space-to-party.com

Tsubaki-An, A Pleasant Experience

January 30th, 2008

This did not happen only to me but also to other family who was dining outside who had to wait for some food that they ordered a while ago did not get served up until then. (They treated the family with ice cream)

The second fact that pleased me is the fact that they served ‘Oto-shi’ before the food is served which does not happen much in Singapore. In Japan, if you go to a Japanese restaurant, you have ‘Oto-shi’ before food. ‘Oto-shi’ is a small complimentary (this is not complimentary nowadays but…) appetizer after ordering your drinks to accompany the drinks while you wait for the food to be served. ‘Oto-shi’ is served with many ingredients like vegetables, tofu, seafood, stewed pork etc…. The attention to detail & tradition impressed me.

I saw about three waitresses that night. They were all very professional, cheerful, attentive and very polite. I think their spirit of hospitality is from the nature of the people who are specifically from Kyoto. I know people from Kyoto are very good at entertaining and caring for customers. They will never leave the customer unattended, like the last thing they want to do is to make the customers feel unwelcome.

I have come across with many incidents and unpleasant experiences in restaurants, so this was a welcome change. I hear that this country is the place of hospitality but I am afraid what we get here is far from what you can get outside Singapore at the same price.

This is just an example and I am not talking about how every restaurant should serve complimentary food when the customers are upset, and of course I am not just saying this because the Japanese services are great and they all should follow the Japanese standard. But as a customer here, I want them to think about what they can do to give their customers a better experience in their places. Sit down & think what can make customers come back to them. Would tossing the menus on a table and acting busy between tables and kitchen be attractive to customers??