Restaurant Reviews
In this chapter of REVIEWS, RESTAURANT REVIEWS, I'll cheer and I'll moan, I'll award kudos and blow raspberries.
And though this all, I hope I'll help some people find some good places to eat, and maybe learn which places to stay away from.
I use several criteria to rate a restaurant, but the most telling, for me, is do I want to go back there again?
Besides this, I rate the entire eating-out experience based on value, taste, service, and atmosphere.
----VALUE--------
Essentially, VALUE is what you get for your money. More accurately, it is what I get for my money! This is my main crieria for deciding whether I will go back to a restaurant. If I get good value for my money, I can put up with okay taste, so-so-service, and a ho-hum atmosphere. I'll probably be back.
----TASTE--------
TASTE is the second main thing I look for in a restaurant. Sometime, it will take over first place. Mainly, is the food GOOD? For restaurant with exceeingly GOOD food, I'll even tolerate it being overpriced. Unfortunately, most restaurants do not have exceedingly good food.
There are two principal things that, in my opinion, are the arch-enemies of goodness in food: blandness and over-spicing.
Last week, we ate in a restaurant in Tennessee named for a famous counry singer. The food there was as good as in any truck stop I've ever patronized. In other words, fresh out of the can, somewhat overcooked, and ... bland. The principal "spice" was salt, and we won't hurry back here. This restaurant did not rank high on the taste meter.
Over-spicing can be either hot-pepper spices or too much of the standard salt and pepper.
Taste is one of the critical characteristics of my restaurant ratings.
----SERVICE--------
SERVICE is how the restaurant interfaces with the customer. Your server is a big part of your dining experience, and a really good server can make all the difference in your visit.
There are two main characteristics of restaurant service as far as a diner is concerned: attitude an competency. Of the two, I see attitude as the more important, because I'd rather put up with marginal competency with a good attitude than with a brisk, efficient server with a sour attitude.
So what is a good attitude? Happy to see me. Happy to be working, willing to laugh at my stupid jokes, and crack a few of his or her own. Willing to share "secrets" with me, such as if I order the meat loaf, lowering their voice and saying something like "You might be happier with the roast chicken tonight; the meat loaf isn't the best." Or, "If you want a slice of that pecan pie, let me know now. Everyone loves it and it's about gone. If you want some, I'll set a slice aside for you."
What is competency? Mostly, I look for attitude here, too. It's the attitude of wanting to get everything right. It is NOT experince. Everyone has a different level of experience. I've had brand-new-on-the-job, marginally competent (but learning) servers who had a great attitude, and I thought they did a commendable job. I've also had highly experienced servers who made mistakes and tossed them (and me) off as if they were of no consequence, and I thought the service was terrible.
----ATMOSPHERE--------
Sometimes, atmosphere matters. Sometimes it doesn't. To me, it always takes a back seat to value and taste, and usually, to service. I can have a very enjoyable dining experience in a plywood booth with linoleum floors and a beverage served in a 24-ounce plastic tumbler.
Tablecloths and candlelight are usually nice, too, but I will downgrade a restaurant on atmosphere if the lights are so low I can't read the menu. Or if the music is so loud it interferes with conversation. Or if the temperature is so cold that my entire party gets uncomfortable.
At a local Wendy's restaurant, the manager (since retired) told me that the headquarters people set the temperature and won't give him the key to change it. He says he told them that people continually complain about how cold it is in here, and the headquarters people said that keeping it cold would encourage people to leave more quickly, making room for more customers. I looked around the less-than-one-third-occupied restaurant and asked him, does it ever get more crowded than this? And he said hardly ever. I shook my head and remarked, "And they want to chase people OUT?" Then I asked him if he thought these headquarters types understood that people stayed OUT of the restaurant for the simple reason that it was too cold? He just shook his head. But I can think of at least four instances in the last year when I went to some other restaurant (with two other people) precisely because it was too cold. It makes me wonder how many other people have done the same thing, resulting in them losing far more business than they were trying to gain. WENDY'S HEADQUARTERS TYPES, are you listening?
----GENERAL OVERALL--------
I will probably also put in a GENERAL OVERALL rating, where I can include other thins that don't fall into the primary categories, such as whether the restaurant has free Wi-Fi access, or whether that wi-fi has punitive logon requirements, neighbor diners, etc.
Again, I hope some readers of these postings can find new restaurants they enjoy, or learn of some to stay away from. If some readers would like to review a restaurant and send it to me (use the CONTACT page), I'll certainly consider posting it. After all, there's no such thing as enough good places to eat!
Happy Dining!
