Ask George: Has service in local restaurants gotten better or worse in recent years? —Billy B., St. Louis
In a word, and in my opinion, better. As restaurant food quality, choice, preparation, and presentation improve—as they have in recent years—I’ve noticed the level of service rise right along with them. Today's dining public travels more, reads more, expects more, and demands more. The entire culinary bar is notching higher—not just in St. Louis but all across the country.
SLM dining critic Joe Bonwich largely agreed when he answered the question:
“Both, although I think it's leaning toward better. In restaurants where it's worse, it's usually because that restaurant views its servers as interchangeable cogs in a machine. But with the overall improvement in St. Louis restaurants and a global increase in interest in food culture, I think there's been a corresponding increase in servers who have a balance of knowledge, professionalism and enthusiasm.”
At many places where one might think that servers might be "cogs in a machine"—i.e., the national chain restaurants—I noticed an interesting trend: a service level that far surpassed what I expected. At an Olive Garden, I encountered a server who was also author with a small publishing business. At a casino steakhouse, I came across a former corporate trainer for the Ritz Carlton—waiting tables. Why? Insurance. Apparently, some corporate restaurant chains are very generous with insurance benefits, offering full coverage, for a family, in return for 20-25 hours of weekly service. In both cases, I was astounded.
When asked the same question, SLM dining critic Dave Lowry saw it this way:
“While I am an incurable pessimist, I do think service has gotten better over the past decade or so. In no small part, it has gotten better because of the degree professionalism that has grown. You still get the "Hi, my name is SunFlower and I'll be your wait-soul tonight." But it's not as "chummy" as it was there for a while.I think we've gotten over the notion that familiarity equaled friendliness, that the avuncular is synonymous with the efficient. Maybe it is because of the economy, but eating out is a more serious matter than it was not that long ago. When people do go out, they have higher expectations. One of those is service that will be professional, competent. Restaurants are responding to that. So yeah, we're pinching our dining dollar and we may not be as aw shucks easy goin' as once we were. But on the bright side, we're getting better service.”
SLM dining critic Ann Lemons Pollack, who's been writing about restaurants for 40 years, found the service glass half-empty:
"On average a little worse, although it ranges from "absolutely no change" to "that server might need medication". But I think, related or not, customer behavior has been getting worse. Irritability. Paying attention to devices instead of answering server questions. LOUDNESS - it's not just the restaurant interiors, it's the patrons who seem to think they're at a tailgate party."
I also queried the always opinionated (and occasionally astute) Jeff Stettner, former owner of 33 Wine Bar, who referenced the past:
“My first mentor in the service industry never let me forget that my main role was ensuring that the guest was having a good time, start to finish. For me, great service is still based on this simple mantra, and it does seems that more places nail it, like Jim Fiala’s staff at The Crossing, elevating the front of the house through awesome teamwork. It also seems that many service professionals have a passion about a subject these days--whether it’s beer or wine or organic farming--knowledge that can further elevate service through dissemination of information… as long as the customer experience is still the main focus. All the knowledge in the world can’t improve the service if the service professional only cares about being right or hearing their own voice.”
I found it interesting that Brant Baldanza, managing partner of OG Hospitality Group (The Corner Pub and Grill, The Tavern Kitchen & Bar, The Shack, Cucina Pazzo) referenced a mentor as well:
“Our service is better because I graduated from TPU, “Tony Pietoso University” [Pietoso is owner of Café Napoli, Bar Napoli, and Napoli 2]. Seriously, that’s what we called it. I learned a ton from Tony during my 6 years at Napoli, one of the main points being, "you are not servers, you are my salesman" (said with no regret to the male and female servers in the pre-shift). He made sure—almost daily—we understood that if you are going to sell a product, you have to know what you are selling, as he said, "you can’t go to war with no bullets."’
“So when we opened The Corner Pub in 2007, we began what the servers call the "dreaded menu test," and do it to this day. Every server at each restaurant is required to take a test before waiting on any table. If they score above 80% they are able to continue their training; if below, they can retake and continue to train or they can quit. After another month they have to take it again and score above 90%, if they get below that…the previous rules apply.
“A server that is knowledgeable is less nervous, more confident, more genuine, more themselves… all of which enhances the dining experience.”
My final observation: there’s no truer axiom than “if the service is good, tip the server; if it’s not, tip the management.” Doing so will ensure that restaurant service ratchets up, not down.
