IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES/IT WAS THE WORSER OF TIMES

There is a restaurant near us that had been Aaron Burr’s headquarters during the American Revolution. No, he wasn’t dining there—he was just revolting—in several senses of the word. Aaron Burr had a chequered career. Our last visit to this restaurant pretty much evoked the spirit of Aaron Burr. 

We had enjoyed this restaurant many times in the past. They had closed for a few months for renovation and we made the mistake of going just after they re-opened. In the past, we had sat upstairs in a lovely and quiet room. This time, they seated us close to the bar. We thought that it could be okay.  Our bad—it wasn’t. It was noisy and chaotic. So much for ambience. But the service was worse.

The server took our order. She was a bit inexperienced but pleasant. The appetizer arrived pretty quickly. Then, we waited for our entrees. And waited. And waited. Our server had pretty much disappeared, and when we did catch a glimpse of her, she slithered away. Finally, it was time to get serious. I grabbed a more experienced looking server and explained the problem. Although initially earnest, he came by a few times and told us that our entrees were coming. When he put out a dish of oregano for Howard’s pizza, we though that we were back on the front burner. (I know—bad pun.) But the oregano sat there as a decorative reminder that we were being ignored. I finally caught sight of the manager—he looked like a character in a New Yorker cartoon. And acted like one. I caught his eye. He averted my gaze and scurried away. We finally had the server get another manager. A woman who was inexperienced and inept. We couldn’t even say “Please sir; we want some more” because we didn’t have anything to have more of. We finally got a limp apology, a mediocre dinner, and there was no bill. 

Having such a negative experience in a place that had formerly been good, it seemed worth calling the manager the next day. I finally reached Mr. New Yorker. His response didn’t add to my confidence. He knew us, and when I asked why he avoided us when he knew that there was a problem, he fumbled on that one. A disingenuous comment that he was running to check on our dinners. Really? I doubt it. If that were true, he should have stopped to tell us that. “My staff isn’t trained.”  Maybe they shouldn’t have opened before they were up to speed. The end result was that I should call before we returned and he would make sure that things were better. Would we trust that tepid response? Not really. We haven’t been back. I felt my inner Dickens saying “It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair”. Admittedly, that’s a bit dramatic, but it’s hard to lose a former resource.

The stars seemed to be aligned against us that weekend. The next night, we went to a reliable and favorite restaurant. Howard’s entree came out quickly. My burger took forever. The difference here was that several servers came by to check on us and to apologize for the delay. Our server took the initiative to bring the manager to us. She apologized, took responsibility for making sure that my burger was appropriately cooked, and didn’t make excuses.

Why was Restaurant #1 a flop and Restaurant #2 a winner in the end?

1) Restaurant # 1 spent so much energy avoiding the starving guests (us) that they prolonged the negative vibe.

2) They were pretty cavalier about when the food would arrive and about the undertrained staff.

3) The excuses and indifference were a turn off to the point that if we go back, it will be a while. And we’re not sure that it’s worth trying again-maybe/maybe not. 

4) Restaurant #2 immediately saw the problem, apologized honestly, and took responsibility for their mistake. 

When a business doesn’t get it right, the experience can be put aside if they just man up and take responsibility in a way that assures a better experience in the future.

“It is a far, far better thing that we do, then we have ever done”. We’ve ignored Restaurant #1 and gone back to Restaurant #2 many times since.

Apologies to Charles Dickens. Perhaps the title of this piece should be “THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE HUNGRY”?