I’d rather the chef use the least amount required for proper cooking and leave it to me if I want more (some things absolutely need salt to cook properly, and in general it’s better to have some). It’s easier to add more than remove any excess.
> I prefer to add salt myself
Exactly. On the other hand I might not be enough of an arsehole because I would never complain about something I could fix so trivially myself.
the two strategies to adjust this i've seen, are either
* a sauce boat for sauced dishes, since the sauce is the thing that contains more or less sodium and is controllable
* more so in Asian restaurants, but you can order sides of unseasoned carbs (e.g. rice) to balance it out
Some things just need salt otherwise the result is very different from what is expected (things like pasta and bread, for example, similarly salt is important for some vegetables). Same thing for brined food, it is unreasonable to expect that to be unsalted. We just don’t have to be dogmatic about it.
> the two strategies to adjust this i've seen, are either
For European food, the easiest is just to put a salt pot on the table (and pepper, while we’re at it). It’s important to be able to adjust sauce and salt independently.
My co-workers are from the whole spectrum. We can sit at a dinner with identical dishes. Me and one more has troubles eating because it's so insanely salty. A couple think it's a bit over salted but very good. One is adding more salt. How are you to please everyone?
I prefer to add salt myself.