Service in NYC Restaurants

[Felonius]

Clearly your father provided an admirable level of service.  Given the engagement situation looming and being so special, I think it shows a lot that your dad went to that level of effort for the gentleman.  I think for something like that though, more than just a handful of restaurants in the city would try to do the same, or at least I think there are a number of GM's who would think to do something similarly accomodating.  With that important a life event, I think the bar is raised a bit in terms of accommodation.

Now to continue to have that crappy bottle years later, that's off the charts!

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My Dad did this sort of thing for more than one reason.

Firstly, hospitality and service was really his life's passion. He once told me that providing truly high end/fine dining was a lot like being in a Broadway show. The cast may do the same play over and over, but to each theater goer the experience was likely a special occasion. Therefore, everyone in service had to put their heart into it to rise to that level of customer expectations. This belief guided his hiring decisions. He said that great staff had to share that love of pleasing people, something he felt was innate and couldn't be taught. Employees were hired based more on personality and enthusiasm, and then trained to the level of technical service required.

Secondly, it was a calculated business strategy. He believed that word of mouth was the single most important factor in establishing and growing a long term client base. All the advertising in the world couldn't overcome the damage done if a customer had a poor dining/service experience and proceeded to badmouth the restaurant to their friends and colleagues. He would go to great lengths to make sure that eveyone left with a good taste in their mouth, even if that customer was a huge pain or someone who he really didn't care to have as a customer. Ironically, it was almost a sort of perverse challenge at times. If he could please a difficult customer, he felt he and his staff had really earned their pay that day. The only exception were people who were blatantly disrespectful to staff, in which case he would intervene and take the flack. He had little tolerance for that small group of people who actually derived pleasure from mistreating the servers for no reason.

[chefboy24]

your dad was a smart man. viewing a difficult customer as a challenge makes it a lot more rewarding professionally, he's absolutely right.

[Felonius]

chefboy, I agree with you about the whole contrived manner of speaking thing. It's at best distracting and at worst ridiculous.

I'll never forget an interaction I had many years ago with a waiter who was trying WAY too hard with his shtick.

I happened to know the sommelier at the restaurant, and had a friendly conversation with him about various things, including some cases of Burgundy I had just bought at auction. The waiter must have overheard this, and when he was refilling my glass a bit later he tried to continue the conversation. He asked if I collected wine. Somewhat embarassed, I said in a friendly way that I was more of a drinker than a collector, but that I did keep a number of things cellared until they were ready to drink. To which he replied "Sir, may I enquire as to the depth of your cellar?" (This is absolutely verbatim, and I have never forgotten it!) I almost fell out of my seat. ENQUIRE AS TO THE DEPTH OF MY CELLAR??? I wanted to say "Oh about 12 feet", but instead I politely said something like "oh not very large". When the meal was finished and the check brought, the waiter said "Sir, it was my infinite pleasure to serve you today." At that point it was all I could do not to burst into a fit of laughter. My date and I tried so hard not to giggle, but alas we both had to cover our mouths. The waiter realized this and retreated with the look of a scolded puppy. I felt bad for seeming rude, but really, "infinite pleasure"?????? I felt like I was in comedy sketch.

Edited February 3, 2009 by Felonius (log)

[Pan]

[...]while i would never request asparagus in january...somebody might, and a great restaurant would get it for them.  but lupa wouldn't.  and i still love lupa, know what i'm saying?

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Lupa is a medium-priced restaurant where meals with a quartino of wine cost around $45-50/person before tip. They'd be crazy to waste time and money sending someone to buy out-of-season asparagus, and anyone who asked them to do so would be totally unreasonable.

Felonius, I love the story about your father.

Edited February 5, 2009 by Pan (log)

[wkl]

I've had mixed experiences at Le Bernardin, where the service tends to be very professional but perhaps not necessarily all that warm. In addition, a while back my mother-in-law wrote a letter of complaint after a mediocre lunch and got such a condescending letter back from Eric Ripert that I was tempted to publish it. This leads me to think that at the top levels there are some miscues being delivered to the service culture at Le Bernardin.

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that seems out of character for the eric ripert we see on tv. do you think he really wrote it? is he a different person off camera?

[Pan]

that seems out of character for the eric ripert we see on tv. do you think he really wrote it? is he a different person off camera?

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I wouldn't know the answer to your question, but if he is in fact different in person than the image he presents on TV, that surely is not unusual.

[Robin Meredith]

One group of restaurants that no one has mentioned, but that we've felt have quite warm and excellent service are the Arpaia/Psilakis joints.

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This just shows how variable service can be. My one visit to Mia Dona was the single worst service experience I have had in NYC, and on our two visits to Anthos we encountered generally well-intentioned but ultimately hapless, amateurish service.

Most bad service experiences tend to be isolated events, so I am always surprised when a restaurant demonstrates consistently poor service over an extended period of time. For us, Chinatown Brasserie is the poster child for this syndrome - it's almost like they deliberately recruit a particular server profile, which in this case could be defined as aloof, inept, and inattentive (I have to say that there is one weekend hostess who is a glaring exception to this rule, but otherwise...).

[davidbdesilva]

Our best and worst were in one weekend last year while visiting from Philadelphia.

First night: impeccable and seamless service at Eleven Madison Park, from waitstaff to sommelier to manager, could not have been better. Sommelier poured wife a wine that she didn't like and he immediately rectified the situation with something she did like.

Second night: rude, patronistic, snooty and aloof service at Bouley. It was like we should have been paying them to be there. Sommelier glugged wine into our glasses and walked away, didn't even wait for us to taste and see if we liked it. Waitstaff had similiar attitude. Won't return at those price to be treated like that and besides, the meal was so-so and paled in comparison to EMP

[ellenost]

Our best and worst were in one weekend last year while visiting from Philadelphia.

First night: impeccable and seamless service at Eleven Madison Park, from waitstaff to sommelier to manager, could not have been better. Sommelier poured wife a wine that she didn't like and he immediately rectified the situation with something she did like.

Second night: rude, patronistic, snooty and aloof service at Bouley. It was like we should have been paying them to be there. Sommelier glugged wine into our glasses and walked away, didn't even wait for us to taste and see if we liked it. Waitstaff had similiar attitude. Won't return at those price to be treated like that and besides, the meal was so-so and paled in comparison to EMP

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While I agree with your assessment of EMP 100%, I had a wonderful dinner at Bouley Friday night. Service was very attentive and friendly. I hadn't dined at Bouley in almost two years, but the warmth I felt from the coat check woman, to the woman at the front desk, to the captain and waitstaff and the sommelier encourage me to become a much more frequent patron. Sorry about your bad experience, but I woud urge you to give Bouley another chance.

[Sneakeater]

I have to agree. Service at the old Bouley was spotty (to say the least). But at least now (during the review period) they've really got service down at the new place. It's almost as good as at European three-star.

[ulterior epicure]

Being served by Naomichi Yasuda has been a delight the two times I've been to his counter. I know others have cited issues with the floor staff. I find them superfluous, really, though I do like my tea refilled from time to time.

I have to agree with posters upthread - the service during my dinner at Bouley a couple of years ago was pretty disappointing.

I can't say that I was thrilled with service at Daniel either, my encounter with the staff there was pretty off-putting.

Edited February 9, 2009 by ulterior epicure (log)

[cchen]

I recently had superb service at Cru. However, the restaurant was EMPTY, which worries me a lot.