Interesting...

This should be an interesting read for anybody on my flist with any special dietary "concerns" (vegetarian, allergies, religious reasons, etc.) who eat out. It's also a large reason I'm not a strict vegetarian--I eat out too damn much and am too involved in my industry to be. I'll fall in line with those who are saying "If they don't inform the waiter, it's their own problem." I do appreciate a server who will tell me things like "The broccoli cheese soup (at Panera Bread) is made with chicken stock" and "The Cyclone Pasta (at Outback) has the meat pre-mixed in, and they just pick it out" or "The Island Rice (at my restaurant) is made with chicken stock" on that off-chance I have a specific reason, but I don't believe it is the burden of the server to inform the customer with no particular reason to. If it is that much of a concern to the person ordering, then I feel that they should believe it important enough to inform their server of. The server will take care of you if they know, but they are not mind-readers.

Every person I've ever "informed" of something if it seemed they were vegetarian based on what they ordered were not actually vegetarian and didn't actually care. Every person who straight up told me they were vegetarian I go fairly carefully over the menu with and ask them how strict they are, and we go from there.

http://community.livejournal.com/waitingtables/724778.html