Looking the part
There is a renowned sushi restaurant on Cleveland Street near where I live, where I've been to dinner twice in the last fortnight, and as a result of some awkward/amusing experiences, am here blogging about it. The first of these times I went, I was there with my boyfriend, Chinese-Malaysian, and two good friends - Colombian and Indian-Australian - and then of course there was me - European-Australian.
Now, this restaurant is renowned for its excellent quality sushi and sashimi - it's really hard to pass up if you're a fan. What it certainly is not renowned for is its service. There seems to be a very strict system that only one person can take orders, so when the people who have been waiting till opening time flood in, there is a long wait for the orderer to get to you. I didn't understand this ordering hierarchy last time I went, so I asked the waitress if we could order, to which I got a polite yes, but with no actual ordering. Only after stopping her for a 3rd time, did my friend point out that ordering is a strictly controlled activity, and so I gave up on getting any further attention.
Unfortunately, ordering is not the only service-related issue. It seems that whatever that time you arrive, it feels that the last thing on their mind is to seat you, or to tell you where to hang out while waiting for a table to become available (FYI - the waiting area is upstairs). Instead, you must throw yourself in their path while they huriedly bring food to the already seated guests and confidently ask your question. About half the time, you'll get a response.
Anway, when I went there two times ago, my Indian friend wanted to follow-up where the water we had ordered was. He'd tried repeatedly to get the attention of the passing wait-staff but had been unsuccessful. Finally, he caught the attention of one female walking past, and asked again for water. She looked quisically at him, and told him that she didn't work there. Terribly embarrased, he burried his face in his hands and remarked something like "I give up". He felt terrible that he'd confused a random Asian-looking female customer with a waitress. In his defence, she was wearing all black, just like the wait-staff.
So, again, my boyfriend and my Colombian friend and I decided to have dinner there. Service was proceeding in its usual way, and after finally placing our order, we were observing the room. We noticed a guy trying to get the wait-staff's attention. And you guessed, it, after a few minutes of attempting to get service, he stopped a young Asian-looking girl - again dressed all in black - for service, only to be dressed down by her that she didn't work there. He had that same embarrassed look as my friend had had. I couldn't contain my amusement, nor could my boyfriend. Once we explained what had just happened to my friend who'd had his back to the whole thing, he also broke out in giggles.
We were chatting about it, and realised that the reason that people got confused about who the staff was, was because of the poor service. If the staff took orders in a timely manner customers wouldn't be so desperate for service and mistake someone who works there and who just looks like they could! It also helps for customers to avoid wearing black. So next time you're at this restaurant, be sure to look twice to see if the person who're your trying to get service from actually works there, even if they are Asian-females wearing black.
Posted
by Michael
