Best service you ever had

[MichaelB]

I have a couple of great service stories that I could tell; but I have one favorite -- it covers about 5 years.

It's my honeymoon, 1981; Greenbrier, West Virginia. My wife and I only had a few days available for our honeymoon, so we stayed relatively close to home.

Our first night, we dutifully called to make our dinner reservations in the Main Dining Room as requested. The maitre 'd seats us; our captain is an older Irish gentleman named Bernie Gallagher. The meal was fine; the service was quite good. The meal was included in the American Plan pricing, but I had ordered a bottle of wine. The house automatically added (in those days) 15% to the perhaps $30 bottle of wine. I added an additional either $2 or $3 to the check to take the wine tip to just over 20%.

The next night, we walked past Mr. Gallagher's station on the way to the maitre d' stand. He caught my eye, came over and thanked me for "taking such good care of him the previous evening." He took us to the same table we had the last night and explained to us that for as long as he worked at the Greenbrier, this would be our table, no need to make a reservation and that if he was going to be off or assigned to a party room, he would so advise us the evening before and also tell us who our captain would be (and make an introduction, if necessary).

We visited the Greenbrier at least once a year for the next five or so years. Bernie took care of our every desire, request or thought in the mostprofessional manner. He liked to tell that his first job in food service was as a busser in the first class dining room on the Queen Mary where the rule was "every request met and never an extra charge."

When Bernie retired, he transferred the job as our captain to another of the Greenbrier long-timers.

Quite often, something that happens in a restaurant will trigger a simultaneous memory of Bernie for both my wife and me. We will each laugh and know immediately that the other has the same memory.

Bernie Gallagher personified for us the Greenbrier's motto of "Ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen."

If there is a first class dining room in heaven, he's probably the captain of the"A" tables.

[Bicycle Lee]

awww man....this place in Frisco called Ponzu

we went there in fall of 00 and sat at the bar since there were no tables open. The bar sat close to 50 and there was only one bartender/server for the entire thing. This particular night the whole bar was packed. Our server had it down pat...never had to ask for anything, she had it there before we knew we needed it. I was extremely impressed and left her a 100% tip.

[Mark Sommelier]

Paris. November 16, 2003. Hotel Bristol "Restaurant" on Rue Faubourg St. Honoré. Impeccable from beginning to end. A 2 Star Michelin, this is clearly striving for the 3rd star. I was overwhelmed by the extra touches. The room has perfect elegant ambience, the service was seamless throughout the entire brigade. The food was most memorable, especially my Homard Bleu en Cocotte (85 Euros) and main course, Pot au Feu of Squab and Foie Gras. The bread presentation was breath-taking. The cheeses amazing. The entire dinner memorable. This topped many other memorable dinners in my life.