I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

Tonight was another busy one for us.

Beat last week’s Friday number by 5 or 6 people.  Revenue was way higher than last week, meaning people were ordering more. 

Around 8:00 I checked in at the door to see how many more people we had to seat. 

The hosts commented that it was a smooth night.  I suggest that they not say that till everyone has left.  So that no one would yell at me tonight. 

One of the hosts continued, it’s not just that it was smooth.  It was REALLY smooth and EVERYONE was SOOOOO nice. 

She was not wrong.  EVERYONE was nice tonight.  And I do mean EVERYONE.  Every table that had a recook was more than generous with their praise and understanding. 

I connected with so many people tonight and they were all wonderful. 

Table 12 in the second turn who left a message today begging for a table for his anniversary.  He used the code word Acapulco, which is the word his wife said a year ago that I should use the next time she is being bitchy.  Of course I got them a table.  He was so grateful.

The lady at table F-1 who called at 3:00 looking for a table for 4.  I had one opening and it was at the chef’s table.  I explained that it was a high top but right in front of the kitchen so they’d get a bird’s eye view of the action.  She asked me NOT to seat her there because she thought it was horrible table.  I assured her she would love it.  She was ecstatic when I checked in with her after they’d gotten their drinks and ordered.  So happy to have been able to see the kitchen. 

It rained again for exactly 15 minutes from 4:35 to 4:50.  When they say it’s a 9% chance of rain it means not likely but not impossible.  My staff killed it.  They cleared all the tables in 2 seconds.  Then at 5:00 they all worked together to dry the tables, get them reset, and we opened the patio at 5:10.  AND.  NOT one person insisted on being sat before we opened, and they didn’t ask for drinks which was great as I needed my bar staff to help us reset. 

I had a lovely 15 minute conversation with a table by the fire pit (it was lit tonight, I came home smelling liking I’d been camping for a week), about where we source our wood, what kind it is (white, kiln dried oak) and how we store it.  I told them they should definitely pay extra for the kiln dried.  It was 100% worth it, which led to a conversation about the things people spend money on and what they don’t.  His wife said she’d rather eat out every day getting amazing food, than trade in her 2007 car.  I said that we hire someone to mow our lawn because I’d rather have a root canal than have to do it on my day (emphasis ONE day). 

There were 4 bros that stopped me to ask about the chef and our Argentine food.  (Turns out they are a friend of a friend, and work for an agency that might have deleted some text messages a few months ago.  I did not ask about that).  BUT.  I did get to geek out about the chef and the food and the grills and the Josper, and the wood and the service and the passion we all have at work.  I seriously could talk all day about our kitchen, food and staff.   I recommended a filet for seat 4 and a NY strip for seat 1. 

Around 5:15 Jen comes to me and says that I’d walked past table 11 and they wanted to say something to me, but I wasn’t paying attention and kept walking, so I perhaps should stop by.  I go over, and I have no fucking idea who they are.  We talk.  She asks about the pork chop or the skirt steak.  I love both a lot.  I said, she should get the skirt medium rare.  And she did and she loved it.  After I spoke to them, I went to the host stand to look at their reservation.  AHHHH.   I know who she is.  She’s the chicken parm lady.  I spoke to her family last fall.  They come up three or four times a year from New Jersey and have been eating at the restaurant since it opened.  We used to have chicken parm on the menu.  It was a FAVORITE of everyone.  Chef has an Italian food background as well.  She begged and pleaded last time she was in to get chicken parm.  So I made a guest note so I’d remember who she was.  After their dinner I stopped by to ask how she liked her skirt steak and to tell her I’d remembered after I walked a way that she was Chicken Parm Lady.  Her husband thought it was hysterical.  I told her I’d made that note in her profile when we spoke last.  I chatted with them for about 15 minutes.  About food.  Life.  She wants to move here.  Her husband does not.  She asked if I’d hire her as a server if she moved.  I asked if she could start on Wednesday.  She joked that she’d just move without him and I said, that I was going to take my leave before I had to put a note in their profile that said, I’d broken up the marriage on table 11 over Chicken Parm. 

We had lots of regulars in tonight. 

The older couple who have been eating with us for years.  Her husband had a stroke during Covid and they come and sit at the bar because the bartender takes great care of them and even cuts up his steak because his hands shake.

Our neighbor across the street was in with his family tonight. 

The owner of our payroll/accounting firm was in tonight with his family.

The couple from Mass who eat with us every 10 days or so were in with their daughter. 

The young couple who eat with us once a week and tip outrageously.  (Unfortunately they did NOT pay the check tonight). 

The owner of a local restaurant was in with her family. 

It was such a wonderful evening.  Only a couple of hiccups.  They were big ones, but I can’t write about them here. 

It was nice to be nice all night. 

Check in with me tomorrow to see if I jinxed myself.