…amusing and informative…Waiter Rant is as delightful as it is irreverent.
Anonymity is tough to maintain when you want to do a book tour. Such is the case with Steve Dublanica, a seminary dropout and laid-off psychiatric worker who, in 2004, started www.WaiterRant.net , blogging as "The Waiter." His brutal observations on waiting tables at an upscale restaurant he called "The Bistro" (outed as Lanterna Tuscan Bistro in Nyack, N.Y.) are expanded in this entertaining audio. Dan John Miller is pitch perfect not only as the Waiter-who devolves from woebegone rookie into jaded veteran-but also as his customers, co-workers, bosses and brother. Miller's vocal interpretation dovetails seamlessly with the material. He shines when the Waiter is dishing it out, but even more so when he's taking it. Miller's performance is enthralling during passages in which he reveals his crippling self-doubt, overwhelming sense of underachievement and acknowledgment that he's become somewhat of a jerk. An Ecco hardcover (Reviews, Apr. 28). (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
When not waiting tables at a pricey New York City restaurant, the pseudonymous author dishes out insults and shares his observations on the popular blog www.waiterrant.net . He's now turned his musings into a book, and this reviewer feels a "don't quit your day job" is in order. While the autobiographical ramblings can be interesting and even mildly amusing, and actor/musician Dan John Miller narrates with an appropriately benevolent, all-knowing tone, more often than not listeners will wish they'd ordered another entrée. Instead of making a full meal of it, they'd do better to sample this production (audio clip available through library.brillianceaudio.com ). [The Ecco hc was recommended "for larger public libraries and those seeking to add depth to their memoir collections," LJ 5/15/08; optioned for development as a TV series.-Ed.]
A popular blogger offers behind-the-scenes tales about working the front of the house. After defecting from seminary and losing his subsequent job, the author took a temporary position as a server in an upscale New York restaurant. Six or seven years later, much to his own surprise, he was still waiting tables and anonymously recording his experiences at WaiterRant.net. In the casual, confessional tone of a seasoned blogger, The Waiter tells of corruption, intrigue, drug abuse, heated romance and of course tips, weaving it all into a humorously detailed memoir. Restaurant work can be emotionally toxic and brutalizing, he reveals. Living outside the nine-to-five world's boundaries warped and changed him and his fellow servers. Holidays became a source of stress, not joy, and accepting a friend's Friday night dinner invitation amounted to sacrificing hundreds of dollars in unearned pay. Worst of all were the bad customers, many of whom exhibited an astonishing level of self-absorption and entitlement. Required to endure abuse with a smile, many waiters unsurprisingly blew their night's tips on drinks after hours. Still, the life of a server wasn't all groveling and bingeing; some learned, as The Waiter did, to wield subtle, psychological control over even the most recalcitrant customers. He's good on psychological analysis too: His taxonomy of tippers comes complete with shrewd assessments of their various motivations, such as the mistaken assumption of "the verbal tipper" that heaping on praise will make up for a shoddy tip. The author began to relish the intimate glimpses he got into diners' personal lives, and underneath his hard-earned cynicism he seems justifiably proud of his progressin a difficult job. A heartfelt, irreverent look at the underbelly of fine dining.
The front-of-the-house version of Kitchen Confidential; a painfully funny, excruciatingly true-life account of the waiter’s life. As useful as it is entertaining.
The main attraction here is [Dublanica’s] acerbic, biting and often hilarious accounts of life behind the scenes at the front of the house.
Fortunately, The Waiter (who has since outed himself as a chap called Steve Dublanica) does more in this book than get even; he provides thoughtful insights into how the restaurant business works.
Anyone that has ever eaten in a restaurant is going to want to grab [this book].
For enlightenment on how to handle such situations, I reached out to The Waiter. You know, the New York City-based guy who created the wildly entertaining Waiter Rant blog, which is now a cannot-put-it-down book.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Writing a best-seller is a big deal, and the Waiter deserves a 20% tip for serving up such a fun summer read.
…here is my unabashed recommendation: If you eat out with any regularity, read this book!
Waiter Rant has all the fixings for fun....What Anthony Bourdain’s tell-all about life in the kitchen did for Hollandaise sauce, Waiter Rant will do for side salads.
…funny and touching.
For enlightenment on how to handle such situations, I reached out to The Waiter. You know, the New York City-based guy who created the wildly entertaining Waiter Rant blog, which is now a cannot-put-it-down book.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
…amusing and informative…along with the stories, some of which are hilarious, Dublanica provides useful advice for the customer...Waiter Rant is as delightful as it is irreverent.
Washington Post Book World
Lucky for the reader, The Waiter has kept his eyes open and is willing to gossip about what he has seen from the other side of the menu.
Extremely funny, no-nonsense and insightful.
New York Times Book Review
…here is my unabashed recommendation: If you eat out with any regularity, read this book!
The main attraction here is [Dublanica’s] acerbic, biting and often hilarious accounts of life behind the scenes at the front of the house.
Waiter Rant has all the fixings for fun....What Anthony Bourdain’s tell-all about life in the kitchen did for Hollandaise sauce, Waiter Rant will do for side salads.
…funny and touching.
…amusing and informative…along with the stories, some of which are hilarious, Dublanica provides useful advice for the customer...Waiter Rant is as delightful as it is irreverent.” — Washington Post Book World
“Writing a best-seller is a big deal, and the Waiter deserves a 20% tip for serving up such a fun summer read.” — Forbes.com
“Anyone that has ever eaten in a restaurant is going to want to grab [this book].” — Matt Lauer, The Today Show
“For enlightenment on how to handle such situations, I reached out to The Waiter. You know, the New York City-based guy who created the wildly entertaining Waiter Rant blog, which is now a cannot-put-it-down book.” — Seattle Post-Intelligencer
“…here is my unabashed recommendation: If you eat out with any regularity, read this book!” — Chicago Sun-Times
“Waiter Rant has all the fixings for fun....What Anthony Bourdain’s tell-all about life in the kitchen did for Hollandaise sauce, Waiter Rant will do for side salads.” — Los Angeles Times
“Lucky for the reader, The Waiter has kept his eyes open and is willing to gossip about what he has seen from the other side of the menu.” — Tampa Tribune
“…funny and touching.” — Chicago Tribune
“Fortunately, The Waiter (who has since outed himself as a chap called Steve Dublanica) does more in this book than get even; he provides thoughtful insights into how the restaurant business works.” — Bloomberg News
The front-of-the-house version of Kitchen Confidential; a painfully funny, excruciatingly true-life account of the waiter’s life. As useful as it is entertaining. — Anthony Bourdain
“Extremely funny, no-nonsense and insightful.” — New York Times Book Review
“The main attraction here is [Dublanica’s] acerbic, biting and often hilarious accounts of life behind the scenes at the front of the house.” — Wall Street Journal
