Lunch today was at The Beach. Those poor people couldn't put a foot right with our table today. I felt so sorry for them. The universe was really conspiring against them.
Little did they know but they had two of Hobart's more aware and focussed customer service proponents sitting at our table! You must all be aware of my thoughts on customer service by now. Well, double that for my lunch companion who is a trainer in customer service! And which table out of all those occupied at The Beach did the harrassed staff manage to overlook? Yep! Correct!
I arrived first, provided the name the booking was under and was shown to the table with the promise of the waitperson's return with menu etc (which I took to mean water, as there were glasses already on the table, and all other tables had full water bottles on them). My lunch partner Nicky arrived shortly after and we sat and chatted animatedly, as girls do - for about 1/4 hour as the place got more and more full and noisy. Still no sign of the menu, or water, or drinks or offer of anything. Not at all perturbed (we were having such a great conversation), we stopped a waitperson and explained we hadn't had a menu or drink or anything yet, let alone ordered. She was most apologetic, apologised profusely and whizzed off to get all! She also took the glasses off the table as she said they were dirty - which we hadn't noticed.
A different waitperson then arrived with all we needed, promising to return with the blackboard listing of todays specials when the other table had finished with it. That took about 5-10 more minutes. It was starting to become a bit more tiresome by then, especially for me as I knew I had another appointment at 2.00, and a quick calculation of timing meant I knew I'd have trouble getting there by 2.00.
Anyway - eventually we had our order taken, were settled with drinks, and happy - till the food came out, Nicky opened up her serviette, and found to her horror and amazement that it was a USED serviette! It had smear and wipe marks all over the inside of it. It was gross!
She called waitperson over to show her - and her reaction was the same as ours - YUK!!! Again she was most embarrassed, and rapidly replaced it.
The rest of the meal went off OK. I had the Seafood Pizza, pictured above. It was priced at $21 and was really tasty. It was topped with calamari, scallops, mussels, prawns and fish - and lots of garlic, onion, tomato, cheese and chives.
All in all, a really beautiful restaurant, situated in one of the best positions in Hobart. It was a lovely sunny day today - perfect for eating in such idyllic surroundings. It was just a shame that we had to rush through eating the food, and we both actually ended up taking home what we hadn't had time to eat over the course of the meal time. Despite all the hiccups, the staff acknowledged and were duly apologetic for all the stuff-ups - which at least goes some of the way towards making it alright.
If it were my restaurant, especially on a great day like today (clear blue skies and lots of sun) I'd ensure I was prepared for the influx of booked and unbooked customers that you would predictably get in weather like this - by having either adequate staff numbers rostered on, or well-trained staff rostered on, as well as instituting a more thorough system of processes so that kind of thing could never happen.
Due to the time constraints, I ordered the pizza, aware that I wouldn't finish and would want to take it away for later. If my order had been taken at 12.35 (5 minutes after I arrived) I would have ordered the Lamb Shanks as many have recommended them from The Beach, and I'm dying to try them.
Predictably, I was late for my next appointment by 15 minutes. Sorry Sally!
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12 comments:
It's always quite busy in there, Rita, so the sunny day wouldn't be a factor in how many turned up, I don't think.
So the staff situation shouldn't really be in the equation.
I like it there and have never had a bad meal or service, or been overlooked...so you were the statistic that proves no place can get it right 100 per cent!
The staff are very friendly and, as you found, sincere when stuff-ups occur.
What was the floor manager doing during your hiccups?
However, that pizza looked marvellous. I think the missus will have us down there again quick-smart.
Hi Sir G - yes, I'm afraid even the best laid plans of mice and men etc etc... I really did feel sorry for our poor waitress. She had to keep coming back and apologising for things that seemed to be constantly going wrong. The floor manager had been "in the office" earlier, and had emerged to find it a tad busy! To her credit, she did as much as she could to get things happening.
But it was bad luck that it was our table that copped the unfortunate stuff-ups, and that this was the day I had allocated to write about my meal there.
Rita I have always found it intriguing that any paper work must be done during the service times?
What is more important that serving when you are open?
Surely it can wair until the guests have gone?
It is surprising that in so many places you'll often find the manager/floor supervisor 'in the office' when service is on.
When you think that a lunch time place has say, three hours tops to extract money from punters, why are so many hunched over a screen in the office during these crucial times? Yes they come out when alerted that its busy but for crissakes they shouldn't have to be told.
The same for the kitchen. I used to have a chef who would get all the function work done to the detriment of the a la carte prep. He did this so he could get out on time in the afternoon but when ever we would get walk-ins to the restaurant he would be ill prepared. Consequently the food would go out after a long wait because he wasn't set up or conversely he would rush it out without sufficient attention to detail. Either way the customer suffered because he wasn't prioritising the work or giving the restaurant the respect it deserved.
All managers should be on the floor or at the stoves during peak times. Period.
This has always been a pet hate of mine.
Well said Mr Ramsay, er Gobbler.
As I said, what was the floor manager doing?
I never knew they would even contemplate doing office work when lunch or dinner was on.
It's just so silly.
Yum, that pizza looks good. Funnily enough, I was just thinking how much I fancied a seafood pizza. But the dirty glasses and serviette turned me off, I'm afraid.
We had an almost opposite problem at Monty's on Thursday night. We were waited on a bit too much. The waitress had very definite opinions about things, and had no trouble interrupting our conversation to let us know her views. Before main course arrived, we were interrupted again to see the cheese menu - which we had to order from before even seeing our mains "as the chef likes to serve them at room temperature". Thereafter she interrupted our discussion about the cheeses (a fab list by the way) to lecture us about them and her opinion on what we should have.
might not have minded so much if our wine had been quicker coming to the table, and if the first plate of food had reached us before 9.30.
We did get some bread after asking for it (we were getting a bit squiffy and very hungry) but it was the presliced bagette that we later had toasted with the cheese plate.
Funny quibbles I know, but it was a very expensive meal, which does make the judgements a bit sharper.
PS Rita - have you been to Mojo next to PO in South Hobart. Had late afternoon drinkies on the deck yesterday and it was quite nice - cheese plate included a goat camenbert style cheese and a dolce gorgonzola (quite different from the night before - no names or details were given!)
Gobbler - I can tell it's a pet hate of yours! And as a customer I agree.
Lonie - the pizza was fine - not quite up to my favourite from Scorchers but nearly.
Kitty - Montys is one place I've got in my sights for eating at soon. After reading your comments, I'm trying to decide which one I'd prefer - to be over-serviced or under-serviced. I think over-serviced because at least you're getting the stuff (ie service & food), rather than watching everyone else getting it!
No haven't yet entered Soho but will. Didn't realise they had a deck - is it out back? That'd be really pleasant in the late afternoons. I'll get my lazy arse down there soon.
Have only just discovered your site - what is the go on doggy bags here? With regard to rostering extra staff on sunny days - if only all those of us managing/owning restuarants had the luxury of ringing compentent staff on the morning of a sunny day and asking them to make themselves available for maybe only a minimum of 2 hours or perhaps 6 hours -depending on the trade - let's be realistic. Hands on Managers/Chefs who lead by example, along with sequence of service and acknowledging customers go a long way. No, we don't always get it right, but we don't bury our heads in the sand and pretend our customers don't exist just because we "got hit".
Anon 9.23 - Hello and welcome - it wasn't doggy bags, it was pizza boxes - most pizza shops have them for pizzas (or half eaten pizzas) to be taken home in! You make good points. As The Beach isn't one of my regular haunts I can't say what the general practice there is regarding service on a busy day. The staff's acknowledgement of (and apology for) their stuff-ups was the adult way to deal with that circumstance, I thought.
In an ideal world it shouldn't happen - but we all know this world is rarely ideal.
Had a great pizza here today, but goodness me, it was very very busy. Staff were rushed off their feet. Recession? Bull crap! Business is booming for some.
Speaking for myself, I own a cafe in Hobart and we have never been so busy.
Sadly our table of 10 a week ago had a very poor experience here - heavily understaffed, could hear chefs yelling inappropriately in the kitchen, staff were stressed and as such not friendly or helpful, orders forgotten and a one hour + wait for dinner, which when cooking for a function where everything can be largely prepared in advance, is totally unacceptable. The Beach Restaurant in Blackmans Bay is clearly not what it once was.
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