This put up initially appeared within the July 31, 2024 version of The Transfer, professional ideas and recommendation from Eater’s eating specialists, direct to your inbox. Subscribe now.
Years in the past, I used to be celebrating my birthday dinner at a favourite restaurant of mine when, after our social gathering had positioned our order, however earlier than the cocktails got here, a server arrived tableside to current a bottle of glowing wine. Earlier than we had been in a position to protest that we hadn’t ordered it, they defined that the bottle was “a present from Amy” — a pal who lived clear throughout the nation, and who’d casually requested about my birthday plans a number of days earlier than. It was a pleasant shock: I marveled at her sneakiness, turning what I assumed was a pleasant throwaway query into, in hindsight, an excellent second of reconnaissance. And since the bottle was one thing I wouldn’t have ordered for myself, it actually helped prime our desk for an evening’s value of celebration.
Name me old-fashioned, however the thought of Venmo-ing cash as a gift nonetheless feels awkward. As a substitute, impressed by this reward from years in the past, the restaurant bottle-drop is one thing I’ve executed for associates many occasions since. It’s a transfer that at all times satisfies.
Eating places are normally more than pleased to accommodate this request. It helps, after all, if there’s a reservation in your recipient’s title, and from there, it’s fairly simple: Try the menu, pick the merchandise you need despatched their means, then name forward and ask for it to be delivered to that particular reservation; the restaurant will merely take your bank card over the telephone. When you’re making an attempt this at a restaurant that’s walk-in solely, enlist the assistance of a co-conspirator, whether or not or not it’s a mutual pal, member of the family, or romantic companion, somebody you realize for a reality might be of their eating social gathering — to make sure that they get seated, and to gauge that that is nonetheless a danger value taking in gentle of any snafus that will come up whereas awaiting seating. (There’s nothing worse than arranging for a deal with to reach solely in your pal to forego the hour-long wait and head elsewhere.)
I personally advocate a present that arrives towards the start of the meal versus sending dessert — which one other particular person within the social gathering could have plans for. Identical for the same transfer of choosing up the entire tab: Doing so can create a bizarre dynamic for different friends in attendance who may need gone into the evening planning to pitch in. And pragmatism apart, it’s additionally decidedly much less thrilling: The one time I lined the invoice outright, the recipient reciprocated by buying me a present card to the restaurant for the same quantity; it began a warfare that’s nonetheless ongoing over choosing up the examine, surreptitiously or in any other case. (But in addition, don’t do that! Simply let your pal choose up the examine!)
The important thing to this transfer lies in making a enjoyable second of shock, giving your recipient that VIP feeling that comes with getting one thing despatched to your desk. I’ve executed this not simply with Champagne or a favourite bottle of wine, but in addition with a spherical of cocktails that I knew held private that means; I don’t see why one thing like a full seafood tower or a caviar add-on wouldn’t work simply as nicely, if that aligns together with your recipient’s pursuits. Use your judgment right here — and in case you’re uncertain in case your pal is ingesting in the meanwhile, or what their dietary preferences could be, getting a second opinion from a eating companion is at all times a secure play. Nevertheless it’s a good way so as to add an exclamation level atop an already deliberate meal, one that claims, “I would like you to have a good time — on me.”
