Thursday, May 19- Thank you to Lanie and Leslie (and all my bosses) for allowing my small family reunion to happen: it meant a lot to my aunt (and me) but I have been anxious to get back to work. Tonight we had a strong service, excellent teamwork and communication, and lots of NRA guests.
Mood Scale- In the first turn, we had a couple of walk-in guests who become instantly irate that we were not able to seat them right away. They were unpleasant to Maria (who was only pleasant in return!) and Harvey stepped in with his calming energy, while Maria let me know what was going on. We spoke with these guests and let them know the situation with full transparency, and that we were going to do everything we could to have them join us that night. Maria let me know when we texted them their seats were ready, so I was able to communicate to Eddie (their seats were at 512, end of bar) and he was ready to give them extra special attention. They were a less than 5 at the door when we couldn’t seat them right away: by the end of dinner, they were at a 9 and gave me an air kiss on the cheek! Great communication by Maria and Harvey!
At the end of the night, we had 4 gentlemen at table 61. They were the last table upstairs, and had an unshakeable case of the 6’s. They loved the quality of all their dishes, but felt in particular the shortrib and caldo portions too small. These guests repeated their assertions about the portions, even when we served them more caldo (thank you to the kitchen for expediting this solution) and even when I served them an apple tart after I thought we had resolved the issue. It turns out, they all work for a company that sells wood burning ovens: a competitor to the company whose wood burning oven we are using. Despite our not using their brand of wood burning oven, they loved Allie’s service and the tart, and at a solid 8 or 9.
Notable guests (thank you Leslie for these notes): Laura Gaudin (Revention Director of Ops), table 77. Friends of Rick unexpectedly walked in and we were able to sit them right away at table 46 with Carlean due to a last minute cancellation. The had a great night dining right next to the kitchen and chatting with RB. We sent them a couple gifts from the kitchen and they had a great experience! So happy we were able to accommodate them! Scott Simon dined with a major NPR supporter on table 36 with Carlean as their server. As RB mentioned, these guests were typically a difficult crowd to please. The mood on the table was incredibly positive and they had a wonderful time! Smiles all around. Carlean got double sat but did a nice job using Leslie for help keeping her SG’s happy. Anthony Pilla, director of business development, Marra Forni wood-fired brick ovens.
MVP: Maria and Allie, for communicating issues as soon as they happened, giving us as managers the best opportunity to make our guests have amazing experiences.
Appreciation: Matt, Leslie and Chef Fred, for staying late to help make sure everything was good for the close tonight.
Tom Skilling says…. warm weekend, and then some! Longest stretch of temps in the 70’s and 80’s since last September, just in time for the NRA weekend.
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