Updated: Las Vegas Chefs Air Their Grievances

Eater Vegas asked some of the city's best chefs to anonymously share their gripes and frustrations about the restaurant scene these days. What follows is a list of complaints, with no names or affiliations attached. Want to join in the fun? Drop an email to the Eater tipline and we'll add it at the bottom, anonymously, of course.

1. I get things like "I would like a medium rare steak... no pink please," or "Can I have the onion soup... but strain out the onions because I am allergic..."

2. When a guest compares a sit down restaurant to a buffet in town like "so I can go to the buffet across the street and eat as much prime rib as I want for $24 but you are trying to sell me a ribeye for $60?!?! Forget that it is prime, dry-aged or anything pointless like that, right?

3. Although we all know that there are more allergens in our environment than ever, people now are using this as an excuse to "customize" their order. People are asking to omit certain ingredients in menu offerings, claiming that they are allergic, and are very put out if this is not possible.

4. When did "plus" become a temperature? It has been an increasingly consistent request that is annoying as hell. Make up your mind and pick a temperature. Plus does not exist.

5. Screw you, Yelp! My business traffic and livelihood have been tied to this unregulated and out of date rating system. My ranking goes down because of a 1 star review from a user that has 0 friends and 1 or two reviews. Sounds silly, but tell that to corporate.

6. Customers thinking our prices are too high and should be EVEN lower. They don't see all the hours that my staff and I put in. We are a made from scratch restaurant, using very good quality ingredients. They don't consider what my food cost, payroll and utilities are. Our margins are tighter than any other industry out there.

7. Yelpers. They come in, eat and then complain on the internet about how it didn't blow them away. Our food is really good food. People should come in expecting that. But it's like they want our food to make them fly or something.

8. Crap restaurants with no soul that are packed every single night...with a line out the door. Las Vegas has plenty of these. It makes me wonder why I work so hard to put out something great for my customers. Sometimes I wish I could just be on their level — buy a bunch of premade frozen foods and dump it in the fryer and collect their money.

UPDATED: 9/7/13 at 10:26 a.m.
9. Asking, "Do you have any turkey sausages?" as they have a plate full of bacon.

10. Guests claiming to be gluten free when they are just overweight and on a diet. People have serious allergies. Don't pretend to be allergic when your really allergic to treadmills.

11. The overuse of being No 1. How can six restaurants of the same style all be No. 1?  Readers poll or staff or newspapers, one No. 1, that's it! Either you're the best or you're not.

Updated 9/7/13 at 4:19 p.m.
12. Asking which is better, filet mignon or chicken.

Updated 9/8/13 at 10:22 p.m.
13. Complaining and give a poor rating on Yelp about the meal and then name the dishes that were (supposedly) eaten? that have NEVER been served at the restaurant!

Updated: 9/9/13 at 8:30 a.m.
14. When someone tells you "I'm allergic to spicy." I got this twice this month do people think I'm stupid? That's not possible.

15. Trying to do good food but being restricted by lazy union, no passion, only there for a paycheck employees. We have to dumb down our menu and specials because cooks who have been in the restaurant since it opened 13 years ago can't properly execute simple dishes. Not being able to fire them because of all the union hoops you have to jump through. These hacks make $20 an hour and cooks at places like Bouchon are lucky to make $12 and work off the clock for hours a day.

16. When an employee tells you, "That's not my job." This is one of the most annoying phrases a chef can hear.

Updated 9/10/13 at 8:12 a.m.
17. Walking in to our Italian restaurant and saying, "I'm allergic to garlic." We have strings of garlic bulbs hanging from the ceiling. If you don't want your breath to smell bad, order a steak or broiled chicken.

18. When cooks and/or chefs are hired and they boast about their previous jobs or training under chef so and so, but have nothing to show for it on a busy Friday or Saturday night when the whole kitchen continues to fall in the $#!+*.
· Food Critic Airs Grievances [~ELV~]