A server who refused to serve
My family and I decided to try Carino’s Italian restaurant for the first time tonight. When we entered the restaurant, we were “greeted” by the hostess with the predictable, “How many?” before being seated. Our server approached our table within a minute or two, delivering interactive menus and crayons to the kids and menus to me and my wife.
Our server demonstrated the hospitality basics well. She smiled, made eye contact, and added a bit of enthusiasm to her voice. And she did not seem put off by my six-year-old’s tendency to vacillate during his beverage, entrée, and dessert orders.
Even so, there were several events that marred the experience:
- Our server repeated left the table empty-handed while paper wrappers, used paper napkins, plates, and glasses accumulated. One of the reasons we enjoy dining out is that we don’t have to look at the mess that a family of six produces during meals. Eventually, I stacked everything I could reach and asked that it be removed.
- Midway through our meal at around 7:00pm, another server completed what appeared to be her closing sidework (e.g., consolidating salt and pepper shakers, filling sugar packet caddies, etc.) at the table next to us—in full view of the guests dining around her. Instinctively, I checked my watch to see if it was later than I thought. That’s not the reaction you want your guests to have during their meals.
- Later, after our children had ordered dessert, the sundaes came out with no spoons. Remarkably, it took about four minutes for the spoons to arrive (that’s an hour and a half in kid time). By then, without the use of utensils, they had consumed every bit of their whipped cream—and did not seem to mind the traces on their noses…
As uninspiring as this service was, the low point of the evening came when our server delivered the family style pasta plate that my wife and I planned to split. Carino’s family style entrées are intended to serve 2-3 adults and, knowing that we were sharing this entrée, our server brought a plate for each of us. She handed me the large plate of pasta and set the two entrée plates on the table in front of me. I asked her if she could serve my wife—as she was seated at the opposite end of the table and we had four kids between us.
Her response floored me: “You do that.”
Now, I realize that Carino’s Italian is a fast-casual concept but it’s not a cafeteria. There were no buffets that I saw. That makes it a full service restaurant. Our server, in denying my simple request, missed an opportunity to serve her guests and moved what had been a neutral experience to a negative one.
So, even though I felt like there was value for the price paid (our bill came to $56.00 for a family of six – including entrées, salads, beers, desserts, and a double espresso), I likely will not return to Carino’s Italian restaurant. There are plenty of other restaurants out there with higher standards for table service whose servers are also willing to serve.
Tags: Carino's Italian, customer, Customer Service, guest, requests, restaurant, service delivery, table service, value
November 14th, 2009 at 1:44 am
This is an awful service. Never experienced such thing. In fact never heard of such thing.
I am sure many readers of this blog will also think twice before visiting this place.
November 14th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Adesh, I agree that testimonials (both positive and negative) have an effect on where customers choose to spend their money. In the case of Carino’s, in my experience, the positive comments I’ve heard in the past far outweigh the negative. That’s one of the reasons we chose Carino’s last week. Even so, it proves the point we discussed earlier that, regardless of a company’s service reputation, the customer’s impression will be formed by his/her actual experience. The aspect of this truth that keeps many stakeholders up at night is that this impression will likely be based on the customer’s one-on-one interaction with a front line service provider. In manufacturing, quality control can eliminate defects before the customer sees/experiences them. Not so in the hospitality industry.
November 19th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Sad but good post Steve.
1. Just another sad tale in a long line of sad tales these days. If you haven’t heard of this or experienced parts of it, you simply don’t eat out much.
2. This is now the norm at most chains.
3. The experience, though at only 1 of the many restaurants Carino’s owns and operates, marred your perception of the entire brand.
4. Unless consumers start demanding better service, they’ll never get it.
5. Indicative of an extremely poor culture of treating people as a transaction. I don’t blame the server, I blame her boss, and his boss, and his boss.
November 19th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Jeffrey, I agree on all points. Especially the last point: “…I don’t blame the server, I blame her boss, and his boss, and his boss.” Well said.