The past two weeks have had some pretty special days for me, one was my 40th birthday and the other was Valentine’s Day. And what better way to celebrate those occasions than a night out on the town.
My family had arranged for us to have a table at one of the local Unity restaurants, one that I normally don’t gravitate to. We were one of the four tables occupied, and our server was pretty quick about greeting us with menus and taking our drink orders. One of the tables, which just happened to be neighbours of mine, was leaving just as we were sitting ourselves down. We exchanged some quick pleasantries before they headed out the door. It took a little while for the sole server to return to take our orders for both food and beverage and we saw the odd take-out order being ushered out but were not too worried about when our food would arrive.
Our reservation was for 6 p.m. on a Friday night. By 7 p.m., I had friends and other family members joining our table, but still no food. When the server came to our table to see if the first of my party guests wanted anything to eat or drink, my friend asked her to bring me another drink. My second drink came just before my meal, which would have been around 7:30 p.m. at this point. More guests arrived and the server was more than happy to take all of their orders, but that was where the service then stopped.
Once we all had plates in front of us, we only saw our server walking past us. We were never asked if the food was satisfactory or if we wanted anything else to drink, nothing. My mom was able to catch the server long enough to ask for another drink, but the server never asked anyone else if they wanted more. One of our guests went up to the bar to order another beverage, but many of us were left with only one drink over the five hours we were there. When it came to having some cake, the server only had seven or eight small dessert plates to hand out before having to resort to the larger dinner plates. Many of us women at the table had done waitressing at one point or another, and we were not overly impressed with the results we were seeing with a table of close to 20 people. I happened to run into my neighbours a few days later, asking them how good their service was. They told me that we were the second table seated and greeted by the server after they had arrived and were never even given a menu to look at, so they got up and left.
Fast forward to Valentine’s Day. A friend and I decided to go out for ‘Galentine’s Day’, trying another local Unity establishment. When we entered the restaurant, a few tables were occupied by diners and a long lineup of those who were looking to take their orders home. We found a table and the server came right away with menus. He informed us that pizza orders would take a bit longer as they had run out of dough, but we were able to order anything else off the menu. We both ordered a drink and started to peruse the menu.
As we sat there, one table finished their meals while the other got their food shortly after we were first greeted by the server. Those who were waiting patiently for their to-go orders started to slowly dwindle to only a handful, leaving us as the only seated diners. After waiting for over an hour to have our orders taken, I finally had had enough. I walked over to the kitchen window, asking if we were going to have our orders taken as we had been waiting for over an hour. There were only two staff members in the back, and the man who had waited on us earlier was one of them. He finally came to take our order, saying if my friend wanted pizza, they now had dough ready. With our orders finally taken and our drinks arriving at the table a little while later, the wait was on to see if we would be eating in a timely manner. Within 30 minutes, we had plates of food in front of us. The server apologized to us both, saying he has new staff starting next week, and gave each of us a voucher in hopes we would come back to give him another chance.
Both establishments had really good food; I am not denying that. But the service is horrendous. Not all of Unity's restaurants are like this, but when there is a reservation for more than seven or eight people, especially if they are ordering drinks, they will be a server's bread and butter for the evening. If it is a special holiday, restaurants need to be prepared for the influx of orders, whether it is dine-in or take-out.
I am all for supporting local businesses. Visitors to the area will always ask the locals where a good place to eat or drink is and the number of options is dwindling. Between limited hours of operations, lack of staff and poor service quality, I feel some of our local eateries need to put forth more of an effort. If staffing is an issue, hire some local teens who are looking to work a few days a week, even if it is only on the days you know you are busier. Many students are looking to have flexible hours to cater to their busy lives of extracurriculars and school. Take the time to teach them how to do their job. Serving may not be rocket science, but there is a knack to it.
Good food only goes so far; it’s the service that will keep your patrons coming back for more.
