atchityservicewithasmile

Years ago, when I had the stamina to complain about everything that annoyed me, I wrote a column for Moneysworth Magazine in New York called, “Diary of a Mad (but Methodical) Consumer.” Back then—I won’t say how long ago—bad service was still, if you can believe it, the exception rather than the rule to living in America. After returning recently from India and Japan—two countries where the service bar is so high we Americans can’t even see it from here—I became all the more alert to how much we’ve grown accustomed to receiving bad service on a daily basis in this country.

My feeling is that if you’re spending money on a good or service, you’re thereby entitled to respectful, thoughtful, prompt, and helpful service. This part of my blog will be devoted to recording examples of good service and bad service—hoping you’ll send in your own experiences with companies you encounter in your daily life.

The Windmill (Gonzalez, California—119 miles south of downtown San Francisco, right off the 101). Situated in a former Wells Fargo bank, this restaurant is a delightful traveler’s surprise—clean, friendly, and scrumptious food. I had excellent sausage and eggs, with the best hash browns and French toast I’ve tasted in years. Kayoko had an excellent Mexican salad, with very hot jalapenos, fresh scallions, perfect avocados, and shredded greens that remind you of what salads are supposed to taste like. Can’t wait to go back. Don’t miss it, one of the pleasures of the 101!

Gonpache, on La Cienega [click here for website]. In Kayoko’s words, “a truly amazingly beautiful Japanese restaurant/bar, across from Matsuhisa, just north of Lawry’s Prime Rib. Such an authentic architecture and garden, stunning ambience! And if you go to the bar, which has a great seating area, and view, they offer Happy Hour Price all night to survive this difficult times together! Food is $3-$8, all first class cuisine, and drinks are also $3-6!!! I had a great glass of Chardonnay $3, and we shared great Shiraz $3...most expensive food was best three-piece sushi for $8!!! Best quality indeed. Japanese style fried chicken $3….,etc. So, if you feel like little Tokyo experience, try this place!!!” I can only add that the ample martinis are excellent.

SMILES TO TIKI’S GRILL in the ResortQuest Waikiki Beach Hotel at Kuhio Beach (2570 Kakua Avenue). If you stumbled on this jewel of a restaurant by accident, you might not go in—it just doesn’t have the vibe of good food. But looks can be deceiving. The setting, overlooking Waikiki Beach, is tremendous; but the pu-pus are even better and the drinks generous! We tried kalua pig quesadillas with taro tortillas filled with kalua pig strings, a deliciously light pepper jack cheese, an Kahuku corn relish with pleasantly bitter guacamole; and Hawaiian chili clams, streamed fresh and sautéed in white wine, garlic, Maui onions, Portuguese sausage, and Hawaiian chli peppers. Scrumptuous. Good service. Sunset on the beach. A little corner of Paradise. Don’t miss it for a taste of authentic Hawaiian cuisine.

SMILES TO HOUSTON’S (54^th & 3^rd Avenue, Manhattan) 7/1/08. JJ Along with their always consistent good satisfying reasonably priced food (in this case rib eye, grilled artichoke, and Caesar salad), the waitress, unasked, shows up at the table with a frosted martini glass and pours my half-drunk martini into it “just because.” That kind of touch makes fierce loyalty.

FROWNS TO BONEFISH in Shawnee Mission, KS LL 6/19/08 despite its advertising as having a “gracious and knowledgable staff…eager to welcome you,” we were ignored for fifteen minutes by our waitress who was chatting with friends at the very next table. When we went to the bar for our own drinks, she finally came over and said, “I’m sorry. No one told me you were here”—even though she was standing not six feet away the whole time.

FROWNS TO DJANGO L L (480 Lexington Avenue, Manhattan) 7/3/08. No wonder this place is half empty! The martini was good enough, but when the Peruvian hostess came over to chat (no doubt because there wasn’t enough to do), the officious bartender gave her four minutes then came over and sent her on a trumped-up errand. Then he proceeded to chat with others at the bar endlessly. Ordered risotto con piselli, which to most Italophiles would translate as “peas.” Instead the “piselli” were gigantic an tasteless limas—and the risotto was drowning in salt. Too many places to choose from to want to return to this place!

FROWNS to ATT How ATT holds customers (including me) is beyond me. Five days ago I called them to ask why I was the “last man in America” with a $100 monthly phone bill. It was actually $152, but they converted me to an “international calling” program, which I had with them a year ago and which they recommended I drop, then promised to remove $147 from my bill immediately for a single 12-minute call to Italy that cost $52—I know, I know, Don’t go there! I asked why I wasn’t informed that there were cheaper rates and they said it was my responsible to call them frequently to find out the latest rates. THEN I received the following computer call from them for the next 3 days: “This is an important message from ATT. Someone has asked that the email address associated with your phone number be changed or deleted. If you are aware of this request, there’s no need to call. If you are not, please call 1-800-ATT-2020 immediately to make sure your email service is not interrupted.” I did call them, of course. They said it was nothing to worry about, it was a computer error. The next two nights I received the same call, but when I called back it was the weekend and customer service is not open on the weekend—all three calls involved at least ten minutes wait-time to find this out. When I called on Monday, I waited another 10 minutes to get to someone who immediately scolded me for calling the “wrong number” (the one they left), saying they had to transfer me to billing where the call originated. Then they hung up. I’m actively looking for a replacement service. Any suggestions?

SMILES 4/1/08 A crisp & delightful treat, our relatively new neighborhood restaurant (Fairfax & 3rd), CELADON. The other night Kayoko and I went over for a drink and snack, and found the martini full-bellied and the Chardonnay full-bodied and pleasing, the basic starter criteria! But the real surprise is the continued and consistent excellence of Exec Chef Danny Elmaleh. His Moroccan-Israeli-Japanese origins lead to a unique fushion of the Middle and Far East. That night we ordered our favorite “Middle Eatern Style Hamachi Spoons” (lemon, pinenuts, garlic, and crème fraiche) and were not disappointed—they were their usual melt and crunch in the mouth memorable excellence. We tried a new one that boggled the mind and tongue: “Truffled Tuna Tartar with Quail Egg” (garlic crostini, crème fraiche, caper berries)—the eggs came fried over easy on top of the tartar and were so cute and tasty you just wanted to take them home with you. The décor is Buddha-mod, very restful and an immediate contrast with the busy 3rd Street traffic leading to the over-congested Grove. Oh, and the bartender (our favorite thing is eating at the bar): great guy. I asked about the Kai (lichee vodka) and he immediately poured a small dessert portion to taste. Try this coolly elegant place. You’ll thank me!

FROWNS For Danny's Deli--At Venice Beach 3/30/08 Despite being highly recommended, one of the worst dining experiences ever. The décor is interesting—cartoons of famous Venetians—and the location couldn’t be better. But the service was atrocious—after a forty-minute wait for our order, we finally managed to catch the supremely inattentive waiter (who spent 80% of his time starting at a computer screen or at the bartender). Ten minutes later he told us the kitchen “has lost your order” but he would immediately bring us something to nibble on—fortunately we were already nibbling on popcorn we bought on the promenade. Twenty minutes later he brought French fries. Forty minutes after that he brought us our sandwich and salad and chicken fingers (for our 5-year-old fellow victim). He said he’d take “ten percent” off the bill for our trouble, but didn’t! Was the place crowded? About 2/3 of the tables were empty. Now we understand why.

SMILES For Spencer’s Restaurant—“at the Mountain,” managed by the delightfully attentive Julieta Quinn, chef Urs Balmer, and owner Harold Matzner—a man I’d love to meet to commend him for a job well-done. On the flanks of Mt San Jacinto, adjacent to the Palm Springs Tennis Club (701 West Baristo Road), I sit at the bar again, this time with a breeze that brings the fragrance of citrus blossoms wafting through the open doors to mingle with the 4-star odors coming from the kitchen. As I enjoy watching the diners sitting beneath the giant ficus trees decorated with white-globed lanterns, I’m served a full-bellied Belvedere martini (hold the Vermouth), as icy as I could possibly imagine (for a reasonable price, btw). The bread basket that accompanies my Caesar salad includes warm pillows of sourdough bread along with the spicy flatbread. To me no restaurant can call itself 4-star that serves un-warmed bread; it’s such a simple thing to do that not doing it belies all else. The salad itself could not have been better: one humongous crouton perfectly baked, and a rectangular strip of fried parmesan that makes you wonder why you don’t fry parmesan at home every day—to add its natural saltiness to the crunchy romaine. For dessert I ordered “blueberry pie a la mode.” The crust of the five-inch in diameter pie was old-fashioned latticed, obviously home-baked, the berries plump and juicy and NOT overcooked. It was centered on a white square platter, the four edges of which were painted with two chocolate strips and garnished with three fresh berries. An exquisite dollop of vanilla ice cream, and a sprig of mint, finished off this unforgettable pleasure. Each year I return I’ve not been disappointed. Truly a little piece of paradise.

SMILE TO DELL 1/10/08-2/5/08 When my Dell laptop, at the end of a 3-year guarantee, kept heating up despite the fact that Dell had sent techies to replace the motherboard twice, I suggested it was now time for me to upgrade anyway and I’d be happy to do so if they gave me some kind of credit for the old one. Instead of doing that, they “swapped it out” for a new Latitude D430—which, by the way, runs cool and works perfectly with a much larger hard drive and RAM. Dell has been an absolute delight to deal with, having entirely transformed their approach to customer care in the last few years.

SMILE TO APPLE 2/16/08 Sitting at the Genius Bar at Apple, waiting for help in reconfiguring my IPod, I couldn’t help but overhear one of the geniuses telling a man whose hard drive was failing that he’d be better off going to an Apple-licensed dealer, both for the price and the better guarantee. The man was grateful. I was happy to hear yet another example of Apple’s thoughtful and generous customer service.

FROWN TO TIVO 2/15/08 My wife Kayoko was on the phone nearly an hour yesterday with TIVO trying to get someone to pay attention to the fact that our brand-new TIVO hasn’t been working since we installed it 6 weeks ago. First she was told to call SONY, “since it’s a SONY machine.” She called SONY, who told her it was NOT a SONY machine. She called TIVO back, finally got to a supervisor who was finally able to help her just before she blew her cool. We shouldn’t have to speak to a supervisor to get help for an expensive monthly service.

SMILE TO VERIZON 2/20/08 In and out of their store at 43rd & Madison in less than ten minutes, with a new extended life battery that worked the moment it was plucked into the cell phone by the friendly counter person. Greeted with a smile at the door by a receptionist who analyzed my issue immediately and took me to the problem-solver. Plus the cost was a modest 49%-a 30% discount they found instantly in their computer I was entitled to. From one of the worst customer service and attitudes in the business, Verizon has transformed itself in a few short years to one of the very best.