Now, don’t start jumping to conclusions when I say this. Everyone is entitled to book reservations wherever they want. My main argument is that we, as the restaurant workers, do not want to be harassed over the amount of time it takes for you to get your food. We understand that you need to be somewhere at a specific time, but if you choose to book a reservation at 6:30 p.m. when the concert doors open at 7:30 p.m., we can’t guarantee that you’re going to get your food within the 30 minutes you gave yourself to eat at peak service hours. Yes, sometimes it does only take 15 minutes to prepare your dish, but that’s when only two or three tables are sat, not when the entire restaurant is packed. As a host at a small restaurant, I would love to get you in and out as quickly as possible, but our two pizza ovens cannot accommodate 12 pizzas all at once.
Service is our number one priority. I can honestly say that we don’t want to ruin your day by wasting your time when you have to be somewhere else. At the same time, we food service workers don’t find it fair when you leave a negative review online because we couldn’t fit your entire service experience into half an hour. The busier we are, the less time we have to assist each table and the more time it takes to get every meal order out.
Here’s a tip for dining at a sit-down restaurant: show up at least an hour earlier than you think you need, eat in groups smaller than four people, and treat the staff with respect and kindness. I can assure you that the nicer you are, the harder we will try to accommodate your time constraints. This will not work at EVERY restaurant, but it will work at many. I’ve been yelled at, threatened, and even gotten walked out on because we made them wait more than 10 minutes for their food. That type of behavior will never get you what you want. On the other hand, if you’re polite, thankful, and TIP, you will become one of our favourite customers to ever walk foot into our restaurant.
At the end of the day, we thank you for your business, and we thank you in advance for not being the customers that we judge negatively.