Hello my name is Jim, and I will be your blogger today

We waited for about forty minutes for our single order of mussels at Local 188, but they never came. We finished our cocktails, asked our server to stop the order and bring us our check. She didn’t apologize for the delay, which didn’t surprise us. She’d shown little to no emotion about our presence since we’d been seated. Our martinis were fine and experiencing the ambiance of the new Local 188, which is why we came in the first place, was more than enough to make up for a botched order.

We laughed to each other about the server’s ambivalence. Then I looked into the kitchen, which is much larger than the last. It didn’t surprise me to see Jay, the owner, at the helm. In fact it was comforting. What did surprise me was the size of his line team. He was flanked by two assistants. I tried to calculate how many tables he’d added to his new location. Maybe twenty more – this is more than a one hundred percent increase in the number of guests being served at any one time. Maybe it was just an off night – perhaps some line staff had called off. And maybe our server had had a bad day. But I don’t know. Even on my worst days I’d never treat a customer poorly. Of course that’s just me. Then again I have a ton of restaurant experience and I’ve never met an owner who’d let a server or cook's bad day get in the way of taking care of business. I love Local 188. I am going back soon. I just hope it’s not a repeat of what we just experienced.

Hello my name is Jim, and I will be your blogger today.
Being a server is hard work. Really hard work. But you can not take it out on your customer. Let’s face it, you and I both know that all it takes is one bad round of service to write off a restaurant. In a city like Portland, which has more restaurant depth than cities twice its size, it’s easy to find replacements.

I read an article some time ago by a person who hated service that starts with “hi guys, my name is X, and I will be your server today.” OK, here's how I see it. If you’re affected by how a server introduces themselves, you have a problem. I mean, how can you let that bother you. I happily invite servers to tell their name (or grab those crayons and scribble for me on the tabletop in that trademark smiley face cursive). All I ask is that every server be polite, attentive and appreciative. In all seriousness, when that server introduces themselves, they’re conveying that they intend to make our dining experience enjoyable. They’re engaging us with a positive tone. When they check back to se how we are doing, they’re taking care of us. And it’s nice to get treated so well.

I think back to my years as a server. Spending time in the weeds probably took years off of my life. Seriously, in the thick of it, it was stressful and sometimes when I was treaded badly by a customer, it was demoralizing. I learned a lot about taking care of customers when I was a server. And man did I learn how to read people.

We weren’t rude to our server at 188. She could sense our frustration, but we couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Maybe that’s a good thing. She probably thought we were impatient jerks. But, we were just there for cocktail and a look at Jay’s new home. The mussels were an afterthought. The look and feel of Local 188 is incredible; you have to check it out.

Thank you and come again!