The meal experience

The meal experience
Introduction
The assignment I will be doing will be about a recent meal experience I had in an establishment. I recently went for a meal in a local brasserie situated in my town I will be discussing the intangible and tangible factors that influenced my meal experience.
Reason for choice
The reason I chose to carry out my assignment on this particular meal experience is because it is the most recent meal I have been out for in a long time and I heard from a number of sources that the restaurant was a great place to eat and it had got great reviews on trip advisor so I decided to give it a try. Also it is the only restaurant I have actually been out for a meal in during the last two years.
Booking
I planned to go for meal one Tuesday night with my other half, so I rang the restaurant to book a table for two. A young woman answered the phone pleasantly and asked if she could help me. I then asked her if I could book a table for two at 7:30pm. She then responded politely saying “you can of course. The table will be ready for you at 7:30, is there anything else I can help you with?” I responded to her question saying “no that is perfect thank you very much.”
I found the woman on the phone very polite and she made me feel very relaxed and comfortable on the phone. So I can say the booking was a success
The restaurant is a casual dining restaurant so we didn’t have to wear anything specific or even book a table but I did anyway just to be safe.

Arrival
The restaurant is situated on Portlaoise Main Street, at the top of an off licence.
A negative to the arrival is that there is no parking at the restaurant. We had to park the car at a completely different place to where the restaurant is. My other half was wearing heels and we had to walk a good half a mile from the car park.
However, we didn’t mind the walk too much but it is a bit much to have to walk that distance.
When we reached the restaurant we had to climb a lot of stairs on the way up to the restaurant which is the only way up. The establishment is not suitable for disabled people in terms of entering and exiting.
We reached the reception finally. It was there we had our first look at the place. My first impression that it was small but had a good feng shui. The restaurant wasn’t full but there were a few people there just the way I like it.
The girl greeted us and welcomed us. We thanked her and told her we had a reservation for 7:30 and we gave her our names. She then showed us to our table. I sat down and tested the table and chairs to see if it was wobbly but it wasn’t which was great because I cannot stand for a wobbly table when having a meal.
The woman who was a waitress as well asked us if we wanted anything to drink. I asked for water, which was brought to me quite fast which I was satisfied with. The Menus were already on the table because it is a casual dining restaurant. The waitress after bringing the water left us for a few minutes while we decided what to eat.
First Course
My partner and I looked through the menu which was quite concise and had a good variety as it ranged from comfort food like burgers, steaks and chips to classic Italian dishes like pasta caribonara and lasagne and even Asian dishes like stir-fry and spring rolls.
We were quite pleased with the selection and type of food that was available which left us spoiled for choice. The menu was A la carte so we could order as we went. Eventually my partner and I decided on our dishes. She got the filo prawns and I got the mixed salad. The waitress came back and we gave her the order. 5 minutes later she came out with both dishes. The speed of the service was great because I was quite hungry.
Once the dishes arrived presented accordingly, nothing special, on their plates I tasted my salad and found no faults with it. they served it with their house dressing which I enjoyed.
My other half enjoyed her prawns. I tasted one and after tasting it I could tell that it was something out of a box that was frozen so I didn’t enjoy the filo prawn so I left half of it.
During the first course the waitress came to ensure that everything was ok and asked if we wanted anything else, so the service was good.
The Main Meal.
We finished our first course which was a success. So we moved on to our main course of the evening. After the waitress cleared our plates she gave us roughly 5 minutes between the meals before she brought out the main course.
I found that amount of time to be too little because my salad hadn’t yet gone down. My partner only had two prawns so she was quite happy with the time taken.
We had ordered the “ultimate relish burger,” which was an enormous burger made of two 8oz patties, an onion ring on each patty, bacon and melted cheese and then stacked on top of each other and presented on a black slate. Presentation was great. I thought that it would be a big burger so my partner and I decided to share.
When the burger came out it was way bigger than my expectations. in the end two of us couldn’t even finished it
The burger however tasted great and we thoroughly enjoyed it.
Sweet
We were so stuffed from the first two meals that we called it a night and asked for the bill.
We could not stomach anymore food.
Close of meal.
We come at last to the end of our “experience”, and what an experience it has been. Everything so far has exceeded what I was expecting- the room, the staff, the food, we enjoyed it very much. From the tangible elements like Food and drink, Variety of menu available, Level of service, Value for money, Interior design, Atmosphere and mood, Expectation and identification and the staff.
The waitress came to clear our plates and we asked for the bill. We paid it, thanked the staff and went on our way.
The only faults I can identify with the night was the speed at which the food came out. It was a bit too fast
Also the walk from the car was a bit far so that is a negative and can be a big problem in the future.
Reflection in memory
A meal, like a good story, should have a good beginning, a middle and end, and it did for me and my partner. We enjoyed the experience. Just being able to even talk as loud as we want, wear anything at all and the atmosphere that everyone eating and working there created was great. It was my first time in a brasserie and it won’t be my last