The food and wine sales rep is a great, although often untapped, resource for the restaurant owner or manager as an extra source of eyeballs on their operation.
Last week at dinner we had a server that offered us three items as specials-that weren't specials anymore. After explaining our options and pricing on two crab dishes we chose an À la carte $25.00 King Crab meal that he charged us $45.00. Then he argued with us when we corrected him.
Just yesterday as I sat in one of the 10-15 different restaurants I visit in a day, a couple was seated in a booth across from me. They asked the server what the specials were and were told to "Wait I have to go read it because I can't remember anything today". They ordered and the gentlemen requested a side of blue cheese dressing for his fries. Same server said "can you ask me for that again when your meal comes?" In a way I think it was good that server recognized his limitations, however I think as a guest it might have been lot of work compensating for his inability to multi-task.
What are your pet peeves? What irritates you when you are out? I often find industry insiders are more opinionated on this matter as true professionals hate to see sloppy habits. Let us hear from the servers, bartenders, managers, and owners too?
Also read this blog from Bruce Buschel as he was planning to open a seafood restaurant. Attached are his two part list of do's and dont's for servers.
100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do (Part 1) and (Part 2)
By BRUCE BUSCHEL
Herewith is a modest list of dos and don’ts for servers at the seafood restaurant I am building. Veteran waiters, moonlighting actresses, libertarians and Batistas will no doubt protest some or most of what follows. They will claim it homogenizes them or stifles their true nature. And yet, if 100 different actors play Hamlet, hitting all the same marks, reciting all the same lines, cannot each one bring something unique to that role?
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