We went to a local coffeeshop for coffee and a cake! Seemed like a good idea at the time. Pity!
One glass of water, one menu and one hour later, we were still waiting. And we felt like we got blamed but it’s …
- not our fault there was a rush of customers,
- not our fault there was only *one* menu in the whole restaurant,
- not our fault service was so slow,
- not our fault that we couldn’t wait for the coffee (who knows when we’d get that… another 45 minutes?),
- not our fault that we only had a half glass of water to drink while we waited (for the menu, for taking the order, for the actual food),
- not our fault that you chose to serve other later-arriving customers before us; and
- not our fault that we didn’t tell you we were in a hurry (we weren’t but who waits more than an hour for basically a sandwich, it’s not a three course meal).
So stop playing at running a coffeeshop before you cut yourself on the knives. I don’t want to share which restaurant it was. I only know that it should be called the wrong lifestyle coffee shop… because they’ll never succeed like that.
My recommendations for better service:
- Have at least as many menus as tables. There is NO excuse for you to have one menu.
- There’s no point preparing a beautiful menu with blank pages that falls apart when given out. That’s just sloppy.
- Prepare everything well on busy days. A one-plate service should be quickly assembled. Maximum of ten minutes start to finish.
- Don’t make your customers wait for simple things.
- When things go wrong, don’t blame your customers.
- Don’t be cheap, esp. with the salads/fruit. The amount we got just looked cheap.
- Make sure your customers are served promptly (not an hour later).
- Learn to do two things at once. You’re running a business. That’s what ‘busy’ means.
Waiting for an hour or more to serve a simple sandwich (not matter if it’s the best sandwich in the world) isn’t going to endear your restaurant to those who have the patience of a saint. Or better still, advertise your slow service as a benefit! Oh, and turn the fricking lights on inside. It’s dark, even in daylight so ordinary people can’t read.