I’m curious about why it is that when clearing back plates after someone has eaten their meal, and there is a substantial amount of food left on the plate, wait staff in restaurants and cafes often don’t enquire as to the reason why.
I had an email today from a regular reader of Rita’s blog describing just such a situation. She and her mother had ordered soup of the day, tasted it, then decided they didn’t like the taste at all. They left it.
Coming to the table after a suitable interval, their wait person merely cleared the plates away without asking about why it was that hardly any soup had been eaten by either person.
Not being people who like to complain, they didn’t volunteer anything to the wait person. The same thing happened to me recently. I thought about making a comment at the time, but decided I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to complain, so left it, thinking to myself, “Well bugger them”.
I realize that is not the best way of handling this issue. Most times I feel strong enough to voice my rightful concerns, but sometimes I just don’t, and can’t be bothered. I’m sure these people felt the same way.
It smacks to me of staff who just don’t want to take responsibility for anything!
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
11 comments:
Yes, we have to speak up, Rita. It's shocking when you see someone leaving their meal and the staff don't ask why.
Maybe they know why! That's why they don't ask.
We don't have to be rude, just tell it like it is. I had that at a steak house in Hobart when my missus was too mortified to send back her very rare steak.
I gave her my chicken satay thingies and ate her very red steak for her. I don't like rare either.
I just chewed it down and helped it on its way with big sloshes of red wine.
Now, I would ``point out'' things weren't right.
But, why don't they care? It's disappointing for all of us, this attitude of not giving a damn by staff.
I agree it's annoying when they don't ask if you enjoyed your meal, if you aren't given the opportunity to make a comment often you won't
Another annoying trend we have noticed is not being given the bill at the table, yesterday my friend and I were given the bill and I noted an error in the cafe's favour (this was in Burnie), if we had gone up to pay we would have split the bill and thought nothing of it (it was only $4.50 but still). Is this a ploy for them to "up" your bill without you knowing about it?
This post raises a vexxed question & I think it might be at the core of why the staff dont enquire as why the food has not been eaten.
Many places simply dont have a protocol for this type of situation & it is usually discretionary.
Say if a cafe makes a pea & ham soup, it is ordered & the patron decides that they dont like it should the place offer them something else? My view is probably yes as I want them to leave happy.
Where it gets difficult though, is there might not be anything wrong with that soup per se so offering a substitute will cost the cafe.
I have seen a few times where the cafe owner has sent out two different substitutes which were both sent back because the patron didn't like them, even though they were perfectly fine. My point is where does it end, until they taste every menu item until they settle on one?
As to not wanting to complain. I think it is the diners duty to speak up then & there if there is something wrong with the food. How can the place ever adress the issue if no one lets them know?
I agree wholeheartedly that the wait staff should enquire if they see untouched food, not only is it part of their job but its also just common sense.
I have to disagree with Sir G's & tassiegirls points though. Sir G, the steak was not cooked the way your wife ordered it. It could have been re-cooked without too much trouble I'm sure & in a steak house I'm sure this type of request would not seem outrageous.
tassie girl-I seriously hope you dont really beleive that restaurants & cafes have a policy of gettings bills wrong in order to fool patrons? More than likely it was a mistake, simple as that.
Dont take this the wrong way but your comment sounded a bit on the paranoid side to me, cafes & restaurants aren't baddies waiting for you to drop your guard you know, as Rita will atttest they are run by peolple who occasionaly make mistakes-we all do.
My experience yesterday at RVL when I did not finish my meal was "is it that revolting that you can't finish this"? I had to do a double take, the meal was not revolting just mediocre, lumpy gluey cous cous and ordinary kofta balls. I did not make a comment as I felt the waitress was too confronting, not wanting to go into detail I said that I was full. The food was not the fault of the waitress but her manner needs refining.
This is a subject I often think about long and hard.
I feel it depends on a variety of influences whether to bring a shortcoming in your meal to the attention of the restaurant.
If 2 whole bowls of soup were left, surely the waitress should have enquired as to why. If she wasn't comfortable with this, surely the chef should have made it out to the dining room to find out what the problem was. I know I would if it was me.
Then it comes down to was the soup as described on the menu and just not to the taste of the diners or was there a problem with the soup itself? If it was the soup I would definately be saying something, no matter who I was with or where I was. I find a quiet word with your waitperson usually does the trick. If it just wasn't to my taste, then thats not the chefs fault and I wouldn't be saying anything. A few times I've gone to great restaurants, but made poor choices when I ordered. My fault.
I once sent a meal back {the one and only time I've ever done this},because I felt it was not what I ordered. It was supposed to be grilled trevalla and it was so not grilled and possibly not trevalla and just awful really. And here lies a BIG reason a lot of people just leave without saying anything, I had to speak to 3 different people about my meal, each time feeling worse and worse, the waitress got the manager, who got the chef, all this happening in a packed dining room. My meal was replaced but was it worth it to be made feel like a whinger.
I'm sure it was just as uncomfortable for my husband also, who had to listen over and over again.
I've had talks with Rita and Sir G about this very subject before. On an occassion I was served a dish that was a bit burnt and dry, as I was dining with a group and didn't want to make anyone feel uncomfortable, I just left the offending part of my meal prominently positioned on my plate. As the owner was at our table when the plates were cleared I thought perhaps he may comment, but no such luck. The rest of my meal at this place had been wonderful so hopefully this was an oversight.
I agree with gobbler. If you've got a problem, speak up, or restaurants will just assume all is wonderful and not fix the issue. I encourage this whenever I hear negative comments about any where. My first question is always "did you say anything to the staff?" I don't think anyone should complain too loudly if they aren't willing to bring it to the attention of the place in question. Yet as I said before this is sometimes easier said than done.
Yes, Gobbler, steaks are often not what the customer ``thinks'' he wants!
My medium maybe too well done for some.
But my point was that my missus felt she couldn't complain about the steak without breaking the spell of having a nice meal with two good friends (who were picking up the tab).
So, it's about delivering what was asked for. Even if you do speak up, the time it takes to fix often means you are eating alone, as your fellow diners have finished.
This happened to us when we did send a steak back at Salamanca. It came back still wrong. I asked if it could be butterflied to help.
By the time the steak was ready (ruined by then) everyone else was well finished and the mood was ruined.
As for bill paranoia, that's a wee bit rough on Tassiegirl, Gobbler. We have had mysterious bottles of wine on our bills in Hobart. Not often.
It seems to happen when the group is over half a dozen.
In fact there is a debate raging right now on a London food blog about a Chinese restaurant which is the centre of an adding-on scandal.
Lots of complaints.
I think in Tassie we're blessed with honest eateries but it's always worth double checking your bill, Waiters make honest mistakes too.
But we are at the mercy of the chef and the waiters. The mood is ruined when they get it wrong and when you complain the night always goes downhill from there.
It's like a balloon of pleasure has been popped.
Look, the waitresses ruined our visit to Cygnet with absolute amateurism, sorry to say mate.
We took a long drive to visit and had looked forward to it all week.
The older I get, the less likely I am to drive from Hobart to Cygnet for a feed. So it has to be memorable for all the right reasons.
It's not like it's just round the corner so we can pop in to give it a second visit.
I take your points Sir G. I do understand that it gets complicated when someone else is footing the bill & one dosn't want to seem ingracious. I also understand that yes what was ordered should be delivered. Period.
I wasn't being too harsh on tassiegal, in fact I understand her queries, but it is quite difficult to seperate inflection from the text when reading these comments-this fuelled our mis-understandings early on in the peace & you & I had to work this out a year ago, remember?
As to 'my work in progress' in Cygnet. I cant blame you for feeling that way. I would too quite frankly. If only I could get everyone to do/act/serve as I would like them to, beleive me it is a work in progress.
For your information I paste up on our notice board all the commments good & bad that people make about our place. Interestingly some staff really engage with this yet others couldn't give a shit, which really disappoints me as I think as a business we can really benefit from the constructive criticism that this forum offers.
When things go wrong, doesn't it just leave you with a feeling of such disappointment.
Most people I know have to save and prepare for an evening out. Be it organising sitters, saving the hard earned, whatever. I am legendary for taking ages for making up mind what to have when I dine out. It's such a treasured experience for me and I treat it as a bit of an indulgence, but it is my passion and indulge I do whenever possible. When the side gets let down, I do try to put it into perspective and be objective and fair but it does make one think twice about returning to scene of the crime.
I understand the hospitality world is not easy and you can't please all the people all the time. I love to cook gourmet meals at home and entertain, but I wouldn't work in a restaurant for quids and admire and envy anyone with the fortitude to do this, from wait staff all the way to the chef.
So when I recieve great food or service, I rave about it.
You have to have some passion, and some people so obviously do. I applaud them, but if it's just a wedgie job,{the job you have in between proper jobs} how can you put your heart into it. It shows, believe me.
This is just one of the reasons I love this blog. Those that deserve applause are applauded and those that don't, get off quite lightly sometimes, but it is all noted.
By the way gobbler, I too have had a bottle of wine added to my bill, but only at a place I wouldn't go to ever again. We did actually order said bottle, but due to the crappy service never got it and then were charged for it any way. It was a night of mayhem at this place and afterwards I wrote a 3 page letter advising them of my unhappiness with every thing that went wrong. 7 years later I am yet to return and tell all I know to avoid it like the plague. Talk about Fawlty Towers. I was even followed out of this place by the manager and abused in the carpark for daring to complain.
I feel much lighter now. Venting is a wonderful thing.
Another wonderful thing is a perfect evening out, wining and dining. Everything as expected, sometimes even better!
Meant to say I've never had a reply to that letter sent over 7 years ago.
Talk about complaining, chanced upon this site today:
www.hobartrestaurantsnitch-shelley.blogspot.com
I second cristina's point about it sometimes being hard to complain. A few years ago I found a slug in my salad at a Canberra restaurant - not one of those tiny ones, either. I'm not disgusted by slugs, but I don't want them in my dinner so I sent the meal (trout) back. I didn't want a replacement ;)
The waiter came back and told me the Chef had said I'd probably put the slug in there myself.
Post a Comment