Nov 25 2009
Guilty as charged
The bane of too many restaurants is consistency. And in Singapore, this is evident in the flurry of establishments that have struggled and eventually closed for business. Some have also posted the trouble with finding and holding on to good chefs as a key reason.
But, what most of us diners seem to complain most about is poor service.
Fact. Service at a majority of local eats could use a shot or two in the arm. The gloomy levels of service excellence have always been a perennial local enigma, and more often than not, a little tolerance is recommended.
Having said that, what I find hard to turn a blind eye to is the fact that restaurants here seem to have varied notions of what the ubiquitous “service charge” covers.
At a recent dinner at The Hand Burger (#B1-77/78 Raffles City Shopping Centre), for example (and just that … I do actually like the food here), my bill for three sets of burgers and one Nutella shake came up to a total of $52.26. This was inclusive of the 7% GST ($3.42) and a service charge of $4.44.
Don’t get me wrong. As I’ve said, the burgers were excellent gourmet variants. And the convenience of table service provided is a boon, even if I had to pay for it.
But why then was I made to settle my bill at the cashier?
Did I mistake it to be a less-than-full table service? Were there conditions to the service charge I presumably forgot to read somewhere … in fine print, perhaps?
On top of that, one slightly grumpy wait staff was obviously having a bad day. And she chose to make it apparent, frowning at almost every request and query I had about my order.
I had to also enquire about the various options, including sauces/dips that I was allowed to have with my meal. None were recommended when my orders arrived at the table.
Granted, there was another staff that occasionally spared some time to keep one of my daughters entertained. Thankfully, there wasn’t an additional charge for that.
But at the end of our meal on this rather quiet Sunday evening, I was actually directed, via a nod in the right direction, to pay at the cashier.
I could have had easily wrote it off as another pothole in our service industry’s journey towards getting it right. Granted, many other casual restaurants make you do the same.
But I kept thinking about the myriad of other quality casual eats that offer full service at NO EXTRA CHARGE.
Case in point: Gourmet hotspot Jones The Grocer at Dempsey Hill (#01-12), which also operates a bistro. Sure, the service today was a little slow – new staff in training, I suspect. But I thoroughly appreciated the fact that I could sit down and have a reasonably priced cuppa iced Joe (double shot at just $5.50, GST included) and even a meal if I felt like it, be served from start to finish and pay no more than what was stated on the menu.
Okay, so I’m nitpicking. I know a number of Singaporeans who have grown accustomed to this custom. Or maybe I just need to know exactly what I’m paying for. Or maybe it’s because I like to have the option of choosing to head to the cashier – maybe even join a queue if it was a packed evening – to pay my bill, or enjoy the convenience of having the bill brought to my table.
In the restaurant’s defense, some diners I spoke to actually prefer to pay at the cashier … for “safety” reasons. They also find it faster to do so … if there isn’t a queue. In short, the “service” as far as they are concerned, ends at the table … when the dishes are cleared.
What are your thoughts?
