Not really a fly but something was clearly buzzing around. Wait, I’ve got it; I recognize it. It’s the hovering, all too present server who cannot figure out how to service this table without being part of every conversation or at least continually interrupting. There was no chance to complete a sentence! We’ve all had that meal or some part of one of those. Many diners prefer the omnipresent waiter to the MIA one that can never be found. How about the middle ground?
Maybe two dining experiences this week demonstrate the extremes and define some sort of a norm. Take the first lunch with the chatty waiter who had a million recommendations and continued to descend upon the table with boundless energy. I love enthusiasm, but I also appreciate the opportunity to have lunch with a friend rather than being continually interrupted by service questions: How is it? Do you want a soda refill? Can I get you anything? The list goes on. I think my friend and I finished a few complete sentences without interruption. That is until it was time to leave. You guessed it: Nowhere to be found. We literally had to ask several people to find a way to get our check. Something is very wrong with this picture. Is the server too kind, too enthusiastic, or just plain annoying? You can vote for that outcome.
The following day, the experience was almost text book. A server arrived quickly, took the order, and appeared almost by magic when it was appropriate: Time to clear, time to inquire if there would be anything else, and time to leave the check. If you guess that the two adjacent day meals were at different price points or at restaurants so different in terms of their training, you’d be incorrect. Price points identical; training very important to both multi-unit midscale operations.
What’s the difference then? Personality plays a major part in the communication level. Efficiency certainly dominates the training, but the hovering, chatty, “new friend” experience is not what most people look for when dining out. Servers need to read guests; they need to read the table and determine what’s needed. It’s not an impossible characteristic of good service, but one that can make a meal a more pleasant experience than the missing server or the hovering one.
Perfect timing is what it’s all about. Not that complex a concept, but the difference between a positive dining out experience and one less than pleasant. The diner rules and dictates; the server sees and responds. The tip stays the same.
Dining out should have that careful orchestration that adds to the enjoyable aspect of the food. Everyone needs to know his part.
It almost doesn’t matter what we order. It’s what we are presented. 
and replace it with a “Closed” one: Permanently . That is the same story that occurred not that many weeks ago in Washington, DC with Olives, the popular Todd English restaurant just blocks from the White House. Same Scenario: “Renovation” became “Closed”. Name a city, and the story has repetitive qualities. It’s a war of the plates. Those restaurants that were merely hanging on are finding it difficult to grab an additional lifeline.
movie has encouraged a number of special events and promotions. It seems that restaurants are celebrating the movie, the anniversary of her birthday, and just about any Julia Child connection they can make. All of a sudden, everyone wants to be a French chef!
It was just 
Adjust. Listen to your guests. Find a direction.