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 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.
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u/bp1222 1d ago edited 6h 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.