by Andrea-Lee Peters

Created on: September 27, 2009

Service in a restaurant is of the up most importance. Why would anyone eat out knowing they will get bad service? We choose to eat out in the restaurants of our choice for the experience, for the food, and for the service. Isn't it nice to be served by someone else for a change?

Depending on where you choose to eat the service will be slightly different. If you go to a sushi bar you will receive a different experience than if you go to eat at an Italian restaurant. If you choose to eat Chinese, this again is a different experience than a gourmet restaurant. The one constant factor in all of these different eating experiences is the service. How fast was your order taken? How fast did your food arrive? Was the waiter or waitress polite? Did you get everything you wanted? How much tip do they deserve. I for one cannot stand bad service, and I suppose that's why I'm writing this.

I once went to eat at a fondue restaurant with a friend for her birthday. The chocolate fondue was very good, the waiter was pleasant, what irritated me about my experience was the coffee. The coffee arrived with the milk I had asked for, but no spoon! I asked for a spoon to stir my coffee, a simple thing you may think, but the spoon never arrived.

Several months ago I went to eat at a sushi restaurant with friends after a show. One of my friends ordered green tea for the group. Forty five minutes later the green tea had still not arrived and I had to leave the table to ask where on earth it was. Not the best experience when you have to chase up something as simple as a pot of tea.

Only last week I went out again for sushi with friends, to a different restaurant, but one I'd been to before. The food was great, the atmosphere was good, the length of time we waited for our food, a little too long. The waitress came to our table after we had been sitting there a while and apologised to us for our wait. She had dropped all our food on the floor. At this point I would have expected some sort of offer to satisfy us, seeing as we were waiting longer, but nothing, not even a free appetiser or pot of green tea. So we continued to wait. Our food eventually arrived and we ate, and paid. I paid with cash and never received any change! The waitress just kept it! At which point I had to go and request my change, not something I especially wanted to do. Don't get me wrong, I was all ready to leave a tip, but the amount I leave is at my discretion, not the waitress's. What an experience I couldn't believe.

So, basically what I'm saying is service is important! Service makes or breaks your dining experience, and if you are unhappy with something during your experience make it known. Too many diners today don't speak up and if you don't, the bad service will continue!

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