Waiting For Service

There’s a certain well known restaurant in my city that some friends refuse to visit now because the last time they were there no one said thank you or good bye as they left. Even though they had enjoyed their dining experience, this left them with a really bad taste in their collective mouths. They had good reason to feel slighted. After all they were paying guests and deserved to be acknowledged for their visit. Without guests there would be no restaurant.

I asked if they made this known to management later. Sadly they didn’t, which quite possibly means that this missing link in the otherwise good service is probably still missing.

I have recently been in Paris – the home of some of the best food and according to some people, the worst service, in the world.

Here in New Zealand we desire service that is friendly and makes us feel like we are the most important people in the room. We don’t want to be made to feel grateful that we are in that restaurant, nor do we wish to feel superior to the wait staff. In this country of equality on all levels, no one is a ‘servant’. But neither do we want too much familiarity. We like being called by our name if we are a regular patron, but we don’t like wait staff that crouch down at the table to take our order or call us ‘dear’ or ‘darling’.

Parisian maitre’ds though, have an uncanny ability to make you feel like you should bow down to them. There is a natural air of superiority that says “I am not sure how you managed it but you are very lucky to have been allowed through the doors of this establishment and now that you are here you will behave, eat quickly and leave so we can give your table to someone else far more deserving”.

For this reason, as well as often ridiculous prices, I avoid this type of place and dine in smaller family run places who value their guests no matter who they are. Here you are greeted with a friendly “bonjour Madame” and when you are shown to your table, it is politely pulled out for you to squeeze into (tables in Parisian bistros are extraordinarily close together).

The service is usually brisk and polite – these are busy places and table turnover is high so there is little time for small talk. But questions about dishes are answered knowledgably and the food generally arrives quickly and with a flourish.

This is the service I like – no one is trying to be too clever about it. Often it is the chef him or herself who brings your food out and says “bon appetite” as the plate goes down. These are all signs that service is second nature; it’s in their blood and does not have to be learned.

Back in New Zealand this is not the case. Many wait staff have never themselves experienced good service, so have little to compare with. Service here is rarely arrogant, more likely it is amateurish. There is a fine line between good and bad service and of course everyone has differing expectations. However a few things are essential. Here are few points I feel strongly about.

• Wait staff, especially young people new to the industry, need to know what it is like to be on the receiving end, so they need to eat out as often as possible in a wide variety of establishments. Hospitality programmes do a great job of basic training but employers would do well to provide staff with the ability to try other places on their days off.
• Smile – not hard to do, but surprisingly lacking. Nothing says welcome as well as a smile.
• Recognize, acknowledge and rectify mistakes quickly and professionally. The customer may not always be right but it’s a good rule to go by – most of the time.
• Acknowledge regular customers once in a while with a small gift of a glass of bubbles or a free coffee. This is a sure-fire way to keep them coming back. You don’t need to have a loyalty programme or coffee card – a gift that comes out of the blue is far more powerful.
• I have said this before - grooming is paramount.
• Before service, staff should have the opportunity to try the day’s specials so they are familiar with them and can sell them well. I am assuming here that staff have had a chance to try all the dishes on the regular menu. There is nothing more unprofessional and frustrating for the customer than a waiter who has to run back to the kitchen to establish what is in a dish.

Now I am aware that my comments may bring a flurry of defensive replies from restaurateurs and so I will acknowledge now that I am very aware that not all customers are perfect either – there are rules of etiquette on both sides. But that is a whole other column.

On another and rather more serious note I would like to acknowledge the many Christchurch cafés and restaurants destroyed by last month’s devastating earthquake. Many, I suspect will never re-open. The best thing you can do is support those that do manage to get back on their feet. This will have been no mean feat for them and they will need all the help they can get to survive. I sense that after such a catastrophic event, the last thing anyone wants to do for a long time is eat out. But dining out will not just ensure the restaurants’ long-term survival, but assist the economic recovery of the city itself.

This column can be found in the current issue of Dish Magazine