Thursday, May 28, 2009

The T Spot, Savannah, Java....

I just came from a meeting at the T Spot. The service we received was shocking!

A friend ordered a burger with fries and tea. His tea arrived AFTER his food. I ordered tea (after waiting for 20 minutes), I got a mochachino. Those are just two examples of what was an all round terrible experience at the place. Service was slow, sullen, rude and incompetent.

Prior to shifting our periodic meetings to the T-Spot, we used to meet at Savannah, Museum Hill. We moved because their service is also terrible and additionally they have a very limited menu that is often executed poorly.

I went to Java, Gigiri last week. Walked in, sat in the booth in the corner, turned on my computer and started working on something. I sat for 10 - 15 minutes without a single waiter approaching me. I eventually called one over and asked for what I wanted. She went off and never came back. I waited 10 more minutes before calling another waiter and making my order. I sat for half an hour in a restaurant with no waiter approaching me! It was not an especially busy time, the waiters were milling about chatting and joking amongst themselves.

Who trains the waiters in these places? It is all well and good investing millions to build a swanky looking place but the the same sort of thought and effort needs to go into ensuring that the customers experience is a good one. Equally important, the same thought and effort needs to go into maintaining standards. When I first visited each of these establishments, the service was excellent. Standards at each of them have gotten progressively worse.

And one last thing....the next time a waiter reaches over my food/drink I just might snap!

Restaurant managers....Smile, be polite, be quick, get orders correct first time and never....NEVER reach over the patrons dish. 5 simple rules that you should train your staff to live by.

9 comments:

  1. My name is Kibet Tembur,Assistant Manager T-Spot Restaurant.

    I acknowledge responsibility regarding the service level you received at the said joint,however,this is not the norm and Iapologize for that.

    Iam requesting if you can meet with me in person to discuss about it.

    I believe your opinions,which we respect, will make serve you better.

    Thank you.

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  2. Wow. I guess you got the right reaction there...

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  3. kt

    I am pleasantly surprised to see your response.

    I visit the T-Spot fairly regularly so perhaps the next time I am there I can ask for you and we can have a chat?

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  4. The T-spot is rubbish. I had the same experience there. Slow to serve, waitress disappeared, took forever to find change. A simple mandazi and chai order turned into a 45 minute ordeal. Not going back, which is too bad because its a great concept.

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  5. kt,

    As you can see from Ory's comment (and as I had mentioned in the post), my experience is by no means an isolated one.

    Everyone I have spoken to about T-Spot has the same complaint...Mnafukuza wateja.

    I hope you manage to sort out the issues because I think it is a fairly good concept...and the first time I was there I really enjoyed the chiocken samosas.

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  6. Good evening,Ory,KW and Maina.

    Thank you for your comments,I appreciate the time you have taken to share your views and areas you feel we need to polish.

    I also feel that meeting me in person to discuss them in detail has an added value.That is my preference.I also feel you have alot to say.

    Thank you and hope again to meet me in person at T-Spot.

    kt

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  7. Reading this got me thinking...I wish politicians (I actually mean our 'leaders' or rather people in positions of leadership) could read such blogs and respond with real answers aimed at finding suitable sustainable solutions and actually meeting the 'people'.

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  8. I was at T-spot the other day and fortunate enough i managed to meet kt. from our small chat it was clear he's trying to improve the service there and I think there is some improvement - basing on the service i received.

    I can't say the same for Java - koinange st. Sorry.

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  9. City Girl,

    I had actually suggested the same in one of my earlier posts (the need for ministers/PS's even the president to interact more directly with the populace regularly)

    Kainvestor,

    Glad to hear you had a good experience. I will look for KT the next time I am there.

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