Formal Restaurant Service week two and three

After the shift, ready to taste..

The conclusion for the front of the house classes.

These were last weeks on the Front of the House. It was a really great experience and it was the second course at the school when I was sad that it's over. The first one was for the Baking and Pastry skills development. For me these two weeks (as well as the previous four) were quite smooth. There were probably a couple of days when we had a crazy amount of guests. A couple of days we had a normal number of guests, but the majority of them arrived almost at the same time.

One day on the second week the Dean visited us to see the class. He was very impressed with everything. Starting with our wine tasting during line up, the way the wine was analyzed by us (students). Then he saw the full dining room and
it was filled within 20 minutes (yes, likely it was one of that day). He even helped to run food to the guests. At least now he knows that this class is really busy sometimes.

Our class is really lucky, at least I see it this way. Starting with the next class there will be transition at the restaurant and there will be only one service - dinner. As a result there will be more students and less job load per each student. We have very small class - only 11 people. Half of us were in the kitchen and half in the dining room serving guests. That was a great opportunity to learn and practise what we have learned.

The front of the house experience was really helpful for me, indeed it changed my view and opinion how it is important to have a great service. The might be an error made by the kitchen, but if you aware of it and handle it appropriately, your guest is not going to remember it, but he/she will remember how good was the service at your place. You may have outstanding food, but if your service is not so good, people are not going to visit your restaurant again. Indeed, the great service is paramount.

Next week we are going to switch. Back of the house are going to serve our guests and the front of the house going to be in the kitchen. Officially we have two more blocks of three weeks each. There will be a summer break between these blocks. So this is the last two classes at the school.