Culinary Connections

Today I'm gonna share some more memories from my years as a server. These stories are in no particular order, and all have stuck in my memory for reason or another!

1) Who needs plates, anyway?- One restaurant where I worked served dinner from platters. We would bring one large platter with one clean dinner plate for each person at the table. The platter would contain the entree and potato side choices for everyone at the table. We would set the plates down on the edge of the table and transfer each person's entree and potato onto a plate using tongs, and then place plate in front of each customer, removing the platter and tongs once everyone was served. On one occasion, my depth perception was off, and I didn't push the plates far enough onto the table. I lifted the platter and down went the plates, crashing onto the floor and smashing into little pieces. Quite embarrassed, I was happy to at least have saved the food!

2) She Didn't Save The Food- I was on my way to the kitchen to pick up some food when a coworker passed me with a large oval tray of plated meals. As I neared the kitchen door, I heard a shreik, turned around and witnessed a plethora of food and china converge into a pile of ugliness on the floor. Our staff got the mess cleaned up, the kitchen remade the food, but unfortunately the timing of everyone else's meals in the restaurant was affected.

3) Mystery Pasta (You Might Wanna Check Your Plate Before Diving In)- After serving a table of two, I walked into the kitchen to get my next order to serve. My coworker who had picked up one of her table's food when I picked up the one I had just served was also back to pick up the order for another table of hers. We looked at the pastas we were about to serve and almost simultaneously, both of us realized that we had grabbed the wrong pasta for the previous table. I served her customer's Linguini with Shrimp to my customer, who had ordered Fettucini with Chicken. Guess what her customer who ordered the pasta with shrimp got? Right, the pasta with chicken. The sauces were identical, and I guess we both hastily grabbed the wrong dish. After serving the entrees we were picking up in the kitchen, we both checked in on the tables we had served the wrong pastas to. The customer at both tables must have been very hungry, because they were almost done and commented on how delicious their pasta was! I guess they both liked shrimp and chicken equally. Oops! My coworker and I didn't feel that it was necessary to spoil the pleasant dining experience for these customers, so we didn't leak out to them the minor mistake we had made.

4) Happy Mother's Day? - Our restaurant was open from 1 to 9 on a Mother's Day, and I worked the closing shift, coming in at 5. Boy how I wish I had stayed home that night! By the time I had arrived our kitchen had run out of sauces for the entrees. All of our sauces took hours to prepare, and apparently someone grossly underestimated the quantities needed to serve our customers that day. Our customers waited for hours, all of their checks were picked up by the manger and it was a miserable experience for all. One man, who was dining with his mother and his teenage son, asked me a question after already waiting for two hours for their meal. He sarcastically asked, "Sir, do you think that our food will be ready before he has to leave for school in the morning?" I sincerely responded, "Sir, to be honest with you, I can't make that promise!"

Oh yes- fond memories of restaurant days! For the most part, things ran smoother than this and we were properly staffed with proper amounts of restaurant equipment and supplies. Make sure you have enough products on hand- visit Superior Products where you can shop and save!