That’s what my family calls it when we go to a restaurant, like… “Do you guys want to do Out To Dinner tonight?” It’s always a huge YES!! from myself and my two kids, while my wife occasionally nixes the idea since she always annoyingly has one eye on our checking account. Frugality can destroy a good meal before it even gets started.
But so can so bad service. The idea of what I expect from a restaurant as proper and acceptable service was on display during both of our family’s dining experiences from this past weekend. The topic had been breached by my friend who told a story of how he opened his menu at a very respectable restaurant lately and in it was stuck a piece of bubble gum. During the same visit another waitress was vacuuming around their table while they were still having coffee. Both indefensible service infractions.
At two separate meals this weekend (at two nice but not-high-end restaurants that I love going to by the way) these things happened. On their own I’d be an asshole to make a fuss, but put together they became pretty aggravating (in no order):
Had to wait at our table while holding my kids in middle of the dinning room waiting for a high chair; asked for lemons in water-no lemons; ordered Haddock French-received Chicken French instead; totally rushed through a meal by our waitress in a half full dining room; asked for salad dressing on the side-didn’t happen; had two pieces of pizza to get wrapped to take home-only one made it back from the kitchen; had to ask twice for regular butter.
Restaurant service can be broken up into two parts really. The actual mechanics of the service ( is the table set properly?, how are the meals presented?, does there seem to be some open communication between the server and the kitchen? etc.) and how the service make me feel during dining ( do I feel like a welcomed guest? is there a heightened sense of hospitality? etc.). In our experiences this weekend there were casualties on both sides of the ledger. But after surveying the list above (which reads pretty bitchy, I know)I realized that all of those problems were handled pretty gracefully by our servers…and that I would be going back to eat at both places again in the future. The food was wonderful and my family had a great time, despite the mistakes.
So does exceptional service and passable food get you back to a restaurant before one with terrible service and exceptional food?
Or do stiff drinks win out every time?
Terrible service is never acceptable. Having served and managed for years it’s the server’s job to ensure your evening is wonderful. Did i make mistakes? Yes, but made every effort to remedy them asap and this was always noticed by the customers. I averaged over $25 per hour waiting at regular restaurants. When other servers would be complaining about making little to no tip money i always bit my lip because i wanted to say “you hate your job, people can tell cause you don’t put the effort in”. In the case of you standing in the dining room holding the child any one on the staff could have helped out, gotten the chair, not only servers but the manager too. A restaurant needs a cohesive staff that will help each other out to go above and beyond. I will take exceptional service, compassion goes a long way.
My husband and I live in Glenmont. A new place has just recently opened on a main thoroughfare. We went to have some beers. It was a Friday Night. The bar was busy, but not crazy busy. We waited quite a while before we were aknowledged, the bartender was too busy making plans with the couple next to us. When she finally aksed to take our order, we stated it, and then she just turned around and went to another customer on the other side of the bar. We were sitting right at the taps, and we both wanted drafts. She serves somebody else, then tells the bartender on the other side to get us our beer. She starts pouring, there was air in the line, ok, big head, let it sit. The orignal bartender comes back and moves the glasses, and mixes the Octoberfest with Saranac, and my husbands beer gets mixed with something else, too. Fortunately, these beers get served to another patron at the bar. We watched them pour 4 more beers in basically the same fashion, and left. I went to a chain restaurant that night and had a decent time with my Octoberfest beign poured right in front of me, without mixing.
When it comes to dining with a child this is what gets my patronage: Fast service. If I am sitting there for more than 15 minutes and no appetizer appears my kid is NOT happy and neither is anyone else. If bad service happens once, I am not going to go back because I don’t want to chance it. Bonus: If food is ALREADY on the table! Chips at El Mariachi, peanuts at Biergarten, popcorn at 99.
Side note – we were at Quintessence this weekend and they had a gentleman playing guitar. My son danced quietly for probably… 20 minutes. Adorbs! Definitely going to be frequenting their weekend brunch from now on :)
I would always go with exceptional food and bad service over mediocrity. I can deal with pain in the butt waitresses, because I just give them a bad tip! But if I go back again and still get the same deal, I’m usually done with them, great food can be found
I can’t believe that many mistakes were made. How do you confuse chicken with seafood (unless the server was Jessica Simpson, tee hee)? How do you get only part of your leftovers?? I was a server throughout all of college and I bussed tables in high school. That type of service is unexceptable, and if I made that many mistakes, I would have apologized and I bet the manager would have offered free dessert or something. That said, if the food was amazing, I might return and just request a different server.
I won’t even get takeout at Bombers because the service is so rude.
I was at a local high-end restaurant recently and received some pretty bad service. But I took some advice and emailed a complaint to the manager, and they were gracious enough to not only write back and apologize, but send me a $50 gift certificate! Sometimes it pays to be the squeeky wheel.
I can’t believe I made fun of Jessica Simpson’s intelligence and then spelled “unacceptable” as “unexceptable.” That is truly unacceptable.
@Sarah…agreed! Not to bash the owner of this Blog (obv not his fault), but I also find the service at Bomber’s to be pretty poor. I have found the bartenders to be rude on a consistent basis, and only go there when friends are choosing. Even when their has been discussion about where to head out for the night, when Bomber’s comes up, I find there to be a consensus about the service among people I have never been to Bomber’s with before. With that said, at Wolff’s I have never experienced bad service. I go there quite often and love it!
I had a pretty bad experience recently at V&R, which my wife and I had always loved. I actually felt bad as soon as we walked in b/c there was only one other table seated. I guess my 7pm Saturday night reservation wasn’t needed. Service was fine, food seemed a little off, but OK overall. Sadly, when we asked for a dessert menu, we were told they only had chocolate cake. No big deal, we split a piece.
We got the very reasonably priced $66 bill. I gave the waiter my credit card. He comes back and the total is now $666. I show him, we laughed about the obvious mistake and its Satanic implications together and he said he’d fix it. He comes back and its $66 again. I left a $15 tip and signed the total for $81. On Wednesday, I notice that I was charged the $81 which I should have been, but of course, also the $666. I try to call all day and get no answer until around 5, eventhough they allegedly are open for lunch. I get a lady who says she’ll have the owner call me when he gets in later tonight. I call back Thursday at 5 bc I never heard from them. Same lady says the owner will call me when he gets in later tonight, which he finally did. I have to explain everything again as if he never heard anything about it and kinda angrily just says he’ll reverse the charge, which came through the next Monday. I was given no real apology, no offer for even a dessert or drink the next time we are in, nothing. I felt the owner should have thrown me something there for tying up $666 of mine for a week.
Not the end of the world, just frustrating and disappointed in a place we liked.
Maybe it’s best to leave this one alone, but I can’t help myself. It’s pretty unclassy to start using the owners blog space to start bashing his employees, that kind of thing is better left to personal emails or contacting a manager. This is a public forum to talk about the nicer or funnier things in life, not a bitch fest. Bad service sucks, but it happens. Everyone has an off day, and having frequented Bombers on a regular basis for the last million years the staff has always handled their somtimes less than savory college age patrons with as much grace as a person could when your being berated by a drunk (insert explitive) for another margarita that they probably shouldn’t drink. Just sayin.
Thanks for your opinion Siobhan. Noted. Anyway, I also couldn’t help myself. I wouldn’t say anyone was bashing any place. Just a few lines about the topic of this particular blog post. I guess I missed the memo about this being about the “nicer or funnier things in life.” I guess this is also where I point out that I am neither college aged, nor was I being a drunk (insert explitive) trying to get my margarita fix. Next time I am ignored at the bar for no apparent reason I’ll be sure to ask to speak to the manager about it. Actually, no I won’t. It isn’t something that ruin(ed)(s) my night, so I let it slide normally. I’m a pretty laid back dude. I’m also classy. I actually complimented Wolff’s in case you didn’t notice. Matt, if I hurt your feelings, I’m sorry.
Quite the opposite, Siobhan. A post about restaurant service and quality on a blog owned by a restaurant owner seems like the perfect place to make comments about said blog owner’s restaurant service and quality. It seems like everytime a negative comment is made about one of Matt’s restaurants he usually takes note and offers an apology or explanation of some sort. To me it makes sense to have an open forum like a blog to let people talk about his businesses (which is why people know him & read his blog) and give him the opportinuty to respond publicly and professionally. Kudos, Matt, for caring what your customers have to say!
I am doing the best I can.
It isn’t easy trying to manage the personalities and professionalism of more than 200 employees at all times. Anytime someone writes me a negative comment, or emails me to express a problem, I address it immediately with the manager of that restaurant, and with the employee. Nothing ruins my day more than hearing someone had a bad experience at one of my restaurants.
All in all, there are 8 managers at the 4 restaurants. I truly trust them and know feel they are doing the best they can.
However, I will take this blog post as an opportunity to improve our service at all the restaurants.
Today I had lunch with a friend at Bombers on Lark. We enjoyed our buffet lunch and our server was friendly and efficient! Thank you for your wonderful restaurants and blog.
@Chris, my comment was not pointed at you nor was I tryingto imply that you are a drunk student. I was just trying to say that although being ignored or treated badly in a restaurant is never nice, a person may want to consider the circumstances in a establishment during or prior to said visit. Bombers in my observation is a VERY busy bar. I’m sure you were not intentionally ignored. I was not trying to be rude. And far as the “nicer, happier” comment I can only say that the blog is called “Friday puppy”. Not poop and vomit. Dogs make me happy, therefore “nicer, happier”. Apparently this struck a nerve for you. :/
@Lauren, maybe I’m just pointing out the delivery of “rude employees” was not the most constructive it could have been. I’m just sticking up for some people that I know work very hard to make bombers a fun place. And it’s to bad that maybe those are not te people you are interacting with. My comment was not to be hostile in the slightest.
I have to agree with @Chris and @Lauren. This is the perfect post to bring to light issues that a reader has about one of Matt’s restaurants – David was writing about bad service in a restaurant – Matt owns four very popular, local ones.
If this post was written about any other subject, then @Sarah’s comment would have been just a random jab at Bomber’s.
I really don’t care what kind of day my server (or bartender) is having, or what happened prior to my visit – you act professionally no matter what’s going on – that’s what happens when you work with the public. The atmosphere, service and food are all part of the dining experience.
I have been in very BUSY bars and restaurants and received excellent service (every time), so that’s a lame excuse. If someone feels ignored when they are in a bar or restaurant, then that’s an issue and they have every right to express those feelings.
I’m sure that nothing pisses Matt off more (except maybe running low on Xanax, coffee or vodka) then getting a complaint about one of his establishments, and I believe him when he says he addresses service issues. You just cannot be as successful as Matt has been by ignoring issues when they are brought to your attention.
Just don’t go back to either place and tell your friends. That’s what I did after I had a bad experience at Wolff’s over the summer. It’s just that a bartender ignored me when there was nobody there while he himself was drinking behind the bar! It was ridiculous, I couldn’t believe it! I tried to comment about it once before, but the comment wasn’t published..so much for a public forum
I’ve been to Bombers more times than I can count and a lot of those times sober and I’ve yet to come across these rude servers people are talking about
It was the bartender that looks all scruffy like a homeless person
I’ve been going to Bombers for years and at the risk of sounding like a kiss ass, I’ve always had excellent service and found the food to be consistently great. I’m surprised to hear the contrary, and thought I’d throw my 2 cents in.
I didnt realize people went to Bomber’s for great service. I mean I’ve never had a real issue with service there but it’s not exactly the place you go for the service. I usually go for a burrito and beer or lately it has been the piggy fries and a beer. Anyway I think if you expect great service at Bomber’s you deserve what you get.
When someone writes an article he/she maintains the plan of a user in his/her brain that how a user can understand it. So that’s why this post is perfect. Thanks!