[ARCHIVED] [DO] Restaurant Problems

Dine Out has a few problems that are hard to separate, so I've decided to merge. Also some might just be design choices

Below you'll find a list of known issues and a few things to consider when building a restaurant. They are taken from my blog article here: [Dine Out] Issues and Workarounds

I'll be merging all of these issues in here.

1. The Chefs never cook anything: The chef will act as if he cooks but no dish ever occurs on the tray/window of the cooking station.
2. Food is not being served: The waiters don't actually serve the food. They either never get it from the tray/window or they get it and drop it on the floor.
3. Sims never get seated: Sims just stand around the podium and are never seated. They just talk and talk. If there's a bar, they stand next to the bar and talk.
4. Sims don't eat their food: Sims sit in front of a full plate but never eat it. They do consume their drinks.
5. Sims get up to drink: Once served Sims get up to drink their drink and then either never sit back down or sit down but never touch their food. --> FIxed in Patch 1.24.102
6. Sims get up to mingle with other guests: Sims get up a lot and just go over to other tables to chat. Sometimes they take their food with, sometimes they just leave their food. I also see them eating on benches or on the dance floor
7. Single Sims join already seated groups/groups join other single Sims: Sometimes a Sim or a group of Sims will join an already seated group that has possibly already ordered. This leads to food not being eaten or Sims never leaving. They look like late-comers but it's hard to tell.
8. Sims never leave: Sims have eaten but then never leave and hence never pay.
9. Employees don't show up: My employees are still employed yet they don't show up for work or just stand outside without coming in.
10. Sims are not seated in a logical matter: Some of the tables are always empty and sometimes smaller groups are seated at big tables although there's smaller ones available. This leads to larger groups being split up. Sometimes farther away tables are preferred towards closer ones.
11. Restaurant is only loosing money when opened while not on the lot: Soon after opening the restaurant while not on the lot, I get a message that my restaurant is loosing money.
12. Booth don't snap into place or disappear: When I try to place a booth, it just disappears or doesn't snap to the table.
13. Eating at the restaurant takes forever: When I go to a restaurant with my active Sim, it takes hours until they finish their meal.
14. Only one course gets served: I've ordered a few courses but only one gets served.
15. Routing Issues with praising/criticizing: When trying to interact with the staff, they often stand at a completely different space to react
16. Resetting on cleaning dishes: Waiters reset when trying to clean up the same plate
17. Employees are very hard to please: My employees are constantly unsatisfied
18. Meals take a long time to finish: Going to dinner takes a long time.
19. Employees don't wear assigned outfit
20. Guests go jogging/dance or do other stuff instead of staying and waiting for their order

The following tips should help with a few of the above issues although it's all still a bit inconclusive.

• Make sure that the chief station windows and trays are free. This means, don't place any tables/plants near the window/tray and do not use moveObjects or the ALT key to place decoration around it. Please see Food not being server/cooked for details.
• Make sure your employees are happy. Praise them and give them raises on a regular basis. Also pay for training. It might be costly at the beginning but it will pay off.
• Don't let your employees work to long. If you're getting a message that they are getting tired, disallow new guest and then close your restaurant.
• Move around your tables and kitchen if you have lots of Sims gathering in weird places. The bar and aquarium are a place for them to mingle so if it gets annoying, remove those
• Don't place a bar close to the podium. Find another space for it.
• Make sure you have room for the employees to roam about. Don't make the seating too tight.
• If you use the restaurant mostly to own and not go out with large groups yourself, build more smaller tables instead. I've never seen a group larger then 4 Sims visiting my restaurant.
• Make sure you use the right boot for the right table. The long booth fits any 2x1 table (except the bar height table) and the corner booth fits any 1x1 table. It's also not possible to place two booth opposite of each other with one table.
• To avoid the initial seating madness in your own restaurant, open the restaurant from home and then travel there. Once you arrive the guests will be already seated.
• You get a message you're restaurant is loosing money right away as the costs are higher than what you earn before they actually pay for their food. Wait a bit and check the financial report if the Sims are actually paying and if it gets better after a while before traveling there. Also make sure your employees are not angry at you.
• I think the length of the meal has to do with general clock issues. As long as you don't have to wait for hours (in which case food will never come anyways), I would say, that is normal.
• You can only order one course at the time. Once that is being served, you can order the next one. Ordering them at the same time, overwrites the first order.
• If you see food being dropped to the ground as well as glasses being dropped and you're using MC Command Center, try if it gets better if you turn of the Put away books fix.
• If your guests are not being served, check if you can offer them free food/drinks or prioritize their meals.
• Wait with welcoming the guests until they are seated. In my experience, it distracts them from being seated properly
• Be patient. Sometimes they like to talk first before going up to the host.Most jams at the host station will clear up eventually.
• Lock doors to your kitchen. Build a fence and a gate if you don't want to have it closed. If you have microwave and coffee machine, the Sims will just waltz into your kitchen and stay there forever.
• Make sure to put your trash can into a closed room/fenced off area as well. Angry Sims will otherwise kick them all the time or foodies go rummage in them.
• Only put one piece of decoration on your tables. Even the big ones.