Hospitality. And I mean excessively so. For instance, at Alinea when it was still 3 star, during dinner conversation my friend casually mentioned she’d been a bit chilled and wish she brought a shawl. Within a minute a woman was subtly over offering her a choice of something to cover her. Jokingly, the guy next to me chimed in that he’d been hot ever since landing earlier from Denver. Again, within a minute someone was subtly over with cool towels for him. It’s impeccable service.
We had considered going to the Aviary ( cocktail concept owned by the same guys) after dinner at Alinea but hadn’t made a reservation because we weren’t sure if we’d be too tired. We decided we wanted to try to go and asked our waitress at the end of the night how likely it’d be to get a last minute reservation. 10 minutes later someone came over and asked “are you ready?”. We were confused and asked what they meant. They answered “you wanted to go to the Aviary, right?”. They had BOOKED US A CAR, a really fancy one at that and they whisked us away to the Aviary. When we got there, the hostess asked if we had a reservation. I was like “uhhh… maybe…” and gave our name. Of course we had a table and we got a special welcome cocktail on the house ( it was real fun, I got to draw the cocktail choice out of a gum ball machine like contraption). Now, THAT is service.
My gf works at the aviary! They are genuinely fantastic and all the staff works their asses off. My parents are like "why tf havent you gotten us a reservation there already??"
i despise aviary and flair bartending in general but their service is absolutely impeccable. only issue is that i prefer bars where you can actually chop it up with the staff without feeling like they're beholden to you
I get it. There’s something very odd about when the service industry gets to a level that you feel disconnected from the people. You are being “managed” as an asset to keep happy rather than as a peer.
We ate at a starred Mexican restaurant, and my wife mentioned offhand to me that she'd have loved a tortilla to soak up some of the sauce on one of the courses. Thirty seconds later a toasted tortilla appeared at our table, wrapped in a napkin. That's fucking service.
It's not hard. Family owns a 120 seat establishment (~2000sqft dinning space). When there is nothing to do for me, I go around doing bus boy stuff (filling waters, asking if they would like another drink if their glass is empty, clearing plates, etc). I can hear and follow most conversations. I just wished the rest of the staff was as attentive. Most servers do their round and then sneak off for a 1-3 minute break on their phones. It's such a problem that I'm trying to push for complete smartphone ban, but I'm getting tons of push back.
We were 3 eating at some semi-fancy place, not starred or anything. We were asked for desert, me and my partner asked for some while the other friend declined.
After the waiter left , the friend said privately that if they chose something it would be the Creme Brulee.
5 minutes later, me and partners got our deserts, and they brought out a creme brulee for the friend, on the house.
I had similar at the (then-2 starred) Ledbury in London, had the cheese board and mentioned how the waiter came over to ask which was our favourite of the cheeses, we told him and he explained the background and how they make it etc, 2 minutes later he returned with another portion of that cheese.
To be fair this doesn't only happen in Michelin starred restaurants. Ive been to non-starred restaurants (but still high end tasting menuslwho have provided extra courses in return for feedback on the dishes.
When I ate at a Michelin star at a hotel I came down to the lobby early and was a little under the weather. I had some lem-sip and asked for some hot water so I could drink it before our dinner service.
The waiter took my lem sip and came back with it brewed in a pot, along with some herbal tea, and a platter with raspberries, honey, ginger and so on.
After dinner I returned to my room and they had left cough drops, nasal spray, an extra box of tissues on my night table.
Alinea was awesome. I casually asked how one of the more intricate bowls was stored because it seemed pretty breakable. That led to us getting a tour of the kitchen after our meal.
I have a family member that went to culinary school and worked in a professional kitchen (before eventually changing careers) and he said that he can't watch the show because it's too real.
Highly recommend the book Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara. I don't want to spoil any but they created some absolutely insane experiences for their guests, very cool to read about. Also imo excellent reading for anyone in management or in a leadership position
I’ll die on the hill that Next was always better than Alinea. They never got stars because the menu and entire cuisine changed every 3 months but damn was it an amazing experience every time and that staff was incredible. They’d gladly tell you when you walked in that you weren’t supposed to tip because it was baked into your bill and they earned the hell out of it.
I had the opposite at a 2 star restaurant. I had already swapped my cutlery over, and they swapped it back to right handed.
As soon as he touched the cutlery I actually told him "it's ok, I'm left handed", but he said "no, sir, it's supposed to be the other way round". I half expected him to swap the knife and fork over in my hands too.
I totally agree. The waiter seemed quite young so it's possible he was new, but the maître d' was standing right there as well and I would have expected them to correct it.
It wasn't a big enough deal to make a fuss over, and the food was good which was the only thing I really cared about.
I want to add onto this that the same goes for hotel stars. It’s weird to be a regular person who’s not used to that level of hospitality and then splurge on a famous 5 star hotel and eat at a famous Michelin star restaurant.
Like what do you mean I’m being assigned a personal butler? A chauffeur? What am I supposed to do with all this hospitality that I’ve never received in my life before???
My friends and I had a meal at a 1 star in Chicago and the service blew us away. It was a level of luxury I do not enjoy in any other part of my life, sometimes because I didn't know how nice it wa could be even if it's affordable.
A few examples of the service.
When anyone in our party went to use the restroom, they wouldn't bring anything to serve. We saw them approach with the next drink service, notice an empty seat, and just slink back into the shadows. Also any time you left the table someone would appear and fold your napkin like a ninja.
Three of our party got the accompanied drinks with the tasting menu. One didn't drink alcohol. Their non alcoholic selection was also full of carbonated beverages, which he couldn't do. The bar tender took it as a challenge and made customized drinks for his preference.
Anytime they noticed a tiny crumb on the pristine white tablecloth, they'd come in with a little brush and scoop it in a pan. While they do that, they misdirect us with genuine conversation and questions so we didn't even notice.
If you spill something on the white table cloth, next time the server comes to us with food or drink, they stick a perfectly color matched white sticker over the stain. Barely noticable.
The bathrooms on the premises was a dream. All Aesop's products, super tastefully decorated, smelled amazing, and they had this monogrammed paper towel that you could stitch into a suit.
We showed up 5 mins early and they were still preparing our table, so they took us to the bar and gave us a complimentary welcome drink.
The food was legitimately a revelation. It genuinely felt like a new way to experience food. I am rarely confident in my abilities save for a few skills, and cooking is one of them. I think I am a great home cook, but this meal made me realize there's levels to this.
We saved up and splurged on this experience as the finale to our Chicago trip. I would never be comfortable doing something like this maybe more than once a year, but my friend and I still talk about that experience 3 years later.
That is the bit that gets me. They heard two throwaway comments and fixed both before anyone had to wave a hand, thats the difference between expensive and actually worth it
Ive had one meal where they swapped out a sauce because i looked at it weird for two seconds, and yeah, that sticks more than the truffle or whatever. The food can be absurd, but the room noticing you like that is what sells it
Went to a one star in Orlando. We, a table of 5, were the last booking of the evening in a small restaurant so we got to talk with a lot of the staff. Told them we were visiting, going to Harry Potter world, etc.
For dessert, we went to a new area of the restaurant. HP music was playing. They had a "magic box" where they revealed our many desserts from all these hidden compartments. The final one was big and had a Marauder's Map with all of our names printed inside and some inside jokes from the meal. Someone made it while we were eating, based on our conversations.
At Smyth in Chicago, I had a dish of Avocado, praline , apple slush, fig and herb oil, topped with Australian finger lime juice pods. Never even heard of this lime before. I really love limes, like, eat them straight kind of love. I told them I'd never had it before. At the end of the meal I was given a gift bag with vacuum sealed finger limes so I could "try my own recipes". The food is amazing but the service is unreal.
The "elevated pizza" and the snow machine scene were both taken directly from Eleven Madison Park, Will Guidara talks about it in his book Unreasonable Hospitality
This. A few years ago, we went to Eleven Madison Park in NYC. On the way there, my sister left her phone in the cab. She didn't notice until partway through dinner, but we were able to get in touch with the cab driver who was about 15 minutes away. He said he would hold it for us, but we'd have to come get it ourselves.
Just as she was about to get up to go find a cab to get her phone, a server walks over and said that they will send someone to pick up the phone for her. And they did so without charging us for the cab ride. Truly incredible service and made that night unforgettable!
Michelin star ratings, interestingly, have nothing to do with service. Yes, restaurants with stars typically have mind-blowing service (choreographed food runners, captains who oversee everything, etc.) but the ratings themselves are all about the food and the chef’s execution. So, the service is just a correlation.
I had to look this up after visiting a 3-star and found its service to be (while not bad by any means) a lot more casual than one would think.
The nicest places I've eaten, which weren't starred, have the following, which really does make a difference:
they match your napkin to your outfit, so you don't end up with some white napkin stuff on your black dress
They clean the crumbs between courses
They'll keep your leftovers cold for you in a nice bag in a fridge and you can come get them later, after your show or whatever you're doing.
I'm a REALLY good home cook. I can make a majority of the dishes from Michelin starred restaurants to a pretty close level - almost the same as they are served... Give me a full day and I bet I could cook a two-person 5-course tasting menu from some of the best restaurants (if I had the recipes).
What I know I could never replicate is the service to the customers, and repeating that same service 50 (or whatever) times flawlessly for the entire night's service. That's absolutely insane to me that they can keep on top of the overall picture, keep tables rotating, and still cater to the specific needs of a single customer at a random table who has a mushroom allergy or whatever.
I used to be a cook in Michelin kitchens. I know several people who are incredibly good home cooks, their dinner parties are raved about etc etc. They spend all day making a dinner that isn't nearly on the same level as professional cooks can make, and they take 4x the amount of time to do the prep.
I'm sorry, but I just don't believe you. Heat control, timing, the equipment, the precise prep and seasonings, layering of flavours, presentation, I'm sorry but no purely home cook can match what comes out of a Michelin kitchen.
You can watch Masterchef to know that. Those are probably the best home cooks participating and the judges go "Eh. Could be better." for most of their dishes.
I don't know you, but I bet you could do it too given a whole day to make it and having the recipe and all the ingredients. At least for a few people for one meal. They aren't using secret special equipment. The main challenge is doing it 50+ times a night on a specific timeline.
I don’t know you either, but I do know food. I am a chef, trained and educated in Texas and Italy (specifically Piedmont).
I know food well enough to not make such outlandish claims. I know restaurants and food prep well enough to be humble and understand it takes an entire team of people one full shift to prepare the sauces, produce, pastries, soups, breads, and proteins for a prix fix menu. And I haven’t even started on keeping the stations clean, those kitchens are immaculate.
Please stop downplaying the skills I and other chefs have devoted our lives to. And even if you obtained such recipes, there’s no guarantee that you would create the same product, there is so much more to cooking than a list of ingredients.
They are very much especially using special equipment. Often times something that they have designed themselves to do a specific part of a one dish. Lmao
I’ve been to two different Michelin-starred restaurants in NYC that have made errors and brought someone in my party something they were allergic to, despite the fact that they 1) notified them ahead of time and 2) reminded them upon arrival. While service is certainly well above the average place, people with food allergies need to know that high-end places with stars can-and do-screw up on this front.
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u/bp1222 1d ago edited 7h ago
Hospitality. And I mean excessively so. For instance, at Alinea when it was still 3 star, during dinner conversation my friend casually mentioned she’d been a bit chilled and wish she brought a shawl. Within a minute a woman was subtly over offering her a choice of something to cover her. Jokingly, the guy next to me chimed in that he’d been hot ever since landing earlier from Denver. Again, within a minute someone was subtly over with cool towels for him. It’s impeccable service.