Do you order ”the usual please”?

[ABowlOfPorridge]

And if so what’s your regular order in a cafe of restaurant.

I don’t frequent anywhere often enough to ask for “the usual” as they do in movies but I’ve just realised that I always order the same thing at my favourite cafe(Chicken, cheese and pesto panini with salad, a piece of ginger loaf cake and a flat white.)

When we used to ring up the local pizza delivery place, he'd ask "Is it the usual?" because we got the same thing every time for years. Sadly it changed hands a while back, and everywhere else is online ordering so we don't have a Usual* anymore.

I did have a Usual coffee order** but the coffee shop closed.

*one margarita, one peperoni, one meat feast, one Kalvin's special, one veggie classico

**skinny flat white with an extra shot because full and semi skimmed upset my stomach and I want lots of caffeine

I used to love it when I went to my local pub when I was younger and they’d start pouring my usual pint as they saw me come in! Never had a “usual” in a cafe or restaurant though.

I worked in a coffee shop in the centre of London when I was 18. One man used to come In once or twice a week and ordered ‘the usual’
the first time he did it to me I was so confused. And he just kept saying the usual the usual I come here all the time and then acted like I was an idiot. He even refused to tell me and told me to go and ask someone else what his usual was!
i can’t imagine being that entitled that you expect someone to remember you, and your order out of the hundreds of people they see a day.
i can see it might be nice if you live in a village or small town but even then I wouldn’t dare assume or expect that person to remember my order. Also sometimes I like to change up what I get! If someone guessed what I was going to order I think I’d feel like I needed to change things up a bit.

No, I like too many different foods and drink to have the same thing every time.

Even if I repeatedly went to the same place over and over I'd probably half a dozen different things I'd rotate through.

My dd has ASD. One of her few meals is a very specific, but actually very healthy for the main meal order from a local takeaway. It’s got enough adjustments to be pretty identifiable. We don’t just waltz up and say, “the usual”, but DH normally picks it up and one day I went to get it and they asked me where he was because they recognized the order just by what I ordered. Another time I left off the dessert (she needs the calories) and they asked if anything was wrong. I just explained we had birthday cake at home.

Sadly, the one place where I did this closed - an Italian where I used to order a particular calzone pizza filled with seafood, it was heavenly. Never found anything to match it and my attempts to make it myself weren't very successful. Would give anything to go back there and have this with the carafe of house red that always tasted so good!

My local pub knows the specific wine I like! I don't go to any cafes or restaurants frequently enough for a usual there.

Not with food, but when I was in my early 20s I used to regularly go to a local pub and when they saw me coming through the window they would have my drink ready for me by the time I went inside because I always had the same thing!

I always think it's a bit arrogant of people to state, 'usual please' like they are oh so memorable. Only ever seen it once, though and sure enough the man had to say what he actually wanted. Cringe.

I used to have the same thing in the cafe every week after Parkrun and depending on which member of staff served me they might ask if I wanted 'the usual'. It was a white coffee, a green smoothie and an adult size portion of cheese on toast 🤤

Shortly after I became disabled I took to having breakfast on the way to work not at home.

I had the same thing every morning.

Someone in a wheelchair is much more noticeable though.

After about two weeks they started making it when I wheeled in.

Decaf soya latte and cinnamon bun.

We used to at our old local - if we walked in they’d start pouring DH’s favourite beer and a glass of Pinot Grigio for me! It was mildly awkward when I fell pregnant with DD as we still went but I didn’t want the pub to know before my own parents 😂 so I went on a ‘health kick’ for a couple of months said health kick included a LOT of cheesy chips mind you

Sadly we have since moved and with two small DCs our pub trips are far less frequent!

I work in a pub and we have the same customers who come in everyday and eat/drink the same thing so I will say to them for eg Is it a Carling? Or start pouring their drink when I see them coming. Or I don't put ice in their drink because i know they dont like it etc.
It's really nice.

But, It is a busy pub in a tourist town and we have a lot of staff working shifts so we can't know everyone, and some people get so offended if I say something like
"Have you used our coffee machine before?"
Because they've been in before and know everything or I should know who they are because they will say "Im a regular!" In a huffy voice even though I don't recognise them at all 🙄

😂

My local subway know me and will start making it as soon as they see me enter.
My local Vietnamese place it's always the same rice paper rolls. Nice living in a little village like that.
My child always buys the same sushi and she always takes out the amount they always get again without a word.

I had the kind of reverse?

I order the same thing in the coffee shop by my office 3 times a week. After about 6 months of this, I opened my mouth to give my order and the lady was like 'I got this baby girl.'

So she usualled me!

I used to go to a pub with a big gang of locals and it was excellent.

On a heaving Friday over the top of the crowd I could catch a bar persons eye, mouth “one for me, one for Tom, Robin and Andy” and get called over to the bar 5 mins later to collect our drinks!

I've had the opposite - recogonised for my unusual order (mint lemonade with no mint), but id never have assumed they would recognise me.

Depending on who answers the phone at our local takeaway, DH might switch languages to order, but again would never assume.

Lots of places know my usual order but I'd never dare ask for "the usual"! What if they didn't recognise you or remember? That would be so embarrassing. The places that know me will often say my order before I can or if I forget something I usually get they'll remind me.