UPDATE: Here is the second installment from The Times with more hints for a restaurant. Note that the blogger is opening a restaurant. Buzz believes there are numerous positive tips for all involved in the restaurant arena–servers, management, and even customers.
So San Diego’s diners, how well do our restaurants hold up to the blogger’s thoughts? And perhaps San Diego’s restaurateurs might create their own list for customers! Consider also, that the first installment topped the most e-mailed list for days at the paper which would make one wonder if they care more about food on the east coast than we do in “Sand” City as a commenter noted below. Chime in here, you all can’t be out surfing!
Just read a terrific little piece in The New York Times about what restaurants should and shouldn’t do. It’s a list that ought to resonate with diners as well as management and servers in San Diego–a town that wants the food savvy world to take note of their up and coming chefs. But even good chefs can’t help a restaurant if the management doesn’t understand why most diners want to experience a meal with well-trained servers in a pleasant, congenial atmosphere be it a hole- in- the- wall or fine dining establishment.
As Buzz noted many times, good service isn’t about a server telling me his or her name (you aren’t going to be my new BFF). Nor is it proper for servers to clear a table, when, as happened to me while eating with three friends, all that was left on the table was my unfinished plate (even the glasses disappeared). After that who would want to finish a perfectly good pasta dish? And, yes, I mentioned it to the owner who knows better.
When it comes to service, San Diego’s pervasive “mañana”- “let’s go surfing” attitude could be one reason Frank Bruni (former restaurant critic of The Times) commented, during a recent appearance here, that San Diego isn’t known as a food town.
So what do you think? Let’s hear from you.