quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
I get the impression that a lot of these restaurants now do so much more take-out/DoorDash than ever before and dining-in has now become almost an afterthought for them. It sucks

I asked the local 5 guys manager about this. He said when they added door dash it added $10-$15k in sales a month for both local stores.

The benefits of living in rural small town America. Locally owned diners with great food. If there are 20 people in the place I'm likely to know half of them. We have some other larger places as well that do great. A excellent Mexican restaurant and a equally as good Chinese place. A few local bars serving good pub food and a good friend owns a large supper club type of place offering higher end menu items that is nearby.

All these place have good service as well. I think they just have a better crop of people to hire from and know they have a smaller population of customers to draw from so it keeps them on top of their game.

Two stories about outstanding service.

First Carrabbas. We went there on Easter Sunday and it was probably the last time with my mom. Food was a little slow, but the waitress was fantastic. She comes with the bill, apologizes for the wait, and tells us the two calamari appetizers and one of the meals were comped. The thing is, none of us were really disappointed to begin with. We go back six months later, again after church, but with my dad around what would have been my mom’s 80th birthday. Same waitress and she remembers us. Same fantastic service. We had a great time both times.

Second The 211 Bar & Grill north of Onaway and just south of Black Lake on highway 211 in Michigan. We took my dad there over the summer after my mom had passed. It’s a Friday night, in season up there, so it’s busy. Packed really with people waiting outside. We get seated and can’t help but notice this guy running around doing just about everything, busing, getting drinks, serving, taking orders, etc. They had at least six other employees as well, but this guy stood out. The guy did twice the work as the other employees combined. I swear he could have handled the entire restaurant by himself. Other tables were talking about him. It turns out he just graduated from one of the big colleges in Michigan, he was the owner’s son, and he is planning to take over the restaurant.

So no, everyone in the restaurant industry has not given up. While the two stories above illustrate what would have been exceptional service at any point in time, for the most part we have had good service at most places we’ve been. I don’t have any stories about bad service which says something in and of itself since I have a story for everything.

I’m gonna say no it hasn’t. Our favorite Italian joint has been consistently good over the last 2-3 years. There doesn’t seem to have been a lot of turnover in the waitstaff. Mexican food favorite seems to be the same. We don’t go out real often, 3-4 times a month, I like to cook. By the same token, if we don’t like your food or service, we ain’t going back to see if you get better.

I can relate to almost every post here. Could add personal experience to most.
I love eating out! But look for great food, service, at a reasonable price.
The wife and I average $200+ for groceries per week. One restaurant meal now cost between $60-140 depending on where we go and what we order.
I’m not waiting 1/2 hour to be seated. Or sit there 2 hours wondering where my drink, appetizer, or hamburger is! If I do, probably won’t be back.
Where did the working staffs go? We stopped in to a nice restaurant close to our Costcos. The bartender walked by after a few minutes and told us we had to be patient. She was the Bartender, Hostess, and Waitress. Also there was only one cook that day. We left.
On top of that, most places are now closed Monday’s and Tuesday’s, and it’s hard to find a place open for lunch.

I like Longhorn. Not high end, but always good food. A good waiter/waitress waits on 5-6 tables at a time? Let’s say two tables of two, four, and six. So the bills would be, $60-70 for two, $140 for four, and $200-250 for six. $400-500 total times 20%= $80-100 per hour during busy times, 6-9 pm. Yes, no where near that much during slow times, but I’ve found a lot of people are deliberately eating then to avoid the rush. My point is why aren’t workers fighting over those jobs?

I just did an internet search on average waiter/ waitress salary. Guess I was way off.$30,000 per year? I was thinking at least double that!

It's a two way street .
Retail ,food service and delivery occupations are very challenging areas currently, VERY!

We've found the absolute best restaurants and retailers and delivery people almost always have very good customers.

Not good as in spending the most or tipping the most or highest frequency .
But
In courtesy, friendliness, patience
and kindness.

The days of
Hey you!
Iam snapping my fingers , you better jump!

Are long gone at most places,
Flipping people off will become the new normal very soon
when
Service people get poor, disrespectful or discourteous treatment.

Just like one bad employee can ruin a whole eating or shopping experience,
A bad
Customer can ruin a whole six hour shift for
A waiter or server or delivery person.

Oh yeah those entitled few can impact you even if you don't witness their rude or vulger behavior.

The long hours and abuse by super entitled asshole customers is killing the motivation of retail and service related employees.

Just yesterday, the moment I got to work I had one. “I want to talk to a manager right now!” Woman hadn’t asked anyone for assistance. I saw them drive up to the loading zone so they were there less than 10 minutes, but she went directly to the tired bullshit “I’ve been waiting for 30 minutes” routine. I had to ask several times what she was there to pick up before she would stop bitching and tell me. It just got worse from there.

We have a place a little more than a mile from our house where I will meet my former co-workers for a beer(s) after work. Sometimes my wife comes along and we stay for dinner.

It's gotten to the point we only go on the nights one particular woman is running the bar. Tremendous service, knows all of us. The other nights the service is slow and the bartender is indifferent.

They're always busy though.

Went to Georgetown for dinner and drinks last night. First place (an upscale chain) seemed back to normal. Second place we went to the front staff sucked. The host was a total asshole. Ended up walking away from the shitty table he tried to stick us at (outside in the cold and nowhere near the heaters). The third place we went and ended up dropping anchor at was a lot of fun.

I gotta wonder if the no face ,no voice, sparse interaction society that a lot of people are embracing these days is
making it worse?

People don't feel the need to be nice, be courteous, even be empathetic to one another,

Because they don't want to be invested with others,
They ! Just ! Want!

Part of the problem is, even if there's good, capable ownership and management, they're having trouble finding and retaining cooks and wait staff.

The employable ones went to go work warehouse jobs at Amazon.

The trash is all that is left and they were like this in the first place.

This morning at Awful House, the waitress kept bringing my toast to the wrong table, which had three plates of my toast before they asked her what she was doing.

I was completely finished with my breakfast when I asked her a fourth time where my toast was.

She argued with the cook and made it to go and said, well at least I got it.

Also,
There is a great divide between the suits over in corporate offices and the people in the general population doing the "serving".

Lack of training and or mentorship has been experienced on many occasions.

Yes is the answer to the question
Asked in the thread title.

50%
Have indeed given up.

quote:

Originally posted by doublesharp:

We have a well run Culver's that is reliable and a couple of mom & pops that we patronize but we mostly buy good food and eat at home.

Sounds about like things around here. A ton of fast food lunch places and all of them we frequent have good food, fast service and seating. The local Culvers is outstanding in everything including ambiance.

The more upscale sit down restaurants I rarely go to in my hometown area, but on vacation I go to them pretty exclusively and found on our last vacation 3 months ago they also were well run, fast seating, fast service, good food and reasonable prices.

I guess it just depends on the area you're in.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
Part of the problem is, even if there's good, capable ownership and management, they're having trouble finding and retaining cooks and wait staff.

Pretty much this.
I have the big chain restaurants around me that I don't go to at all. Think Applebee's and such.
I also have 2 restaurants near me that have been around for decades. Mom and pop joints that their kids have taken over. They have the same problems as the chain ones do but on a smaller scale.
I still go once in a while but it's not very often, maybe once every few months.

The left's idea concept that "work is an option" is part of the problem. Too many lazy young people smoking dope day and night has turned some brains into mush.

quote:

Originally posted by abnmacv:
The left's idea concept that "work is an option" is part of the problem. Too many lazy young people smoking dope day and night has turned some brains into mush.

You might be on to something there!

“I don’t want to work! I want to bang on the drum all day!”

quote:

Originally posted by abnmacv:
The left's idea concept that "work is an option" is part of the problem. Too many lazy young people smoking dope day and night has turned some brains into mush.

Along those lines, the woman who lives across the street is a renter in an area mostly populated by homeowners. She's a bartender and has 2 children, one over 18 and moved out and one around 6 years old.

When Covid hit she quit working. Never went anywhere anymore and, I guess, went on the public dole collecting SNAP and General Assistance and, I'm sure, all the unemployment potato head was offering.

Fast forward to last week and I noticed she's just started working again. Checked the net and found out Arizona is about to cut back her SNAP so I guess she decided to get off her ass and start working again.

Maybe that's a good thing.