O/T Poor service in a resturaunt

[Flatie46]

Just got back from taking my daughter out to eat, a treat for an excelent report card. She picked her favorite place and we went in all cheerfull having our father/daughter time. We both left mad over the poor service and food quality. We waited forever for the food, I know mine had been siting back there under the lamp a while cause it was dried out. This was prime time on a sat night I know but really they wern't slammed. I left a tip[ I always do reguardless of service] but I did call the manager when I left which was the first time I'd ever done that. He offered me a free entree on my next visit. I told him I'd never be back. What do you do? As a rule I never send anything back that sucks cause I sure don't want any "suprises" added.

[Niel Hoback]

"Unhappy customers don't complain, they just don't come back." I read that somewhere. But you did the right thing, they need to know whats going on.

[JohnS48plm]

We went to a local resteraunt tonight. We hadn't been there for about a year. When our food didn't come to the table for 25 minutes I remembered why. It was the same slow service we had gotten before. We spent an hour and 45 minutes at the resteraunt and didn't even have dessert. The only good thing was the state of Michigan banned smoking saturday morning. JohnS

[randroid]

Flatie46,

I've spent about 35 years in the food service industry and you did all the right things except for one: when the waiter asks how you're enjoying your meal (as a waiter and manager that's how I phrased it; usually your standard garden-variety waiter will ask you if it's any good) tell them it sucks and you'd prefer to order something different, even the one for your daughter if her's sucked too. I educate my guests (not 'you folks' or 'you guys') at least two or three times per week about not being the least bashful about saying the food isn't up to snuff. I tell them that I'm going to charge them full price and I want them to be full happy, and I have never received anything other than smiles and looks of relief from them.

Food service is like every other factory I've ever worked in that you get some employees who are willing to do what they're asked to do for the wage they've been offered to do it, and you also have some (in many circumstances, lots) of employees who won't ever make enough money to match what they'd make if they had the job they really deserved. For example, I've needed to explain twice this year to one of the 'chefs' at the restaurant where I was employed the difference between American and Cheddar cheese, but he only earns 30-35K a year so you can't expect him to have much motivation to learn his job. If the waiter doesn't offer to do anything to make the situation right, that's when you ask to see the manager, and if the waiter refuses to get him then stand and ask the room in general for him. (If the waiter doesn't lose his job on the spot he's probably the owner's son.) If the manager doesn't do anything about it, that's when you never return. If it's a corporate house make sure you get everyone's name and every other detail then pass that info onto corporate and I flat guarantee you there will be heavy ramifications over it.

In no way would I suggest you return to that restaurant other than it was your favorite, and it is possible that the manager doesn't even know what's going on. Corporate will find out what's going on and rectify it.

As an afterthought, when you're given the bill be sure to pay for everything you did enjoy, such as beverages and soup\salad, but tell them nicely that you will not pay a nickle for inedible chow.

I bet things will be different there real soon.

-Randy

[Captain Neon]

Thank you, Randy. I usu. just refuse to leave a tip, and then never return. I have been known to write letters to store owners, and call corporate customer service as well, but it has been a while. I will keep your recommendations in mind.

[PatS....]

At the 45 minute mark if I don't have my food I leave $2 on the table and walk out.

We have a Health Dept website here that lists every restaurant and every violation they have had.

The ones with zero violations have also been, for me, very good in other areas as well.

I check if I'm goig to a place I've never been before. I think the cleanliness is a good indication the owner cares about his customers.

The Good

http://www.calgaryhealthregion.ca/health-inspections/SearchServlet?direct=showReport&ID=58000203

Spotless, great service and good food

The Bad

http://www.calgaryhealthregion.ca/health-inspections/SearchServlet?direct=showReport&ID=17000095

The ugly

http://www.calgaryhealthregion.ca/health-inspections/SearchServlet?direct=showReport&ID=1001579&requestedInspectionDate=2010/04/27&requestedInspectLocationName=REST

The last one was actually shut down by a judge for 3 weeks to be cleaned!

The index of all food establishments in the area

http://www.calgaryhealthregion.ca/health-inspections/index.jsp

Edited May 2, 2010 by PatS....

[greg g]

I have a policy that has worked pretty well for me. If the server has to apologize for some one other than him or herself more than twice, I ask for the manager. If there are problems in the kitchen (and these days if you can find a kitchen where the cook staff doesn't have problems, usually substance abuse induced your lucky) I don;t blame the server, and don't reflect it in his or her tip. If the server is inattentive, or makes errors delivering orders, refilling beverages, clearing soiled service ware, then I'll nick the tip. Usually I will tell them why. If the problems are back of the house and the manager doesn't resolve them. Then I will tell him or her that we will not be visiting or recommending the place again.

I do a 20/40 rule. If we don't get menus and water within 20 miuets of being seated we get up and talk to the manager and leave. If we don't have food 40 miutes after the order is take same deal.

Poor food and service alway get remembered longer than a good experience. When folks ask wher to go when they visit, we can always remember 5 or 6 not ot go to before makig reccomendations.

[Plymouthy Adams]

Voicing your displeasure is by far the best thing you could have done..speaking only to managment is by far the best approach..wait staff and such hae enough to do just trying to ferry about all thetables and get orders correct..they have no control on the quality. You should have taken the complimntary meal pass..and then you could have made that you last visit..I have only had one bitter experience in a long long time...I have not returned..nor do I ever havveany intentions of returning..plenty of ofther places more than happy to provide you a meal for money exchanged...

[Flatie46]

Randroid, the waitress kept applogizing for the food taking so long but the drinks and the bread were neglected too. I hate to place blame unless I'm sure where it goes.

Tim, I rarely pass up a freebie but I was really PO'ed. Alotta water will have to pass under that bridge before I go back.

PatS, We've got a highlight on the local news once a week called "Food for thought" reflecting restaurant scores. Some will suprize you some will shock you:eek:.

[randroid]

Folks,

Twenty minutes for water and menus? Forty minutes for food? What the hell sort of restaurants do you go to? Restaurants, from the sleaziest to the finest, are all 'turn-and-burn' in order to accommodate the greatest number of diners, and that's the way it is whether they want to admit it or not. Multitasking was invented in restaurants for solely that reason and if my guests are not almost ready for dessert forty minutes after they've been seated I want to know why not. Sure, if I'm creating table-side meals I expect to spend more time but while duckling a l'orange is simmering I can at least prepare the Caesar dressing or scoop ice cream for bananas Foster. You waiter is your link to the kitchen and should always be the first person to whom you complain. If that does no good then the manager is probably so inept as to not know what to do except fill out another gift certificate, a duty for which I'm sure he's highly practiced.

Anybody can open a restaurant. I don't know how many times I've seen a retired couple put their life savings into some joint ("Ma's been cookin' for forty years and I know how to mix a drink.") and they're broke in six months and it is usually the fault of anyone other than themselves, just ask them.

From what I've read in your posts there are some very inept managers in your towns and it generally is due to the hiring practices of the owners. In 'The Day' (oh, Lord, Randy's going on a rant) a manager was paid a modest salary and then given 3% of the profits as a quarterly bonus, thus inducing him to take some form of interest in what's going on, but in the last few decades it's been decided that a large salary with no bonus would create a more attractive 'bottom line' so that practice has all but been abolished. Too bad the people making that decision have never worked in a restaurant. In Europe the common practice is for a gratuity (15-18%) is added to the check with nothing left on the table by the guests, and Europeans have a reputation for being the lousiest servers in the world because they have zero incentive to do anything other than fling a plate in front of a patron and then go to something more important like texting their BFF.

So why don't I manage my own restaurant, I hear you query? Unfortunately the local practice dictates a wasp-waist, a firm rack, and less than thirty years as the prime criteria for knowing how to run a restaurant; conditions for which I do not qualify. I retired from the restaurant business last Saturday out of pure disgust, but if you know somebody with a failing business I can turn them around in less than a month, or at least point them in the right direction within a week. I won't be cheap but I will be reliable.

I'm done now with this post. Unfortunately I get too hot under my collar just thinking about it.

-Randy

[Captain Neon]

Randy-

I understand your frustration. On occassion, I read posts by incompetent waitstaff that believe they are entitled to 15% simply because one has had the misfortune of being seated in one of their tables. I remember slinging pizzas almost 20 years ago, and on occassion, I would dismiss my waitstaff after rush and wait tables my self. I never once expected more than 10% and that was if I had done a good job.

I now work in an industry where the promise of a considerable bonus was the justification for unpaid OT, and the occassional shift change. We still got nice incentives for working weekends, usu. the equivalent of double-time pay if we could get work completed in 4 hours.

The trend is now the abolition of bonuses, 6 & 7 day work weeks w/ only straight pay, and frequent schedule changes. All the worse when those above us do receive bonuses, work 5-day weeks, and 9 to 5 hours.

The restaurant manager of which you speak sounds like what we used to call a hostess back in the day. Unfortunately, the descriptions you read from many here is becoming the norm as more and more waitstaff believe they are entitled to 15%, and managers are simply glorified hostesses. Does any one really wonder why so many people are chosing to stay home instead of eating out?

[Niel Hoback]

Randroid, it may be a rant to you, but to me its an education. I don't know what goes on behind the kitchen doors it's good to hear the truth from someone that does. Take a pill and rant on...... I'm listening.

[dirty dan]

We went to a local resteraunt tonight. We hadn't been there for about a year. When our food didn't come to the table for 25 minutes I remembered why. It was the same slow service we had gotten before. We spent an hour and 45 minutes at the resteraunt and didn't even have dessert. The only good thing was the state of Michigan banned smoking saturday morning. JohnS

You can't smoke on Saturday mornings in Michigan?

[boxer_inv]

You can't smoke on Saturday mornings in Michigan?

Yeah - curious on that one too?

Not to hijack a thread, but what are the smoking laws in the US? Here in Queensland, you can't smoke within 4m of anywhere where food is being served, including in a licenced venue. They provide outdoor smoking areas. Can't smoke in any public building, including pubs and clubs (except in the smoking area) and that includes gaming machine areas etc. Also, must be further than 4m away from any entrance to a public building.

I know its different in other states of Australia, but these laws introduced to Queensland a couple of years ago have made going out a much more pleasant experience.

How does that compare to your home states?

PS: I'm not an anti-smoking activist. I have smoked in the past and still enjoy a cigar occasionally, but am very glad these laws were introduced.

Edited May 4, 2010 by boxer_inv
Postscript

[Merle Coggins]

The State of Wisconsin will put their new smoking law into effect in July. It will make it illegal to smoke in any public building, unless there is a separate smoking room or it has adequate cross ventilation (a loop hole put in from day 1 ). May communities around here have already adopted no-smoking policies of their own, but now it will be state wide.

Merle

[greg g]

New service model in evidence. We just got back from a local tavern tha serves decent food. while my better half ordered the food, I went to the bar to get a couple of beverage. The barmaid served the folk next to me, and said she would be right with me.

while in front of me a bent over position showed me a goodly portion of her charms.

She the served three parties before returning to me to take my order. After I paid up she asked me if there was anything else. I took all of my change as told her that a flash of mammaries was not a substitute for less than mediocer service. Looking around this seems to be the model that most establishments are taking these days.

[Flatie46]

Greg, I did fail to mention that the waitress where I had the bad service was a Bay Be Doll!!!! I must be gettin old.

[JohnS48plm]

Dan, the smoking ban started saturday. It covers all the days of the week for all bars and restaurants except for the indian casinos and the 3 casinos in Detroit. JohnS

[dirty dan]

Yeah - curious on that one too?

Not to hijack a thread, but what are the smoking laws in the US? Here in Queensland, you can't smoke within 4m of anywhere where food is being served, including in a licenced venue. They provide outdoor smoking areas. Can't smoke in any public building, including pubs and clubs (except in the smoking area) and that includes gaming machine areas etc. Also, must be further than 4m away from any entrance to a public building.

I know its different in other states of Australia, but these laws introduced to Queensland a couple of years ago have made going out a much more pleasant experience.

How does that compare to your home states?

PS: I'm not an anti-smoking activist. I have smoked in the past and still enjoy a cigar occasionally, but am very glad these laws were introduced.

The smoking laws are made by each State and local governments. Here in Louisiana, you cannot smoke in restuarants or government buildings. You can smoke in businesses that are strictly bars (not attached to a restuarant) and casinos. I was in Kentucky a few years back (a tobacco growing State) and people were allowed to smoke just about anywhere they wanted.

I have a serious problem with government telling business owners whether their patrons can or cannot smoke in a business that doesn't belong to the government. If a patron doesn't like the fact that people are smoking, he's free to leave and patronize a business that doesn't allow smoking. If a waiter doesn't want to be exposed to smoking, he can quit and seek employment where smoking isn't allowed.

I've grown sick of our "nanny" government here in the US.

[Joe Flanagan]

If you don't like the service in a restaurant, just go in the bathroom and write on the wall: Flush twice. It's a long way to the kitchen.

[JerseyHarold]

I've been following this thread and was telling myself how fortunate I was not to have had a really bad restaurant experience in a long time. That changed this a few hours ago....

My son and I took my wife to breakfast this morning for Mother's Day. We decided to try a new place on the other side of town. When we got there the place was very busy that we thought was a good sign. The server introduced herself punctually and got our drinks quickly. Then we waited over 1/2 hour for the food to arrive. During that time, the party of eight next to us (who were seated when we arrived) got up and left without ordering anything. Another couple near us was waiting quite a while for their order and the woman made a comment to my wife about the slow service.

Finally, the server brought over our toast, which was cold so we sent it back. She re-heated our original slices of bread! When we got the food, it was okay but not great. Our son ordered a waffle with apple topping (looked like pie filling) and the apples were still frozen. The finishing touch was me finding dirt at the bottom of my glass of Coke after I drank most of it.

The server and hostess didn't ask if we were pleased...it was obvious that we weren't. I'm pretty much non-confrontational, so we paid the bill, left a tip, and will never go back there again. I wish them well.

[randroid]

Folks,

Over the last eight or ten days I figured I wrote about most of the ‘blanket’ problems with restaurants and what to do about them, so far as the diners are concerned, and I wanted to let the whole thing drop, then I got a few PMs from forum members asking about my very favorite situation in a restaurant, and that’s screaming little snot-nose bastages running amok through the aisles and between the tables. Who and where are their parents while this is going on? Are they so oblivious to the havoc their off-spring are springing-off the other diners or do they claim immunity from anyone who thinks the cherubim are not so sweet and adorable as do those parents? It pretty well goes without saying that neither question should ever be asked because anybody of those mind-sets should never be allowed to reproduce in the first place.

So the question is: What could\should you as a diner do about it?

And the answer is: Nothing.

The best house I ever worked was owned by a guy who’d been my Maitre d’ at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. He’d opened a place in Ft. Myers, FL, and invited me down for a season, and it was a dream so far as handling kids was concerned. First off, there was a sign over the front door that said ‘You Wake Them You Take Them’. He also had a ‘Cheerio charge’, which was added to the bill of anyone who brought an infant into the house and asked for a highchair then broke-out the Cheerios for the kid to scatter on the floor. The charge was $5.00 in the late Eighty’s and not once did anybody ever complain, but this was an up-scale restaurant and it wasn’t where you brought kids. Eventually almost everyone got the idea.

But that isn’t where most of us eat on a regular basis and if it was my waiting station it was up to me to quell the din and disruption. When kids were running wild was my most opportune time because I’d fill a water pitcher almost to overflowing with ice water and look for the closest renegade turd. An abrupt stop dead in my tracks gave me ample opportunity to douche the guttersnipe thoroughly and while it was screaming I’d gently take its little hand and lead it back to mommy who had hitherto been unaware of either its whereabouts or its antics. I’d ask doting mommy what would have happened if I were holding a pot of hot coffee? I inform her\them that when waiters carry trays or three plates on one arm they can’t see the floor. Sometimes the guests need informing that the food I may spill that their kid made me waste will be added to their bill and they can’t sue us if the kid gets hurt because precedents have already been set, but that’s a rarity. By the time it goes too far the owner\manager should automatically have stepped in.

I have asked guests to restrain their children and they have been shocked at the request. “But this is a family restaurant, isn’t it?” he might ask, and my only reply has been, “Yeah, but even ‘Chucky Cheese’ has a separate room for it”.

Some people are simply inconsiderate of others, and correcting that can no more be legislated than can be moralality. Live with it; it’s what makes the day less boring and gives you a real challenge instead of a hum-drum routine. If your favorite chicken shack allows that crap then only go there when it’s late or after you’ve posted a bogus ad giving free tickets to Disneyland for fifty kids under seven but they must register on the other side of town from that restaurant at precisely when you want to dine.

Perhaps a word from another diner might be appropriate but as long as we live together this kinda of crap is going to happen and until idiots suddenly become enlightened don’t be surprised when you have dinner with idiots.

Learn to cook like a chef, eat great food at home, and go out only to have what you don’t get at home. I’m not saying you shouldn’t go out but if you normally go out to eat four times a month, cut it to three times and the same budget will buy you better food (hopefully) in a different place. Try something new.

About a year ago I read of the opening of an Ethiopian restaurant and the first thing through my mind was how would one prepare ‘Grubs au Poivre’ tableside? Their menu sounded great, though, with many methods of cooking lamb, mouth-watering vegetarian dishes, and a handful of exotic chili peppers. You won’t find many screaming kids there.

-Randy

[Captain Neon]

Randy-

I share your disdain for urchins run amok at a restuarant. When I was slinging pizzas almost 20 years ago, we had the occassional instance where some one would bring their urchins to our restaurant.

The one that is mostly indelibly burnt into my memory is the woman who brought her sick kids with her. One puked all over the floor, and the other two managed to smear their sticky snot all over the juke box and video games.

She ordered a small taco pizza with black olives that she was unhappy with. I think she would have preferred a cheap reheated frozen pizza rather than the pizza we made for her.

We let her go without paying the bill, shut the shop down early, and spent a good hour cleaning up the disaster that her kids left for us.

I still don't understand why a parent would insist on bringing her sick kids to a pizza place at 9:00 PM on a Tuesday night. For goodness sakes, order delivery from somebody else!

[PatS....]

I remember back in the olden days on the incredibly rare times my parents took us to a restaurant. The day before we got the "be good or you sit in the car with nothing" lecture.

The morning of, we got the same lecture. We got it when we were in the car en-route, before we got out of the car AND at the door.

I know for a fact had we kids ran amok in a restaurant, they never would have found the bodies!!!!!

We didn't, we were well behaved and everyone enjoyed themselves.

I just shake my head these days.

[greg g]

No smoking area good idea, no children section great idea!!! Way back when at the college I worked at we were hosting the annual Alumi luncheon meeting. You know the colege mucky mucks and the calss on 1920. and of course younger alums broughthte fruit of their loins. The president of the alumni association was one of these ex cheerleader, terminally perky, 30 something over achiever wannabees. She brought her husband who clearly wanted to be any where else, and her 3 kids ages 4, 6, and 8, 2 overactive boys, and the older sister who was thier default nanny.

The kids sat through nearly all the actual lunch, but then they got antsy. The father totally ignored them while the mother tended to her association duties. The two boys were chasing each other and the sister was chasing them trying to be of help but actually making things worse.

I was heading to the father's attention when the inevitable happened. The older kid sped around the corner of the table and ran into me. Standard uncontrolled force meets immovable object. I didn't move and the action/opposite reaction deal, saw the kid fly backward about thee feet and level his chasing sibling into a blue haired member of the honored class in her wheel chair. Both kids started blubbering, There was the gasp followed by the lull in the program. I simply picked up the two boys, held them by the shoulder and asked " To whom do you belonng??" I released them just in time for them to run blubbering to their redfaced mother clinging to her legs whimpering. I looked at her and said "Perhaps if you would remove them, we can resume the program." A round of applause errupted, the woman and her kids ran down the stairs, husband still oblivious to the situation. The old woman was last seen putting he checkbook back in her purse as her assistant wheeled her to the elevator. Good thing she wasn't hurt.

The crowd settled, the VP for Admin assumed the program, and three weeks later we had a new director of alumni affairs.

Ah the joys of child rearing. A few years back I saw a bumper sticker for sale somewhere.

"What the world needs is fewer people with children, and more parents".