Here is another take on restaurant dining room service by
Elizabeth Downer- a writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
It is a long article, but worth reading; so give yourself some time here.
[Also, Read More great articles at:
http://www.topserveconsulting.com/articles.html]
Some Tips To Improve Dining Room Service
Even before the late Mayor Bob O'Connor set out on his crusade to
bring a third renaissance to Pittsburgh, our city's restaurants had
undergone a major revamping. Pittsburgh diners can be thankful for
the influx of talented chefs who are creating innovative menus and
whose mantras are "fresh," "local" and "sustainable."
What makes a good restaurant experience?
Memorable meals are served in every neighborhood of the city.
Pittsburgh boasts a long list of creative chefs who serve
high-quality food.
But service? Now that's another story.
Take, for example, the friends lunching at a South Hills restaurant
when the waiter came out with a vacuum cleaner and began buzzing
the carpet inches from their feet.
Or the waiter in black tie at a landmark Mount Washington
restaurant who barked instructions to a colleague on the other side
of the dining room.
Or the restaurant in a historic house on the Slopes in which the
waiter didn't know how to use the computer and mistakenly punched
in something the customer didn't order.
As Post-Gazette restaurant critic, I get more complaints about poor
service at local restaurants than on just about any other subject
on the regional dining scene (except, of course, the high price of
wine on menus, but that's a story for another day). For this report,
I also asked local readers to send in stories of their own experiences.
Vanessa Sterling of Regent Square reported an unpleasant Sunday
night dinner with four friends at an upscale French restaurant in
Fayette County. They all loved their meals and expected to spend a
leisurely evening dining -- but not 3 1/2 hours! There were only a
dozen people dining that night. While they were in one part of the
dining room finishing dessert and coffee, the kitchen staff was in
another area eating and setting tables for the next service shift.
Anita Wagner of Ross experienced a similar problem with a recent
lunch at a Caribbean restaurant in Robinson.
"When a restaurant consistently takes 1 1/2 hours to serve a simple
lunch to workers with a one-hour lunch break, that's more laid-back
than I can take," she said. "It's a shame because the food is
pretty good."
Kristen Haas of Allegheny West took her father to a riverfront
restaurant to celebrate his birthday. After an interminable wait
for a waitress to take their order, they waited 40 minutes for
their appetizers. After 2 hours and 45 minutes there was still no
entree. The waitress was never in evidence. When she finally
appeared, it was to say that the kitchen had forgotten their order.
No apology.
Although the manager offered them a free dinner, they decided to
leave rather than suffer further unprofessional behavior from a
clueless waitress.
A well-known restaurant professional in Pittsburgh was dining in
Washington County with his wife. There was no salt on the table. He
asked his server for salt. Thirteen minutes later the server still
had not returned. He eventually got his salt after the owner recognized him.
Timing is probably the most difficult art that a professional
waiter masters. Another reader recounted a special occasion dinner
in an Italian restaurant where the salad and entree were brought to
the table and left there while the couple were still eating their appetizer.
At a Downtown restaurant I ordered an appetizer and an entree. The
entree was delivered first. When I reminded the waiter that I had
also ordered an appetizer, his reply was, "I know, but it isn't ready yet."
Courses should not be rushed, but 30-minute intervals between
courses are unacceptable.
The Zagat Survey, the popular dining guide that grades restaurants
in 30 urban areas in the United States and Europe (but not
Pittsburgh -- yet) on a scale of 0-30, gives separate scores for
food, decor, and service. It is generally agreed that one mark of a
great restaurant is great service. It should be the case that the
highest-ranking kitchens will also rate good marks for service.
Kevin Joyce, president of the Pennsylvania Restaurant Association
and owner of The Carlton at One Mellon Center, Downtown, wouldn't
talk specifically about what he's heard in general about the
service at local restaurants.
But he did say, however, that "Pittsburgh restaurants are always
striving to improve service.
"The Pennsylvania Restaurant Association recognizes that in order
for a dining experience to be complete, restaurants must provide
wonderful food, a great wine selection and friendly and polished
service."
Every restaurant claims to have a training program for new
waitstaff. But they vary greatly in length and intensity.
Major hotel and restaurant chains have corporate programs that are
designed to produce a consistent level of professional service
throughout the organization. Employees are paid while in training.
There are manuals to be studied and written exams to pass after
which the trainee will serve as an assistant to a veteran waiter
before being given a section of the dining room.
In Pittsburgh, Lidia's in the Strip District, Eat'n Park and all
the Big Burrito Group restaurants (Casbah, Soba, Kaya, Mad Mex, Umi
and Eleven) also provide manuals and exams and pay employees while
they are learning.
Sadly, this focus on professional training is frequently missing in
small, independent restaurants.
Some restaurant owners interviewed acknowledged that the extent of
training that their staff receives is the sanitation and food
safety course required by the Allegheny County Health Department.
The bottom line is that even though waitstaff can earn from $20 to
$30 an hour in an upscale restaurant, the job is rarely recognized
as a profession. (Restaurants pay waiters $2.83 an hour, and the
remainder is from tips.)
The best service in Pittsburgh is unquestionably in restaurants
where there is little turnover among waiters.
The Carlton, Downtown, for example, has waiters who have been
serving there for 20 years. Though they still receive the base
$2.83 an hour, the seasoned professionals bring in high tips and
also receive health benefits and vacation time. Lidia's staff,
which works a minimum of 32 hours a week, get benefits that include
medical, dental and 401K plans and vacations.
One of the nicest aspects of Pittsburgh restaurant service is the
friendliness of the staff and the wide variety of casual dining
spots.
The casual atmosphere is great up to a point. But many diners get
annoyed when a young waiter or waitress addresses them as "Hon" or
asks "Are you guys done yet?"
Other objectionable "casual" behaviors are when waiters stick the
plastic folder containing the bill halfway down the back side of
their trousers, or when waiters serve wine by holding the glass by
the rim with their fingers or pour wine to the brim of the glass,
which leaves no room for the wine aromas to develop.
Then there are the waiters, eager to clear the table, who ask, "Are
you still working on that?" Even worse are those who scoop up
plates before you have finished.
This week I had lunch at a popular East End bistro. The waitress
was cheerful and efficient but the shirt she was wearing was so
dirty and spotted that I recoiled at the thought of her handling my
food. Meanwhile, the owner was sitting at the bar, and I wondered
how he could stand by and allow such unappetizing standards for his staff.
Most people I asked said that they tip servers even when the
service is unacceptable. They tip more when the service is good.
Twenty percent of the pre-tax bill seems to be the average.
(One gentleman who eats every meal in a restaurant told me that he
had never experienced bad service. Then he let me in on his secret.
He hands the server a $20 bill the moment he is seated! He also
gives the server a normal tip at the end of the evening.)
Still, I have heard horror stories from waitstaff about customers
who leave no tips at all. Waiters have to pay income taxes based on
15 percent of the checks they tally. It's particularly not fair
when the customer stiffs the waiter on tips when he's unhappy with
the food, not the service.
What can be done to raise the level of service in Pittsburgh? The
answer lies in providing the kind of professional training that is
beyond the means of small dining establishments.
A vocational program of some sort could be offered that would
result in a corps of servers fully trained to provide the kind of
service our fine restaurants deserve. The graduates of such a
program would join a work force that earns multiples of the minimum wage.
Every good meal is made even better by great service. It's time to
rev up the service in Pittsburgh restaurants.
Elizabeth Downer can be reached at edowner@post-gazette.com or
412-263-1454.
http://www.post-gazette.com
****************************************************************
Hope you stayed with this article all the way!
Wishing you much success,
Richard Saporito
Topserve Restaurant Consulting
www.topserveconsulting.com
www.howtoimprovediningroomserevice.com
(888)276-4808
Topserve Consulting, 147- 45 Beech Ave., Flushing, NY 11355, USA
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