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A server who refused to serve

CarinosMy 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 nearly every bit of their whipped cream—and what little remained was 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 visible. 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, drinks, 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.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 11:41 pm and is filed under Customer Service, Employee Engagement, Enthusiasm at Work!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • http://www.adeshsidhu.com Adesh Sidhu

    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.

  • http://www.stevecurtin.com Steve

    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.

  • http://restaurantcoachingsolutions.com Jeffrey Summers

    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.

  • http://www.stevecurtin.com Steve

    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.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PUEIHSCZDFTXPGJTCRELL4ZQUU Happy

    Oh good grief.  As the restaurant slows down, servers are sent home as they aren’t needed.  That way you don’t have eleven servers standing around when there are only four tables in the restaurant. Do you want them to wait until every customer has left before doing their side work??  Also if you are sharing a dish, there’s no way your server should have to stand there and separate it onto different plates for you.

    The spoons should have come with the sundaes, I will give you that, and she should have cleared empty glasses and trash.

    I bet your brood made a gigantic mess for her to clean up and you probably left her a crappy tip because she wasn’t perfect.

  • http://stevecurtin.com Steve Curtin

    Thanks for taking the time to read and comment. I understand that labor is the single largest expense for Carino’s and it’s imprudent to retain servers after traffic slows and their sections have emptied. This does not justify, however, the completion of end-of-shift sidework within full view of dining patrons.
    Servers at full service restaurants offering family style portions (accommodating 2-3 adults) should always offer to serve guests from the entree plate. In fact, the only restaurant that should not offer to do so is a buffet restaurant where diners are expected to serve themselves.
    Like many restaurant guests, my tip matches the service quality. Higher service quality results in higher tips and lower service quality results in lower tips. I do not feel that restaurant servers are entitled to a 20 percent tip just for showing up, going through the motions, completing their job functions, and providing satisfactory table service.
    It doesn’t sound as though you would have been particularly disappointed by this type of service. Perhaps you may have tipped generously and returned to Carino’s? In my case, I was disappointed with the service, tipped closer to 15 percent, and have not returned in the 20 months or so since this experience. As far as Carino’s is concerned, that’s all that matters.