By Digoy Fernandez

THIS is one blog entry that seems to have elicited quite a fair share of comments, mostly in favor with a couple expressing reservations. For the enlightenment of those who felt that I should have expressed my desire to be served by waving my hand etc., in practically all the circumstances stated, the waiters or waitresses stood afar and did not even look my way.

Contrast this with the behaviour they showed after I had expressed my opinion on the (lousy) level of service in Gerry’s Grill. And this is not a random event. I noticed this in various times that I would go there with my family. What surprised me was North Park, because my son and I have never had problems with them before. And, as I said, on my second trip there, one waitress bothered to seat me and then left me to myself for the next fifteen minutes. Maybe some of the other staff were eating or undergoing a shift change, but whatever it was, the gods of service seemed to have deserted me that day.

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By Digoy Fernandez

ONE of the things I have to promise myself is never to make promises I can’t very well keep. In my last post, I mentioned the sloppy service of a restaurant in an upscale restaurant in a tony Alabang mall. Well, my dear son who is my veritable shadow when it comes to wonderful shared experiences like watching movies and eating — not expensive meals in posh restaurants, just good food in tried and tested venues — decided that he wanted to try a particular dish that happened to be available in the restaurant I said I would avoid until hell freezes over. Famous last words!

So, we hunkered over to Gerry’s Grill in Alabang Town Center (I mention them now because of subsequent events that happened in this visit) and — Surprise! Surprise! — a waitress saw us right away and proceeded to seat us at a table. This was 100 percent better than my last visit when I basically got ignored after trying twice to get seated or served, and was left to my own devices for about 15 minutes each time. We were seated and handed menus, and then, almost predictably, saw the waiters and waitresses just lolling around avoiding eye contact. Apparently, they want you to stand up and gesticulate wildly before they come over to serve you or take your order. At any rate, I finally had to wave my hand at one of them — not without vigorous encouragement and mild disapproval from my son, though. Our orders were taken and we settled down for what we hoped would be a nice lunch.

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