Check, Please!
Just spent a wonderful long weekend in Atlanta with lots of quality time with my adorable daughter — including dinners at what are supposed to be three of the best restaurants in town. Although I am opinionated (!) and judgmental in most areas, I am truly easy to please when it comes to restaurants. I don’t make a fuss about changing ingredients in a dish, or ask a million questions about the menu, or complain about the location of my assigned table, or speak to the waiter in a condescending tone of voice.
But! I like a certain level of service, one that’s neither dismissive nor creepily solicitous. This weekend, I got both extremes. First was dinner at one of those trendy former warehouses; my daughter, four of her friends and I arrived on time for a 7:30 reservation (hey, these 23-year-olds have late parties to attend!) and were kept waiting in a crowded bar area for 45 minutes. Seeing my face (which tells all) after the first half hour, the host said, “We’re waiting for someone to leave your table, but we can’t ask them to hurry. And we won’t ask you to leave, either.” Well, if you don’t have enough tables, buster, don’t take my RESERVATION! The bad service continued after we sat down, but whatever — I’m boring myself as I type this.
Okay, now the other extreme. A well-known restaurant with nouveau southern cuisine — and here comes the waiter, preening and touching us and speaking in a tone of voice I haven’t heard since my last college pep rally. This man is HAPPY. He is ENERGETIC. I feel like the love child of the Grinch and Scrooge (if they could procreate) as I recoil from his ENTHUSIASM. Then I look at my always-polite cousin (the one I idolized as a kid) and see that she’s having the same reaction I am. Whew!
I sympathize with the waiter who just came out with a book about all the horrible things restaurant patrons say and do. I have never been a waiter and would not have the stamina for it. But! If you’re gonna be a waiter at a fine restaurant, figure out how to time the service so it’s attentive but not overbearing, knowledgeable but not obnoxious. Bon appetit.
February 9th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
Don’t worry, this economy will take care of both extremes. The restaurant that keeps you waiting will lose all of its customers. The happy guy will be recruited into a real job. That will just leave the professionals and you can eat in peace, like in Italy or France.