“My mom said she wanted one spoonful of the lava cake, so the waiter brought her an appropriately-sized spoon.”
“Our waiter gave us a to-go box full of mints.”
The politeness of Jordanian waiters can be quite shocking.
"In Jordan, if you compliment something, it’s considered impolite for the person not to offer it to you. I thought the warnings were an exaggeration until my friend complimented a waiter’s watch, and the waiter had it literally unlatched, trying to push it into my friend’s hands. 4 is the appropriate number of times to say no, and if you want it, it’s rude to say yes after fewer than 3 nos."
“I hope you find someone who will look at you the way my girlfriend looks at the waiter who brought us steak.”
It would have been nice to be treated like an old friend.
"There are many rules for how a waiter should serve guests: table setting rules, open-hand service, how to clear a table, etc. But the most useful piece of advice I ever received was from my manager when I was a college student and worked in a coffee shop. She said, “You may know as many rules and tricks as possible but still may not be able to build rapport with your guests. Try to meet every guest and serve them as if they are your old friend, and you’ve been waiting for them the entire day.”"
“I asked for lemon with my water.”
“A little girl came in with her family last week and I complimented her Cinderella necklace she had on. Tonight they came back, and she had a gift for me.”
“First time in 5 years of waitressing that I’ve been moved to tears (of joy). I’ve been going through a rough time lately and this lit up my life.”
“At this restaurant, the waiter writes down your order on the table.”
When the waiter definitely deserved their tip:
"I don’t leave tips only if I didn’t like the service at all or if the waiter was rude. But once, I was at a restaurant, and everything was superb. When I was about to pay the bill, I realized that I didn’t have cash, and the nearest ATM was about 2 miles away. I felt embarrassed not to leave a tip, so I paid my bill with the card and left without the waiter seeing me.
I was already quite far from the restaurant when I heard someone running after me. It was the waiter who cried out, “You forgot your card!” and handed it to me. And at that time, we didn’t have any apps that allowed you to pay with your phone, and I was on a business trip in this town. So, I went to the ATM, withdrew some cash, returned to the restaurant, and left him a 50% tip."
“My favorite local restaurant made me a surprise birthday cupcake.”
“My waiter wrapped my leftover pizza in tinfoil and even added a little handle.”
Italian-style service
"A fellow student of mine used to study Italian and attended one of the universities in Milan as a part of her exchange program. Once, she had dinner at a nice local restaurant and heard the owner scolding the waiter who was serving a couple. It’s worth mentioning that Italians are almost religious about their meals. So, the owner was berating the waiter in the characteristic Italian manner because the guy worked too fast and didn’t take pauses between courses, which prevented the couple from enjoying their conversation and a wonderful evening."
“I went to an Italian restaurant for my dad’s birthday. They brought us some cookies, but we were too full, so I tried putting them in a Ziplock from my purse.”
“The waiter saw me do this, so he gave us some extra to take home! I was initially a little embarrassed, but it was a really nice gesture!”
“I was having a rough start to the morning but the waiter just made my day with a happy little latte.”
It turns out that the secret to the best service is simple...
"I got paid yesterday and decided to have lunch at a nearby restaurant. And I received the best service I’d had in my life. It was even better than in a fancy restaurant.
I was really impressed and decided to express my delight to the waitress. I told her that she was a real professional and asked her what her secret was, and she replied, “I’m the owner of this restaurant.”"
“Driving home from 6 hours away to fix a burst pipe. I stopped for food and this sweet note was taped to our food. Thank you whoever did this, it made our trip a little better.”
This restaurant will definitely get a great review.
"My wife and I went to a local grill bar that had recently changed its name. It had always been famous for its food, but the service there was rather poor. But this time, everything was different because we were served by a waiter with a capital “W.”
He was polite, like an English lord, attentive, and had a supercomputer memory. My wife got a salad, but she didn’t like it, so she put it on the side to be removed from the table. The waiter asked her whether there was something wrong with the salad, and my wife just said that she didn’t like the taste of it. The waiter apologized, took the salad, said that he’d remove it from our bill, and then brought us a complimentary dessert."
“Paul Rudd was my aunt’s waiter in 1990.”
“This was before he became famous, he was just a fun waiter at a local restaurant. So she took a photo of him and another waiter, Eddie Murphy, who also became an actor later.”
