Extra Serving: A restaurant industry podcast · April 10, 2026 · 26 min

When hospitality becomes unreasonable, with food writer Adam Reiner

After working front-of-the-house roles at fine dining restaurants in New York City like Carbone, Baboo, and the Grill, Adam Reiner has seen all sorts of dining behavior. He’d like to help improve the dining experience for both diners and restaurants. His book "The New Rules of Dining Out" explores how diners can be active participants in the dining experience and start to see themselves as partners, not just patrons. It is both an obvious idea and a radical one. Of course, diners play a role in their dining experience, but many modern hospitality guides, like those from Will Guidara and Danny Meyer, put so much of the responsibility on the restaurant. Through his book and his conversation with guest host Gloria Dawson, Reiner argues that diners need a better understanding of how restaurants work and should stop having unrealistic expectations for a meal out. Books like “Unreasonable Hospitality” and “Setting the Table” spread “this idea that restaurants should be these life-changing experiences,” Reiner said. “Restaurants shouldn't be life-changing experiences; they should be life-affirming experiences. If we've gotten to the point where life-affirming isn't enough, then that's to me where there's a problem.”