I spent my 40th birthday at GL in May of '09, literally 48 hours before the GQ bomb dropped.
The pizza was unbelievable as were the greens that Lydia purchased at Green City Market and dressed just right in terms of texture and saltiness and pucker. A totally magnificent evening in terms of food and flavors. I still remember it very clearly. But . . . customer service, in terms of warm and welcoming or even being gracious/generous just doesn't seem to be in their bones. They have never been rude to me or even cold but they just don't get it that by being engaging and connecting to people that they will have a loyal fan base.
This summer I waited 1 hour and 45 minutes in line at Hot Doug's, actually ended up taking my two-year-old to the river for a distraction (which was awesome, we saw a great Blue Heron and an Egret) and when we rejoined my husband and older son and friend in line (which none of us got punished for) and got to the counter, Doug Sohn greeted us super warmly, thanked us for waiting and took one look at my hungry boys and ordered two hot dogs with fries on the house and they came out within 2 minutes. THAT's being in charge of your business AND reading your customers very closely. We then ordered our fois gras dog and Iberian sausage and duck fat fries, etc and felt totally justified on a bunch of levels and actually, really satisfied. If someone had treated me coldly at HD's after that sort of wait, I honestly think I would have felt like a big, fat sucker. (Like, what kind of nutjob parent makes her kids wait in line for almost 2 hours for a dog?)
The quote from Lydia in the NYT article totally sealed the deal for me:
Q. What does customer service mean to you?
Ms. Esparza: Great service for us is the quality of food we bring to the table.
Do you see, or better yet,
hear, the 500 pound gorilla in the 14 seat room here? She doesn't think that great service requires
anything more than superior food quality. And I am beginning to think she might have a point, a point that befuddles me and all sorts of people, seeing how people line up in 14 degree weather outside the door to have it opened not with a warm welcome or an enthusiastic greeting but with the energy being given that it's just sort of a chore to pretty much open the doors at all. You may make a great pie, you may make the greatest pie on the planet. But you lack something. Call it customer service. I kind of like to call it a few different things: empathy, humanity, a sense of humor, gratitude.
I know that the owners are not jerks. They are not. I have said it earlier that I thought they were merely overwhelmed. But now I think they need to go on a retreat with someone like Doug Sohn who can teach them how to handle crowds whilst staying in their small space and why being warm and funny and engaged has its merits.
bjt
"eating is an agricultural act" wendell berry