Great food, bad service

[Monica Bhide]

Hi Tom, I religiously follow your column. Thanks for participating in this Q&A!

Here is my question:

There are a variety of factors that contribute to the dining experience: the quality of the food, the service, and the ambiance being the big three. Some restaurants are excellent at some of these, but quite dreadful in others. For example, I think a certain DC Indian restaurant has excellent food, and I know from your review in the Post that you agree. But I have found the service to be horrid, and based on the feedback on the Post's website, so have others. Many service problems are easy to fix so I can't understand why they don't fix them.

I wonder if you could share your opinion about why some other restaurants operate in this way? Do you find it more typical in Indian restaurants, or those of any other specific cuisine? How much do you think it detracts from the dining experience or from customer's willingness to return? How much do you think it affects their long-term viability?