h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well, i'd like to comment that this "lingo" aplys to restaurants under the entry "theme pubs"

A chef do NOT say fire the table!

The correct lingo is!
in a descent house that is

"order...." (the whole brigade quiets down ,chef reads out the order)
"prepare...." (chef "barks" out an the go of preparing an item)
"go on table #"(in a professinal and organised dance, the whole of the
table comes together from many different brigade teams within 2 minutes)

so "giving the GO" is the appropriate term
or so my 16 years of cooking point out!

Marc-Andre Leclerc
Head Chef, Mulligans golf club!
montreal, canada.

Hi, Marc-Andre. The point of my entry wasn't to make an "all-inclusive" set of slang terms that restaurants use, but rather to point out that service slang IS used in most establishments regardless of the "type" of restaurant you are dealing with. My ten + years in the service industry taught me that each institution has its own flavour (if you will), and service slang will vary as much as the menus. I really wouldn't agree with you to say that there's one "proper" way for the service staff at any given restaurant to communicate with each other; my experience working in themed, conventional, fast-food and five star/ fine dining restaurants has shown me that service slang is ALWAYS original, not derivitive, and is formed over time based on the history of and the individuals that make up the restaurant. I'm happy that your establishment has settled on slang that works for you - that's entirely the point.

Thanks for contributing!