Lounge
What is the secret sauce of a restaurant's success?
Summary
Restaurants and bars may invest a lot on the latest rotovap or robata grill, but it can all fall flat if the last mile delivery—the service—is not up to the mark
As a food writer, I am often asked what my favourite restaurant is. Over the course of my career, I’ve had the good fortune of dining at Michelin-starred restaurants and experiencing the finest cuisine. However, the restaurants I keep returning to are not solely for the food, but for the feeling of delight I experience due to the friendly and thoughtful service.
One of my earliest experiences with attentive service was at the canteen in St Xavier’s College in Mumbai. The canteen manager and server, whose name was Uday Shetty but was known as Anna, had an uncanny ability to interpret students’ food orders, whether it was a crisis-level request for cheese Maggi at 7am or a celebratory order for “Egg Burma" (a double omelette on toast). He also knew when to discreetly look away from feuding couples or send over a comforting double chai to mend a broken heart. Even though Anna retired in 2018, just before the college’s 150th anniversary, he is still fondly remembered as an essential part of the Xavier’s College experience. To this day, I recall his warmth and attention to detail.
Very often, when we talk about great restaurants, the conversation centres on the food. Yet, when we step out to dine, we find ourselves drawn back to familiar haunts, enchanted by the service they provide. It’s the manager who welcomes you by name and ushers you in, the server who remembers what you like and brings you an extra portion, the bartender who remembers you like your martinis with gin and not vodka. Service is the last mile in a restaurant’s experience chain. It’s also, in my opinion, one of the most invisible aspects of a restaurant.
Also read: A treasure trove of stories from emperor Jahangir's royal kitchen
Sure, the food is important, but how lovely is it when someone notices that you’re feeling cold and turns down the air conditioning a notch? Or realises you don’t have anywhere to place your bags and brings you another chair? Think about it: the tuna flown in from Japan that’s fired up on an expensive robata grill could fall flat if the person serving doesn’t smile, or isn’t friendly.
For example, years ago when I was dining with friends at Foo in Mumbai’s Lower Parel, we asked our server to recommend some dishes. He rattled off a list of his favourite menu items, pausing midway to swallow because his mouth was watering as he described the dishes. We ended up ordering nearly everything he suggested, and the meal was superb—the server’s clear passion for the food was infectious and enhanced our dining experience.
Similarly, when I visited the new bar Boilermaker in Goa’s Siolim last month, the bartender Mac chatted with me as I waited for my friends, and made sure to keep my water glass refreshed as I sampled the cocktail menu. The next morning, I was pleasantly surprised to find I had no hangover—a testament to Mac’s attentive service.
And at Bonnie’s, a Cantonese American diner in Brooklyn, US, that I visited in May, our server brought over a few extra dishes from their new menu for us to try. “I had a feeling you’d enjoy these based on what you ordered," she said, as I savoured the velvety, buttery crispy sticky rice with funky mushrooms. Her intuition proved spot-on. I’ve enthusiastically recommend Bonnie’s to anyone travelling to New York City since then.
Similarly, at Porzana in Minneapolis, our server Trevor provided personalised, attentive service that enhanced our meal. He guided us through the wine list, recommended dessert, and even shared a bit about his own life, telling us about a big date he had that week. This intimate, friendly service made our dining experience all the more memorable.
Once, when I was dining at Mumbai’s O Pedro, our server noticed my mother-in-law gesturing how the music was a little loud for her. Within five minutes and without us asking, the music went down in our section. It was the smallest thing, but it left a big impression. If restaurants are places we go to see, then it’s the service that makes us feel seen. Will Guidara, the former restaurateur at NYC’s Eleven Madison Park and author of Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect (2022), sums it up nicely in his book: “Getting the right plate to the right person at the right table is service. But genuinely engaging with the person you’re serving, so you can make an authentic connection—that’s hospitality."
A few months ago, when I was shadowing chef Alex Sanchez of Americano, Mumbai, for a story, during a team briefing, I overheard him stressing the importance of making eye contact with a table. “Smile and make eye contact, so you know when you’re needed." One of my pet peeves while dining at a restaurant is trying to get the attention of a server on a busy night. At some places, it almost feels like our servers are avoiding us. And at other spots, the service borders on over attentiveness. Being interrupted mid-sentence when your server asks you how the food is, is simply annoying. Good service is knowing when to dip in but also when to pull back, and give a table space. Your servers are constantly doing this dance night after night.
Years ago, when I interviewed chef Rahul Akerkar, he made an insightful observation about service in India. “In India, service often equals servitude. Many diners expect service at a restaurant to be almost subservient." I’ve witnessed this first-hand, where class and caste privilege can lead some guests to treat servers as mere order-takers rather than as professionals contributing to the dining experience. It’s disheartening to see servers treated this way. A little appreciation and mutual respect can go a long way—when we see service as a shared experience, it enhances not just our meals, but the overall atmosphere of the restaurant.
As we dive into what’s historically the busiest time for the restaurant industry, I’d love for us diners to take a moment to appreciate the unsung heroes who make our dining experiences so special: the servers, bartenders and hospitality professionals who work tirelessly to ensure we feel welcomed, cared for and delighted. Their thoughtful gestures and friendly service are the secret ingredients that could transform your next meal into an unforgettable moment.
Word of Mouth is a monthly column on dining out and dining well. Smitha Menon is a food journalist and the host of the Big Food Energy podcast. She posts @smitha.men on Instagram.
