AIBU to expect classic dishes to be served in a classical style in a restaurant?

No you're not unreasonable. How to ruin scrambled eggs in one easy lesson.

Balsamic vinegar with Caesar Salad?

Really, Mitch? at 5 in the morning you are fretting about this?

Eat up, it's all good for you.

I love balsamic vinegar.

Maybe when you order you should ask whether or not there will be balsamic added, if so please leave it out. I am always asking if there is raw onion in salads etc as I don’t like it, not an issue. A decent restaurant should be able to comply with such a request.

What is a side of bacon? Sounds like half a pig.

Especially nice with balsamic vinegar!!

I think that, these days you have to ask before you order if you have a pet hate. Chefs often add a flourish of something unusual to a dish, quite often we love it!
Although I think that they might have added it to the description of the dish on the menu, especially as so many people have food intolerances/allergies these days.

I dislike dressings of all kinds and have to keep saying no dressing on everything. On Sunday we went to a very nice gastro pub where we have enjoyed a number of meals and I had their famous roast beef (makes DH heave as its served very red) BUT the gravy was so salty. It may be me as I do not cook with salt at all so now I have to say gravy in a jug on the side please.

Think Jmitch meant a side order of bacon grumppa not half a pig.

I dislike sauces etc being added to my food. Put them in a small dish on the side. BV is the go to flourish for chefs now but maybe not with scrambled eggs. A lot of these things are down to personal taste, I am not good at trying new things and drive my chef husband to distraction at times by sticking to the tried and true.

I ordered a Ceasar salad in an Australian restaurant and it arrived with prawns on top! Nothing on the menu to indicate it was served this way. I quietly explained to the waiter I have an allergy to fish so could he take it away and bring a salad without the prawns. When he returned it was obvious the "chef" had simply removed the prawns and sent the same salad back!

They should write on the menu ' drowned in balsamic ' if that is how they serve the dish.
I once got told off by a waiter, in an Italian restaurant, because I left a lot of olives on my plate. I should not order dishes if I am going to waste the ingredients
Needless to say I have not revisited the restaurant.

Thank you fellow Gransnetters, it’s wonderful to know I am not alone in this quest for classic perfection. Let’s keep up the pressure to have extraneous and unnecessary ingredients removed immediately so that we can enjoy dishes as they should be served.

Harri I think I would have been sorely tempted to find a place about his person to shove his olives if he had said that to me! When we went out on Sunday I ordered a flatbread with various toppings listed on the menu. I noted that among them was black pudding and made a mental note to ask for it not to be included as I hate it. I completely forgot and spent most of the meal extracting small pieces of same. There was a small pile by the time the plates were cleared, and the waitress said “I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy the black pudding. We would have been happy to leave it off for you.”

I ordered Fis in a quite posh restaurant here last summer, and it came with a "garnish" of Mussels, not mentioned on the menu. I am very very allergic to shellfish and pointed the problem out to the waiter.
Before he removed the plate, to scrape of the Mussels !! I cut the fish into 4 pieces.
He was horrified, I then explained slowly that the cross-contamination can have just as bad a reaction.
I hate it when Chefs muck about with the classics, although it does not happen much here. They are classic for a reason.

I think there are meals where one might expect to find balsamic vinegar and meals where one wouldn't. I would not expect it on scrambled eggs. I like it but would send such a meal back because imo it simply doesn't go with scrambled eggs.

I ordered a piece of cake in a cafe, it looked like a piece of cake just as it was on the counter and in the menu it didn't say anything about any addition. The waiter looked quite put out when I sent it back because it was heavily drizzled with honey. I don't like honey, nor do I like people making assumptions about what I like. My friend was embarrased, I doubt she would ever send anything back.

Old woman 70, a proper Caesar salad dressing is made with anchovies, so what's with a few prawns?

I don't think you are being unreasonable. The food should be presented as per the menu, with dressings, sides etc offered as an optional extra.

Has anyone seen the advert for soy sauce (below) that has been on TV recently?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9Y9LocIc94

I understood it at first - using soy sauce in bbqs, sauces even soup - but then they put soy sauce on a strawberry and cream dessert - why??

I did wonder if it meant a bit of bacon on the side, but that sounded rather like a bit on the side: not very Gransnet!

oldgaijin I found this out the hard way when I ordered Caesar salad at a local gasto-pub. I've eaten this dish many times with great enjoyment - but this time I took a bite and found that I had a mouthful of anchovy, which was both unexpected - and disgusting...
I sent it back - being assured that 'There are always anchovies in a PROPER Caesar salad madam..!' so I can only conclude that I've been eating improper ones all these years..!

If you or a family member have severe allergies to anything you would understand that these things are not just a matter of taste. My five year old grandson has an extremely severe allergy to sesame and has twice had to be blue lighted to hospital; he always has two Epipens with him. You would be shocked at the number of times that his mother's vigilance has exposed the laxity of certain cafés and restaurants. There are an estimated ten deaths a year in the UK from allergic reaction (anaphylaxis), mostly caused by peanut allergies.

Cold
I love a drop of soy sauce on ice cream!
and.....
Strawberries are improved dramatically by drizzling them with Balsamic!

Much depends upon the restaurant and the chef. Then the menu. If a first time visit I always check with the waiter about the details; thereafter I am prepared and can specifically exclude item(s) I do not want. This comes after a lifetime experience!

The chef seems to change frequently in many good restaurants. When that happens it is back to treating the visit as a first.

There is a seemingly desperate attempt by so many where food is concerned to make it different. This happens in all types of food outlets. And magazines are showing new ways of doing favourite dishes but most of us want the old way.

So it is really up to us to make sure we get what we want.