Monday, November 22, 2010
Restaurants The original 'intrusive service' in Atlanta
Posted by Cliff Bostock @cliffbostock on Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 10:49 AM
- www.serenbecommunity.com
I'm talking about the early '70s when Steve Nygren (pictured with wife Marie) and Dick Dailey opened the Pleasant Peasant in downtown Atlanta. The phenomenally successful restaurant spawned 34 restaurants in eight states. They covered about every kind of dining, including the diner Mick's and the fine-dining City Grill and Trio, as well as more in the original Peasant style.
The Peasant's service was controversial from the start. Nygren and Dailey hired personable waiters with strong personalities. Servers always introduced themselves: "My name is Brad and I'll be your server tonight." Then, rather than distributing printed menus, the servers brought a small chalkboard to the table and recited the brief menu of creative dishes.
Most people found this to be like theater but some resented servers insinuating themselves so personally into meals, provoking the kind of (silly) column Besha cited by Jason Kessler of Bon Apetit. It's hard to believe that 40 years later, people are still complaining about a server giving you his name.
Nygren left the Peasant group in 1994 and, with wife Marie, began developing Serenbe, a visionary community 32 miles south of Atlanta (replete with excellent restaurants).
I wrote Nygren to reminisce about this subject:
Cliff Bostock: On our food blog at Creative Loafing, there's a discussion about servers who are intrusive, by reciting menus, telling you their name, visiting the table too often, etc.
Of course, some of this was true of the original Peasant restaurants. Most people I knew considered it a kind of charming theater. I wonder if you could give me a statement about why you took that route when you opened.
Steven Nygren: Please remember in 1972, no one was really doing this. We opened with 5 items on the menu and we did not have money to print menus. The decision to use blackboards was our answer and verbal descriptions were our most effective way to communicate. This was fresh in the early 70's and we got great feedback and so it became a staple, even as the menus grew and the years ticked by.
We had charming servers, and each had their own style and the presentation became part of the experience or "theater" as you call it. Regulars would forgo the verbal presentation generally, but if they had guests they would request the presentation as they considered it part of the experience.
CB: My more specific question is why the waiters introduced themselves by name, which weirdly seems to annoy a lot of diners these days. [I sent him Jason Kessler's column.] I assume it would be especially appropriate if they are going to make a personal presentation of the menu, yes?
SN: Cliff, name tags were popular the '70s and we were making the experience more personal. The servers were instructed to assess the diners - did they want invisible service or the friendly best friend? - and some misread the the customers.
While some diners felt service was intrusive, the compliments and returns by guests with requests [for certain servers] far outweighed any complaint that we got about them being too in-your-face. As you know, it is hard to find something that works for all and times do change. Atlanta was a small town then.
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I really couldn't understand JoeInAtlanta's rant that sparked this whole controversy.
Personally, I like to know my server's name, and servers ask "have you been here before?" so they can know whether to do the whole dog and pony show of reciting specials.
In the case of Porter, they have exceptional service, and I appreciate that the OWNER takes time to make sure the meal is to my liking.
In a world where service is rapidly decreasing, and customers are becoming increasingly demanding, I am thankful for restaurants that place a high standard on their waitstaff to provide real service, in a service industry.
My most recent comical version of this may have been a server at the Iberian Pig in Decatur...
It was a busy (Saturday) night and there was the typical hustle & bustle in the dining room. Our server was quite an emphatic fellow who was very knowledgeable about the menu and wine list, but was clearly "jacked" on something and would spew long-winded obsessive rants about the specials or wine he loved but wasn't in stock that night.
I love personality & enthusiasm as much as anyone, but found this one to be comically unfortunate, b/c as he did this for every table he served, each of our service suffered in getting the items back to the table, b/c he was off on a rant at the next table over instead of putting our orders in quickly.
We also recently had a server at Five Seasons on the West Side that was a bit too into the brew options, but wasn't nearly as over-the-top.
All-in-all, overbearing service isn't something I experience a lot around here... I haven't even thought about it since a private dinning experience at Seeger's years back. I did feel that 5+ servers hovering around our private table was a bit excessive, but I guess it was a slow night & if you're party is dropping two grand on a meal it can be expected.
+1 for great, personable service at The Porter. My girlfriend and I can't walk in without being told if there's something new and sour or rare on tap, and they'll tell my girlfriend if there's a good vegetarian special. That's one of the main reasons we end up there more than anywhere else.
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