Customer service in restaurants is a huge pet peeve of mine. It is an absolute must to truly enjoy a dining experience. I have crossed restaurants off my list if I have experienced poor service there. But what if you receive great service, but see other patron's servers slacking off? Should that affect how you rate or view a restaurant?
This exact situation happened to me recently. Sitting at a restaurant bar, I just wanted to have a few drinks and quick bite. My server seemed to be the main bartender, one of three manning the bar that night. One of the others seemed to be fairly inexperienced, which seemed strange on a Friday night. The other was in charge of the other side of the bar.
The whole thing was a very interesting dynamic. I could see as the night was going on, the place was getting busier and busier. Drink tickets were coming fast and furious. My server had 5-6 tickets in front of him. The other experienced bartender was tending to a few people on his side of the bar. I could see the rest of the staff was seeing the problem as things were getting backed up. I could also hear the bartender serving me muttering under his breath.
There are several questions that I had about the whole situation. Why was the third bartender someone with seemingly less experience who they were not willing to throw into the fire? Why was the other bartender not doing his share of the work? Were others in the restaurant experiencing any less service than I was? And finally, when judging the experience as a whole, should I let what I was seeing and hearing influence my excellent experience? Honestly, I think the only way you can go about doing a good job is reporting everything you heard and witnessed. You might be able to chalk it up to a bad night, but I would think a restaurant critic would have to be honest with his readers and let them know that while his service was great, problems may exist. I would also question management as to why a)they had an inexperienced bartender, almost as a third wheel and b)why the other bartender wasn’t doing his job. Overall, my experience was excellent and I would go back again in a heartbeat. The situation just leaves me wondering.
The whole thing was a very interesting dynamic. I could see as the night was going on, the place was getting busier and busier. Drink tickets were coming fast and furious. My server had 5-6 tickets in front of him. The other experienced bartender was tending to a few people on his side of the bar. I could see the rest of the staff was seeing the problem as things were getting backed up. I could also hear the bartender serving me muttering under his breath.
There are several questions that I had about the whole situation. Why was the third bartender someone with seemingly less experience who they were not willing to throw into the fire? Why was the other bartender not doing his share of the work? Were others in the restaurant experiencing any less service than I was? And finally, when judging the experience as a whole, should I let what I was seeing and hearing influence my excellent experience? Honestly, I think the only way you can go about doing a good job is reporting everything you heard and witnessed. You might be able to chalk it up to a bad night, but I would think a restaurant critic would have to be honest with his readers and let them know that while his service was great, problems may exist. I would also question management as to why a)they had an inexperienced bartender, almost as a third wheel and b)why the other bartender wasn’t doing his job. Overall, my experience was excellent and I would go back again in a heartbeat. The situation just leaves me wondering.
