Published on May 22nd, 2012 | by Charu Suri
11Surviving Poor Service When You Travel
On a recent trip to the Catskills, I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely Robin from MyMelange. We decided to try a place she had heard lots about: the Village Tea Room, in New Paltz.
The parking wasn’t that bad even though the lot was full — a significance of good things. If people don’t want to leave, then the restaurant must be good. And the name –Village Tea Room—had me at hello. I’m a big tea buff, and I heard that they served high tea. Which meant scones and stuff.
The entrance was pretty, with a trellised arch, and the building itself is a Historic Landmark. Inside, a cosy tea room (with lunch items too), and pretty silver foil packets of tea My eye was immediately drawn to the cakes and pastries, notably the honey bee cake, which I was told was made of orange sponge cake, with a vanilla filling and a touch of chocolate, adorned with a ganache honey bee with almond sliver wings. I had the good fortune to try it and it was delicious!
But the service—much to my disappointment and to Robin’s—was painfully slow. It was the day before Mother’s Day, and after more than a half hour wait (there were empty tables), we were finally seated. And then we were told they were out of bread, because of the unanticipated demand for Mother’s Day. I ordered pasta (it was a delicious pesto—nothing to complain about).
After we finished our meal, we wanted to order macaroons but despite us waiting right in front of the cashier for a while, they didn’t even take our order! It’s sad when such a fine establishment (the food was delicious) gets to suffer because of poor service. And over the years, I can definitely remember when poor service impacted my judgement of a place: if it weren't for the attitude and indifference of some of the wait staff, I'm sure I would have come out raving about the Village Tea Room.
And that's not entirely the staff's fault too: I think management is to blame, certainly. But then that experience got me thinking about service, and tipping, and how much we take good service for granted. Certainly, I'm a good tipper, but I tend to notice more when the service is poor than when it is genuinely great.
I'm sure that the much acclaimed Village Tea Room will continue to do well in its business—the food and wine selection is just too good for it not to do well. But if there's a big day (like Mother's Day), then little things like stocking up on extra ciabatta or seating people promptly–go a long way in making a good day into a great experience.
The beautiful entrance and arch
Beautiful flowers were in bloom everywhere, and that really put spring in my step
Love at first sight and bite: the delicious Honey Bee Cake
My pesto was delicious and al dente
This is the chocolate ganache cake: another sweet temptation
We milled around the cashier but it was obvious they had their hands full: eventually, we gave up on ordering macaroons to go…
Myself, Robin, Chris and Butterscotch (who seems more fascinated by Robin's dress!)
Have you experienced poor service when you travel? How have you dealt with this?
It was so great hanging out with you guys Charu! I'm just sorry the service was so bad. I pride myself on picking great foodie spots, and sadly, this one let me down. Hard. As you said though, at least the food was good. And so was the company
You too Robin! It was such a great time
Ditto on the company
I'm living in France and good service does not really exist here. You may get the occasional happy waitress or sales assistant but most are in it just to ignore you, pass the time away and get their pay cheques. Coming from Canada, the country of "nice" this is so frustrating for me!
You are so correct, good service is hard to find. But when you do find it, it’s often taken for granted. I feel in the US it’s pretty common place so my visit to the Village Tea Room was a bit of a shock (after all, who tips for poor service, right?). And yes France, I can only imagine! Quelle horreur
Those honeybee cakes are adorable! I feel a Pinterest attack coming on:P
Yes they were DELICIOUS too. Are you a cook, Lesley? I would definitely interview that pastry chef!
We were on the road for a full year straight last year and I really took it as an education in customer service standards around the world. The funny thing is, we received so much shockingly bad service in so many countries that I couldn't believe it. I can easily overlook minor offences but when something is really bad, I write a letter or email to the CEO. More often than not they want to hear about it and sometimes you get results. Especially in high-end places.
Yes, when you travel to several places it’s an eye opener. A FULL year?!! Amazing. Major kudos! I would love to learn more about where you experienced best and worst service–could be a great post. I totally hear you about the letter to the CEO…too often people want to do it and do nothing but it gets results!
I have worked in a customer services environment for give or take 20 years and I become really frustrated when the staff doesn't care..that's really their job isn't it? We had a similar experience in Italy last year, but there was nothing to salvage since the food wasn't that good either! There are some establishments that are just happy to carry on the way they do, keeping staff on low wages and do business as usual. it's a shame though, that place looked fantastic and I would have definitely liked to check it out on my next trip to NY.
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