A few questions about "going drinking" in a group

[cavemanmoron]

If someone mentions getting drinks as the primary purpose behind the event, can it be assumed even if the place serves food (which based on the name of the business is their own primary purpose) that I am socially obligated to purchase food? If so, and knowing that this is Mexican food, what is least likely to give me food poisoning? How do I ask for the taco equivalent of a well-done steak, cooked to the point of being inhospitable for any microbes? Additionally, how do you pay for stuff when in a group? Usually I don't carry cash, and I'm not certain that I will be able to procure sufficient non-credit funds in time. What are the odds that I can just pay for my own tab? I'd mention tipping, but I don't want to distract anyone reading.

As you can tell, I am new to this. If I am overlooking anything big (already checked up on the clothing requirements; I should be good there) that a novice might neglect, please inform me. Thanks for reading.

I suggest as soon as you see your waiter/waitress;
ask for separate Checks, so you can pay via debit/credit card.
aprox 15-20% tip works for me.

Mexican food get a veggie burrito or veggie taco/nacho salad etc. 🙂

Hope you go and have fun.

 

[purbeast0]

jesus christ just stay inside and don't go. you sound like you would be a huge pain in the ass to hang out with or just a total bore.

 

[MrColin]

If someone mentions getting drinks as the primary purpose behind the event, can it be assumed even if the place serves food (which based on the name of the business is their own primary purpose) that I am socially obligated to purchase food? If so, and knowing that this is Mexican food, what is least likely to give me food poisoning? How do I ask for the taco equivalent of a well-done steak, cooked to the point of being inhospitable for any microbes? Additionally, how do you pay for stuff when in a group? Usually I don't carry cash, and I'm not certain that I will be able to procure sufficient non-credit funds in time. What are the odds that I can just pay for my own tab? I'd mention tipping, but I don't want to distract anyone reading.

As you can tell, I am new to this. If I am overlooking anything big (already checked up on the clothing requirements; I should be good there) that a novice might neglect, please inform me. Thanks for reading.

It's always safe to assume that whoever invited you will be paying for your meal. Stay away from el pollo (chicken). Also, at random intervals, put both hands up in the air and shout "wave o poo toe." (mexican for "no thank you food poisoning"). Also, if you get a chance, introduce a male friend to any mexican woman as being your "herman eetow day lay chay" and wink at her. This will convey that you are a very classy individual.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Just forego food and drink copious amounts of hard liquor. Enjoy your germ free experience.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

wtf...

 

[Paul98]

How is going out to get drinks such a problem, if you don't want to eat go out have some drinks, have fun, at the end pay for yourself if that's all you want to pay for.

 

[Kyle]

If you want food, order food- if not, get a couple drinks and if you really need an excuse just say you ate before you left- you're really over thinking this...

But I do agree w/ others about bringing cash- just makes it easier.

 

[Sluggo]

jesus christ just stay inside and don't go. you sound like you would be a huge pain in the ass to hang out with or just a total bore.

Yep

It's simply unreal that some people are so socially inept.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Ok, I withdrew a $20. I should be set financially. I planned on skipping chicken anyways because of salmonella, but thanks for confirming that for me anyways. On the walk to the place I think I might just say something like "I don't want to be that guy, but I saw some stuff about their C health inspection rating, and I'm really paranoid about germs, have they fixed that since then?" which should automatically lighten the burden to "Oh yeah they fixed things up" or similar so that he doesn't think I'm a massive snob, and if on the chance that he only goes there for drinks anyways, it will have saved me the worry anyways. I'm hoping that I can eat a Clif bar ahead of time and just drink afterwards.

Oh, and while I was in San Diego for a decade, that was a while ago. I don't live there anymore.

Thanks all for the help.

EDIT: Apparently they had a B just half a year ago, but are now at an A. Multiple Cs over recent history, and closed once due to excessive violations. :hmm:

 

[jaedaliu]

The restaurant in question is frequently referred to as a "dive bar". This isn't a traditional Mexican restaurant; sorry, I should have made that clear. Additionally, doing a little searching, they apparently had a sub-A health inspection rating and their owner was actually defiant of it. I'm assuming that by today (several months past) they've cleaned up a bit, but in the off chance that I get there and still see a C rating proudly plastered...

Do you have any idea how hard it is to NOT get an A in California? Geez, go somewhere else.

As for your original questions, bring cash, buy food if you are hungry (or if others buy food or want to split appetizers), and ask for separate tabs/checks.

How did such a party animal get invited to that fine establishment?

MotionMan

How was the buttsechs?

Maybe it's different in the Bay Area where the inspectors get bribed, but Cs are common in LA/OC, and they're perfectly safe to eat at. If it was dangerous, the restaurant would be shut down instead.

And as for burning the steak to kill the things that might make you sick. It's often not the pathogens themselves, but the toxins they produce from living in there that make you sick. So don't worry about having them render your food tasteless for safety, it's mostly things other than the cooking process that get you food poisoning.

 

[mikeford]

$20 for a night of drinking?

I would suggest more like $50 with most of it in small bills so you can pay for a drink or a round depending on how the group does it.

How well do you know the people you are going with? Talk to somebody about what you should expect.

 

[DrPizza]

I've never had food poisoning from a Mexican restaurant, and I eat at a few of them frequently, at least once a week.

The safest thing is probably enchiladas, they usually come out way too hot to eat until they've cooled.

If you're really paranoid (and it sounds like you are), get veggie enchiladas (beans, not spinach). Don't eat the guacamole or salsa.

It's almost ironic that my wife and I only had one meal in common in the two days leading up to the weekend, and that we both suffered from food poisoning like symptoms during the weekend - Taco Bell. Having had to wait 25 minutes after placing my order, and watching what appeared to be the most disorganized staff who really didn't seem to give a shit about anything, including customers, I suppose it wasn't a huge surprise. We have one authentic Mexican restaurant in the area - it's their livelihood, not their fast food job. I'd trust the food there much much more than from TB. Thus, I'm curious as to the OP's concerns.

 

[MotionMan]

How was the buttsechs?

Huh?

Maybe it's different in the Bay Area where the inspectors get bribed, but Cs are common in LA/OC, and they're perfectly safe to eat at. If it was dangerous, the restaurant would be shut down instead.

I disagree. I VERY rarely see anything but A's in LA (There is this one place near my office that always seems to have a 'B', but it is never busy).

A 'C' is a score of 70-79. A place gets shut down with a 69. I am not sure that I would want to eat at a 70.

On the same note, in order to get a 'B', one has to lose 11 points. That is a lot of health violations. Considering how one can get food poisoning even from a place with an 'A', it just does not seem like a wise risk for most people.

MotionMan

 

[MotionMan]

Ok, I withdrew a $20. I should be set financially. I planned on skipping chicken anyways because of salmonella, but thanks for confirming that for me anyways. On the walk to the place I think I might just say something like "I don't want to be that guy, but I saw some stuff about their C health inspection rating, and I'm really paranoid about germs, have they fixed that since then?" which should automatically lighten the burden to "Oh yeah they fixed things up" or similar so that he doesn't think I'm a massive snob, and if on the chance that he only goes there for drinks anyways, it will have saved me the worry anyways. I'm hoping that I can eat a Clif bar ahead of time and just drink afterwards.

This reads like a fake post. How old are you?

MotionMan

 

[Capt Caveman]

Ok, I withdrew a $20. I should be set financially. I planned on skipping chicken anyways because of salmonella, but thanks for confirming that for me anyways. On the walk to the place I think I might just say something like "I don't want to be that guy, but I saw some stuff about their C health inspection rating, and I'm really paranoid about germs, have they fixed that since then?" which should automatically lighten the burden to "Oh yeah they fixed things up" or similar so that he doesn't think I'm a massive snob, and if on the chance that he only goes there for drinks anyways, it will have saved me the worry anyways. I'm hoping that I can eat a Clif bar ahead of time and just drink afterwards.

Oh, and while I was in San Diego for a decade, that was a while ago. I don't live there anymore.

Thanks all for the help.

EDIT: Apparently they had a B just half a year ago, but are now at an A. Multiple Cs over recent history, and closed once due to excessive violations. :hmm:

:biggrin: Seriously, gets some psychological help. Your school should offer it for free. Probably the most valuable thing you can get from going to school.

 

[surfsatwerk]

Stay home and give up on life.

 

[jaedaliu]

I disagree. I VERY rarely see anything but A's in LA (There is this one place near my office that always seems to have a 'B', but it is never busy).

A 'C' is a score of 70-79. A place gets shut down with a 69. I am not sure that I would want to eat at a 70.

On the same note, in order to get a 'B', one has to lose 11 points. That is a lot of health violations. Considering how one can get food poisoning even from a place with an 'A', it just does not seem like a wise risk for most people.

MotionMan

Wow. i just took a look at the county website. B's and C's are virtually nonexistent compared to the As. Things have cleaned up a lot since I actually looked at the ratings. I am completely wrong. Kudos to the restaurants for cleaning up and following the nit picky stuff like buckets for rags.

Unfortunately, the list of closures is quite long. I guess people either care, or they completely don't.

http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/eh/DSE/RetailFoodInsection/desfood.htm#rating

 

[DrPizza]

Wow. i just took a look at the county website. B's and C's are virtually nonexistent compared to the As. Things have cleaned up a lot since I actually looked at the ratings. I am completely wrong. Kudos to the restaurants for cleaning up and following the nit picky stuff like buckets for rags.

Unfortunately, the list of closures is quite long. I guess people either care, or they completely don't.

http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/eh/DSE/RetailFoodInsection/desfood.htm#rating

Yeah, after one "bad" inspection, it's pretty easy to correct most of the things that the inspectors find wrong. However, I'll point out one thing that, at least around here, is true: restaurants know, roughly, at least within a few weeks of when the inspection is. There are a lot of little things that inspectors have a fit about that some of the restaurants will only remind employees to do during that month long period - with the reason being that it's for the inspector. E.g., checking the temperature of something after heating it up. An example: 360 days of the year, you heat the exact same size container of the exact same stuff up in the microwave, and simply push buttons for 8 minutes. Every day, it's going to come out at the same temperature. The inspector would have a fit to see it transferred into a crock for maintaining the temperature if you didn't first verify that it had hit 160 F in the microwave. Or, if I recall correctly, when taking something out of a warmer & putting it in the walkin cooler, I think we were supposed to leave the lid slightly off for about 10 minutes, then completely cover it - so it would cool faster. Wasn't a major violation, just something (iirc) that the inspector wanted us to do, and one which probably has a trivial affect on bacteria growth.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Are you serious or just being full of shit?

Food poisoning at a restaurant? I eat out like 6 or 7 times a week and I think maybe I've had food poisoning like 2 or 3 times in my life.

You are not obligated to buy food, but, if you are going to a good/real mexican place, you are a foolish fool if you do not buy food. Usually the food is inexpensive, and, quite epicly delicious.

If they have Tacos de Birria, you will absolutely love it. It is fantasticly flavorfull. The meat is a bit more "stringy" vs is IMO the absolute most tasty, however, not easy to find.

Otherwise Al Pastor is fvcking great.

 

[Gooberlx2]

This reads like a fake post. How old are you?

MotionMan

I dunno man, some people are just clueless/sheltered/overly anxious, and these aren't the first posts like these for OP. For the life of me, I can't find the awkward date "hold out your hand" thread from way back in the day, but OP totally reminds me of that guy.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

To be honest I think I may have misinterpreted the goal of this meeting. In some correspondences it's actually referred to as "having a drink", singular, and while I'd imagine that there isn't a set-in-stone upper limit, I don't think we're going there to get shitfaced. It'll be me, one guy I know slightly, and a few of his friends that I don't know at all. I'm a lightweight (2 beers over an hour or two will easily get me a bit tipsy) so I'm hoping $20 is sufficient.

And just so you know, some of their infractions involved a meat cooler being at room temperature, mold growth in the taps, and spoiled food. Not your run of the mill dented cans or insufficient lighting.

 

[Capt Caveman]

To be honest I think I may have misinterpreted the goal of this meeting. In some correspondences it's actually referred to as "having a drink", singular, and while I'd imagine that there isn't a set-in-stone upper limit, I don't think we're going there to get shitfaced. It'll be me, one guy I know slightly, and a few of his friends that I don't know at all. I'm a lightweight (2 beers over an hour or two will easily get me a bit tipsy) so I'm hoping $20 is sufficient.

And just so you know, some of their infractions involved a meat cooler being at room temperature, mold growth in the taps, and spoiled food. Not your run of the mill dented cans or insufficient lighting.

No, it does not mean singular.

:biggrin:

 

[Vdubchaos]

Going out to drink in a group.

No Thanks, but have fun

 

[ElFenix]

and I thought I didn't get out much.

1. Food, well you can always go vegetarian but food poisoning or food borne illnesses can come from anything. If you get a meat dish just ask for the steak, chicken or pork to be cooked well done.

2. Paying, get separate checks or you pay for the group and everyone gives you cash.

food poisoning is way more likely to come from vegetables than anything else nowadays.

 

[lxskllr]

To be honest I think I may have misinterpreted the goal of this meeting. In some correspondences it's actually referred to as "having a drink", singular, and while I'd imagine that there isn't a set-in-stone upper limit, I don't think we're going there to get shitfaced. It'll be me, one guy I know slightly, and a few of his friends that I don't know at all. I'm a lightweight (2 beers over an hour or two will easily get me a bit tipsy) so I'm hoping $20 is sufficient.

And just so you know, some of their infractions involved a meat cooler being at room temperature, mold growth in the taps, and spoiled food. Not your run of the mill dented cans or insufficient lighting.

My approach to unfamiliar situations is to over prepare. If I'm expected to be a long distance away at a certain time, I target 1/2 or more early. If I'm uncertain of dress requirements, I wear clothes that are easily convertible, or multi-function, and if I don't know how much money I need, I'll estimate, and then double my estimate. It's not like money goes bad after being removed from a bank.

Preparing for the worst case is how winners get through life.