OpinionsThe Way It IsArrive hungry, leave hungry. What’s going on?

Arrive hungry, leave hungry. What’s going on?

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Two days ago, my wife and I went out to dinner with my cousin, his sister, and his wife. We went to one of the most popular restaurants in Dumaguete. We were seated outdoor under a starless night sky, but the lighting that surrounded us more than made up for it. It created a festive ambience, and it even reminded me somewhat of Waikiki Beach during certain moments at dusk. It was a little warm, but not overly so that I would sweat. Still, I had my little towel just in case the scanty breeze fizzled out. They ordered calamari to whet our appetites. I think it was tartar sauce that it came with. I probably would have preferred garlic-lemon or anything else, which I like, but only with battered fish.

The server came with menus. I was given one, but I told my wife to pick for me. The rest of the gang had decided to pick from the family platters grouped into A, B, C, and D, consisting of different yummy combinations. My cousin called the server, a young man who eagerly bounded over to our table, fully enthusiastic, someone who expressively loves his job. Everyone had decided to order D instead of having to struggle to pick each selection from the menu. D had everything we agreed we liked. We added our drinks and, after our server verified our order, off he went to the kitchen.

Our order took a while, and if it wasn’t for the nice ambience, the wait would have tested our patience. We endured the wait with pleasant conversation and people-watching–some old friends might come walking into the courtyard.

If the wait took any longer, I probably would have walked over to the restaurant’s old automobile on display out front. I’ve always been curious to ogle it up close.

But before I could get up, I saw our server walking toward us with nothing in his hands. I kind of suspected he had some bad news to tell us. He just had to say it–D wasn’t available. What? What about our wait? Never mind that, my cousin was cool enough to remind us. He took charge, picking C this time.

The waiter, now nervous, decided he might as well spill all the beans at once, instead of possibly catching our ire three times. It turned out that A, B, and C were also not available. We gasped almost simultaneously.

But wait, all was not lost yet, so my tolerant cousin decided to give it another shot. With a sigh, he said, “Okay, we’ll just order some barbecue chicken.”

The server reluctantly replied, “Sorry, sir, dili pod na available, sir.”

The situation started to get on our last nerves, and we could have thrown all niceties in the shit can. My cousin looked at us, and asked if we would settle for pork sisig instead. Hungry as we were, we told him we were fine with that one. At the same time, the server was shaking his head, and didn’t wait for my cousin to speak.

“Wala pod na, sir,” he said, almost not looking at my cousin, probably embarrassed as hell, or just afraid.

By that time, it was down to single word questions. My cousin asked, “Pizza?”

The server smiled, shaking his head, praying we’d stop already, “Sorry, sir, dili pod na available, sir.”

Thank goodness, my cousin is such an admirably patient man. And fortunately for the server, his patience is contagious, something to be envied.

With maximum restraint, we simply surrendered to the bizarre circumstances and decided to go to another restaurant. What else could we have done? Well, we could have sat there all night, listen to the nice music, and slowly starve.

Obviously, the owner of that restaurant has grown complacent in the fact that his restaurant beats others in looks, and therefore, ambience, that he has forgotten what his customers visit his restaurant for.

I felt for the server. It wasn’t his fault, but he had to be the one to face us, and contain the embarrassment that should have been the owner’s.

I had no intention of writing on this topic, but after having experienced too many similar situations like this around the City, it gets old, and had to be expressed, somehow.

What is amazing is that most customers do not think that this is an inconvenience, at the very least, and ingratitude for a customer’s value, at the most.

A restaurant survives because customers return to it, either for its delicious food, or the excellent service it may provide. Either one of these qualities cannot survive without the other.

For a restaurant that’s been successful because of its customer’s loyalty, not to reciprocate is a display of disrespect toward that same customer.

When customers intentionally drive to spend their money at their favorite restaurant, only to be treated disrespectfully like this, they have wasted their time and energy. The customer is further disrespected by the restaurant when it lets this happen over, and over again.

Then the restaurant issues apologies but they’re really just throwing worthless, incoherent words, devoid of sincerity, and then have the audacity to expect them to come back for more, because they think no other establishment is better.

It would be so simple if they gave the customers what they want, all the time. If nothing else, they could inform the customers that an item will no longer be available, and update the menu accordingly.

After we left that restaurant, we went to another one along the boulevard. That one probably has the best thin crust pizza in town. Their Cappricciosa and Tropicana pizzas, I just couldn’t eat enough of.

But even that restaurant has a flaw that I don’t think they’re actively trying to fix. There was a time when they didn’t serve pizza for several days. We later learned that their pizzaiolo was sick. The restaurant didn’t seem to mind they were losing on their pizza sales on those days, and that would have been their choice, except they were depriving their customers as well.

I don’t know if they’ve hired another pizzaiolo, or at least have the one they already have train someone else.

No matter, we will return to that restaurant because that was, as far as we know, an isolated incident, and it was just one item of food involved, and they do have the other items on the menu available when we’re there. In short, that makes them a tad better than some. Besides, when their pizzaiolo is not sick, he whips up some wicked pizza.

The number of restaurants that are not able to serve everything that’s in their menus has grown in recent memory. If I knew I’d be writing this now, I would have taken a tally since first I noticed this.

The funny thing is that they are not at all concerned with customers’ complaints. Maybe if they paid more attention, they’d probably notice that their customers are almost always new.

There’s a limit to new customers so when their service turns bad, maybe they’ll realize that return-customers are the ones who really count, who really prop them up. Even just a few satisfied customers could keep a restaurant afloat.

On another occasion when my cousin went to this restaurant on the boulevard that has a blue and white faí§ade to have coffee, it was farthest from her mind that she’d have to leave as soon as she ordered. The waitress told her they were out of brewed coffee.

My cousin, looking at the popular restaurant’s name on the menu card couldn’t believe it.

Nevertheless, she left and went to another restaurant not far from there. She got to the other place still shaking her head.

Would you believe that the second place was out of brewed coffee as well?

What are the chances of that happening, she thought–two in a row? Where did all the coffee go? Do these restaurants need the business? Was her money not good enough?

My cousin left that place, and walked to another restaurant, tired from shaking her head too much.

This new place was appointed nicely inside, and the servers were nice, and polite.

As for me, I’m tired of having to waste more words, and therefore, time, so I’ll cut to the chase. They didn’t have brewed coffee either.

If the three-strikes-and-you’re-out law applied here, those restaurants would have been closed going on one week now.

My cousin consciously avoided shaking her head after the third restaurant, afraid that if she shook it any more than she already had, it’d fall off her shoulders. What my cousin witnessed that day was the ridiculous becoming even more ridiculous.

I’m sure others have had similar experiences. You may even be one of them. Like me, do you wonder why this happens even with the best of them?

The restaurant business is booming, even if you just based it on the amount of food trash that the City now collects.

Yet, restaurants do not order enough from their suppliers so they won’t run out of food for their customers.

Maybe there needs to be a restaurant rating system, and enough critics to report on each restaurant’s pros and cons in the local newspapers and in social media. There is nothing better than an incentive for each of them to excel above the rest. The threat of a report published in newspapers or on social media deterring customers from the bad restaurants may just do the trick.

Next time, pay enough attention when you visit a restaurant. You may come away shaking your head, too.

If this is the way it is with our restaurants, the next time you go to one, you may find yourself hungrier when you leave than when you arrived.

_____________________________

Author’s email: [email protected]

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