Humble restaurant customer's viewpoint

Comment by BARBARA DOYLE

In response to last week's Dialogue, airing what the much-maligned waitress thinks of the humble dinner guest, let's look at what the humble dinner guest thinks of the much-maligned waitress.

"Crayfish Special" drew my partner and me into a restaurant at Whitianga where, thanks to Sars, some restaurants can afford to specialise in those tasty crustaceans!

The waitress at the counter, after some minutes of looking everywhere around the restaurant except at us, finally asked if we would like a table for two (it WAS obvious).

I explained that we had limited time and would like two crayfish meals and two coffees NOW.

She then brought two menus and a wine list and no coffee until my partner went to the counter and asked again.

We asked how long the crayfish would be, so that was a visit to the kitchen to find out. Twenty minutes was the answer - and when it came the crayfish was fresh and excellent.

But no one asked if our meal was okay, so they left themselves wide open for us to say, "Sorry, didn't like it/won't pay!"

Another cup of coffee came after the crayfish but we were only charged for coffee once.

As a restaurateur for 30 years, all I can say is that restaurant staff these days need a positive personality, positive in-house training and knowledge of what goes on in the place of work.

If restaurants have good front-of-house staff, good food and fulfil expectations there is no need for either the maligned waitress or the humble dinner guest to be categorised so.