Start bland description of restaurant experience (8)
I believe the answer is:
initiate
'start' is the definition.
(initiating is a kind of starting)
I don't understand the remainder of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for initiate that I've seen before include "Kick start" , "Cause (action) to begin" , "starter" , "Start - trigger" , "having special knowledge" .)