It’s Saturday night! Date night! You and your wife/husband/girlfriend/boyfriend are ready to dress up a little, have a few cocktails and treat yourselves to a nice meal. You even made a reservation at your favorite restaurant earlier in the week because you wanted your favorite table. You know the one, the corner table tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the kitchen and the noise. But what’s this? You got to the restaurant right on time and your table isn’t ready. No biggie you’ll just grab a couple drinks at the … oh … the bar is packed. Your night isn’t exactly going as planned so far but that’s fine it’ll only be a couple of minutes.
Twenty minutes have passed and you still haven’t been seated, which is annoying. Isn’t that the point of making a reservation? The hostess is apologetic and friendly, but definitely stressed. She explains that your table has their bill, they just haven’t paid it yet. She may even indulge a little and roll her eyes as she tells you that they’ve been sitting there for hours and just won’t budge. She offers to grab you a cocktail from the bar. You decline because you are certain it won’t be much longer and you don’t have anywhere to sit anyway and would rather just wait.
Another ten or fifteen minutes go by and the hostess from earlier approaches you and asks if you’d like to be seated at a different table. She feels badly but the couple sitting at your preferred table just ordered another round of drinks and she can’t just make them get up and leave. At this point you are frustrated. You’ve been waiting over a half an hour for a table that you reserved days, maybe even a week in advance. You want that table because it was the table you dined at on your first date with your now spouse.
“No. I don’t want another table. How can they just sit there when there are people waiting for the table? I don’t understand how there is nothing you can do. Tell them there are reservations waiting” – or something along these lines.
You are frustrated and understandably so! The hostess brings over her manager and asks if there is anything they can do to make you more comfortable. The manager seems very calm and collected considering the restaurant is incredibly busy. This is annoying to you because he/she should be upset that your evening isn’t going the way it should be going. His offer of a cocktail on the house is accepted but you are still irritated at the whole situation.
FINALLY your table is ready. The manager seats you and immediately drops off a complimentary appetizer and your evening can now continue on as planned. Unfortunately your food is taking longer than usual to come out of the kitchen, which is obviously disappointing since you just waited 45 minutes for your table. When your server does finally serve you your meals, he is polite, friendly, and concerned about your experience but also seems rushed and maybe even a little panicked. You feel uncomfortable asking for something else because of his demeanor so you keep your mouth shut about the fact that you want another drink, or a condiment. But this makes your experience less than ideal so at the end of the night, you leave dissatisfied with the service and say so to the manager who promises to discuss the conversation with the server and hostess and make sure the problems are corrected for next time.
This is the first post in a series of Busy Saturday Night posts from the perspectives of all parties involved. Does this scenario sound at all familiar? It could have happened in another variation as well. My point is, this is a relatively common scene in the restaurant world. What I hope to do is to help all voices in this predicament be heard.
But for now, if you are this diner, I have two pieces of advice.
- Don’t feel badly asking your server for something if it will impact your dining experience no matter how busy they seem. The goal is always to give the best customer experience possible.
- Don’t let your experience on an incredibly busy evening taint your view on the restaurant as a whole. If your food was enjoyable, give it another shot. First impressions aren’t always everything. And if the bad experience wasn’t your first impression, there must have been something bringing you back beforehand. Remember why you like the restaurant and give them another chance!
Rebecca McKinney
I wanted to create this blog for a few reasons. First and foremost, to share tips, tricks, and knowledge about the food and beverage industry in general but also to help people see a different side of the restaurant world. Every restaurant has a totally unique culture and world within it. I want to help open people’s eyes to more than how fast the service is or how easy or hard it is to secure a reservation.
So, thanks for stopping by! I welcome your ideas, input, and feedback and hope you enjoy!
Eat well & travel often,
Becky McKinney
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My husband and I do not go out for dinner often, we are much more comfortable at home, I like to research and plan shop,and cook meals. When we do go out it is always amazing to us that when the hostess seats us at a table we then have to wait for the waiter for a drink order. Why doesn’t the hostess take our drink order. Restaurant could make more money and we would be seated and happy.
Hi Karon!
Thanks so much for reading and for your comment!
I definitely see where you are coming from. Every restaurant is different but in general, while the entire staff is meant to work as a team and help each other out, there are always defined roles. Many times the hostess doesn’t have access to the computer system to input a drink order and it can sometimes take longer to pull the assigned server aside to have them put the order in than it would for the server to get to your table on their own. Also, many hosts/hostesses are expected at the door to greet each and every guest. If he/she was seating and retrieving drink orders from each table, more likely than not, another guest will enter the restaurant without a greeter and then be waiting at the front, a phone call will be missed, or another table will be waiting for their check. It can absolutely be frustrating when you feel like you are waiting for something as simple as a soda or a glass of water so you are always welcome to ask the host for your drink as he/she is seating you and be assured that the drink will get to you. But typically, it’s easier for the server to take care of this to avoid confusion.