Great service
Mar 8th, 2007 by Bethany
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I just spent 45 minutes reading Scott Sampson's blog. Apparently he's a professor at the BYU Business School, and his specialty is Services Management. I've never heard of such a specialty, and I'm fascinated by the idea. Mr. Sampson has only made a few posts (I read all of them in the few minutes I was there), but each was informative and fun to read. One of his posts was about a local restaurant, the Chef's Table. I've been there twice, and Sampson is right that it's the best restaurant in the county (possibly the state)–great food, awesome service, nice atmosphere. I've never liked the name "Chef's Table" because it sounds like a buffet to me and really doesn't connote the grace of the place. My only other complaint is that the businesses nearby are grotesque bright-colored-signs kind of establishments. After reading Sampson's post, I'm tempted to go back and try leaving my chair for a moment to wash my hands in the restroom and see if they can fold my napkin for me before I get back. Other restaurants he mentions in his blog: The Mayan, Hamiltons, and Sweet Tomatoes. Of those three, I've only been to Sweet Tomatoes, and had a similar experience. I actually love Sweet Tomatoes on a slow-to-normal day because I like their food (an extensive salad bar, soup bar, with smaller bread, pasta, and desert bars). I like the idea of loading up on vegetables first and filling in the corners with healthy soups and carbs. But the service isn't great, especially when it gets busy, and you really debate whether to leave a tip at all for the servers (and I'm a big tipper) because they hardly look at you while you're there. I've heard from friends and family that the Mayan is all about the Disneyland atmosphere and to not expect anything from the velveeta-ized Mexican food. I'd like to go there anyway, just for the show, which shows that Sampson is right about it possibly being an entertainment place that happens to serve food. I'd love to go to Hamiltons in Logan now. I think I'm going to have to celery-test restaurants from now on, just for the fun of it. Do you think that whether a restaurant has tablecloths on the tables is related to how good the food and service is? I pointed out to Colin the other day that it's hard to find restaurants that use tablecloths. I know Chef's Table has them, but I'm having a hard time thinking of any others nearby that do.
