Asking For a Food Server's Opinion
A customer asks a food server, “What’s your favorite pasta?”
Server’s response: “I don’t eat pasta.”
A customer asking a server in a diner, famous for its pies, “Which pie do you recommend?”
Server's response: “I don’t eat pie.”
Customer's response: “Well, FAKE it.”
(Comment contributed by: SpinachTiger)
We’ve all said, or possibly wanted to ask a server at one time or another, one or all of the following questions: “What do you recommend?” Or “What’s your favorite?” Or possibly, “So what do you suggest, we order this evening?”
It seems simple and straight forward enough. The snap server responses, noted in the opening of this post, without a doubt, sound very disingenuous to our ear. I, for one, feel offended that I am blown off so flippantly. I know my elderly mother would probably clobber the server with her purse, when all that is being asked is merely a suggestion, ultimately the guest will 'Yay' or 'Nay' it anyway. Right? Not so fast! It’s a little more complicated than that.
In a department store, if we were holding three different blouses up in front of a sales person, and asking them to help us choose with, “Which one do you think I should get?” The sales person wouldn't have a problem recommending one in a heartbeat, and quite frankly, doesn’t give a flying fig which blouse is chosen, so long as a purchase is made. If the blouse ends up not working for you, a return policy has your back.
This scenario does not play out well with food establishments. There are simple reasons for this, to where many restaurants actually prohibit servers from sharing their personal favorites.
Policy
There is no return policy for food once it is delivered to a guest. Food can be turned back to the kitchen, to either get dumped or re-cooked. If a server recommends their personal favorite, a customer may end up dissatisfied with their recommendation. Based on the server's suggestion, a guest may refuse to pay for it with a, “But she told me to get the “Apple Cranberry Tart” and it tastes awful. I don’t like it.” The “assignment of blame” by a guest for their personal dissatisfaction is a major pothole that has been known to backfire more times than I care to admit. After all, none of us share the same taste buds. Everyone has a different taste preference. Therefore, management most often chooses to weigh the collateral damage with a precocious server response. Personally, I’d rather get the suggestions and make up my own mind.
Trust
There is a very low threshold of trust by management, to allow a server this much dialog latitude, because there are simply too many unknown variables. They don’t know what tag lines will be added by the server, and the word “if” may ignite a very long brain numbing server rendition; the “Endless Story” of not getting them to stop talking. It may lead to their nauseating account of every miniscule detail concerning their recent hysterectomy or root canal. Equally annoying.
Exception
Wine seems to be the exception to this rule. Many smart establishments allow a small sample of a particular wine, if the guest is not sure. Wine seems to be able to bob and weave successfully around the taste bud land mines, without encountering too many casualties.
Are there nicer ways to respond to a guest? Certainly, there are. Like, "Our Apple Pie, is the most popular". Do server opinions really count? I’d like to think they do, so I guess I’m one of those annoying “questioning” kind of guests. I also like to probe further, possibly because I work within the parameters of the trade, to test the depth and breadth of server’s product knowledge. It’s not as much curiosity, as it is my vain attempt to engage in polite conversation, and then to see how it is reciprocated. I know I’ve said it several times throughout several of our blog articles, but I feel it’s a point well worth repeating. “The number one ambiance and mood setter for a diner is that of human engagement.”
Dear Audience, Please share our blog site with others. Know a server that could stand some positive reinforcement? Someone applying for a food server job? A restaurant that may possibly benefit from our blog? By sharing your captivating dining experience with us, we are able to recycle it into a lesson to be shared, that help’s other’s. Nice!
(c) 2010 ptsaldari.posterous.com : PTsaldari Group Inc. | The Art of Serving Well | Serve Me Well Inc. All rights reserved. This article originally appeared on ptsaldari.posterous.com blog authored by PTsaldari. This article may be shared and reprinted as long as this entire copyright message accompanies it. Email: ptsaldari@gmail.com
Filed under //
Asking For A Food Server's Opinion
Comments [24]