My wife, Cathy, and I had the unique experience of dining with friends at the MiniBar in Washington D.C. I have a serious weakness for food of all kinds. I love to eat. When I get sick, Cathy always laughs at me because I tell her I’m going to eat my way back to feeling good. Just try it, it works!
To say this dining experience was a culinary extravaganza would be an understatement. The matching of the flavors, temperatures and textures was exquisite. I certainly tasted dishes that I will never experience again and the overall culinary experience was incredible. But this blog is not about food, believe it or not, it’s about service. As I reflect on the evening, I realize the personal attention, commitment to excellence, positive energy and authentic desire to serve and deliver a WOW experience were second to none in my book.
When we arrived at the restaurant, we were personally greeted and they immediately knew our reservation and number in our party. We were escorted to a cool reception area and treated to complimentary champagne. Did I mention the personal attendant that came with the warm towels to wash our face and hands with? We were escorted to our table exactly on time as we had requested. Cathy has celiac disease, so she is very allergic to gluten and they were completely prepared to accommodate her special needs and constantly updated her on what she could have and served special dishes just for her when the main course contained gluten.
The dishes were prepared right in front of us as they explained each one and how to experience the most from each dish. This included how fast to eat it, in what order, whether to mix any portions, and even whether a spoon or fork would serve us best.
They patiently answered all of our questions and laughed with us as we enjoyed the meal. They took pictures, posed and any other silly things we asked them to do. When we had finished what had to have been 14 dishes, they escorted us to the BarMini for dessert. The pastry chef came out and explained each dessert and our personal attendant stayed with us, making sure our every need was met.
I have been fortunate to have experienced meals before where the service was certainly to provide you with a pampered experience, but this was different. The joy and authentic desire to serve – to make our evening special – was what captured me. You simply don’t see service at this level anywhere today.
There’s only one word that comes to mind – unrivaled. It was the service that captured my heart, connected me to the experience, and is really what made the dining experience one of my favorite ever. This is certainly the type of unrivaled experience I hope our clients feel when we serve them. When we have a heart of service, when we are committed to being unrivaled, we grow ourselves as leaders, grow our teams and help to build a great firm.
Will you be unrivaled in your service today?
