3 /5 Patrice Williams: I seen this established highlighted on Town and Country, as well as some people hyping this place up, so I tried it. I came approximately at 7pm. The owner was on the phone at the counter and no one greeted me or anyone for that matter, and he left without any acknowledgement. They did have the menu on a tv, but they only had one paper menu taped to the counter, so people had to take pictures of the menu. When the cashier came, I can tell she was younger and still learning, but her customer service skills was low-hanging fruit. I ordered a salmon Patty melt with fries and peach cobbler egg rolls, but they were out. So she picked up a sign from off the ground that said what they were out of, which looked like their more popular items. I asked could I have lettuce and tomato, she asked the kitchen staff and they said they would put it on the side. BTW, it was 1.75 for that.
The restaurant started to get crowded pretty quickly. The cashier had to take orders and bag the orders as they were coming out. Finally, someone came to assist her. It took around 30 minutes to get my food.
It was "meh". I loved the concept of a salmon as a Patty melt, but I thought it would be in a form of a patty or a whole piece of salmon. It was chopped up, and maybe some cheese on regular pieces of bread. It was dry. There wasnt any type of mayo or any signature sauce with it. If it was, it was missing. Not to mention, the lettuce and tomato was soggy and wilted.
There was only one chair to sit in, and it got crowded, but I didnt know how long to wait, so I just stayed and observed everything. They was playing trap music which is fine, but the cashier couldnt hear so she ended up turning the tv off.
I think the restaurant has potential, but restaurants in Albany have to provide excellent customer service if you want to thrive and go to the next level.
Recommendations
1. Offer your menu as a QR code so were not squinting or having to take 5 snapshots of the menu.If the wait is going to be long, look into a text message system or an online ordering system.
2. Acknowledge customers and verbally communicate about any menu changes and the wait. Smiling helps.
3. Suggest items to new customers. I asked about some sauce to go with my patty melt and all I was told it was 75 cents. The sad part was I didnt know what yall offered.
4. Justify the portions for the price. Getting a handful of fries and barely an ounce of fish and no drink for 16 dollars was interesting.
5. Have a better front counter system. I empathize with the cashier because she was overwhelmed with taking orders, handling orders that werent correct, and bagging up the orders is a lot for one person. And even though its a carryout establishment, think about the atmosphere.
6. I know running out of things isnt a new phenomenon, but if you open in the late afternoon, and close at 3am, and youre out of items within a few hours of opening is concerning.
I am not sure if I came at the right time, but consistency is key. I wanted to share my experience and hope the staff if they see this looks at this not as a bashing session, but to course correct so you can serve in excellence and scale your business.