Dining with Notebook #4 - Principle: Challenge the Staff
While the average fast food chain employee is not motivated to give customers advice and insights in the cuisine of the establishment, many of the staff at mid-level and above restaurants love it when they are called on to make recommendations. This observation is related to Principle: Engage the Staff where simply noticing the staff and acting with courtesy gets you a higher level of attention. Let’s extend that principle to actively making the staff a partner in your decisions for the meal.
This principle starts when you are ordering the wine. If you are going for wines by the glass, chat with the server or bartender about the wines instead of just picking one. Ask for sample wine tastes, which many restaurants will do. The worst that can happen with such a request is that they say no. I have experienced many occasions, such as this last weekend, where the server took great delight in asking what I was in the mood for (in this case something white and light because it was rather warm in San Francisco) and then pouring a small sample to see if his suggestion hit the spot – which it did. I frequently get situations where the server will set out two or three glasses with tastes and chat about the pros-and-cons of each one.
Now comes the fun part. Rather than pick an appetizer, ask the server what will go with the wine. That will usually result in a sly smile, because the server was not thinking about the next move and now he or she has to react quickly. This should provoke some good back and forth if the server is knowledgeable and confident. The flip side of this coin is picking an dish and then debating the merits of the available wines.
This approach can then go on through out the meal, course by course, though dessert. If you are lucky and the restaurant has a cheese option on the dessert menu, then the discussion can get interesting – with the resulting choice being something quite special because the server really, really wants you to end the meal with a bang. I have gotten customer designed cheese course or desserts that were changed from the standard serving just to make it a little bit more special.
In the end, many waiters and bartenders consider themselves hospitality professionals, not just order takers. They really appreciate being asked their opinion and will reciprocate by upping the experience you receive.
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The Dining with Notebook Manifesto and Principles are a way for every restaurant diner to get the best restaurant experience.
