How Dry Will It Get? : The Water’s on the House, but Now Only If You Ask for It at Many Restaurants

Guests at the Hotel Laguna look out over the Pacific Ocean. But if they want a cold glass of water with a meal, they had better put in a special request.

From Denny’s to Antonello Ristorante, many Orange County restaurants have adopted on-request policies in response to a worsening water shortage.

And this week, the California Restaurant Assn. is distributing 50,000 table-top display cards to Orange County restaurant owners to help them explain the policy to their customers.

“What, No Water?” ask the cards, which feature illustrations of a nearly empty glass and a city skyline. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which is also urging consumers to take shorter showers and refrain from hosing down sidewalks, printed 200,000 of the cards for distribution throughout Southern California.

The table-top cards note that for each glass of water served, it takes four times that quantity of water just to wash the glass. The cards also discuss the effects of the region’s prolonged dry spell, which already has prompted the city of Los Angeles to pass an ordinance prohibiting restaurants from serving water unless requested by the customer.

A similar ordinance is not expected in Orange County this year, water officials said. The county has several sources of water, and the problems in Los Angeles have been compounded by an overworked sewage system.

“Next year might be different if it’s a third dry year,” said Fred Adjarian, water awareness programs administrator for the Municipal Water District of Orange County. Adjarian said the district has created a drought steering committee that is developing a drought response plan if 1989 turns out to be another duster.

Many restaurant operators are eager to oblige the request by the water district and the restaurant association by adopting on-request policies.

“One, we have to do our civic part, and two, this is going to save restaurants a lot of water and electricity,” said Ron Salisbury, owner of South of Santa Fe restaurant in Santa Ana. Salisbury is putting the cards on tables at the Santa Ana restaurant and three others he owns in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

The water district first printed and distributed table-top signs in October, 1987, for a Water Awareness Week promotion. Ten years earlier, the restaurant association printed and distributed similar cards after back-to-back dry seasons.

The Orange-based Spire’s Restaurants chain, which participated in last fall’s campaign, plans to adopt the on-request policy and will put nearly 2,000 cards on tables in its 21 restaurants.

“Last fall, it was obvious we saved a lot of water just during that week,” said Paul Strathman, Spire’s controller.

Denny’s, which operates more than 250 restaurants in Southern California, printed its own signs and began an on-request water policy several weeks ago. Larry Jones, coordinator of guest relations for the La Mirada-based chain, said he hasn’t received any customer comments so far.

There are no plans to put display cards on the tables at Antonello Ristorante in Santa Ana, but the upscale restaurant has been serving water on request only since early this spring, according to Anne Pattis, an assistant manager.

“Many of our guests are regulars, and they know they can get water if they ask,” Pattis said. “And we have lots of busboys who are ready with water if asked.”

At Marie Callender’s 135 restaurants, most customers still get water without asking. But that is expected to change, said Gaylen Earle, a spokesman for the Santa Ana-based restaurant chain.

“We saw the signs in Denny’s and thought it would be a great idea. We’re making signs now. Until we get them, we’ll continue serving water because our customers still expect it,” Earle said.

Callender’s hasn’t set a date for the new policy to take effect, but the company already has stopped serving water except on request at its single restaurant in the city of Los Angeles.

The posh Ritz-Carlton resort in Laguna Niguel is still serving water--albeit bottled water imported from France.

“We serve our water in a reflective cobalt blue glass. The shine of light hits the water and reflects. It’s part of the distinctive look of the Ritz-Carlton,” said Christiane Wenckheim, an assistant manager in the hotel’s cafe.

She said that in the cafe, water is served with every meal except breakfast. “At breakfast we push our orange juice because it is a breakfast drink, and it is very wonderful.”