First off, let me say that I am by no means a snob... I almost never get to frequent those fancy/expensive (TV reviewed) places... I often find myself a patron of local deli's and restaurants, and of course throw into the mix some of the "Franchise" restaurants.
The fact is that regardless of the "class" of restaurant, there are tell-tale signs in every restaurant that will either leave you with a good feeling about your upcoming dining experience, or make you decide that a stiff drink at the bar and the trip home would be better served.
I live in a community in the East Bay Area, California and in my town we have quite a large variety of restaurants. (We are even getting a Trader Vic's in a couple months). Of all of these restaurants, some of the things I ALWAYS look for when walking in are the following: (please feel free to add to this list!)
1) The Hostess - The first representative of the restaurant you see. The body language, attitude, and demeanor of this person leaves you with an immediate impression of what the mood of every other employee is. Even though your encounter with the Hostess is brief, the impact is lasting.
I can't tell you how many times I walk into a restaurant and see a teenaged girl or boy who is more interested in chatting with fellow employees over making me feel welcome to the establishment. Often times they will wrap up their conversation, grab a couple of menus, and start walking (assuming you will follow)... Occasionally they will mumble the required "Welcome to <restaurant>"... In many cases (without even looking you in the eye), they will take you to a table, put the menus down, and utter the "Your server will be right with you" line. (Which really means I am leaving you here so I can go back to the front and continue my conversation.)
While nothing here is overly "offensive"... Without even looking at the menu, I immediatly feel like I am second class.
2) The Waiter/Waitress - Your tour guide and interface to everything about the restaurant. There are so many places to go here, I have trouble finding where to start. Here is a list of things that in my opinion detract from a good experience:
- Not appearing within 2 minutes of being seated is often annoying... As soon as I sit down and get comfortable, one of the first things I like to do is get something refreshing to drink... (Water, beer, wine...) Having to wait more than two minutes gets my foot tapping...
- Inconsistent service... There are many times while in a restaurant (usually in the Franchise restaurants), that I will notice a Waiter/Waitress visit another table 2-3 times before revisiting mine. When I notice this happening, it is usually because I would like their attention (perhaps for a refill of my beverage)... Waiters/Waitresses who are experienced know how to develope a routine for table management, and they shine like a star when they do it.
- Getting the check in the middle of your meal. This doesn't happen often, but in my opinion this is somewhat of a rude gesture. It implies to me that they would like me to hurry up and leave, and secondly that they aren't interested as to whether I wanted something else with my meal. Some servers view this as a way of "saving some time" but in most cases this is viewed as "being pushy".
There are MANY more items I could come up with, but let's move on.
3) The Floor/Shift Manager - The one who is supposed to make or break your experience. The shift manager could be considered the "Sous Chef" of the dining area... He/She ensures that food is being served, tables are being waited and cleaned, and also ensures that the customers experience is a pleasant one. This being the case, one should be able to breath a sigh of relief when they see the Floor Manager approach their table. Here are some pet peeves of mine about Floor Managers:
- Checking in with guests with Waiter/Waitress along side. I would guess that most people (not all) don't enjoy confrontation in a restaurant, and in many cases get too embarrest to raise an issue if bad service is in play. The Floor Manager is supposed to make the guest feel comfortable enough to share that and it is then the manager's job to make sure that it gets set right. When the Waiter/Waitress accompanies the manager to the table, it is often intimidating and ultimatly unproductive because the guests will not give the true feedback to the manager if it has to do with the service.
- Invisible Floor Manager. I know they are out there... but seem to either be unavailable the entire time, or are avoiding a large portion of their duty.
I suppose I could go on about things to look for... (maybe I could even write a book on this), but the point is watch out! It is easy to spot a "soon to be" bad dining experience, and you can avoid this simply by observing the hostess.
Why did I write this? Because I saw a few other opinions regarding Franchise restaurants, and those discussions reminded me of a very bad experience I had at a "Johnny Carino's"...
Hostess did all the bad stuff mentioned above, I saw the waitress a total of five times, one to take my order and drink order, the second to deliver those items (at the same time), third to complain about the hair I had found in my seafood pasta, and fourth was in the company of the Floor Manager who apologized and brought me a new one, and then I never saw him again. The fifth and last time I saw the waitress was to give me the bill. (which wasn't adjusted at ALL for the dish with a hair in it.) --- Think I will ever go there again?
-Jason
The fact is that regardless of the "class" of restaurant, there are tell-tale signs in every restaurant that will either leave you with a good feeling about your upcoming dining experience, or make you decide that a stiff drink at the bar and the trip home would be better served.
I live in a community in the East Bay Area, California and in my town we have quite a large variety of restaurants. (We are even getting a Trader Vic's in a couple months). Of all of these restaurants, some of the things I ALWAYS look for when walking in are the following: (please feel free to add to this list!)
1) The Hostess - The first representative of the restaurant you see. The body language, attitude, and demeanor of this person leaves you with an immediate impression of what the mood of every other employee is. Even though your encounter with the Hostess is brief, the impact is lasting.
I can't tell you how many times I walk into a restaurant and see a teenaged girl or boy who is more interested in chatting with fellow employees over making me feel welcome to the establishment. Often times they will wrap up their conversation, grab a couple of menus, and start walking (assuming you will follow)... Occasionally they will mumble the required "Welcome to <restaurant>"... In many cases (without even looking you in the eye), they will take you to a table, put the menus down, and utter the "Your server will be right with you" line. (Which really means I am leaving you here so I can go back to the front and continue my conversation.)
While nothing here is overly "offensive"... Without even looking at the menu, I immediatly feel like I am second class.
2) The Waiter/Waitress - Your tour guide and interface to everything about the restaurant. There are so many places to go here, I have trouble finding where to start. Here is a list of things that in my opinion detract from a good experience:
- Not appearing within 2 minutes of being seated is often annoying... As soon as I sit down and get comfortable, one of the first things I like to do is get something refreshing to drink... (Water, beer, wine...) Having to wait more than two minutes gets my foot tapping...
- Inconsistent service... There are many times while in a restaurant (usually in the Franchise restaurants), that I will notice a Waiter/Waitress visit another table 2-3 times before revisiting mine. When I notice this happening, it is usually because I would like their attention (perhaps for a refill of my beverage)... Waiters/Waitresses who are experienced know how to develope a routine for table management, and they shine like a star when they do it.
- Getting the check in the middle of your meal. This doesn't happen often, but in my opinion this is somewhat of a rude gesture. It implies to me that they would like me to hurry up and leave, and secondly that they aren't interested as to whether I wanted something else with my meal. Some servers view this as a way of "saving some time" but in most cases this is viewed as "being pushy".
There are MANY more items I could come up with, but let's move on.
3) The Floor/Shift Manager - The one who is supposed to make or break your experience. The shift manager could be considered the "Sous Chef" of the dining area... He/She ensures that food is being served, tables are being waited and cleaned, and also ensures that the customers experience is a pleasant one. This being the case, one should be able to breath a sigh of relief when they see the Floor Manager approach their table. Here are some pet peeves of mine about Floor Managers:
- Checking in with guests with Waiter/Waitress along side. I would guess that most people (not all) don't enjoy confrontation in a restaurant, and in many cases get too embarrest to raise an issue if bad service is in play. The Floor Manager is supposed to make the guest feel comfortable enough to share that and it is then the manager's job to make sure that it gets set right. When the Waiter/Waitress accompanies the manager to the table, it is often intimidating and ultimatly unproductive because the guests will not give the true feedback to the manager if it has to do with the service.
- Invisible Floor Manager. I know they are out there... but seem to either be unavailable the entire time, or are avoiding a large portion of their duty.
I suppose I could go on about things to look for... (maybe I could even write a book on this), but the point is watch out! It is easy to spot a "soon to be" bad dining experience, and you can avoid this simply by observing the hostess.
Why did I write this? Because I saw a few other opinions regarding Franchise restaurants, and those discussions reminded me of a very bad experience I had at a "Johnny Carino's"...
Hostess did all the bad stuff mentioned above, I saw the waitress a total of five times, one to take my order and drink order, the second to deliver those items (at the same time), third to complain about the hair I had found in my seafood pasta, and fourth was in the company of the Floor Manager who apologized and brought me a new one, and then I never saw him again. The fifth and last time I saw the waitress was to give me the bill. (which wasn't adjusted at ALL for the dish with a hair in it.) --- Think I will ever go there again?
-Jason
