The best time to go to a Restaurant

[Disclaimer — This is insider information. Before becoming a computer consultant, the dis-oriented author was a restaurant manager for five years.  The  dis-oriented author also has several years experience as a waiter, dishwasher and prep cook dating back to high school. As they say in the industry — he has ketchup in his blood.]

This weekend I returned home from a business trip and took my wife out to one of our favorite restaurants. It was late and we had just missed the rush. One hour earlier and we would have been waiting in line. As it was we were almost the only ones in the place.

Since my wife is sensitive to smoke, we always ask to sit far away from the smoking section. This put is in a romantic out of the way corner of the restaurant.

No one bothered us at all. In fact even our waitress hardly even stopped by the table.

The problem is that in the restaurant industry, everyone expects there to be busy times. You gear up for it and you plan for it. Like clockwork, every Friday and Saturday night, the lobby fills with people and the kitchen becomes a madhouse. Waiters and waitresses seem to be going in every direction at once.

If you spend anytime in the industry you learn to thrive on the pressure. Cooks pride themselves on their ability to perform during high volume. Waiters will take on extra tables or large parties during the rush and do more than one would think possible.

But when the rush is over, the letdown is palpable. The dining room starts to shut down in stages. This is the time to take care of tasks that were put off, like emptying trash cans or washing pots.

In restaurant jargon, waiters get cut.  That means that they stop taking new tables and start doing their sidework — or cleanup. Even though the restaurant is full of employees , most of them are trying to get their work done so they can go home or go out. Typically, there are a couple of waiters left to take care of the last few tables.

If server's get cut too early, the skeleton crew left taking care of guests can get swamped. In the industry, it is considered bad form for a waiter still taking tables to ask for too much help from one who is cut. The reason is that the cut waiter is helping but not making any more tips so they are working for next to nothing.

When I was a restaurant manager I made it a point to try and be visible in the front of the house after the rush. It allowed me to keep tabs on late guests and see how they are doing. I could also assign cut waiters to help out when necessary. The problem is that at this point there are all sorts of tasks calling for the manager's attention. The kitchen crew needs to have their stations inspected. Prep schedules need to be prepared for the next day. It is time to put extra cash in the safe and do after action meetings with the various teams.

For all of these reasons — the very worst time to go to any restaurant — is when they are slow. By far after the evening rush is the worst but before the rush is equally bad. Everyone is focused on getting home, not taking care of you. When you go during peak hours, you typically get the service team's A-Game.

On our visit, I left our waitress a 10% tip, I am usually a great tipper, I should probably have given her a nickel at least she would no that I was mad, not cheap.