A Tale of Two Restaurants

I'm a stickler for customer service. Not because I'm a princess (though I am) and not because I'm demanding (though I am that too,) but mostly because I hate seeing businesses destroy they customer base. I'm no MBA, but I figure—you can't make any money if you don't have any customers. And it's amazing to me how many companies don't seem to understand that concept.

Take two restaurants within a few blocks of my house, for example. I'll call them Restaurant F (the French place) and Restaurant PA (Pan-Asian.) Both serve good food. Both are moderately upscale. The French place is more expensive, but has a few bargains on the menu. Overall they're both probably 3 or 4 star joints.

Now—despite the lagging economy, Restaurant F is full practically every night. The husband and I go there often for a half caraf of wine (a good deal at $10) and to split a cheese plate. In the years we've been going there, we've only eaten what you'd call a "full course meal" once or twice, but still—every time we go in there we get treated great. In fact, Restaurant F is one of my favorite writing spots. The awesome manager lets me order a scotch and sit in the window booth for as long as I want writing on my computer. This, for a customer paying only $6 for her drink. It's because I am a CUSTOMER. And I come there often. And having me sitting there encourages other CUSTOMERS to come in.

In fact, I've mentioned this restaurant in several interviews, on Twitter, and may even have put them in one of my book dedications. That's how good they are at customer service.

And yeah, they can afford to be nice because they're successful. But consider this—ever since the recession, they've been offering more specials. Every night of the week they have a half-price this, or a thrown-in that. They battled the economic downturn by being more generous, more inclusive. More awesome.

Then there's Restaurant PA. When the economy tanked, they cut their menu in half. That alone didn't bother me. I mean, you can't blame them for cutting costs, right? But then they fired or lost all their old waitstaff and replaced them with a string of part-timers. Three years later, I call in a take-out order or come in to eat and no one knows me.

We've been going to Restaurant PA for TEN YEARS! The old staff knew my kids' names. Heck, they knew my kids' friends' names! They knew my order by heart.

But still…perhaps I could forgive them the turnover. However, that's not all… The two most recent times I went there to eat, the table was so dirty I had to ask the server to wipe it (to which said person mumbled something that sounded like "fuck you,") or dampen my napkin and wipe it down myself.

Dude. I don't mind wiping a table at a coffee shop, or McDonalds, or a $5 Pho joint. But at a real restaurant? Give me a break!

Wait, though! It gets better! We went there last week, and I was served a glass of wine in a cracked glass. I'm not talking about a little splinter off the top, either. A huge, honkin' crack. A sliver broke off on my finger. So I poured a little of it out to see if they were going to pour me a whole new glass, or just decant the wine into another glass. And guess what? They poured the wine from the broken glass into another glass! There could have been glass chips in it. I didn't bother drinking the thing, and was unsurprised to find that they hadn't removed the charge from my bill.

Some time after the glass debacle, I told my kids we'd never eat there again, to which my children started crying. They see this restaurant as "ours," a part of our neighborhood and their childhoods. I wanted to agree, but during this same meal, I was informed that only "part" of our meal could be charged at Happy Hour prices, because some of it had been prepared after 7 pm. And they can only allow the Happy Hour discount for things that get entered into the computer before 7. Apparently, it doesn't matter what time the customer arrives.

I'd like to say I'll never go back to Restaurant PA. But that would be a lie. It's close and convenient. And the food has always been good. However, I'm pretty sure I won't have to ponder the decision much longer. It's always empty when I go in, and has been for the past year or so. Apparently other people have gotten sick of being nickle and dimed too. If they've practically lost me as a customer, It can't be much longer until they put themselves out of business entirely.

Oh, and at Starbucks today—I had to stand to allow someone to open a window next to my seat. The barista gave me a free drink card for my troubles. Now that's a business who knows how to do business. It's no wonder that in a failing economic landscape, the coffee giant ain't goin' nowhere.