Last week I wanted to book a table for 8 to grab a late dinner after a comedy gig. The slight challenge was the gig didn’t finish until 10.40pm but last orders at Dabbawal is 10.30pm.
I called Jalf Ali at the wonderful Dabbawal www.dabbawal.com in Newcastle and asked if it would be
ok to arrive at 10.45pm (10.50pm at the latest) and we promised to be well behaved!
‘I’ll ask my chefs’, he said ‘and I’ll call you back’.
And true to his
world a few hours later he came back to me. And here’s where Jalf demonstrated world class service.
- He apologised and told me that he couldn’t take the booking. He explained that he’d asked his chefs and they said sorry, but no. He was expecting
this because his kitchen team work really hard and they want to clean down and get home to their families after a busy day.
- He then suggested an alternative restaurant and booked it for us. He then contacted the alternative restaurant to make sure we would be extra well looked after
in the other restaurant (and we were).
- He invited Christine and I to choose another ‘date night’ evening and said how much he’d love to see us.
That’s perfect service.
Look after your staff first.
If you have to give negative news, do it
nicely.
Offer an alternative.
See it through.
Reconnect.
Be Brilliant!
