My father would only eat rare beef. And, from him, I learned a great ordering technique.
When the waiter/waitress asked him how he would like his steak cooked, he would say, "I would like my steak cooked...", and then pause. He wouldn't say anything until the server stopped writing, and looked at him. Once dad had, and held, eye contact, he would grin, and say, with the slightest of a nod from his head, "rare", while looking the server straight in the eyes.
And, after the meal, he would make the effort to thank the waiter/waitress for insuring that his meal was prepared to his liking, (often, personally giving a few extra bucks to the person, as tip addendum). And, he would ask our server to pass along his thanks to the entire kitchen staff.
With this method, it was very seldom that he was ever put in the position of sending his order back.
Even when, rarely, his order was overcooked, our server seemed to always be at our table, asking if his steak was cooked to his liking. Again, if he paused, looked at his steak, and cocked his head just a bit to the side, the server was always more than happy to bring him another steak, properly cooked.
I saw this method work in restaurants that we frequented, and restaurants in which we were first timers. And, I've adopted this method. For some reason, it works.
Yoroshiku,
Andy
