I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

We cook with wood fire at our restaurant.

So the dominant, more noticeable smell is the smoky smell of meat cooking. It’s especially noticeable at 5:00 when the grills are still getting up to temperature and the first orders are being prepared.

However, every night at 5:00, I get asked what the wonderful smell in the lobby is.

I used to reply that it was the smell of the wood smoke.

But I was always told no, this has vanilla in it.

It took me about 9 months to discover that it’s the automatic air freshener in the lady’s restroom, which is off the lobby.  

It happened again tonight.  

It is a nice smell.

However, tonight reminded me of a story from back in the summer.

A 5-top was seated at table 37. A family. Three kids. The father is from South America.

He asks his server about half way through the evening what the scent is we use in the men’s room. It reminds him of his home in South America.  

The server comes to me to ask me about it.  

I am surprised.  

The men’s room always smells of piss. (I think of Sweeney Todd as I write this). Our urinal is poorly designed, or the men have bad aim, and by 6:00 there is always the lingering smell of piss. It’s so bad that the owner has spoken with his plumber several times about getting a new urinal.  

When the server asks me, I am at a loss as to what to say.  

It’s truly the smell of pee and the same vanilla scented air freshener from the women’s room.  

I tell her to let him know its just the air freshener we use.

She comes back later and says the guest thought maybe our chef ordered a scent from his home town in South America to give the restaurant a more authentic smell.  

I chuckle as I am taken back to the state candles that were for sale on line a few years ago. The smell of tobacco, bourbon and regret, I think was the Kentucky smell. Maine was pine, lobster and sweaty tourists. California was red wine, salt air and car exhaust.  

Perhaps we should bottle our men’s room scent and start an Etsy page with it.