At 7:45 tonight a 8:15 reservation called to cancel.

They let the the host know it was because we were a meat forward restaurant and didn’t have enough vegetarian options.

The host asoured them we had lots of salads and sides that were completely vegetarian.

They ended up canceling the reservation.

They booked three weeks ago.

They didn’t realize we were a steak house until 30 minutes before their reservation.

I charged them $100 for cancelling their reservation.

I can’t wait for the phone call tomorrow.

Today was a perfect summer day.

The patio was hopping.

At 5:30 a couple and their small child approach me at the host stand on the patio.

I say hello. Ask them if they have a reservation.

They give me their name. I find it. It’s for 5:45.

I tell them that I’ll get them seated a little closer to 5:45.

They walk away. Land at the singing sofa/day bed we have.

Three minutes later the husband approaches me to ask if they can have the table next to to the swing. I explain that’s where they are scheduled to go.

He asks if they can be seated.

I say I’ll get them seated a little closer to 5:45.

He says you won’t seat me.

I Will seat you. At 5:45.

So we can sit next to the table but not at the table.

I say yes.

He stares at me.

I hold his gaze.

He stares.

He says are you being serious.

I reply yes.

He glares some more.

He finally walks away.

The back story.

We were short a server on the patio tonight. One of them rolled their ankle.

30 seconds before this family arrived his server was flat sat 3 tables. She was hustling. There was no way to give her a fourth table and not gave service suffer.

The only reason I was on the patio was because I’d realized he wasn’t holding people the way he should.

Yes they could have been sat. But once they are seated the clock starts. They’ll say they’ll be patient. But can they get water while they wait? Can they get a cocktail…while they wait. Which is essentially being waited on.

They didn’t acknowledge me when they left although I energetically said thank you and wished them a good night.

I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

I had a vague voicemail on the machine today.

I called them back.

It’s a woman who is asking questions about a reservation she had earlier in the week.

She doesn’t know the day.

She doesn’t know the time.

Her phone number doesn’t pull up any history.

She does finally say it’s because she was charged for cancelling a reservation. She insists it was cancelled. I explain that with more information I can’t tell her anything.

She says she’ll do some investigating and call back.

She does.

15 minutes later.

She explains that her concierge made the reservation and they cancelled them long before the deadline.

I explain that no in fact they didnot cancelled it.

And we didn’t know it was cancelled until the caller texted us a reply to our text asking if they were coming. Their text says they weren’t in town and needed to cancel. 20 minutes after it was scheduled.

She protests.

I say perhaps she should take this up with her concierge company.

But that she definitely did not cancel.

I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

We had a guest in tonight who had a garlic allergy.

The question we all asked was is it an allergy. Or is it an aversion.

I have a friend who avoids garlic because it gives her indigestion. She avoids it.

I also know a person who can eat cooked garlic but not raw.

This person insisted that it was an allergy.

He ordered the pork chop insisting he’d gotten it many times before and it was fine.

The chef says bullshit.

The pork chop has been on the menu forever. It’s always been prepared the same. It has garlic.

He refuses to cook the person a pork chop since they are insisting it’s an allergy.

I’m sent to the bar to chat with him.

I ask all the questions.

Allergy. Or aversion.

They insist allergy.

I then ask how severe.

They say very.

I then explain that we won’t be able to cook him a well done New York strip because, we cook many items on the grill that contain garlic and to use The Josper our wood fired oven the steak will be burned beyond recognition to get the middle to well done because the temperature is so high.

He asks if we can pan fry him a steak. I laugh. And explain that one does not Ian fry on an open flame.

I’m not sure he gets it.

He says medium rare is fine.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say he avoids garlic but if he’s eaten our pork chop he certainly is not allergic.

I wrote a post months ago about all the stuff I do as a manager.

My favorite is fixing the printer.

Any printer.

I’m am an old man. Three months from being a boomer.

I. Don’t. Know. Shit. About. Printers.

You start by making sure it has paper.

Then you make sure it’s thermal paper. Not kitchen paper.

Then you turn it off.

Then you turn it back on.

And if all else fails you do a hard reset.

But 99.9999% of the time turning it on and off does the trick.

But nevertheless, at 6:00 when the bar printer isn’t printing they yell as if somehow I can actually fix it.

Someday they’ll realize I’m a fraud.

PS. A couple of times it’s been unplugged.

I worked at a restaurant in high school.

I’ll chat about that some other time.

But.

My first real serving job was at Bennigan’s in Atlanta in 1987 .

I still value that job as we did a week of classroom training and I was taught how to be a good server.

They assumed all of us knew nothing.

Day one.

We are going over restaurant terminology.

86’d.

Fir you non restaurant people it means to be out of something. For example my chef 86’d the tuna tonight when he dold the last piece.

Jimmy our trainer told us stat it meant.

And I asked if it was called 86 since that was last year.

86. Now 87.

I still remember him laughing.

No it was not the reason.

Meanwhile.

I still don’t know why it’s called 86’d.

We have a fish of the day.

Everyday.

Today our fish was tuna.

However, it was limited as we only had about ten servings tonight.

So a server comes to me around 7:15 to say:

Table 12 wanted the tuna but we ran out. He was ordering a filet but felt he should get a discount since we didn’t have the tuna he ordered.

I said to the server.

Ask him if he went to Macy’s and wanted a blue shirt but had to buy a yellow shirt because they didn’t have a blue shirt if he’d get it discounted.

Try it at the grocery store.

A car dealership.

A shoe store.

Seriously.

We have an email posted on our website: info@…

We get interesting things sent to us.

Todays?

We’d like to come eat at there to celebrate my son’s college graduation, and I have an unusual question…
Some people in our group are very strict about only eating humanely raised food, not from factory farms.
Can you tell me where you source your meats and seafood?

I get it.

You don’t want animals mistreated. You want them treated kindly.

But.

Is any animal who’s killed for your dining pleasure treated humanely?

It’s too little. Too late.

Meanwhile.

Our beef is grass fed right up until they are killed for your pleasure.

The phone rings around 5:30. The host answered. It’s a woman calling to pay for her parents dinner.

The host explains that we can’t accommodate them after service starts.

Fun story. Last weekend a person called at 4:00 to order champagne for a table. The host was on the phone for 15 minutes trying to take care of them.

Anyway.

The person on the phone loses her shit and says she’ll come down and do it in person.

An hour later a man appears in our lobby to give us his information.

The host doesn’t know what to say or do.

Fun fact.

The following interaction took me out of play for 15 minutes.

We had to get his credit card information.

He insisted we run his card so he could sign.

But.

You can’t run a card for a tab that hasn’t been created yet.

I take his information. But of course his card is 27,000 years old. You can’t read any of the numbers.

Then I have to find the server.

Explain what is going on.

Explain that the CVV code could be any of three choices as the card is broken and you can’t make out the last number.

I go back hand the guy his card.

He’s still perplexed as to why he can’t sign anything.

So.

If you want to treat a friend to dinner at an expensive dinner.

Go with them.

Or.

Pay for a gift card.

It’s easier. You can do it online. They get an email.

And it’s not a pain in our ass.

Oh.

So.

Much.

To.

Write.

About.

Tonight!!!

First.

We have a company who sells their products nationally, who’s headquarters are near our our restaurant. Their staff eats at our restaurant regularly on business dinners.

They also used to frequent my old restaurant. They were known for bringing in ten to twelve for staff outings.

They are all super nice. Easy to wait on.

But.

They are often late. Like tonight.

They had a 5 top reservation. Two of them showed up 30 minutes early. Two others showed up 30 minutes after the scheduled reservation. One of them never showed at all.

The four people spent $400 dollars.

And here’s the reason for the post.

They tipped, to the penny, 15%. This is up from the 10% they used to tip.

My staff at the old restaurant hated waiting on them.

My current staff hates waiting on them.

My question to my valued readers is:

Do I just ignore it?

Do I add the gratuity as chef suggested when they are in?

Do I call their CEO and explain that it’s bad PR?

Do I send an email?

Do I not take their reservation?

It’s just annoying.

And before you say it. It doesn’t matter is it’s our worst server or our best. 15%.

Thoughts?