Corporate Research International, a mystery shopping/market research firm, released the results of a customer service survey yesterday. According to this survey, Olive Garden was rated top among full-service restaurants. Other companies who received the highest customer service rating in their category are Subway, CiCi's Pizza, Marriott, Hyatt, Southwest Airlines, Nordstrom, Walgreens, Foot Locker and RadioShack. [Source]
I've had experiences with all the companies mentioned except for CiCi's Pizza and I have to say that all of those experiences were pretty good.
My last dining experience with Olive Garden is noteworthy and I don't know why I didn't even write about it here. It was a friend's birthday and we went to Olive Garden on a weekday. The place was packed, but our server came to introduce herself and offer the specials for the night. She did everything she was supposed to - even checked on us a few times even though she had many tables to look after. Perky and fun are the only two words I could think to describe her and she made it feel like we were dining in her home.
Can you think of the last time you received good service in a restaurant?
Ah, restaurant customer service, definitely a thing of the past. I have found that the level of service seems to increase with the cost of the food, in general, anyway. The best experience I have had lately is at Ruth's Chris Steak House in Sacramento. The manager actually came around asking guests how everything was, and I told him how nice it was to get such attentive service. He said something to the effect of "that's the way it should be". My kind of boss!
Posted by: Rob Wallis | October 25, 2007 8:47 PM | Permalink to Comment