Are you kidding me

Oddly, over the last week I have been having conversations with friends about things that happen to them while out dinning. Interesting is that 90 % of them had not decided if they should say anything to the business , hmm , but they are still talking about it. So this week I wanted to touch base on the " complainants and anger" while eating out issue. There is nothing more upsetting then having a great meal and the wait staff is having their bad day while serving you, getting told that you won't be served because "we close in five min" at a coffee shop, waiting over 45 min to get your meal at lunch while only having 40 min to be there, ordering a meal that has in it's title" eggplant" and not having it in the meal when it comes out, only to be told by the person waiting on you " Oh it depends on the chef, sometimes they put it in and sometimes they forget" EXCUSE ME "All these examples I gave you happened!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


So what are we suppose to do about this. This is my response to that. Tell the business right away, of course if you are so upset that you may be out of control , don't do it then. Wait collect yourself and then do it, this is not the time to make the evening news!

I usually will address the problem right away, I have had in the last six months a few things happen that I had to wait to address because I was too upset. I thought it important that the issue addressed was not about the food but the experience. If you are lucky, which I have been, you get the manager / owner to understand that you want to come back to their place to eat but not if the things that occurred are going to be the standard, nope!

So why would someone tell you that you cannot be served because they close soon? When I heard that story my first thought was " well, what if it were ten to the hour?" I probably will pick another place from now on . Why would I want to take a chance on wasting my time just to be told I can't be served??

OK, the eggplant insistent happen to me. I could not believe it. This was a moment that I just decided to talk directly to the manager, which happen to be the owner, we had eggplant faster than I can say "you bet YA" on our table. And yes I was nice about it, really I was.


Recently while out to lunch, I had a very long wait for a meal. I only had forty minutes, after 35 min I experience started getting more curious than angry about what was going on. I found myself taking notes and wondering if I should write about this using a scale for all the places I have eaten as to the best to worst on service; ah but then something happened, the owner was now standing at my table,wanting to explain what was going on, interesting I thought. Well, I listen and found that my tune had changed about what I wanted to write. I left there thinking that "one really never knows what is going on behind the scenes" In this case it was from a horrible accident that injured the main chef, this slowing him up and unfortunately not beginning able to be replaced, due to his special skill, lt was backing everything up. I left there thinking what I want to write about this place is the fusion of foods they offer. I found too that the chef that was working never lost his cool, as busy as it was and it was HOPPING! The waitress Chris, was kind enough to bring me a free appetizer and apologize for the wait,that always makes one feel better. By the way she was the only one in the section I was in. Handling it perfect. At this point is when the owner as I said then spoke to me. For those of you that may think they knew I wrote a food column, your wrong, They had no clue until I said I did, got love that. Also the owner paid for my meal, which I usually would refuse, I tried , did not work,


I know there are a million stories I could go on and on about this. What I am trying to do is just encourage you to tell someone that has an investment in the place like the owner . They do not want the word of mouth on their business to be bad stuff they want the word of mouth to be something like " You know, you will never believe what happen last night at the restaurant I ate at , they took care of the problem. They actually listen to what I had to say" Yep that is they word of mouth that most business care to hear.

So, that's it just think about it as what you want if it were your business. I always want tasty food that looks great before I get it to my mouth. And then when it hits my mouth all those good given taste buds jump for joy, Lastly when I am done not only am I satisfied but I cannot wait to spread the word. That ,for me, can only happen if I have an environment of happy , smiling and knowledgeable wait staff serving me.

So off that wagon for now. I am excited to be visiting Minneapolis this week to go out and find something new to eat and of course share and tell you about.


I would love to hear your stories though and any opinion you my have on my thoughts.
I look forward to sharing recipes with you too.





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