Like most “foodie” people, I like to go eat at new places. By new I don’t just mean a place that has recently opened but a place that I have never been before. However most of these places I do go to, fall in the “recently opened” category. A lot of people complain about service in Perth and I somewhat agree but I do try to understand all sides of the story. The new popular restaurant or eatery is going to be slammed especially on Fridays and Saturdays (and especially the dinner slots). I’m going to hazard a guess this is the situation where most of the negative reviews arise from. It also doesn’t help if the place is new and the staff have never experienced this situation before. I personally like a good all-round experience so I take in the factors I mentioned above when going out to eat. I even practice my “rules” of dining out of not as popular places too.
So what are these rules?
Nothing mind blowing as you will see. I also have the luxury of time and very little commitments (i.e. family, etc) so consider this when you read what is next. Basically I eat out at popular places when I know it won’t be slammed. A restaurant that is not slammed will allow the wait staff to have more time to provide service and more time for the chefs to prepare your meal. Stressed people don’t work optimally. The other plus is that your meal is not in large queue waiting to be prepared. However, if a place has bad service, it doesn’t matter if it is busy or not.
Eat out on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday (maybe Thursday)
The start of the work week is the best time to eat out as these are least popular nights to go out to eat.
Eat early
Try to reserve or walk-in when lunch/dinner commences. This combined with the above tip will give you the best experience. On the weekend, this tip can be applied for lunches. If you have to eat out on a Friday or Saturday night, eating out early will hopefully give you a better experience too if you beat the rush. Understandably, as the night goes on, staff become more tired and little things will build up.
I have been to many places using the above tips and have never had a bad experience if the place I went to was good (if a place is bad, that can’t be helped).
