One way I judge bar service is by how long my beer glass stays empty before the bartender notices. The truth be told, if the glass is already empty when the server notices, they are behind the curve. We were traveling last weekend and stopped into the hotel bar for a drink after dinner. It didn't take long to realize my second beer was going to be long in coming.
More than 14 minutes passed before the bartender looked up and acknowledged me, despite us being seated right in front of the taps. (I didn't start the timer for a few minutes after emptying my glass.) On the other hand, we saw one patron's beer get poured as soon as he ordered it, it then sat on the bar for 15 minutes before being delivered.
We took a chance on ordering a late snack as well, and the food service followed the same pattern. In the end our food was comped by the manager. On the bright side we did enjoy fun conversation with other patrons as we commiserated over our woes at attracting the attention of the staff.
I'm glad to read that the numbers represent the timer, rather than the clock. (!)
ReplyDeleteHa! It felt it was the clock at times! If the whole thing wasn't so absurd it would have been infuriating. It turned out to be entertaining. Several of us started doing the work of the staff and letting patrons know what beers were on draft and handing out menus.
DeleteYears ago I was a regular at a place in Gaithersburg. So regular that if the bartender looked up and saw me coming (the place was floor to ceiling windows around) my beer was drawn and sitting on the bar waiting on me by the time I got there. The regular wait-staff was the same way - they saw me and my beer was there immediately. Well, one night I went in and sat down and...nothing. Nobody came over to even ask for quite a while. The guy who finally appeared was unfamilier. I gave my order and waited. And waited. And waited. Looked around and I see him over in the corner chit chatting with another waiter. Saw a waiter I knew, snagged him, and explained no beer. He took off and almost immediately returned with my waiter in tow and said waiter was looking hang dog and was very apologetic. I suspect he had gotten an earful about how NOT to treat people, especially regulars. And I noticed that I never saw the offending waiter after that. I guess he didn't learn his lesson.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to be a "regular." Most of our regular places have undergone staff changes of late so we need to rebuild that familiarity again.
DeleteCheers.