Service at restaurants of late

[jamesfed]

Over the past few months I’ve noticed an increasing trend that while eating out (particularly at Pizza Express in Reading/Oxford but also at other places) that the waiters seem to forget about the customer once the main meal has been served?

 

Particularly on pretty much every occasion I’ve had to go up and ask for the bill as the waiters just seem to go around serving others not noticing my partner and I sitting around with empty plates.

 

Any else noticed the same or is it just me?

[Trapper]

Yes and it winds me up no end.

 

Tip is dependent on whether I have to chase them for the bill.

 

My father in law has a great trick of just getting up and leaving. You'd be amazed how quickly the bill appears then.

[elsiegee40]

At a half empty Pizza Express in Bluewater a couple of months ago they forgot about us from the moment the order was taken. We ran out of time to order dessert and asked for the bill. That took an age to come and the children and I scrabbled round between us for enough cash to pay as life was too short to wait for a card machine. We put the cash on the table and left the restaurant without a single member if staff acknowledging us.

 

In our local, a couple of years back, we didn't even make it to a table. In a mostly empty restaurant the waiters completely ignored us as we waited to be seated. After 10 minutes we left and walked up the road to Ask.

 

Pizza Express Luton has been good every time we've used it!

[laserblazer]

To be fair, the waiters also get slated for presenting the bill too early and giving the impression that they want you out. Also, their priority is getting food onto the table. I've found standing up indicates to the waiter that you are ready to leave and they will usually get your bill promptly. It must be quite a juggling act in a busy restaurant. In a quiet one, there is simply no excuse and that's probably why they are quiet!

[twin--turbo]

Don't do PE very often twice in the last year. And they do seem to be under attentive ( over attentive is bad too ).

 

One time they put my Pizza twice on the bill. Lucky I checked!

 

Rob

[Danp]

I have noticed it too, most recent time it wound me up was in our local Ask we had to chase them to get more drinks, there were about 15 of us and we were all ready to get plastered so it was very annoying to had to keep trying to catch their eye to order a round of drinks at £60 a time.

[hit]

My father in law has a great trick of just getting up and leaving. You'd be amazed how quickly the bill appears then.

 

I use the same trick and you'll be amazed how many times the bill hasn't appeared, I have ended up walking out of several restaurants without paying whatsoever due to poor service. Funny enough the latest was pizza express in Greenwich which was pretty empty at the time.

[Valyyn]

As laserblazer said, it's actually quite bad manners for them to put the bill on your table before you ask for it as it looks like they're trying to hurry you out and is normally strongly discouraged. Having to chase for drinks etc is different though - they should be keeping an eye on the tables in their areas for drinks etc.

[CAM]

The last time it happened was a fish and chip restaurant in Sutton. I was waiting around for ages and eventually had to call the waitress who told me to pay at a second restaurant counter. No signs, so just assumed if you had table service they brought the bill to the table like every other restaurant. I wasn't the only one, a family in the restaurant was doing the same!

 

I have been to places that ask for payment at the till but they are normally greasy spoons and they usually tell you.

[featured_spectre]

Pizza Express Luton has been good every time we've used it!

 

Is this the same one by a church and the mall shopping centre, around the corner from the university?

 

If so, I have to disagree personally. I've had poor service every time.

[elsiegee40]

 

Is this the same one by a church and the mall shopping centre, around the corner from the university?

 

If so, I have to disagree personally. I've had poor service every time.

 

The one in the old Freemason's hall. We use it every time we're up for a Hatters home game and never had a problem... not that there are many people in it on a Saturday lunchtime. There never seems to be more than half a dozen tables occupied and the restaurant is huge.

[Gatt]

Had this a few times where we've been surrounded by empty plates, though equally as bad are the ones that hover around you and, as we had in an Italian place a few weeks ago, the second the Mrs had finished her meal and put down her cutlery, the plates were whisked away before she could even finish chewing!!

[featured_spectre]

When you're up next let me know. I'd lovr to join you for lunch and say hello.

[rich_tech]

I have noticed this a fair bit lately as well, wife and I have been left in a few places now (PE was one that I do recall here that did it and some other restaraunts have done the same) where you get left in the restaurant and ignored, even if its not exactly busy, I don't know what they expect you to do after you have your plate taken away and refused any desserts or coffees, sit there and enjoy the ambience perhaps ? lol PE took about 10 minutes to get us our bill here and we were only one of 6 tables active in the restaurant with about 6 people working there.

[jamesfed]

Well at least its not just me

 

I may have to send them an email (and link to this article if that's ok by everyone) - not that I expect a response but hey!

[rad]

Went to loch fyne with OH and her parents. We had 4 different waitresses over he course of he meal, one went on a break just after we ordered dessert, when we came to paying it was cheaper than we bought so paid and left. They forgot o add the puds onto our bill. Serves them right!

 

I do hate the "is everything ok for you" by the waiter serving you, then the saw again by a colleague... Drives me nuts!

[pcstru]

I don't know what they expect you to do after you have your plate taken away and refused any desserts or coffees, sit there and enjoy the ambience perhaps ?

 

If you like!

 

It's bad etiquette to deliver a bill without a customer asking for it. It's like saying "leave us, now!". Front of House also can't guess who (of a group (>1)) should be presented with the bill. Giving it to the wrong person can lead to trouble (Mr doesn't want Miss to see it etc). I don't think I've ever just been presented with a bill without asking for it, nor would I expect to. It's probably one of the first phrases I learn in a new language - "Can I have bill please".

[Gatt]

I do hate the "is everything ok for you" by the waiter serving you, then the saw again by a colleague... Drives me nuts!

 

And usually asked whilst you have a mouthful of food!

[witch]

If you like!

 

It's bad etiquette to deliver a bill without a customer asking for it. It's like saying "leave us, now!". Front of House also can't guess who (of a group (>1)) should be presented with the bill. Giving it to the wrong person can lead to trouble (Mr doesn't want Miss to see it etc). I don't think I've ever just been presented with a bill without asking for it, nor would I expect to. It's probably one of the first phrases I learn in a new language - "Can I have bill please".

that is true, but what the waiting staff need to do is to keep a better eye on their tables and notice when everyone has finished - wait a little bit and then go and clear the table. At this point they ask if they can get anything else for you, leading on nicely to a request for pudding, the bill or whatever.

The best service I have had of late, in two different establishments, has been Wetherspoons

[rich_tech]

If you like!

 

It's bad etiquette to deliver a bill without a customer asking for it. It's like saying "leave us, now!". Front of House also can't guess who (of a group (>1)) should be presented with the bill. Giving it to the wrong person can lead to trouble (Mr doesn't want Miss to see it etc). I don't think I've ever just been presented with a bill without asking for it, nor would I expect to. It's probably one of the first phrases I learn in a new language - "Can I have bill please".

 

I should have expanded a bit more really, I meant the type of staff you get in some establishments that seemingly avoid the necessary eye contact with you during that period, when your trying to get hold of them for your bill, a lovely Indian restaurant that me and the wife were in the other week seemed that they were happy enough for us to just sit there and not looking or distracted (total of three staff in a fairly empty restaurant) when we were trying to get the bill, to the point where I had to get up and go ask for it.

[AMLinington]

The problem is not the resturant per se, but the calibre of staff. There may also be some correllation to age/experience. It is my experience in general (and as usual there are always exceptions) that young people are poorly educated in etiquette, often fail to grasp the basic meaning of 'polite' and 'helpful'. You will find that often your waiting staff in these establishments are young people either on a gap year, doing a weekend/evening job while at college/Uni or the 'drop-outs' that left school without qualifications and needed to get a job pronto. Most of these young people don't care about service. They don't give a flying fig about their customers. They are more interested in sneaking food out of the kitchen or booze out of the bar than they are about whether or not their customers are happy. If you have good wait staff in these places it is either because they are trying to do an in-house promotion scheme to advance their career or there are some financial or other incentives. They want to do as little work as possible so naturally they will find other things to be doing rather than risk meeting the eye of a customer who may want them to do something more taxing than folding napkins. You will always find this in the 'high street' resturants because they are probably the largest employers of young people with little requirement for qualification or experience.

 

The failure here is our failure as a society to instill the basic values of customer service into our young people. There will be some you encounter that have the right attitude, but for every one that does, there are 50 that don't.

 

Higher end resturants tend to want experience, although then we get into the snobbery aspect but thats another thread entirely.

[LosOjos]

Yeah, and there's a reason for it. Kids just have no respect any more! I'm only 24 myself so feel a bit weird saying that but unfortunately it seems true for a lot of them, polite teens are few and far between. They forget about you because they just don't care about their jobs.

 

Don't get me wrong, I don't expect them to love every minute of working in a restaurant, but having worked in a popular pizza chain myself, I always made sure I was polite and helpful to customers - I wanted them to tip me after all!

 

I recently ate in the same pizza place in which I worked for years and was appalled. The table was dirty when we sat down, so I asked for it to be cleaned which our waitress got a clearly newer girl to do; fine. Drinks came, dirty glasses, sent them back. Went up to the salad bar and there was a bright red (unnatural) hair in the pasta. Told the waitress who apparently toddled off to talk to the shift manager, only for the new girl again to be sent over to tell us the manager had said there was nothing he could do about it as the salad bar is open to everyone. They didn't even change the pasta that we had pointed out had a hair in it! Food came, lo and behold more hair in the OH's lasagne. Complained again, this time the shift manager came to our table and stood there staring blankly. Enough time passed that I eventually had to tell him what would happen (i.e. we'd not be paying for the lasagne!). Asked for the bill, as others have said took ages to come but now all of a sudden our waitress who we haven't seen since ordering is super friendly and chatting about xmas - clearly she still thought we'd be tipping her! Well, the new girl had been running her legs off all night cleaning up after everyone and dealing with issues the manager should have been doing or at least the more experienced waitress, so we tipped her on the way out. The waitress got nothing, and the manager got a balling out as I'm still good friends with the restaurant manager.

 

TL;DR - I agree, service is awful in a lot of restaurants at the moment.

[localzuk]

It depends on the restaurant, and the area in my experience. For example, there's an Indian down near me where they are amazing. Friendly and helpful staff, definitely know to go the extra mile and they get custom accordingly. Things like offering you a free drink while you wait for your take away if they are busy for example.

 

Other places, mostly either inner city or those 'shopping park' type places, seem to suffer with the same problems as mentioned by others - dirty tables, slack staff who don't pay attention to the customer to ensure they have a good experience and just general overall 'laziness'.

[LosOjos]

It depends on the restaurant, and the area in my experience.

 

Couldn't agree more, and I'd add that I find it's the chain restaurants that are worst. The family run restaurants tend to be much better in my experience, most likely because the manager wages are directly affected by profit, which can only be helped by increased footfall and good service will of course help that.

 

I know that waiters/waitresses aren't on a brilliant wage, but that should be the incentive to give good service IMO - when I was a waiter, my tips were almost always equal to or even more than my wage for the shift, effectively taking me from £3.50 an hour anywhere up to around the £10 an hour mark - but that all depended on how I treated my customers.

[pcstru]

Higher end resturants tend to want experience, although then we get into the snobbery aspect but thats another thread entirely.

 

Higher end restaurants tend to be managed better. I don't believe it's down to the inefficacy of "young people", service attitudes are the responsibility of the management. If they are failing, then the inexperienced staff stand no chance. A good Maître d' will marshall even inexperienced staff to provide good, attentive but not overbearing service. Would you expect to find one in Pizza Express - probably not. People want good food, cheap. The easiest way to achieve that is to cut costs on front of house - not just the waits are inexperienced but the management too. Are youth really lacking basic values or are you just getting what you pay for?