This isn’t recent, but I was sitting here thinking of some of my favourite restaurants to go to because of excellent customer service, and I thought I might start to mention them one at a time, in random order, here on the blog.

For many years I used to live just off the Danforth.  (Man I miss Greek food sometimes…)
Anyway, whenever I wanted to impress a lady on a date, or my Mother when she visited Toronto, I would take her to Christina’s.  What I like about that place is the decor, the food, and the service.  The gentlemen wear formal black and white and talk softly to you.  Even bringing butter is done professionally and with an air of importance, without feeling stuffy or snobby.

I went there many times in my life, and only had one bad experience.  I had taken a girlfriend out for a romantic night of wine and seafood, and the restaurant was not too busy.  We were seated alone.  20 minutes later a small but loud group of ESL students and their teacher came in, and for some strange reason, were seated right beside us!!!  I couldn’t believe the daftness or insensitivity of the hostess.  There were plenty of open tables available in the room.  (It was not the group’s fault, of course.)

Anyway after grumbling and scowling a bit I quietly went up to the bar and made my complaint so that the small party could not hear, and we (my girlfriend and I) were offered a new, more private table.

The lesson for servers and hostesses here is – look before you seat.