‘Fine.’ The most dangerous restaurant review response

“Fine.”

That may be one of the most dangerous words a restaurant customer can say.

I was at a restaurant the other night when I witnessed a 30-second exchange that told me plenty about hospitality. A bartender put a drink in front of a woman at his bar. He was busy, but a few minutes later he came back and asked, “How do you like your drink?”

“It was OK,” she said.

He looked at her. “OK?”

“Fine,” she answered.

I’ve been reviewing restaurants for more than 20 years, and I’ve learned to pay attention to that word. Nobody drives across Pasadena because somebody told them, “You have to try this restaurant. It’s fine!” Fine is often the polite answer we give when we don’t want to complain. Sometimes fine means: I won’t be back.

The bartender could have shrugged and walked away. Instead, he said, “Well, that’s not my specialty.” I appreciated the honesty, but I wanted him to ask one more question: “What didn’t you like about it?”

Maybe it was too sweet. Maybe too strong. Maybe he made it perfectly, and it simply wasn’t the drink for her. He’ll never know because the conversation ended.

And that’s what stayed with me.

How many times has your food arrived and then—adios—your server disappears? Twenty minutes later they return: “How was everything? Any dessert?” By then it’s too late. The steak is gone, the cocktail is finished, and the opportunity to fix something disappeared 15 minutes ago.

Then you say, “No dessert, thanks,” and suddenly the check arrives.

Boom!

Hospitality shouldn’t begin when you walk through the door and end when your credit card hits the table. The most important question might be the one asked five minutes after the food arrives: “How is it?”

Restaurants spend thousands of dollars on advertising, websites and social media trying to figure out what customers want. Sometimes the answer is sitting right there at Table 12—or at the bar telling you her drink is “fine.”

I’m not suggesting restaurants give away dinner every time somebody doesn’t love something. And I certainly don’t want a server hovering over me every two minutes. Hospitality is simply paying attention and asking while there’s still time to do something about the answer.

That bartender gets high marks from me because he asked and he listened. But next time someone says the drink, the dinner or the experience was “fine,” ask one more question:

“What could we have done better?”

You might learn something. You might save a customer.

And the most important review your restaurant receives this week may never appear online.

It may be sitting right in front of you.

I’m Peter Dills. And that’s my thought.