In an ideal world everything would be perfect all of the time but in reality it sometimes isn't...
From the restaurants perspective the best ways of monitoring and evaluating what is going on in your restaurant is to listen to what people eating there have to say... a constructive complaint is a free gift that can help you do better and is just as valuable as a rave review
Tips for making a complaint - attract the attention of some one who actually cares or at least understands what you are saying; this will more than likely be the owner or manager. You may think your waiter has fluent English but often their knowledge of the language is limited to the menu and what is on it, to are you having a nice holiday, where do you come from and what football team do you support. Evidence of this is when your waiter eyes glaze whilst profusely nodding his/her head and smiles and says yes, yes, yes...
- raise your concerns straight away; if the meal is cold when it should be hot, or you think the meat and vegetables are past its use by date say so. An empty plate licked clean, or a plate that was taken away and the remains thrown away don't offer much in the way of evidence and definitely won't get you a refund or reduction
- speaking quietly and politely is far more likely to generate a sympathetic hearing and if worried about attracting attention then ask to speak somewhere quieter and away from other customers; note that endlessly reiterating the complaint won't make it any clearer than the first time
- if you really prefer not to say something at the time then these days most businesses can be contacted on line either directly by email, through forums like this or Trip Advisor. It is possible to simply send a private email and any owner worth their salt will care about you and your experience and take what you have to say seriously.
It may not help you personally but it may help the restaurant and others that eat there in the future.
Tips on how to get the best out of your night out- don't go to an Indian restaurant and complain you haven't been served pasta
- ask about ingredients and explain allergies and aversions when you order; meals and desserts can often be prepared, cooked and/or presented without bread, nuts, parsley, peppers, tomato, onion, but never ever without garlic...
Tips for restaurant owners and managers- be honest about what you are offering; if you serve Turkish food then people that don't do "foreign" probably aren't going to enjoy eating there and conversely not everyone wants to eat roast dinners, English breakfast and anything but Turkish food in Turkey
- limit the menu (1) to dishes you know and do well; it isn't possible to please all of the people all of the time and the British are experts on what makes for a good Italian, Indian, Chinese, Thai, British and many other international cuisines so they have high expectations;
- limit the menu (2) to avoid having dishes that are unavailable which is irritating if its already taken fifteen minutes to decide what to order
- limit the menu (3) because it's, a) confusing and b). people really do wonder how it is possible to have a menu as thick as an encyclopaedia and all the meals to be freshly available
- limit the menu (4) for a faster more efficient service
- limit the menu (5) because Gordon Ramsey says so:
- beware the silent customer; an unhappy customer won't catch your eye, will look stiff and awkward, won't be engaged in animated conversation with partner or friends and will talk in a strained and stilted manner to you with reassurances that all is well when it very clearly isn't: and always ask if everything was ok when you notice a plate returning almost as full as it came; but, there are only so many ways and times you can ask if people have enjoyed their meal:
- don't overstretch yourself or your staff and don't be afraid to turn people away if you think the quality of your service or standards might suffer
- be honest about waiting times if you know there is likely to be a delay of more than 20-30 minutes for main courses.
- never be complacent and give all your waiters and chefs both positive and negative feedback; discuss and consider solutions together to avoid the same situation occurring again
- don't even bother trying to explain anything to someone who won't stop talking and every time you open your mouth tells you that they are not going to argue with you: this particular incident was a French man telling me they had waited 15 minutes for their main meal; I thought he must have meant 50 minutes because we average up to 20 minutes for a main course (which is normal for fresh food) to be served. Fast food is available just down the road at MacDonald's and Burger King!
Or, just do what I do - go and fetch Dogan
Extracts taken from notes to self: for my forthcoming novel on running a restaurant and surviving to tell the tale; Insallah!
