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MileyCyrus comments on What truths are actually taboo? - Less Wrong Discussion
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When the server asks if the meal was good, it usually wasn't good. Most meals are satisfactory or poor.
"Good" is calibrated to the implicit mapping between "actual merit" and "what the patron would say now" in that context.
It's just like when you ask someone how they're doing. It's not a lie (I claim) to say, "I'm doing fine", even if lots of things in your life suck and are stressing you out, because such a response is interpreted differently than a serious "life analysis" inquiry, and the person asking the question knows this and therefore is not deceived.
I wouldn't say it's "taboo", but rather, a case of using slightly different language in some situations that (knowingly, knowably) conceals a lot of information.
Then why don't you change restaurant?
It's not hard to criticize a meal at a restaurant. Now, it is hard to criticize a meal when you're a guest in somebody's home. I'll file this under "context specific."
Really? I've never had the guts to tell the server that my meal was "satisfactory".
That's not taboo. If you go ahead and do it, you won't face ostracism. Your feeling awkward about it doesn't count. Otherwise, asking someone out on a date would be taboo.
I'd recommend trying it, especially if you usually get suboptimal meals. Make recommendations. Frequent a restaurant enough to know the staff and for the the staff to know you and your preferences.
Restaurants are generally an avoidable enough expense that I don't think I'd be likely to visit a restaurant repeatedly if I was unimpressed the first time.
Here I have no idea whether or not my experience should generalize, but I have good luck finding a nice regular place simply by being a regular there. This holds for coffee shops, bars, and just about any other sort of establishment. It's worth risking a second bad meal to guarantee a practically unlimited number of good ones.