Too cynical to even try in 99% of establishments.
I have a set of cards with recipes on them, printed out 10/page on the printer and cut up with some scissors. They're just the right size to fit in my wallet. I'll just hand it to the waitress when I place the order "I'd like an X made like this". The waitress may look at me funny but I've never had one get offended. Often the bartender will come out with it to make sure it's made ok. One of the restaurants we go to fairly often now has my recipes entered in their computer, it comes out on the bill with my name on it "Mike's Sidecar" or whatever.
This looks like one of my posts. You're kidding, right?
Actually there are a lot of possibilities here. What about doing the same for conversation topics for your companions. In fact, you could print them out on postcard-sized cards and mail them to everyone before the event. They could review them and home, then slip them in their pocket in case they need to refresh their memories later. And dating? A checklist sent to your date could save so much time. She could fill it out and return it to you at the beginning of the evening.
Gentlemen--my life has been changed.
I usally sit at the bar and observe the bartender make my cocktails / drinks...always making polite positive comments (additions, deletions, extras ect...good cocktail = good tip), and then go to my table.
I keep it simple. I ask for rye and ginger ale with a twist.
Well that sounds good, but even in Texas you might be given a Canadian Whiskey instead of an honest to god Straight Rye. People who think "rye" is shorthand for anything from Canada can be quite argumentative, instead of just giving you a whiskey that actually has "rye" in its name.
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I also must say, having tended bar myself, that I didn't care to be told how to make a drink by a customer. It's only fair to tell a bartender if you want the drink to include this or that, if that ingredient is out of the ordinary. But if you want a perfect Manhattan up, ask for that. If the bartender literally does not know what those words mean, either stop trying to order cocktails at that bar, or stop patronizing such an establishment. Don't reward mediocrity, if you can help it.
If you're so fussy about a particular standard-issue drink that you feel compelled to give orders about how to make it, then you probably should just make it yourself at home and save everyone the aggravation.
As for myself, when I go out to a bar, I almost always order something that I cannot or won't bother to make for myself at home. I'd feel pretty silly getting bent out of shape about a bar's margarita, since no one makes them better than I do at home.
I also must say, having tended bar myself, that I didn't care to be told how to make a drink by a customer. It's only fair to tell a bartender if you want the drink to include this or that, if that ingredient is out of the ordinary. But if you want a perfect Manhattan up, ask for that. If the bartender literally does not know what those words mean, either stop trying to order cocktails at that bar, or stop patronizing such an establishment. Don't reward mediocrity, if you can help it.
If you're so fussy about a particular standard-issue drink that you feel compelled to give orders about how to make it, then you probably should just make it yourself at home and save everyone the aggravation. I've seen massively irritating customers compensate for their persnicketiness by leaving really large tips, but I would honestly rather earn an ordinary, decent tip from someone who respected my professional abilities.
As for myself, when I go out to a bar, I almost always order something that I cannot or won't bother to make for myself at home. I'd feel pretty silly getting bent out of shape about a bar's margarita, since no one makes them better than I do at home. But since I don't have any plans to start infusing my own bitters, or concocting honey-thyme syrups, or investing in a big bottle of an accent liqueur like St. Germain, I'm happy to purchase drinks involving such things at good cocktail bars where they know their craft. And thank the heavens, there is one such bar in town. Most bars here (and probably anywhere) are not run by cocktail enthusiasts or liquor experts, and won't know a lot of stuff that we insufferable snobby boozehounds take for granted.