Do you have to ask for service?

One of my favourite Japanese restaurants here is Izakaya, which is located in Centrestage at Marina Square. The food is really good, they boast to have no msg, no artificial flavouring etc...

Today was my second time there, with DD for a late lunch. We probably reached the place at abt 3.15 pm. When we got to the restaurant, we waited to be seated (as instructed by the sign outside the restaurant). One of the staff was standing behind the cashier in front of us, but it took her a while to beckon her colleagues to come bring us in.

Now usually, the waiteress would pick up the menu as she brings u in. But this one brought us to our seats before bringing over the menus. We beckoned another waiter to come and ordered set meals. The waiter took our orders but didn't remove the menus.

We finished our salad and main courses, stacked everything nicely on the trays and pushed the trays to the edge of the table. At the same moment, we noticed two waitresses went down the aisle right next to us to restock the chopsticks and tissue. Wondering if they would take the initiative to clear the table, we didn't beckon to them. They walk straight pass us. Twice. At the same time, 3 other staff members were sitting at the table behind us chatting. One of them later got up, and asked her colleague if he/she needed anything since she was going out for a walk. [Note: Our table still had not been cleared.]

The third time the waiteress (the one restocking the chopsticks/tissue) walked past us, we stopped her and asked her to clear the table and serve the dessert. After we finished dessert, we realised that we still hadn't been serve coffee/tea.

In the meantime, we built a castle with the menus and observe how the staff brought the customers to their seats. One couple just walked right in and sat themselves down. For another couple, the waiter looked lost/not keen to lead them to their seats.

During the approximately 1.5 hrs we were there, they probably only refilled out tea three times.

Seriously. Does one have to call for service to get some? I really thought the staff were absymal. At the very least, they should have asked if they could serve the dessert when they came toclear the table. If they were too lazy to ask, they could at least just bring the dessert over? If we hadn't asked them about our dessert and coffee/tea, they probably would have forgotten about it.

We left the feedback form with the credit card when we decided to leave. From where we were sitting, I could see the two staff at the cashier counter looking displeased when they saw the contents. As we walked out of the restaurant, we walked past the dessert chef. He thanked us for coming. I thanked him in return. Don't know if he noticed my slight smile. I was expecting the two cashier counter staff to at least mutter thank you. According to DD, they had this look on their faces that said "these are the people who graded our service as very poor."

I feel so put off from going back to the restaurant again... Even if the food is good... Would you pay for such (non-) service? Or were we asking too much as customers for the service staff to have some initiative?

Told DD that after this experience, Old Beijing's ratings have gone higher than Izakaya's. At least Old Beijing's staff were apologetic for lapses in their service.