It’s the little things that can elevate a good dining experience to a truly memorable one. This recent NY Times article What Restaurants Know (About You) gives a glimpse into how restaurants are leveraging relatively simple technology to personalize the dining experience and make diners feel important. Restaurants realize that they need to make the effort to continue to differentiate themselves and get people to come back – and it works. It takes 15 seconds to record the birthday or favorite type of wine of a frequent diner in a restaurant’s computer system, but the rewards are exponential when the server brings you a menu with your name on it to commemorate your birthday meal or knows they prefer Chardonnay to Riesling.
Or what about details like a beautiful candied orange slice in your mimosa instead of a just another forgettable brunch cocktail? We were talking about this mimosa for days after we had it, and will definitely be back again.
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| North End Grill’s Mimosa with Candied Orange |
What memorable or special details have you experienced while dining?
I think what you wrote is something that all restaurateurs should pick up on. It is not enough to have only great food anymore (ok, that helps), especially in a city like New York with all the options one has.
With all the competition that abounds here, any act that makes the restaurant stand out in the diner’s mind will help make that diner a repeat customer, and more importantly, will generate the type of buzz that only friends can create.
Great post.
Just wanted to add my own experience. Some years ago, I took my children out for lunch in North Beach in San Francisco, and we wandered into one of the many Italian restaurants there.
As we left, our waiter took one look at my daughter and bade her goodbye with a “Ciao, bella!” We left laughing. That little utterance has remained in my mind to this day – as does the restaurant itself. It can be as simple as that.
Wait a minute … what is that knife doing in the picture, pointing at you?
Sharp-edged orange! Did you know that “candied orange” is an anagram of “draconian edge”? I know … silly comment.
PJJ
one glass plz
I will add one that’s memorable – when I first moved to NYC and was an intern at a fancy finance firm, the managing director took all the interns out to lunch after a month of being there. It was my first ever business lunch and it was a fairly nice restaurant – they gave me and the other girl in our group orchids on the way out. I felt like a VIP!
It is all about a sense of belonging and being recognized by the establishment as a valued diner. Gone are the days that the wait staff were sobbing the customers. It is simple, Good personal service equals to a good tip and repeat business. Here is my story; after a few months, I went back to Va De Vi a trendy Tapas place in Walnut Creek, Ca for another dinner. The waiter asked me if I liked the same cucumber/kiwi martini again ??? how did he remember? I loved it that he both remembered me and the drink. It is a recognition that feels good.
one that’s memorable is one that I can’t remember..