Restaurants are a Service Business

When you eat out a lot, you are bound to run into less than perfect dining experiences. Most of the time, issues with dining have to do with the level of execution in the kitchen, but sometimes service issues put a damper on your meal. What really sets restaurants apart is how they handle these situations. Some restaurants have trained their staffs properly, and as a result, they manage to turn a situation with the potential for disaster into one that satisfies the customer. But some restaurants are less customer-friendly. In my experience, when something goes wrong in one of those restaurants, you can be sure that the staff will do everything they can to turn an incipient disaster into an actual one. Here are two stories of what happened to me within a ten-day period while dining out in Manhattan.

My wife, Mrs. P, and I recently went to dinner at Scott Conant’s restaurant L’Impero. We were dining with another couple who are members of the OA forum discussion group, both quite knowledgeable about food and wine. In fact, the woman is the sommelier at one of Manhattan’s top Japanese restaurants, and the male an avid wine collector. This was their first visit to L'Impero, but Mrs. P and I had dined their once, when the restaurant first opened about 2-1/2 years ago. I recalled that when we ate there, they had a BYO policy and I brought a bottle of wine with me. So each couple arranged to bring a bottle of wine to dinner.

It had been sleeting all afternoon, and the weather that evening was treacherous. When I arrived, the other three were already at the table. It didn’t take long for things to go wrong. The first bottle of wine, a 1961 Giacomo Borgogna Barolo, was already on the table. As soon as I took my bottle of 1978 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Santa Stefano Riserva out of my wine bag, the sommelier pounced on us to announce that the restaurant had a one bottle per table BYO rule. The news surprised me. I hadn’t recalled the restaurant having this policy on my first visit, but in all fairness, I only brought one bottle with me so maybe the issue never came up. Still, it was a silly rule that made little sense. Two tables for two could open two bottles, but one table of four people could only open one bottle.

While explaining their policy, the sommelier seemed to indicate flexibility. I described my prior experience, and he replied that “this is the owner’s policy." I immediately took that as a cue to ask him if he would go ask the owner about it. But then he broke the news that he had spoken to him already, and he had said no. Not being someone who likes to take no for answer in a service situation, especially when the policy is so patently illogical. I asked him if we could speak to the owner and he said he would get him. The sommelier briefly disappeared, only to return with the news that the owner was busy and couldn’t speak to us (which I took as his saying that he wouldn’t speak to us). So I thought I would give the restaurant one last chance to redeem itself, and I appealed to his sense of fairness by pointing out that we had no idea of this rule, and we had had brought two special bottles of wine, and given the horrible weather, we were in no position to leave and go elsewhere. Unfortunately, flexibility was not in the restaurant’s playbook, and he said, "No," one final time. At that point I looked at him and said, “Fine, one bottle it will be. But I am going to write about this incident on the Internet tomorrow.” I wish I was able to capture what happened next on video, because it would make a great training tape for restaurant owners to use to teach their employees what not to do when a customer is unhappy.

A look of horror came over the sommelier’s face. He then started telling me, in a voice that was louder than his normal speaking voice, but full of nervousness, how reasonable their policy was. I responded by saying that at this point he was either going to let us open both bottles, or I wanted him to leave me alone. But he kept on trying to explain their policy, so I calmly told him that the only thing I was interested in him saying was that we could open both bottles, and if that wasn’t what he had to say, would he kindly stop talking to me. But he completely ignored me, and he started yelling at me, repeating how reasonable the policy was. There I was, sort of disbelieving what was going on, but having to match him volume-wise, while telling him to either let us open both bottles or to leave us alone. But he wouldn’t stop, and he was out and out yelling at me at this point. Finally I had it up to here with him, and I thrust my arm towards the host’s stand and got that look on my face as if my head was going to explode and he was going to have brain matter all over his shirt, and I said in a loud voice, “Step away from the table. The only thing I want to hear you say is that we can open both bottles. If that isn’t what you have to say, step back and leave us alone.” Finally he walked away with a frustrated look on his face.

I wish this was the end of the story, but things got worse from there. The way the restaurant has its menu set up, the cost is $56 for four-courses. You get a choice of a raw fish course or an appetizer, a pasta course, an entrée, and either cheese or dessert. I don't eat pasta so that was out, and the risotto of the day was rabbit which isn't my favorite. So I asked our waiter, who happened to be an old acquaintance of the woman we were dining with, if I could substitute a second raw fish course or appetizer for the pasta course. “Sorry,” he said, “the only thing I can substitute for pasta is a green salad. If you want an appetizer instead, I have to charge you the a la carte price for it.” Of course, this didn't sit well with me. Especially after living though the incident with the wines. So I started to quiz the waiter about the economics behind this rule. "If I don’t eat the pasta course, and if I don’t eat the green salad, but I order something a la carte instead, will you credit the price of the pasta course/green salad that I didn’t eat to my meal?" The guy gave me one of those looks because he knew I had figured out the flaw in their logic, but he stuck to the party line and repeated the rule. To cut to the chase (I should say cut to the cheese which is what I wanted to be eating at this point), I paid my $56, refused to accept a green salad, and had an empty place setting while everyone else ate their pasta course. After the waiter set the dishes down, and my setting was left bare, we all commented that there isn’t a fine restaurant in the entire world that would allow a customer to go through a course, especially one they had paid for, with an empty place setting. But I guess there is a first for everything.

Fast forward to about ten days later, and Mrs. P and I were having dinner at Danny Meyer’s restaurant Tabla. Like L’impero, I hadn’t been to Tabla since they first opened. I had visited the Bread Bar downstairs on many occasions, but not the formal restaurant upstairs. It didn’t take us long to decide on the seven-course tasting menu. I looked through the menu and there didn’t seem like there was anything on it that we didn’t or couldn’t eat. But just in case, I alerted the waitress that I had difficulty digesting wheat gluten. Actually I told her I had an allergy. It’s just an easier way of communicating my situation to a kitchen. So the waitress checked with the kitchen, and she returned a few minutes later to tell me that it would be fine.

We were having our last savory course, and up until that point, the meal was without incident. The dish was a duo of Kobe Beef, which was sliced, and then laid upon what appeared to be, and what tasted like, a vegetable purée. It was really delicious. I had eaten half of the portion when I asked Mrs. P, “What is this thing? Boy, it’s delicious.” Well the server had given us copies of our menu so we could refer to the dishes as we were eating them. “Oh my god,” she said, “it’s semolina purée.” I immediately dropped my fork (though I had the urge to eat the rest, it was so good) and motioned for the waitress to come over to our table.

What happened next was almost as unbelievable as what happened at L’Impero. Upon hearing the news the waitress was not a happy camper. “I told them in the kitchen. I made it clear to them what the issue was, and they assured me everything would be fine.” She asked me if there was anything she could do. I told her no, it wasn't as if I was going to keel over or go into shock, but I would probably have a headache and an upset stomach the next day. She left our table, and about three minutes later, a woman appeared, identifying herself as the manager. She was apologizing profusely, and I gave her the same speech about it not being a matter of life or death. At this point my attitude was, what’s done is done, mistakes happen, the restaurant has admitted their mistake, let's move on because there there is nothing left to talk about. I tried to change the subject to talk about desserts, but it became clear that I was going to be stuck with sorbet. So I told her to forget dessert, just bring us the check. She left the table to go get it, but she came back a minute later and said, “There is no check. Dinner is on the house.” It was one of those classic moments in iife. I’ve known my wife since we were 15 years old, and sometimes we can communicate without saying a word. And this time her eyes were saying, you don’t see that every day. We thanked the manager profusely, and left what would have been a 33% tip on the meal.

The next morning I was working on the blog when the phone rang. The person on the other end was speaking to me in an Indian accent. I was having a hard time understanding what he was saying. I started wondering if I might have called Dell Computer or one of my other providers and they were calling me back. “Who is this?” I repeated into the phone. Then all of a sudden the voice became clear. “It’s Floyd Cardoz, the chef at Tabla. I am calling to see if you are okay and to apologize for what happened last night.” After getting over my shock, and telling him that luckily I had just a small headache, and a couple of Tylenol had done the trick, we had a nice little chat about the meal, and I told him how terrific a dish his Fluke Tartar was. But it was truly amazing for a chef at a top restaurant to take time out of his day, to try and make amends to a customer for a mistake that the restaurant had made.

So there you have it. One dining instance where they basically tell you, it’s our way or the highway and they are completely inflexible. Then, when they find out that you have actual recourse because you are in a position to tell other people about their policies, they don't know how to handle the situation and everything they do ends up making things worse. And a second situation, where a restaurant finds out they have made a mistake, and they bend over backwards to try and make things right. While I know the two situations aren’t really comparable, it demonstrates how different restaurants have different views of their customers. If the owner and staff at L’Impero want to learn how to treat customers properly, they should call Danny Meyer up and ask him if will be kind enough to retrain them.

Danny Meyer deserves kudos, as does Floyd Cardoz, as does Katherine Farris, the manager at Tabla that evening, and I hope the upshot of this article is that it encourages people to frequent the restaurant. But while L'Impero might not give a damn what I think, I can tell you they have lost me as a customer forever. I hope this article discourages people from going there. L'Impero seems to be a place that has a bigger investment in arbitrary and silly rules than in making customers happy. After all, a restaurant is a service business. And if you go out of your way to give people poor service, and impose all sorts of silly rules on them, and the owner doesn’t even have the courtesy of coming to your table so he can explain himself, a restaurant should suffer the consequences.

Comments

[marc dibiaso]

Steve

Great story. Sounds similar to something on TV here in Sweden last week. It is a Swedish version of the Gordon Ramsey show where a famous Swedish chef, Melker Andersson, tries to help out restaurants that are having problems. He was at a "fancy" restaurant in a smaller city. The first night he sat down to eat with his wife and it was their anniversary. They are the ONLY guests on a Friday. As expected he complains about the food, its disgusting, the soup is too thick, the room is cold. The server is also the owner and basically never says "I'm sorry let me try to fix that". Instead always an excuse, some people like it thick, the temperature is turned up all the way. When Melker asks if he thinks one course tastes good the owner says "I wouldn't know I don't like fish". The owner is pissed off and thinks Melker is an arrogant asshole (which he is, but that's beside the point because he is a customer in your restaurant and someone YOU asked to come and try to help you get more than two covers on a Friday!)

Switch to next day. Melker tells the owner to sit down and be the guest and use the chance to get some revenge. Well, however the owner complains Melker handles it perfectly, "Soup is too thick" "no problem, I will ask the kitchen to thin it out", "Now it's too thin". "No problem, I will have them thicken it back a bit but not all the way". "It's too cold" "I will get you a blanket"

It was the perfect example of how to treat all guests, even the rude ones. But the owner learned nothing, his motto was still I will always tell the customer what I really think because it is not nice to lie. (this is a guy I would prefer to see as a politician not a restaurant owner).

One has to wonder where the service industry is going.

I had my own example today here in Sweden at none other than MacDonalds. I try to avoid this place like the plague especially since the last time they accused me of trying to steal a Sprite. I had told the server we had not gotten all 4 Sprites that we ordered (I was going back and forth from the counter to the table where I had 3 kids waiting). They said they had ABSOLUTELY given me all 4. I actually went back to the table twice to count and check my sanity. I finally got the 4th one but not without the young lady letting everyone else in waiting waiting know it was really my 5th one and I was stealing it.

That was 5 months ago. But recently my daughter had gotten a 7th birthday present from Ronald in the mail. A free happy meal, and she really wanted to go back. (they do know how to market). I give in and go with her and my 4 year old son since we had to do some errand on the highway anyways. A 1/4 pounder meal for me (55 Swedish crowns), and 2 Happy Meal at 25 crowns each, one to be paid for with my daughters free coupon.

The young lady puts it all into her register and says, 84 crowns please. Now, I don't have to take my pants and shoes off to count to 21. And for me, 55 + 25 + 25 - 25 = 80 not 84. I tell her kindly, "it should be 80, 55+25 since one meal is free" Her: no, I put it all in the computer correctly, its 84. Me: forget the computer how much is 55 + 25. Her: I'm sorry 84 is right. Me: Look at the menu behind you. 55 for a 1/4 pound meal and 25 for a Happy Meal. Her: we don't sell meals anymore. Me: Then why does the word MEAL with a price after it appear about 15 times on the menu up there behind you. (now she actually turns around to look at the menu. She studies it.)

Her: Sprite costs more than the cola that goes with the meals! (the menu is not wide enough to fit Cola, Cola Light, Fanta and Sprite so there is actually no price on the line with Fanta and Sprite, wonder why she did not think it was free?).

Me: You are joking. Miss why don't you just think for yourself for 2 seconds, ignore the 84 on your register and add up 55 and 25.(what I mean to say is Miss your IQ might be 84 but not the bill). Her: Can someone help me.

After 5 minutes and 5 people looking at the register and the menu and discussing this the only with that actually has some working synapses says, "hey you forget to take away the fries for the free meal". I finally get to pay my 80 crowns, feed the kids and on the way out tell my daughter, "If I ever agree to go to MacDonalds again please shoot me"

[mikhail L]

Tabla - Now i HAVE to go. Class act - that the way it should be. Too many times the rest. exp is ruined by the staffs inability to understand that the customer is their bread! i know - its NYC and they have more than they can handle..but what about professional respect..and isnt a repeat customer always good for buisness.. thats why i like small places that remeber you after a couple of times and make you feel special. thats what's going out is all about - if i just want good food i can go home - my wife is an excellent cook and extremely inventive - in 3 years i've never had the same thing twice. We go out to relax and that is where service comes in. for the money that they are asking (and making) i think we deserve better - more like the people at Tabla. Thanks for the article.

[owen kotler]

This is so typical of a Danny Meyer restaurant. No surprise there. I for one won't go to L'Impero. There are too many other good restaurants in NY.

Add L'Ecusson in Beaune, France to the list of restaurants people should avoid. My friend had reserved for a Saturday night, 29 Jan, during St Vincent Festival (20'000 people in Beaune) at 8:00. He recieved a very warm email reply confirming the reservation. When we arrived at 8:00 we were told by Madame that the restaurant was full (Nous sommes complet Monsieurs). We explained that we had a reservation. Nothing doing. She asked where the confirmation was. She actually wanted to see physical eveidence. We stated it that is was at the hotel and we would be happy (well not exactly happy) to go get it. Nothing doing. She ushered us out of the restaurant. We were fuming,as not only was our reservation not honored, but it was a Sat night at 8:00 during Festiavl St Vincent and it would have been impossible to get a table elsewhere. Luckily we had a connection with Le Chassagne in Chassagne Montrachet. We called and they "found" a table for us (they were completely booked). The service was perfect and the meal outstanding. Stephane Leger is doing very high quality food with great imagination. We had a great experience in the end and would certainly recommend Le Chassagne

[Mataro]

At Least You Got To Eat There!

Reading your tale of two tables reminded me of my own experience last Christmas Day. My wife and I were visiting New York and had reserved a table at Jean-Georges, until then one of my favorite restaurants. The main dining room was booked up, so we were to eat at Nougatine, the more casual area adjacent to the flagship restaurant. We arrived on time and were shown to a table, which was right next to the busy passageway into the main dining room. There were a half-dozen open tables, at least two of which would have been swell, but we were told those were not available. We asked again for a different table and were told we could have none of the ones we were requesting. We then tried, briefly, to sit at the original table, which was noisy and uncomfortable. So we left, went across the street, and had a mediocre Indian meal at Sapphire. Merry Xmas! The next day, I visited Jean-Georges' Web site and sent the following note via e-mail to Dan Del Vecchio, described elsewhere as Jean-Georges' right-hand man:

>My wife and I live in the Chicago area. We're big fans of Jean-Georges's restaurants, including the flagship at Columbus Circle, where we've dined ten or twelve times over the years.

We were in New York for the holiday and, although I was unable to secure a booking at Jean-Georges, I did reserve a table at Nougatine. We arrived on time at 5:30 and, after a 10-minute wait, we were shown to a two-top.

Because my wife has some physical ailments that make it difficult for her to find comfortable seating, the designated table was not acceptable. We asked our hostess repeatedly to find us a better alternative and, although there were two or four two-tops nearby that would likely have worked for us, we were told we could not have any of them.

So, we gave the first table a try, but after a few minutes of discomfort, we unhappily elected to leave. As we departed, the maitre d' asked why we hadn't let the staff know that we were dissatisfied. Since we did, albeit in a civil but insistent manner, we were puzzled by this response.

But what really puzzled us was why your staff would allow loyal customers to depart when a simple solution was just a few feet away. When you have a moment, please let me know how this happened -- and if it will ever be safe for us to dine in one of Mr. Vongerichten's establishments again. >>

Of course, I never received a response, not surprising given the disinterest shown at the restaurant in honoring a customer's reasonable request. The upshot? I've been a huge J-G fan for years, but I'll never eat in one his establishments again and will actively dissuade others from doing so, too. We already had an opportunity to go to V, the steakhouse, and elected to eat elsewhere. And we'll be in Shanghai this summer, but will avoid J-G's property there, too. And so on. I just can't justify spending a large chunk of change on a dining experience -- yes, not just food, an experience -- when it's likely that I'll be treated with contempt.

[Simon]

A pet peeve of mine is when the customer takes 'the customer is always right' too far. I think you need to step back from the situation and think about what went on here. You failed to contact the restaurant before your meal to determine their BYOB policy, which is a fairly standard and courteous thing to do, and then you balked when they restaurant would not break their rules for you. Certainly, the restaurant could have curried some favour by bending a little to let you have the 2nd bottle, but it's up to them if they don't wish to. I find it outrageous when a guest like yourself becomes indignant when the restaurant won't bend policy to accommodate. I can only imagine that the restaurant is quite happy with your decision to never return.

[Steve Plotnicki]

I'm sorry I wasn't indignant about it, just unhappy and I told the restaurant as much in so many words. And I am within my rights to think that their policy is stupid, and to criticize them publicly for it. In my opinion, it should not be difficult for a restaurant to bend a stupid policy. If they take a different view, and they value their rules to such an extent that it makes their customers unhappy, they are entitled to their opinion about it the same way that I am entitled to mine. On the other hand, by not bending policy, the restaurant lost customers. Not only me, but a number of other people who have read this article have told me they have written the restaurant off. Whether the restaurant cares about that or not is not my concern. But what I do know is that you can't desposit the rules in the bank. But I guess in spite of that, some people value rules more than money, or happy customers.

[Jaybee]

After a fairly reasonable wait at noon Friday, I retrieved my order and sat in a lovely spot to indulge in two delicious double cheese burgers and a root beer float. Great stuff.

Another anecdote about Danny Meyer-style service: I ordered fries and noticed when I went to the pick-up window, no fries were on my check. I said to the girl shouting out names that I had ordered fries but they were not on the slip. She asked if I was charged for them. I said no, but I wanted them. "How can I get them without standing on that line?" I asked. "Give him an order," said the counter manager. That's making things right even though it cost them $2.88 for an order of fries.