Has a chef ever come out of the kitchen to see how you like your food?

Yes. It does feel cool.
Also I have sent my compliments to the chef once. He came out to thank me. He was so excited, I wondered if I was his first.

Yes, at a small French restaurant in San Francisco. They served by seating, and while people were deciding on desserts and coffees, the chef went around to each table. He asked what we liked and what we didn’t like..

And then he gave everyone a little extra dessert on top of what we had ordered, a small apple galette with vanilla ice cream.

Yes. There are a couple of restaurants where I know where the chefs are friendly and they got to know us a bit after going there regularly.

(Also the only time I’ve eaten at a restaurant owned by Wolfgang Puck, he showed up and asked us how things were, though he hadn’t cooked it.)

Yes. It was a new restaurant in Monterey, California. As my husband and I were pondering the dessert menu, the chef came out and spoke with us. I am rarely without an opinion, and I didn’t pass up the opportunity. He bent over our table and listened to everything and asked clarifying questions. Luckily I was able to be quite candid without having to say much of anything negative, because it was a great meal and beautifully presented.

Yes, I have had this happen more than once.

More often a manager visits the table rather than the chef.

Usually, when it has been the chef, the chef is also the owner, or part owner, of the restaurant in my experience.

I ordered an “off the menu” meal, “Seafood Scampi”. It was at a small shoreline restaurant in Connecticut. It came in a huge salad bowl with two pounds of pasta, shrimp, scallops, lobster chunks, oysters and clams. The chef came out to see who ordered and came a asked me how I knew about it. It was a cousin of his that told me about it and she was right about the size and how tasty it was. I had leftovers for three more people to eat later.

Yes, but it has been at least 20 years since the last time a chef came out and spoke. We get visited by managers fairly often, but that’s not the same as the guy or gal actually cooking the food.

Maybe I go to cheap places (possible) or maybe in the South we don’t experience the same gentility on the part of the chef.

Yes, it was a very small family owned affair. The chef came out and asked how we were enjoying the meal. It was a tiny Greek/Middle Eastern restaurant with some of the most exquisite food I’ve ever sunk a tooth into. My friend and I gushed and told him how pleased we were with everything.

I have also sent regards to a chef, if I have been very pleased with the food, even if I didn’t actually meet him or her. I like to give kudos when it is deserved.

Yes, several times, and always in ethnic restaurants. We’re a family from Northern European descent, and it seems the chef was always delighted when people like us went out of our way to choose his restaurant. And even more so when we asked about the food.