If you happened to be following me on Twitter over the weekend, you may have heard about my experience at Olive Garden: I waited far too long for my table. This wouldn’t have normally been an issue — if they’re busy, they’re busy — but my customer service experience was soured due to the way that the hostess decided to handle the situation. Allow me to explain.
I showed up at the restaurant to find a rather long list of people waiting for tables. I kindly asked the hostess how long the wait would be and she told me that it would be in the 50 to 55 minute range. I put down my name and I told her that I would come back in about 50 minutes and she said that would be perfect. During that time, I went to a nearby grocery store to get some shopping done and, right on schedule, I returned back to the Olive Garden 50 minutes later.
We approached the hostess again and asked if my name had already been called. She said that she called out my name 20 to 30 minutes ago and I missed my chance. The assumption, at this point, was that I would be placed back at the top of the list and I’d be next in line for a table. Instead, she said that because we missed our chance, we’re getting bumped all the way back to the bottom of the list. Even so, she said the wait from then should only be 10 to 15 minutes. I was slightly peeved, but 10 minutes was bearable.
Unfortunately, we were not seated for another 30 to 35 minutes! All in all, the total waiting time for my table ended up being an hour and a half. The hostess was not at all accommodating or compassionate. When we first arrived, she vastly overestimated the amount of waiting time, so I returned “too late” from buying groceries. Returning to the restaurant, she then vastly underestimated the amount of waiting time, so I sat in the lobby for far longer than I had expected. And I was getting very hungry.
This is completely unacceptable for a restaurant. If the initial waiting time had been quoted as 20 to 30 minutes, I would not have gone to the grocery store. She even told us that it would be fine if we left and came back in 50 minutes. Thankfully, the dinner itself was reasonably pleasant and the food was good.
If you were the hostess, how would you have handled this situation? Is it better to underestimate or overestimate the waiting time?
Bob Gray
August 18, 2009 3:12 pm
Tough call…
If you state you are leaving, and they agree, I would think the person should UNDERESTIMATE, so that you don’t miss your window of opportunity. But I would temper it, by saying, “I think you should be back in 30 minutes, so you don’t miss a table that comes up sooner”
If you are hanging around, I believe that an OVERESTIMATE would be better, as then anything sooner is a bonus.
If the person booking you in “gives permission” for you to leave, I believe it would be fair to ask to be bumped to the top of the queue, and if they are not prepared to do that (because another individual is now hosting) to ask to speak to the manager.
It doesn’t do any restaurant any good to have a customer with a bad taste in their mouth, BEFORE they eat !
I don’t know if it applies in food service, but the statistic in Retail used to be that if you receive GOOD service, you tell one person. If you receive BAD service, you tell nine people.
Heather Stewart
August 18, 2009 3:14 pm
Having been a hostess at one time…I would give clients my best (slightly overestimated) guess and let them know it may be earlier or later and (when that was company policy) whether their name would be put to the end of the line if they missed it, or stay at the top. It just takes one extra sentence to let people know what’s up – busy or not.
Dr. Cossack
August 18, 2009 7:29 pm
I’m with Bob Gray on this one: underestimate and overestimate when appropriate.
It’s a risk you take when you decide to quit a waiting line to do some extra errands. In this case, though, I’d have expected to see you bumped to nearly the top of the list since the estimate was way off. If you had been called on time as expected and were late, then I’d expect you to have to go through the whole list since I believe that the priority should go to those who decided to wait on location.