen staff because they work just as hard as servers do... but servers should just share the tip they earn from the service! The thing with the coffee is so ridiculous....
All businesses should be about SERVICE SERVICE SERVICE its all about your customer's and service ! Jack I love you and the crew..you guys got robbed im surprised you even wenf through with this one...Come on back to Vegas bro.CARLS JR ROCK HARDER THAN THAT BS.
i live in Thailand and i see this a lot in foreign owned and fancy cafe's / restaurants charging 3- 11%. its good they give it to the staff but at the same time if they made good food and always busy they should pay there staff more if they do there job right. people pay good money for good food. you shouldn't have to charge extra bullshit prices. if so include it in your final price !! no one like hidden extras on the end of the bill
You order a burger. You took half of it out and then you bite into it like a taco without a bun. You don't understand burgers, order a steak or something
How about diabetic wars?
Ham fist wars?
Obese children wars?
Why don't they just add 3% to their prices - rather than adding afterwards?
thank you so much for the kind words and any suggestions for the show are always welcome. You also are more than welcome to join me in a video. Just let me know.
now on the list. thanks
thanks Marc. Putting on my list. In OCT we are going back for more Las Vegas Burgers wars.
Love the honesty!
"So we are tipping the chef to not make it the way we ordered it".......... That is so correct. That line made me laugh each time I rewound it, classic! The 3% thing is totally dumb, Just as a general rule, I will never go to a restaurant that does that kind of garbage.
+Chester Puffington THE 3% surcharge is fair. I think the chefs deserve that tip, since they are the ones in the hot kitchen (making the delicious food). Otherwise the chefs get no extra money, and end up making less money than the waiter (who did nothing but carry the dish). BTW top end New York restaurants are now deleting the tip line, and instead adding a surcharge that is shared with all the staff (they call it European style)
.
+Chester Puffington These guys failed to highlight that Playground will not charge you for an item if you don't like it. They could have easily sent the burger back and requested a medium rare one, but they chose not to, and to just eat something that they didn't necessarily like for the purpose of internet fame. I have been there numerous times and I've never had a problem having something replaced if necessary.
Also, why did he eat his entire half of the burger if he didn't like it?
I was in Seattle recently and a service charge was a common thing to see on the bill. Every restaurant that had that charge also said it was ok to adjust gratuity. 3% of $30 is $0.90, so... leave a $5 tip if you're that bothered.
@f kya they dont give a chance for remakes in their food wars. the restaurants have that one chance to impress.
Its the chefs job to get it right every time. Its not like a waitress where you are tipping her for good service or faster service. The cook should get it right every time. And its up to the owner to show the respect to the kitchen staff to keep them happy. And if that means they raise their price to the customer (or lower their profit margin), then that is on them. Dont blame customers for why you pay your kitchen staff poorly.
Best line...." Now i am gonna go lick my arm pitt to get the taste out of my mouth"!! still laughing on that one. Way to tell it like it is jack!
My rule has always been this: 20% to start. If you tell me 18% then that's all I do. If you don't tell me what to tip then I do 20%. BTW, by law they have to remove any mandatory 18% if you demand it be removed. They can not force you to tip. I've never had it removed, but my wife was a waitress at Rainforest Cafe years ago and she told me they removed for many people who demanded it be removed.
they are on my list. thank you for the suggestion
Hi Jack, was just at Gordan Ramsay's Burgr in Las Vegas. I had the Farm Burger because of you. The taste was great, but the sad part to report here was, I think compared to your burger the size went down a good 1/3rd. For that price, I went to Hash a go go and got a delicious double burger stuffed with Mozzarella cheese and fries for $13.95 The burger was twice the size for less and just as juicy and tasty. Just letting you know the burgers shrank since you were there last.
The Menu changes everyday? Wow, Chef's are making their careers more and more difficult.
NO SOUP FOR YOU!!! LOL
I hear ya. That was a video I wish you were with us for.
It seems very stressfull there, when I watched the episode from BurGR that place looked so much calmer. And when you get to relax, the food will taste better too.
thanks. I will think about it.
I don't understand why you guys didn't send the burger back when it arrived over cooked.
they dont give a chance for remakes in their food wars. the restaurants have that one chance to impress.
where is has a go go? I will check it out. I am sorry the size was small
Hey Jack the chef and owner of this place was on Chopped episode 212 that aired July 9th!
I know 3 companies that were approached by Yelp to advertise and then said NO. The next week all their positive comments were removed.
No problem. Keep up with the videos, great for a home cook man! Next time I do a pop up dinner in California would love to have to check it out. Best,
Chef Joe
So your paying an extra 3% to be treated like crap?
"Please feel free to adjust gratuity accordingly "? Servers get
0%
reading the menu it looks like half the stuff they serve just seems like they went into their fridge and found random ingredients to throw together. I get the farm to table idea but they executed it horribly. The fact that you can’t get the burger cooked anyway you want is off putting as well.
That waiter is a customer forward rock star. Jesus, Jack.
Great review, Jack. I love how the sign says you can't get your burger well done, find it contradicting.
I love how honest you were. I'm actually surprised you didn't rant at the end about the ridiculous 3% surcharge bullshit. Great vid, can't wait til the next one!
I was not going to spend any more money to find out. We were planning on eating there. We drove to Red Robin instead.
not worried because I will never be back
Thanks for keeping it real jack
Love it how you guys keep it real.
he needs two more wins. Joe and I are heading to LA tomorrow to try and find a suitable contender for Gordon Ramsay
Hey Jack good review I am totally with you on this keep them coming
okay but I want to film you from shopping to the serving of the food. I want to see the madness. LOL
we did the burger bar. Look at burger wars 11 or 12. Can't remember.
Sorry, I meant to say Hashhouse a go go is across from Caesars Palace in The Quad which used to be Old Imperial Palace. It's upstairs 2nd level.
Sounds good, can't wait...It's really a hidden gem. It won't disappoint!
I love how you ate that burger like a taco, Ive never seen that before. I have never seen any of your videos this is my first one so I am not a virgin to your channel anymore, but I have to say I enjoyed watching, Subscribed.
oh wow. didn't know. thanks for the info
I will totally try BLT next visit in OCT. Want to join me and Joe in the video?
You can't put cream and sugar in the coffee? WTF?
that was Burger wars #1
If you ever get to Canada, The Works is said to make the best burgers in the world.
No coffee wars! Sandwich wars or doughnut wars
Gordon Ramsay will be in Singapore ,challenging some of our best hawkers. Please watch.
yes. when I see you I will enter in your youtube username and make you a moderator. Never done this before but let's go for it.
done. thanks.
Fully cooked is best!
Hey Jack, you should give Playground another try but for dinner or try Playground 2.0 out it's their tasting menu popups they do Tuesday nights. I'm good friends with the chef and some of the cooks there. Will be doing a pop up there this summer
Good video Jack i have actually tried several restaurants because of you all tho i don't agree with some of your Taco wars but i'm glad you don't hold back and speak your mind...I Hope all you restaurants out there pay this man for making you Famous!!!!!
Sounds good. I'll see you on Sunday
let the restaurant adjust accordingly. I do not want my experience to be complicated.
yes. automatic gratuity but not another automatic gratuity for kitchen staff. If you charge $14 for a crappy burger then there's plenty of money left over to pay your chefs what they deserve.
I think the concept of the restaurant is that it is a Playground for chefs, somewhat like MasterChef style, so the chefs get to think of their dishes in the kitchen and pull it off every week. That's possibly where that 3% charge comes from.
weird that he has not commented on my video yet. I expect it to come soon.
Jack just went HAM on that review. Oh great, now I bet Jack wants some actual ham...
it was juicy, but contradicted the insane demands of the restaurant. that was the problem
A 3% tax for the chefs sounds shady . . .
Herc Zeus That's true. They should just pay the kitchen staff more an hour instead of charging the customers an extra amount when a lot of them don't know about it beforehand!
+Herc Zeus THE chefs deserve the tip more than the waiter, and yet often the waiter earns twice as much as the chef (due to tips). BTW top end New York restaurants are now deleting the tip line, and instead adding a surcharge that is shared with all the staff (they call it European style)
.
FYI: 15% is not "normal" anymore. 18% is acceptable, 20% is more common.
Great review.
No cream or sugar in coffee!! No ketchup!! Thankfully I am across the pond and those places go to the wall pretty quickly. You've been to better places and I understand how annoyed and disappointed you were. Jack, thank you for being the honest reviewer.
The guy (owner or chef) from Playground Burger is now on Chopped (new ep 7/9 10PM ET). He just cut himself. He's not long for this world
If you do do coffee wars- Starbucks vs. dunkin donuts
BBQ wars? (Just a suggestion) And I'd like to say that I always look forward to watching your shows.
Good review
Sure, I expect that they want to give the chefs formal recognition. Nothing wrong with that in premise, but I don't want to sit there and do math. Like Jack said, let the restaurant do the math. My guess is many people don't read the fine print and tip 15-20% anyway and don't notice the kitchen surcharge. Probably why they do it that way. Instead, put a big, bold notice on the menu that 3% of your tips go to the kitchen.
Yea it rains alot in Vancouver.Similar to Settle cause they R a close driving distance apart. Ive been there but a very longtime ago.If U like Nature(trees,mountains,water,etc..) I think the West Coast of Canada is better like Vancouver. Even in the Winter time it snows in Vancouver.Great skiing in the Winter&has the best mountains in Canada.Its less cold in Vancouver compared to the East Coast of Canada.Great seafood like Vancouver Crabs.They R huge&easy to eat:) I heard Calgary is nice as well
thanks jack for the burger review, very sorry about the fully cooked burger... 10 dollars was it?? Mcdonalds chicken nugget review next please!!
Jack that sound's like such a good idea! Maybe in the future when you haven't got as much going on as you have we could look forward too one? ;) Thank's -Jack from the UK.
Yup after cutting himself on the can opener. I couldn't believe he made it as far as he did but he did not even do anything with the ingredients nor use the pantry if at all. Just makes your review that much more validated
that's great.
Color/race has nothing to do with it. Let's not vere from the food category. What bothers me most is that they think Santa Ana residence can afford $25 a plate for dinner. Did you not read the menu? I live in North Orange County and no one here would pay that either. That place looked like it was ripped out of Irvine Spectrum. It just was out of place. Does that explain it better?
this place is the ultimate troll restaurant.
Joe, I'd love to do a whole episode on your pop up dinner. I have wanted to film one for years. never got invited.
we wished he was there
oh that was good. classic.
i dont know if these guys are on par, but definetly some of the best burgers i have tried, theres a place in claremont called the Back Abbey its very popular here and tastes great, very german influenced, might be worth a go, also there is a semi chain gourmet burger place called eureka burger, i dont know how that would stack up against gordon ramsey but its definetly tasty
Hey Jack, thanks for taking the hit for us on this place,,,,,did they ever say why the don't serve cream and sugar for the coffee? At least it is one place that I will not visiting
I hate places where they don't think the customer can have it their way and charges them extra. If the food and service is good enough, more people would come and more money would be earned. No need for an extra charge.
Jack you should definitely try the burger at The Side Door in Corona Del Mar, soooooo delicious and great atmosphere!
That'd be awesome. Will let you know if I end up doing one on the west coast. I do progressive American cuisine focused on farm and sea fish ingredients with very modern techniques
the server handled himself really well answering all those questions.
doing that now. sorry
That would be an expensive series to do.
Matthew, did you read the reviews. those aren't reviews. they are planted commercials. No normal customer talks like that. read them again.
When that waiter started to sell on on their food, he started to blind constantly, this indicates hes making the bullshit up right there and then.
Come up to Oregon. I'll cook you a burger! I can't believe after their cheeky signage, you still ended up with a well done burger. Looks like a cool place, too bad it comes with attitude. Maybe Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares will show up there once they lose all their business.
Perhaps you should rate these places for the burger, but also rate them separately on their food as a whole. Since burgers don't make a restaurant. Plenty of places I know have bad burgers but great food.
I'm usually only harsh when I feel it's needed. This restaurant owner needs to wake up or he won't be around much longer.
hahahahahahaha
No surprise either, he just used what was in the basket, because he said that's what they do at the restaurant!!!!!!!!
With as big of a deal as they made about not going well done, I would have sent that burger back in a heartbeat,
she shows up only on full moon nights.
i think that it's actually a good idea to give some tip to the kitchen staff because they work just as hard as servers do... but servers should just share the tip they earn from the service! The thing with the coffee is so ridiculous....
All businesses should be about SERVICE SERVICE SERVICE its all about your customer's and service ! Jack I love you and the crew..you guys got robbed im surprised you even wenf through with this one...Come on back to Vegas bro.CARLS JR ROCK HARDER THAN THAT BS.
Im still unsure how the burger was cooked? i dont think you said that in the video..
where is twisted root?
If you mean like answer the ones that you might miss in the chat box, I can do that. I'm watching you every week anyway :D
no way!!!
i live in Thailand and i see this a lot in foreign owned and fancy cafe's / restaurants charging 3- 11%. its good they give it to the staff but at the same time if they made good food and always busy they should pay there staff more if they do there job right. people pay good money for good food. you shouldn't have to charge extra bullshit prices. if so include it in your final price !! no one like hidden extras on the end of the bill
Keeping it real!