What Make a Good Restaurant?

“This is the worse restaurant I have ever been to! (…) ” exclaimed Lily, a friend of mine, as we walked out of the restaurant that night. We all, undoubtedly, have had a bad restaurant experience at least once in our lifetime. And if the judgment of the goodness or badness of a restaurant remains very subjective, we can still unanimously find similarities, common criteria between good restaurants. Thus, what makes a good restaurant? A good restaurant first of all , serves fresh and tasty food. Secondly, it offers an exceptional service and finally, it provides a pleasant and agreeable dining ambience.

Food is the first parameter of judgment of the quality of a restaurant. Eating out means spending money, and surely, we expect to get the most satisfaction possible as the saying goes “we get what we pay for “. Thus, we look forward to have tasty meals. And once again, tastes are unobjective: a dish that I find undelicious might be succulent to my companion. However, we are all expecting what we have on our plates to be fresh and made of good ingredients. As far as I am concerned, I have preferences to simple and traditional dishes; authenticity and originality matter. An Italian restaurant that I used to work for previously is a good example of simplicity and originality: we just offer olive oil, balsamic vinegar and Italian bread along with the salads as it is customary in Italy…Some innovative restaurants would be tempted to present those Italian salads with new dressings, which could be not very bad, but that would definitely take away the originality …And as we talk about food, timing is also an important aspect that needs to be considered. As we go into a restaurant, we anticipate a waiting time, yet this waiting should not be too long to the point that the customers lose their appetite. There should be an appropriate timing not only between entrees, meals and the dessert, but also before getting the bill from the waiter. And of course, the pricing should be reasonable. In all, foods from a good restaurant are fresh and tasty, original and fairly priced.

Another important parameter to be taken care of is service. Some customers become clients only because of the friendly and nice service offered by the restaurant. Likewise, others may stop coming to one restaurant just only because of a bad service. Thus, apart from the friendliness and politeness that we naturally expect, what else makes a service exceptional? Well, here again it is subjective: some people like to be taken care of closely while others just want the waiter to take orders and go away…And having myself worked in a restaurant, I sensed that difficulty to find the right balance, because some customers may find me not attentive enough while for others I was too overwhelming. But eating out in other restaurants taught me more about appropriate attention: I did not want to be asked, as a customer, every 5mn if everything was alright, but I did not want to wait for 30mn to get a refill for a drink or to ask something…In few words, the right service is the one which is friendly and nice, making the customers feel really welcomed in the place. It is also the one that is attentive enough to see if the customers are in need of something but not too overwhelming to the point that the customers cannot talk to each other because the waiter keeps interrupting their conversation or get involved in a long conversation with them.

And the last parameter is the ambience that the restaurant offers. Some customers may enjoy the food, the service but not its atmosphere. Since it contributes to the wellbeing of the customers, this third parameter has to be considered closely as well. Different things have to be looked up when talking about atmosphere. I would categorize them just in: music and presentation. Music, which includes the ones played in the background or by an artist as in a cabaret, should have the appropriate volume: loud enough to cover the conversation of the next table but not too loud to prevent people from the same table to hear each other. Presentation includes the design (inside decoration) of the restaurant. It plays a role in the mood of the restaurant. Most of restaurants nowadays have thematic design; for instance, the restaurant that I used to work for previously was centered on local arts. Since the promotion of local artists is the main objective, the restaurant exhibits paintings on the wall, and holds also painting session once a week. That gave a certain enjoyment especially for people loving arts. But the way that tables are organized is a part of presentation as well; they should be spaced enough to allow a better circulation, needless to say that cleanliness is very important.

Surely, many other criterions can be taken into an account to affirm if a restaurant is a good one. We notice what good restaurant do so well when we experience the same things going wrong in a bad restaurant…but all things considered, one thing that can make a big difference is the proprietor: if he is passionate of food and hospitality, and not too much focused on only making fortune out of his business, the restaurant should be a good one. PLEASE HELP ME WITH THE CONCLUSION,