We go to Blue Frog in the Sanlitun Village a few times a month for their (underrated) brunch and for the occasional dinner. I’ve always liked the burgers there (though their policy of “only cooking to medium” is total bullshit) and sitting on the patio with a burger and a cold beer, well…there are far worse ways to spend an evening.
Last night though our waiter was kind of dickhead, and while I was willing to let that pass the problem was…dude also forgot to put in our order. At first we didn’t notice. It was busy and we had beers and so we were pretty patient. But after 30 minutes we decided to ask, and in reply got the standard: “mashang.” Okay, they are “mashang-ing” and it’s all good.
15 minutes later, one of the floor managers stopped by and we asked him about the status of our food. His answer: “mei wenti.”
So both “Mashang” and “Mei Wenti” have assured us that there is no problem and our burgers will soon be served. Once we crossed the hour mark though, we asked “Mashang” where the hell our food was, at this point “Mashang” turned into “Aiya, Wangdiaole!” He had totally forgotten to put in the order and by the look on his face and his attitude it was clear he didn’t give a fuck about it.
“Mei Wenti” came over and tried to ply us with free nachos in a kind of “if I throw food at the foreigners maybe they’ll shut up about their unrealistic expectations for ‘quality service’” snit, the whole time looking at us as if we, instead of asking for ‘burgers,’ had requested instead that he bring us the ‘nearest small child for satanic feasting.’
Fortunately, the manager, and I wish I knew his name, he’s either British or Australian and he’s always been a good guy to us, was there. I just happened to stop him and tell him the situation. This guy SPRINGS into action, apologizes profusely, and within 10 minutes we had a round of drinks and our food…on his tab.
Mistakes happen. No restaurant is perfect. But I judge a restaurant’s service not by their mistakes, but by how much the staff seems to care about fixing them when things do go wrong. An all too common attitude (around the world, but especially here in Beijing) is: “If you don’t like it, go. If you don’t come back, who cares?” If it had been up to “Mashang” and “Mei Wenti” we would have probably finished our drinks and then gone to Flamme (also a good place) likely never to darken the threshold of Blue Frog again. Now, because of the manager’s quick and sincere response to our complaint, I’m actually likely to patronize Blue Frog MORE in the future.
Customer service isn’t hard. It’s listening, giving a crap, and then taking real action to make it better. It’s how you keep your customers. Last night, Blue Frog came through. Kudos to them. Here’s to hoping that more restaurants in B-town start getting the message.
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A few more of my favorite places to eat in Beijing: Flamme, Kro’s Nest, Home Plate BBQ, hole-in-the-wall Xinjiang place around the corner from Great Leap, Dali Courtyard, Cafe Sambal, hole-in-the-wall dumpling place across the street from me here in Hepingli, Element Fresh, Haidilao (if we can get a table), PBD Pizza in Weigongcun, and the Chengdu Provincial Hotel restaurant near Jingshan Park.