I try to keep everyone up to date on some of my favorite stories from the previous weekend.
This week I thought I would try to figure out why people are so fascinated and crazy about bread? It's really interesting, because I have a piece of bread each day with my coffee in the morning and and there is one restaurant that I have to have bread with this certain anchovy dish that I just love, the crust most specifically, but other than that, I really could care less about it one way or the other. I mean, I don't feel deprived should there not be any bread on the table, or resentful if my basket isn't refilled immediately, I don't even notice. I don't think that I have ever uttered the words "does that come with bread?" When people ask me what I think are some of our best dishes and I don't mention our sandwiches, except for the crabmelt, because it's soooo yummy, they say why didn't you mention any of the sandwiches? I typically tell them that I would much rather have more fish and not fill up my tummy on bread.
I just remembered something, My Mother always said, if you are having a sandwich, , then you don't need bread as well, it's coming with your sandwich. Nope, Mom, not these days, forget the carbs, unless it's January and New Year resolutions are in full force, everybody wants bread for the most part, regardless of whether they are about to have a sandwich. In fact, one of the Pizza places like Dominos or Round Table has a new special, Pasta in a bread bowl with a side of bread, wait what?
So all of this is leading up to an interesting thing that happens virtually everyday at our restaurant. If you've really geeked out on our site you will notice that under our frequently asked questions tab, there is a question that says "why do you charge for bread?" So you can go back to that and read it for the answer, but do look at it, because I actually found out that the charge only covers 1/3rd of our health care for the City of San Francisco and the restaurant picks up the rest in overhead. So we charge 50 cents for bread to help cover the cost of our employees health care. Now in my mind, I really could care less if it was a dollar, two dollars, 50 cents or free, but I have found out that many folks don't think like me. These days a quarter gives you 6 minutes at a parking meter in San Francisco, so really, 50 cents is pretty much nothing comparatively.
Bread is one of those things that when people go to a restaurant everyone expects it to be there and they are genuinely alarmed or put off when it's not there. I've actually read up on this bread topic (ok so I'm a little odd) and people say they "think it's part of the meal" and therefore they shouldn't pay for it. Well, I think a glass of wine or a beautiful gin and tonic is part of my meal, but sadly wine and cocktails aren't part of every one's list. Some customers get grumpy when it's not heated or when the butter isn't soft or when it's not San Francisco Sour Dough. Honestly, I always think that if the bread is heated it's not fresh (PS. most people don't like the sour in the sour dough) Unless the restaurant bakes on the premises or very close to a bakery, It's how restaurants "refresh" day old bread.
This past weekend we sat down a group of 3 or 4 women (I didn't serve the table, so forgive me I can't recall the exact count). One of the women wasn't going to eat, but at the last minute prior to placing the order the server heard her say, "I'll just have bread and water." The server then said, "you know we charge for bread," then she said, "Oh, then I will just have water." Had we not charged for bread, then does that mean she would have just sat there eating bread? I already know the answer "um.... yes......"
I think people don't realize that things have changed in San Francisco that the profit margin restaurants used to have is virtually nonexistent. People are so excited to see reform for workers and health care for all, but for some reason, when it hits them in their pocket book, they aren't so supportive. One time, I didn't get a tip, because I told a tourist that we charge for bread and she said "I've never had to pay for bread." I let her know why we charge for it and asked her again if she would like bread, and she said "two please."By this time she had already convinced herself that the restaurant was pocketing the money, it was a scam to say it went to the San Francisco Health Care program and that she was going to let me know that she was not a supporter, and therefore not going to tip me, because in her mind I represented a stolen 50 cents and she wasn't about to give her hard earned money "to the man" (This woman really sticks out in my mind, because in all my years working at FPS, I have never not been tipped).
On our menu, we specifically state that we charge for bread and the reason we charge for it is to help cover the cost of the San Francisco Health Care program blah, blah, blah. After our patrons place their food order, I always confirm that they want bread for the table. Here are some of the answers to a pretty straight forward question (By the way a simple "yes" or "no" is just fine with me):
"Yes, I guess I want to have one of your 50 cent pieces of bread, but it better be good!"
"Seriously, you charge for bread."
"I see you charge for the bread, would you mind if I just ate the bread I just bought next door instead?" Ok seriously? That is one of the most tacky things I've heard, think about it.
"We would like bread, but only 1 piece because you charge for it." Ok, whatever you say. PS. These folks always want another piece.
"Oh, yes, I would love one of your 50 cent pieces of bread, to support your (wink wink) health care (ha ha ha)." I always get so cranky about this response, because trust me, if you've had something happen to you and you didn't have health care, you can be economically bankrupt within a few hours in an Emergency room. So, I don't get why health care is so funny.
"Oh, yes I would love some bread I think it's great that you charge for it, then it doesn't go to waste." Oh my gosh, I love these people!
This one just happened this weekend:
"Would you like bread for the table?"
"Just 1 please."
"Well, exactly what percentage of the health care is covered with the bread charge in your restaurant(I told you people, are really serious about this subject)?"
"1/3." I said
"Well then if it's actually 1/3, then we will have 2." So these are the folks that are thinking that they are actually making a donation. Seriously folks, I really don't care if you have 1 piece or 700 pieces, it's all 50 cents to me.
I am telling you that I don't make these stories up. Anyway, again, you can read all about the bread charge in our questions tab and for even more unsolicited thoughts, go to http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/our-nightly-bread-2/
Who knew?
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Do you know how much restaurant folks hate YELPERS?
So I have to admit that I try to go to New York once a year. When I go, I totally dork out on preparing a list of restaurants that I actually divide into certain areas of Manhattan. When I'm wondering about town, I can whip out my list, having previously looked at all the reviews, and choose a restaurant.
To that end, I use several review websites, but I do jump to Yelp first. Yelp has many reviews, but mostly the average Yelper is 20 to 35 with truely nothing better to do than to comment on their latest epicurean adventure.
Actually, when I decided to put a BLOG section on our very own website, I thought I would present a well needed point of view from servers, kitchen staff and all those folks that serve Yelpers and other customers. That was my intention, but I have to admit I also use such rating review sites. Having said that, I feel as though some customers expect dining perfection from McDonalds to French Laundry and within this group of people, only perfection exists.
These are the folks that threaten to "Yelp" you if you don't give them something for free. They will threaten to "Yelp" you if they didn't get asked to get a free refill on Soda or Ice Tea, they will threaten to "Yelp" you because their meal took too long or because the line on a Saturday took to long to wait in.
Since the point of the Blog is to share inside restaurant stories with you here's one of those stories: Two guys came in and said that they wanted two cups of soup and a 1/2 sandwich each. One of the gentlemen inadvertently found a small piece of clear plastic in his soup. Immediately we appologized profusely and then replaced the soup. They finished their quick bite and when the bill came, they were upset because though we gave them free soup, and had replaced it, they also wanted a free dessert and if we didn't give it to them they threated to "Yelp us." I didn't know until I heard this story from the sad server that this "Yelp threat" even existed.
I eat out a lot and I have to say, I have had bad cocktails, hair in my food, painfully slow service, cold food delivered, overcooked this or that, but to be honest, things definetly happen by accident. No one means to serve anything less than perfect, but sometimes things happen. The trouble is, everyone is so bloody full of high expectations that the slightest mistake and people flip out! I have never threated a server or a restaurant with anything. If someone asked me, I would have said, you know it was unfortunate, but we found a small piece of plastic in our soup, but they handled the situation professionally, and the meal was lovely. I would never say what that patron said to the server.
I am not saying that it's ok to have plastic in the soup, but things occasionally happen. We serve 100s of people a day at Ferry Plaza Seafood. To be honest, I don't know why one person can say something out of 98 reviews and it can really bother me. I mean really really bothers me. I think I've figured it out though, I don't think it's about the food or the restaurant, I think it's about the attitude that folks have that the world owes them something. You have to know, how much we try to make your visit to our restaurant as perfect as possible. We have people that live in town that come in at least 2 times a week to have oysters and wine and whatever we recommend that day (Thank you Dick and Barbara). They are like family to us. We also have tourists that have come in to try something different each day of their visit to San Francisco and we just love them so much.
Everybody calm down, be kind, don't be so angry and empowered! Have a glass of wine, and stop with the Twittering, and the Face Booking, Yelping, the Blogging about all the things you hate and are disatisfied about. Remember, having a meal out is an adventure and an experience take time to take in the whole experience and relax.
To that end, I use several review websites, but I do jump to Yelp first. Yelp has many reviews, but mostly the average Yelper is 20 to 35 with truely nothing better to do than to comment on their latest epicurean adventure.
Actually, when I decided to put a BLOG section on our very own website, I thought I would present a well needed point of view from servers, kitchen staff and all those folks that serve Yelpers and other customers. That was my intention, but I have to admit I also use such rating review sites. Having said that, I feel as though some customers expect dining perfection from McDonalds to French Laundry and within this group of people, only perfection exists.
These are the folks that threaten to "Yelp" you if you don't give them something for free. They will threaten to "Yelp" you if they didn't get asked to get a free refill on Soda or Ice Tea, they will threaten to "Yelp" you because their meal took too long or because the line on a Saturday took to long to wait in.
Since the point of the Blog is to share inside restaurant stories with you here's one of those stories: Two guys came in and said that they wanted two cups of soup and a 1/2 sandwich each. One of the gentlemen inadvertently found a small piece of clear plastic in his soup. Immediately we appologized profusely and then replaced the soup. They finished their quick bite and when the bill came, they were upset because though we gave them free soup, and had replaced it, they also wanted a free dessert and if we didn't give it to them they threated to "Yelp us." I didn't know until I heard this story from the sad server that this "Yelp threat" even existed.
I eat out a lot and I have to say, I have had bad cocktails, hair in my food, painfully slow service, cold food delivered, overcooked this or that, but to be honest, things definetly happen by accident. No one means to serve anything less than perfect, but sometimes things happen. The trouble is, everyone is so bloody full of high expectations that the slightest mistake and people flip out! I have never threated a server or a restaurant with anything. If someone asked me, I would have said, you know it was unfortunate, but we found a small piece of plastic in our soup, but they handled the situation professionally, and the meal was lovely. I would never say what that patron said to the server.
I am not saying that it's ok to have plastic in the soup, but things occasionally happen. We serve 100s of people a day at Ferry Plaza Seafood. To be honest, I don't know why one person can say something out of 98 reviews and it can really bother me. I mean really really bothers me. I think I've figured it out though, I don't think it's about the food or the restaurant, I think it's about the attitude that folks have that the world owes them something. You have to know, how much we try to make your visit to our restaurant as perfect as possible. We have people that live in town that come in at least 2 times a week to have oysters and wine and whatever we recommend that day (Thank you Dick and Barbara). They are like family to us. We also have tourists that have come in to try something different each day of their visit to San Francisco and we just love them so much.
Everybody calm down, be kind, don't be so angry and empowered! Have a glass of wine, and stop with the Twittering, and the Face Booking, Yelping, the Blogging about all the things you hate and are disatisfied about. Remember, having a meal out is an adventure and an experience take time to take in the whole experience and relax.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Can you eat and play Musical Chairs at the same time?
So this guy comes in and sits at our bar and decides to have beer, a half sandwich and a cup of soup. I served him the items an about 5 minutes later I saw a woman sitting next to him busting out a full blown meal from another restaurant.
My Manager says, "what's the deal with the outside food at table 22?" I was like "what outside food, holey mackeral, oh, that outside meal." My Manager says "Sir I'm sorry, but there's no outside food, restaurant policy and it stated on the menu."
"Well I'm not going to pay then, since I was never told that" he says. I told my Manager that he never asked and in fact I never knew he was even with anybody. I should tell you that while this arguement is going on at the counter, the wife is shoveling in her food as fast as humanly possible and essentially "weighting herself to the chair." It's like when you were a little kid playing musical chairs and you are so determined to win and no one is going to get you out of the chair you are sitting in no matter what happens.
"Sir?" My Manager says, "You've already finished half your meal you have to pay for it and you need to take her food outside."
"We can put your food in a to go container so you can sit next to the water outside our restaurant and eat together."
At that point the guy guzzles his beer and she jams the last bites of her burger or whatever in her mouth he throws the money across the counter and they leave with a big stir.
Why is it so critical to people to sit at our restaurant and do this every single bloody weekend. I swear it's never even occurred to me to bring food from one restaurant into another restaurant and assume that that it's OK on any level. These people are older than me and I expect more out of my elders. I don't think we look like a food court in the Ferry Building, but I guess people will try anything. I saw my first human anchor though that day and that was pretty interesting!
My Manager says, "what's the deal with the outside food at table 22?" I was like "what outside food, holey mackeral, oh, that outside meal." My Manager says "Sir I'm sorry, but there's no outside food, restaurant policy and it stated on the menu."
"Well I'm not going to pay then, since I was never told that" he says. I told my Manager that he never asked and in fact I never knew he was even with anybody. I should tell you that while this arguement is going on at the counter, the wife is shoveling in her food as fast as humanly possible and essentially "weighting herself to the chair." It's like when you were a little kid playing musical chairs and you are so determined to win and no one is going to get you out of the chair you are sitting in no matter what happens.
"Sir?" My Manager says, "You've already finished half your meal you have to pay for it and you need to take her food outside."
"We can put your food in a to go container so you can sit next to the water outside our restaurant and eat together."
At that point the guy guzzles his beer and she jams the last bites of her burger or whatever in her mouth he throws the money across the counter and they leave with a big stir.
Why is it so critical to people to sit at our restaurant and do this every single bloody weekend. I swear it's never even occurred to me to bring food from one restaurant into another restaurant and assume that that it's OK on any level. These people are older than me and I expect more out of my elders. I don't think we look like a food court in the Ferry Building, but I guess people will try anything. I saw my first human anchor though that day and that was pretty interesting!
Which of your white wines is aged in a steel barrel?
When I was asked this question last week, I nearly fell to my feet.
I mean, I've been around the block a few times on both sides of the counter and consider myself fairly knowledgeable about our wine list. Well, I can qualify which Chardonnay one should drink based on buttery, dry or in between. I can talk about crisp and clean, sweet or not sweet, our dry Reisling vs. our Gruner Veltliner called Mozart with reasonable confidence, but "finished in a steel drum," (while his date giggled and looked clueless) I was absolutely dumbstruck.
I decided as usual to tell the truth and tell him that the person who buys our wine is on vacation and no one else could really answer the question with any level of accuracy. So the gentleman says "all you have to do is read the back of the bottle, it's always listed there." I felt like such a total idiot (Oh yes, and by the way it's so not listed on the back).
After work, I spoke to our General Manager ("the person who buys our wine") and she said that nearly all white wines are finished in a steel drum and that the entire comment was just silly. She also said that essentially reds are finished in Oak barrels and whites in steel drums. At that moment I felt so stupid once again. I pride myself on having pretty good thoughts on my feet, but this was so frustrating that if I had known that, I could have been ever so clever and said well, many crisp, and clean Sauvignon Blancs, Pinot Grigios, Fume Blanc white wines are finished in a steel drum, so do you have any other criteria I can use to find a perfect glass of wine for you sir? Now that would have been hilarious!
Customers are so silly, seriously, people expect so much out of a little restaurant with a few fun menu items, but basically, we are in a fancy building, but not fancy folks and certainly not set up to answer endless wine questions. We aren't a wine bar. Ultimately, what I think is so funny is that this customer only ate 12 oysters and had a glass of wine. It wasn't as if he ordered a bottle or was having an ongoing lucious meal it was a silly dozens oysters.
Lastly, my visit with him and his date couldn't have ended on a better note: "Wait, I'm not at Hog Island Oyster" he said looking blankly up at the sign in front of him that says Ferry Plaza Seafood. I said no sir, you are at Ferry Plaza Seafood. To which he responded, "Oh, well......, that's disappointing." Once again, I nearly dropped to my feet at how rude, abnoxious and to top it all off stunned I was at this parting comment.
Oh well, it's alright, these two folks were nestled right between and amongst a bunch of regular customers of ours and they all said he was just silly! When you come visit us, come with love and understanding and most importantly a fun attitude with every intention of relaxing you will have such a fun time! To that end, I did research the information for this blog and found it most enlightening. So thank you "table 30 and 31." Next time someone asks me about a Steel drum, I will have all kinds of thoughts.
I mean, I've been around the block a few times on both sides of the counter and consider myself fairly knowledgeable about our wine list. Well, I can qualify which Chardonnay one should drink based on buttery, dry or in between. I can talk about crisp and clean, sweet or not sweet, our dry Reisling vs. our Gruner Veltliner called Mozart with reasonable confidence, but "finished in a steel drum," (while his date giggled and looked clueless) I was absolutely dumbstruck.
I decided as usual to tell the truth and tell him that the person who buys our wine is on vacation and no one else could really answer the question with any level of accuracy. So the gentleman says "all you have to do is read the back of the bottle, it's always listed there." I felt like such a total idiot (Oh yes, and by the way it's so not listed on the back).
After work, I spoke to our General Manager ("the person who buys our wine") and she said that nearly all white wines are finished in a steel drum and that the entire comment was just silly. She also said that essentially reds are finished in Oak barrels and whites in steel drums. At that moment I felt so stupid once again. I pride myself on having pretty good thoughts on my feet, but this was so frustrating that if I had known that, I could have been ever so clever and said well, many crisp, and clean Sauvignon Blancs, Pinot Grigios, Fume Blanc white wines are finished in a steel drum, so do you have any other criteria I can use to find a perfect glass of wine for you sir? Now that would have been hilarious!
Customers are so silly, seriously, people expect so much out of a little restaurant with a few fun menu items, but basically, we are in a fancy building, but not fancy folks and certainly not set up to answer endless wine questions. We aren't a wine bar. Ultimately, what I think is so funny is that this customer only ate 12 oysters and had a glass of wine. It wasn't as if he ordered a bottle or was having an ongoing lucious meal it was a silly dozens oysters.
Lastly, my visit with him and his date couldn't have ended on a better note: "Wait, I'm not at Hog Island Oyster" he said looking blankly up at the sign in front of him that says Ferry Plaza Seafood. I said no sir, you are at Ferry Plaza Seafood. To which he responded, "Oh, well......, that's disappointing." Once again, I nearly dropped to my feet at how rude, abnoxious and to top it all off stunned I was at this parting comment.
Oh well, it's alright, these two folks were nestled right between and amongst a bunch of regular customers of ours and they all said he was just silly! When you come visit us, come with love and understanding and most importantly a fun attitude with every intention of relaxing you will have such a fun time! To that end, I did research the information for this blog and found it most enlightening. So thank you "table 30 and 31." Next time someone asks me about a Steel drum, I will have all kinds of thoughts.
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