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Being a Chef in this business makes us very astute to proper restaurant procedures. Dining out can be frustrating.
Being in a group dining out and watching the rest of your pals accept the mediocrity and mistakes by the service personnel, can be a test of ones patience.
The other evening we had a blizzard going on, so it turned out that the streets were pretty much empty and so too the stores.
It was dinner time and we were hungry. I used Yelp to help me find an eclectic restaurant that could pretty much take care of whatever foods we were looking for to eat.
Found one. Yelp gave it 4 out of 5 stars.
Our server was a 19 year old college student. Because of the weather the place was pretty much empty.
We ordered drinks and appetizers.
Not 7 minutes later, our server came back to take our dinner orders.
A few minutes later our drinks came.
Moments after that, our appetizers came out.
We barely had time to get into those, when the salads and soups came.
My soup was a beer cheese soup, I noticed a thick skin on the surface of my soup. This told me that it had sit for a while under a heating lamp. I wanted to eat it hot, so I enjoyed appetizers and soup.
It wasn't but just a few mouthfuls of soup and the entrees came out.
I couldn't take it anymore and spoke up:
Me: "We are not ready yet"
Server: "But your food came up and is ready now."
Me: Yes but we are not...please take the food back.
Server: "What am I supposed to do with your food?"
Me: (Dying to say something rude but) "That's not my problem, but you'd better not be holding the food under the lamps to re-serve later."
This was a clear message to me that the kitchen was in a hurry. The place is usually busy and most people do not pay any attention to how their food comes out to them, so this is their standard operating procedure.
While the kitchen wants to get the food out to the guest as quickly as possible, it is necessary for the server to call the timing and not the line.
I felt like we were cattle at the trough.
Curious how people accept this type of service. And, for me, what takes the cake, is when the server removes dinner plates while others are still eating. Simply put, these etiquettes are not being reinforced in training, if they were ever mentioned at all.
It amazes me how this type of service is allowed and how many places do not even think about timing, and if they do, it is on their schedule, not the guests.
Being in a group dining out and watching the rest of your pals accept the mediocrity and mistakes by the service personnel, can be a test of ones patience.
The other evening we had a blizzard going on, so it turned out that the streets were pretty much empty and so too the stores.
It was dinner time and we were hungry. I used Yelp to help me find an eclectic restaurant that could pretty much take care of whatever foods we were looking for to eat.
Found one. Yelp gave it 4 out of 5 stars.
Our server was a 19 year old college student. Because of the weather the place was pretty much empty.
We ordered drinks and appetizers.
Not 7 minutes later, our server came back to take our dinner orders.
A few minutes later our drinks came.
Moments after that, our appetizers came out.
We barely had time to get into those, when the salads and soups came.
My soup was a beer cheese soup, I noticed a thick skin on the surface of my soup. This told me that it had sit for a while under a heating lamp. I wanted to eat it hot, so I enjoyed appetizers and soup.
It wasn't but just a few mouthfuls of soup and the entrees came out.
I couldn't take it anymore and spoke up:
Me: "We are not ready yet"
Server: "But your food came up and is ready now."
Me: Yes but we are not...please take the food back.
Server: "What am I supposed to do with your food?"
Me: (Dying to say something rude but) "That's not my problem, but you'd better not be holding the food under the lamps to re-serve later."
This was a clear message to me that the kitchen was in a hurry. The place is usually busy and most people do not pay any attention to how their food comes out to them, so this is their standard operating procedure.
While the kitchen wants to get the food out to the guest as quickly as possible, it is necessary for the server to call the timing and not the line.
I felt like we were cattle at the trough.
Curious how people accept this type of service. And, for me, what takes the cake, is when the server removes dinner plates while others are still eating. Simply put, these etiquettes are not being reinforced in training, if they were ever mentioned at all.
It amazes me how this type of service is allowed and how many places do not even think about timing, and if they do, it is on their schedule, not the guests.
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