'The Restaurant of Order Mistakes' Employs Waiters With Dementia (2017)

Url changed from https://mymodernmet.com/waiters-dementia-restaurant-tokyo/, which points to this.

Essentially the same idea was covered in a recent UK tv show: https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-restaurant-that-make...

Somewhat related though very different, there are restaurants called Dans Le Noir ("in the dark") - founded in Paris but now in several countries, though so far I've only been to the one in London.

You choose one of a few set menus without knowing what's in it (IIRC, roughly "meat eater", "fish eater", "vegetarian") and give any specific allergies or really hated food types. You are then led into a pitch black room with absolutely no light leakage (no phones/etc. allowed) where you'll be served and eat your food without being able to see a single thing.

I believe the kitchen staff are hired purely on their cooking, but the waiters are visually impaired people who can lead you to your table and serve your food flawlessly without sight.

Their sales pitch is more about the uniqueness of the experience than about supporting blind people, but the fact that it does create this unique job that they're better qualified to do than people with normal vision is nice.

And it's a really great experience, although not particularly cheap.

https://london.danslenoir.com/en/home/

It seems like a well-meant idea but how do you prevent it becoming exploitative? Exposing dementia patients to random members of the public in a service role with no understanding of the state of their condition seems like a pretty good way of frequently upsetting them. And how does employment by consent work when you can't actually quite remember why you're in a situation and how you got there?

It sounds like - probably to address these concerns - this is a short-lived 'activity' rather than a going concern, potentially with hand-selected and well-briefed guests rather than arbitrary customers off the street.

The article focuses on the mistake of not getting the dish you ordered. Which can indeed be fun if you are open when it comes to food.

But other kinds of mistakes can be a lot less fun. For example not getting any service at all, or having to pay more than expected.

I wonder how that restaurant deals with that.