Tick....Tick....Tick....

Your time, above anything else is the most precious thing you own.

Everyday you make important decisions on how to spend your time. Where you will go, who you will talk to, what you will read, what you watch on TV, and most importantly - where you eat.

Sometimes restaurants steal our time. They take advantage of it and don't respect it. Below are a few short stories of recent time robberies.

Eating Alone
When you're eating in a restaurant everyone's food should always come out at the same time. That means that if you're eating with your girlfriend, her dinner shouldn't come out 5 minutes before yours. So....why does this always happen?

At First Watch this weekend 3 of us got our food in a prompt amount of time. The last person however didn't get her scrambled eggs until I had shoved half my food down my throat. The worst part.....the other person got pancakes and they had a simple request: Heated Sugar Free Syrup. Not difficult.......but it was.

After the scrambled eggs came out and my plate was nearly cleaned. We asked for the syrup again. Their response, "Oh they're heating it up." About 2 minutes later we asked again,"It will be out in 1 second."

As I was cleaning my plate the syrup finally came out. The pancakes were cold.

You know what's awesome? Eating your food alone when everyone else at the table is done.

Food Delay
Christine writes in....

"I was at Blue Martini this weekend with some friends. We ordered a cheese plate and three small flat breads.....it took an HOUR just for the appetizers to come out.

When I started questioning what happened all I got was excuses.

'We get slammed during happy hour.'

'The bartender didn't put the order in.'

I was FURIOUS. There was no reason we should have to wait an hour for a cold cheese plate and some flat breads!! After I complained they compensated us by bringing out the largest cheese platter I have ever seen....but we never saw the Manager and we didn't get an apology.

How does this happen and no one seem to care?

Timing is Everything
I go to restaurants over and over and over again and it always takes forever or the timing is wrong: Free bread comes out before drinks. I get my soup after my entree. I'm halfway through dinner before I get a refill.

In an ideal world, this is what should happen:

1. Get greeted by the server within 30 seconds of sitting down
2. Have drinks in 2 minutes after the order is taken
3. If I order an appetizer get it at the table within 4-6min
4. My salad should come out 2-3 minutes after I'm done with the appetizer
5. Drink Refill
6. HOT entree goes down, salad plate comes up. It should by synchronous, seamless and perfect.
7. Refill
8. Give me my check and drink to go.

These steps take great chemistry, organization and execution from the kitchen and service staff.

However it's something we should demand as consumers. Our time is more important than anything else. After waiting 20 minutes for a table at a popular restaurant the last thing we want is slow, inconsiderate service with food that comes out at random times or doesn't come out at all...

Time is wasting! Next time you eat out - demand perfection!