The Other Restaurant - A Different Experience

Yesterday, I wrote about a new place downtown and our experience there. I’m not trying to become a food critic or anything, but the comparison between that restaurant and the experience we had last Sunday at another new restaurant in town is telling.

For reasons that will soon become apparent, I will not be naming the other restaurant.

We heard about another place just up the street that was also offering brunch. This one is on a major thoroughfare in town and has what should be an excellent location.

Location, however, does not a good restaurant make.

What’s interesting is that the quality of the food was just as good. It’s obvious that someone designing the menu there has initiative and imagination, and they’ve got cooks who can execute the recipes well.

What was lacking was any semblance of calm or organization, and it showed through in the service provided. The experience was closer to that of the concession line at a ball game staffed by volunteer band parents than a nice, sit-down place to eat with tablecloths and everything.

Despite the fact that the restaurant was less than half full, the three waitresses working the room were obviously frazzled a mere 20 minutes after opening. They had no clearly assigned areas or tables, so we stood by our designated location while two of them had a discussion about, “You want to take ‘em, or you want me to?”

It felt a lot like being kids foisted off on the grandparents, neither of whom wanted to take them because it was Bingo night and kids would cramp Grandma’s style. It was more the antithesis of being welcomed into the restaurant as a guest. We were, however, eventually seated.

Then we waited.

Not all that long, but long enough that it was apparent that nobody was thinking about taking a drink order.

Let me pause a moment to suggest that drinks are an essential part of any meal. They give you something to do while you’re waiting, they promote conviviality among the tablemates, and they take the edge off of your hunger.

One way for a server to cast a shadow over any dining experience is by being slow in bringing and refreshing the drinks. We weren’t ordering anything unexpected --Coffee, water, orange juice, sweet tea, so there should have been no surprises back in the kitchen.

‘What? They want Coffee? At 10:00 in the morning and with breakfast? Who ever heard of such a thing?!?!?

For the uninitiated, I also point out that this is the South, and sweet tea is an acceptable breakfast drink. No, I don’t really understand it either.

When the drinks finally arrived, one of the coffees was omitted. We had to remind a passing waitress about it and, when then having the audacity to ask for cream to go in the coffee we got an audible sigh of exasperation.

Cream for coffee, preferably already on the table at breakfast, really isn’t too much to ask in my opinion. She snagged one of those little metal pitchers that had cream in it from a service station and set it on the table. It obviously had been served elsewhere, as there was about a teaspoon full in the bottom. This was offered for three people drinking coffee.

We had to ask again. Twice. Finally one of our group went over to try to get it from the service area without success. When it finally came, most of us had gone ahead and started on the coffee, so by then the cups were about empty.

At our house, no day starts without coffee. It is the lubricating fluid of cognitive thought. And without cream, it’s bitter and some of us become irritable. Or maybe it’s irritating and some of us become bitter. Either way, it’s not a pleasant experience. Without a doubt, a cup of coffee is the best $2.00 spent every day.

Rather than refilling the coffee cups when she brought the cream, this waitress explained that they’d run out of coffee, but a fresh pot would be available in just a few minutes. She was true to her word, and it was delivered not long thereafter. Complete with little floaty things that are probably includable as a part of my fiber intake for the day.

The point is it’s somewhat inexcusable for a restaurant that is not completely slam-packed full to run out of coffee during a breakfast brunch. It shouldn’t be any type of revelation to them that people want coffee with their meal. The other thing that surprises me is that they don’t recognize how important this point is.

Didn’t they ever see the old commercials on television that talk about how bad coffee can sink a restaurant? Didn’t they ever see the one with Mrs. Olsen’s advice to the newlywed wife about keeping her man happy?

Another local restaurant used to host a huge corporate Christmas party every year. For the first two years, they brought the coffee out long after desert was finished and people were starting to wander off. The third year, the hostess gave but one mandate to the restaurant for the entire evening – serve the coffee WITH the desert, not afterwards. In part, I suspect this was because the bar closed during the meal and the host and hostess were concerned that there needed to be incentive for some folks who had imbibed to hang around for a bit of detox time.

The request fell on deaf ears and coffee came out as usual, as people were leaving. The following year, the party moved.

We’re not talking a small event here – easily, there were 250 guests and the bill for that party was $30,000.00. It was a significant revenue producer, lost for the price of a cup of coffee.

The poor drink service was only the first annoyance at Sunday’s brunch. The second was that the meals did not come out at the same time.

I’ve always thought that the ability to make varied meals appear a the same time, all hot and ready to go, was part of the magic of a restaurant. It’s one of the reasons that one person can have fish, one chicken and one steak and still eat together. To do that at home, we’re all having the same thing. The closest I’m going to come to cookin’ three different meals is if one person wants a ham sandwich, one wants chicken salad and one wants PBJ. They might hit the table at the same time, or they might not. But my kitchen ain’t a restaurant.

Instead of arriving together, the meals trickled out in twos and threes. By the time the last two came out, the first ones were starting to get cold. I understand that in some countries this is how meals are served; they come out as they are finished by the kitchen, and the culture says that you begin eating when your meal arrives.

We ain’t there. Our Mommas taught us that you wait until everyone at the table has their food before you begin eating.

Not even a French fry or a biscuit or a cracker. If you’re old enough to be out of a high chair, you wait.

So my dill biscuits with ham and eggs on top, covered with a dill hollandaise were kind of lukewarm by the time I finally got to eat. They were still very good, but I bet they would have been exceptional with a bit of heat. The omelets that came out first were similarly tepid.

It takes a lot away from the meal when everyone’s food doesn’t come out at once. Especially if you’re bitter over being out of coffee.

I don’t think this restaurant is going to make it, which is unfortunate. The people who’ve put the concept together have had a couple of other ventures that appeared to have been successful. They’ve bet big on this expansion, but have apparently moved out of their league.

I regret this, because we could use a more non-chain restaurants that offer something fresh and innovative. I don’t necessarily want to contribute to that downfall, which is one reason that I haven’t named the restaurant here. Besides, if you live in Hickory, you’ll figure it out soon enough. If you don’t live here, well, you don’t really care anyhow, do you?

Maybe the owners can grab a cup of coffee somewhere while contemplating what to do next.