The shift has happened so slowly that I only noticed it a few months back, and it took a few more weeks to confirm: No one comes around with water pitchers any more.
With the exception of places in the Quince-Jardinière stratum, at the beginning of the meal, pretty much every bistro waiter in the city now sets down a condensation-misted bottle of cold water ― some repurposed wine bottles, some designed by water-filtration systems. Bussers no longer circle the room, the rattle of ice in their pitchers preceding their arrival at the table. You pour your own water, and the waiter replaces the bottle when it's empty.
I suppose that I should be decrying the shift as yet another sign of the decline and fall of service standards. Truth is, the water bottle makes me a happier diner.
Not only does it keep my glass from filling up with ice slopped over the lip of the refill pitcher, the water bottle reduces the amount of incidental trips to the table that waiters and bussers have to make. Less need for them to hover, fewer interruptions to the conversation my friends and I are having, fewer instances where I discover my glass is empty and then begin to count the seconds until the waiter notices, too. I think the bottle improves the rhythm of the meal, and I suspect that it lets front-of-house managers staff the room more lightly or give waiters more tables, ergo more tips.
Is that true?
