Intro to Restaurants by Mathurin

Restaurants by Mathurin presents a very detailed view of visited restaurants from a young restaurant manager and self-proclaimed restaurant critic.  Each review will be based on service, atmosphere, menu, and food.  My specialty is service, so each review will be technically focused on service from the customer perspective.  Service will be given a rating out of 5, menu and atmosphere out of 3, and food out of how many guests enjoyed their food.  Not only will the reviews be from our table’s perspective, but I also keep a vigilant eye on what is happening at other tables and with the staff throughout the restaurant.  I will only note if I and joining guests enjoyed the food.  I don’t weight food as high for two reasons: 1) I have virtually no expertise in cooking or quality of food other than that it sometimes looks good and usually tastes fine to me and 2) food is very subjective in that the things I like others may not.  This may sound odd at first, but something that looks and tastes good to me might be of low quality or cooked poorly if you ask an expert.  The same goes for something that doesn’t suit my taste, for it might be of high quality.  We, as restaurant-goers, do not see what goes on in a kitchen and to assume what we don’t know would be irresponsible.

Moving on, I will attempt to include every relevant detail about my experience and the restaurant.  There are certain things I am willing to forgive from a service standpoint and other actions for which there is no excuse.  I am willing to forgive waiting for service for one main reason: we go out to eat to enjoy time socially and have a full “restaurant experience”; if you wish to eat quickly, do it at home or McDonald’s.  Waiting an extra minute for a server is not a big deal.  Waiting 15 minutes for an entrée is not a big deal.  There is a lot going on in a restaurant and certain things that require immediate attention, such as greeting guests and expediting hot food.  So again, do not come to a sit-down restaurant if you expect a server to take your full order within a few minutes.  On the flip side, there are some unforgivable actions for which management is ultimately responsible to ensure does not happen.  For example, there is no excuse for not greeting guests as they arrive in a timely manner.  There are some points of service that will be given positive points.  For example, I will note team service in every restaurant.  Simply filling water or clearing plates by someone other than my server will grant a restaurant a bonus point.  Other service points that will be noted are uniforms, water, and the all-important server introduction.

All of the restaurants I review will generally be locally-owned, service-focused restaurants where one would expect above average food at the very least.  This allows for the personality of the restaurant and staff to be exposed.  This is in contradiction to corporate restaurants, which are dictated by dull service scripts, strict cookie-cutter layouts, and mostly frozen food.

Keep Calm and Eat On,

Mathurin