Expectation: Reasonable or Unreasonable

[Robin Garr]

Majid should have a graduate level course for restaurant owners. That man can work a room.

Sadly, he learned it from a mentor who seems to have gone over to the approach that JeffD describes. In fact, I kind of wish Jeff hadn't been so discreet. I'm curious if he's talking about the place I think he is.

I guess everyone's different but I see it as a little over sensitive to be turned off and not patronize a place because of lack of acknowledgement. Especially when an excellent product is delivered.

Personally, I'd rather be left alone, if something goes bad I'll let the manager know that there's a problem.

Majid should have a graduate level course for restaurant owners. That man can work a room.

I thought Majid was the daddy until I went to Harvest. Now I know how Harrison Ford feels when he's eating out. So did all the other customers as far as I could see. No diss against Majid as he's very impressive as well. But the proprietors and all the staff at Harvest are the gold standard.

That said, I do agree with an earlier post about different owner personalities. I can see that some operators might thnk that guests put a premium on a minimum of interruption and have enough confidence in the staff to thoroughly serve the diners' needs. I am among those diners. My wife and I prefer to have our meal and conversation attended only by the server with the usual pattern. We don't mentally "ding" a place if the owner comes by and when it happens it is pleasant to a greater or lesser degree if kept very short, but we do not hope for it. It's very situational, timing has a lot to do with it. I understand a lot of owners want to interact with their guests and that's OK, just please DON'T think all guests are looking for anything but great food, prompt service and a quiet conversation with their dining partner(s). In this era of supersaturated stimulation, insertion of additional interaction beyond the server can seem sort of like a pop-up ad to take a survey on the web by all but those most skilled in the art.

I'll say the exceptions I made for Majid's and Harvest are partly due to the fact I was having lunch alone at those places, therefore there was no discontinuity in a visit with my dining partner, and partly due to the outstanding people skills.

So give the proprietor the benefit of the doubt and figure he/she assumes diners are like my wife and me and go up and talk, dispelling the doubt. Since you dine there often, chances are on future visits he/she will not be as reticent.

I'm with Bill P on this one. I've been going to one of the local recommended places for years. I mean like 10 years with groups of friends. We have had special birthday dinners here, tons of drop ins for drinks, and many many many dinners with lots of cocktails/wines at each visit. We had gotten to know the staff on a first name basis and they all knew us. I never wanted special treatment from the owner and I sure didn't want the mechanized table visit with fake hospitality like a manager at an IHOP. However, would it kill the guy to at least throw me a man nod every once in awhile? Neither he nor I need to be extroverts but with the money I and my friends have poured in this place you think just an occasional hello would be in line. He sure kow tows to the social elites who are in there so its not like he avoids the dining room holed up in the kitched or the office. It has been a complaint in our circle for years and it is another reason we have diminished our trips in to this establishment. In fact, this came up again the last time we had gotten together (foodies all of us) and we concluded that none of had much of a desire to be back soon because of this issue as well as other pet peeves about the operation of late.

Before someone says I should go and explain to him and work it out, let me just say that there are too damn many good places in town who offer great food, great drinks, and great service with the occasional smile and thank you from the owner for me to waste my time with him.

This is the problem that paying attention to some, but not all diners. I would feel put out as well if this was the case. A restaurant I worked in years ago, the owner would never go up to tables, but he had a seat directly where guests could see him when they came in and left. Very European, very old school. He greeted and said a good night to every table. This was the best I have ever seen it done. He missed no one. Everyone felt acknowledged and he didn't feel like he was interrupting anyone's dinner or conversation to pay attention to him.

People's comments about Majid sounds like he runs a fabulous place. I have seen some photos of the food from there. Looks lovely.

At first reading my response was that it was more on the unreasonable side. I like it when an owner/manager stops by the table, so long as it's more than a drive by. I really dislike the managers that barely even stop walking as they ask how your meal was and don't really care if you give an answer, just more that they are doing their job (possibly for the mystery shopper scores?). I think it's great when they take a few minutes to notice what you are having, where in the service you are, see if there is anything they can get you. At the same time, my experience isn't diminished if they don't stop by.

However, if it's a place I frequent I do expect to be acknowledged and eventually recognized, so under those standards I don't think your expectation is unreasonable at all. I go to a meat market up here every week, sometimes twice a week. We normally spend $30-$60 each week, and upwards of $100 during grilling season. We've been going to this place since March, but it did annoy me that they still didn't recognize me after the busy summer of grilling and smoking. They do a ton of business, a 45 minute wait is par for the course if you go on the weekend, even with the staff of 10 at the counter. I've found that some of the staff is better to work with, they wrap stuff better so I don't have fridge leaks and they make better recommendations, so the ones I try to work with have began to recognize me. It's amazing what a simple "Good to see you again" will do for customer relations!