Small Things, Big Impact

Canadians love to eat out!  Whether it be as a couple, with family or friends and maybe even for some alone time. What someone looks for in a restaurant is subjective. People look for different characteristics in a restaurant. Characteristics like: " Location",  "Price", "Ambience", "Food" and many more.

But what I look for is…..

“ SERVICE ”

Why do you go to your favourite resturant or cafe? Would you mind paying a few extra bucks so you can have a nice evening with your friends, family or loved ones? Where do you go to de-stress? I go to places that allow me to just relax.

Let me explain through the following short story.

Last summer I came back to Canada for a visit. I usually stayed home a little over a month and in that time I try to consume as much good Canadian food as possible and by good food I mean cookie cutter restaurants ( East Side Mario’s, Swiss Chalet est.  I am not a foodie ). My friends and I always got into discussions about tipping. Being a former bartender and server, I like to tip; however I don't think all servers or bartenders are equal. My friend on the other hand, well, she loves to tip even more than I do. I mean she tips 20-25% on every bill (as all the servers cheer). Debates on what is appropriate to tip and when irrupt. Her view is summed up as follows, 

“I don’t care about service, as long as my order is right and my food is good.” 

Most of the time I agree, however sometimes I think service matters. 
Ok, that was a lie, it always matters.

Swiss Chalet is the “McDonalds” of dine in restaurants. The food is cheap, the same everywhere you go, it’s frequented by seniors (seriously the restaurant is 70% seniors no matter the time of day) and that’s not a bad thing as it makes the restaurant fairly quite even during the dinner rush. Anyway, my mom (only 57 so not quite senior) loves it there! She would eat there every night if she could. Though I have always been fairly lukewarm on the place, but when I am home, if I can go out with mom (just her and I) I go.

One evening my philosophy on serving was put to the test. I picked my friend up from work and she was exhausted and starved so we went to the good ole Chalet. No line, just walked in. I wanted to sit in a specific server’s section (Amy = Great Service) that we had the last time we were there ( after all no matter where we sit the food is the same ). She said this didn’t matter and that she was starving. So, being the good friend, I did as I was told and we were sat at a random table, though within viewing distance of the server I desired to sit with (and who still works there by the way ). After being sat by a rather cheerful hostess and given our menus we proceeded to wait about 10 minutes before even being greeted by our server. She flipped open her note pad and seeming quite weeded ( when a server has too many tables and they are stressed its called being in the weeds ) asked us if we were “all set”. We were, as the menu is standard and we just know what we like there. My friend got the quarter chicken (white meat) fries and coleslaw, and I, the half back ribs, chicken (white meat) salad and coleslaw. 

Like I said above, if you have never seen the menu at Swiss Chalet is far from extensive. There is really chicken, chicken, ribs, chicken, salad, chicken; you get the point? Though their chicken is pretty good and their gravy (Chalet Sauce) is very good. The ribs are cheap and good ( back ribs = less fatty ). Our meal with drinks was about 30$. She had coffee and I had coke (both bottomless/unlimited).

Our server's tone of voice when taking our order was somewhere in between getting scolded by your grade 5 teacher and the tone of voice of a starting pitcher in a post game interview after getting rocked.

She brought our drinks 10 minutes later and I was super thirsty. I downed my coke like I was a marathon runner in the home stretch, but our server went MIA (not the rapper) and we were left to flag a hostess for refills. The food eventually came, brought by another server as we sat and watched our server bring food to other tables, take time to refill their drinks and generally do what I would say would be an adequate job…

WITH OTHER TABLES! 

When she finally came to check on us after our food was delivered, I had to tell her that my food was wrong (dark meat instead of white), that my friend didn’t get any gravy and that we needed refill drinks (YES AGAIN). Upon hearing this news she sighed, took my food away, sent another hostess with my drink and eventually (my friend had started eating) brought out my corrected food.

We finished our dinner in a timely fashion (we didn’t camp in her section or anything) and subsequently watched her Ignore Us as we had dirty plates on our table for 15 minutes. She brought the debit machine to the table beside us and therefore we could beg her for our bill. Eventually, our bill managed to find its way to our table. She left yet again for 10 minutes returning with the machine.  We never saw her again. We left the debit machine on the table, grabbed our stuff and left. By this time the restaurant was almost empty. She was by far not the worst server I have ever had (if you want that experience go to a restaurant in the country of Malaysia), but that’s not the point of the story either (nor the point of the blog). We tipped 15% anyway, mind you my friend always leaves 20 to 25.

Remember earlier I mentioned that we were near the server’s section that I would have requested? Well, they obviously sat someone in her section. The couple plopped there were older (mid 40’s early 50’s) and we sat for our entire meal in awe of the man (early 50s, ragged trucker hat, belly protruding out of the bottom of his machine washed black fishing t-shirt ) accosting the young blonde female server throughout. We pitied her. I think they had 2 quarter chicken dinners with coffee and their bill couldn’t have been ore than 20 dollars. I watched the wife pay, and take her change leaving about 2 dollars for the girl who was no older than 25, clearly works there full time ( had seen her before ) and not just a college student making some extra cash while living with mom.

We will go back.

So if you have yet to figure out what the blog is all about and why you should be reading it religiously here it is. I care about service. Like I said, I am not a foodie. Food is important and I love food, but what is often overlooked are the people who do a really great job and some of the interesting stories that happen over dinner. The blog will give you a window into accessible restaurants. Restaurants we all can eat at. Whether you are a family of 4 who gets to go out once a month or are like us who eat out maybe 2 or 3 times a week. I will tell you where I went, how good the service was and make some general comments about the food (what the restaurant does well, what it doesn’t, if there is something on the menu to eat or avoid), but mostly I’m all about the service. No it will not be a bunch of negatives, in fact most will be positive (as most service is!!), you might even find a server you can ask for on your next trip recommended here! 

Enjoy!

Update!
The next blog discusses one of the most important moments in my life…oh and the best sports bar / restaurant in Toronto!