The Spiros Effect

Our holiday rep. told us there were around 100 eating places in Parga, Greece. And without counting, we think he’s right.

We visited seven restaurants and a similar number of bars. Each one of the restaurants was between very good to excellent [Zorbas, Rudi’s, Veneziano, Symposium, Golfo, Dionysus and…Bacchos].

So, a random sample generates seven great eating experiences, and 93 more to follow. However, only one has people queuing to go in. Bacchos. Traditional Greek Taverna.

How did they do it?

Food, as already said – very good, but not truly exceptional. Staff? Superb. Friendly, attentive, permanent [unforced] smiles all round. Prices? Parga average [very reasonable]. Ambience. Typical upbeat Greek atmosphere. Location? Very good, right on the front, but no better than six others. And six others had staff attempting to entice you in to their tavernas. Most were very good. Polite and you never felt pressured or irritated.

But Bacchos have Spiros. And he has a female assistant.  They both shake your hands, or touch your shoulders when passing. If you show any interest, a ‘free’ drink may follow. But at most times of the evening, you will have to wait to get a seat.

He is charm personified. Always smiling, always watching. A little Greek dance here, a gesture to look at the menu there.

On Thursday [24/6] when we did sit down [after waiting 20 minutes, and having gone elsewhere two nights previously even after the free drinks], we felt a high degree of anticipation. We were not disappointed.

What price Spiros?

But more to the point, what price conviction, exceptional service and genuine love for what you are doing?

Jack Stewart

The World Cup

We’ve been out twice [despite my being a football fan, but the hype is unbearable] when World Cup games have been on, and both restaurants [normally very busy] were half empty.

Some are putting in TV screens. Fine if it’s a dedicated area, well away from the dining, otherwise you might as well go down to your local bar, bring your vuvuzela and paint your mush. 

While most restaurants defer to men, and few women eat out on their own, groups of women must make up a sizeable income.

So it needs some creative thinking. Don’t most games finish before 10 p.m.?

Jack Stewart

Don’t You Know Who I Am?

Do you ever watch cookery programmes on the TV where they have ’food critics’ showing us mere mortals how it ‘should be done’?  

And of course these critics have far more and much better taste buds than you do. And isn’t one programme designed to get the ‘lucky’ chef to serve Prince Charles et al? So, using that logic, Prince Charles is the mecca, numero uno, the top banana when it comes to judging food.

The underlying assumptions are therefore, that pricier is better, ‘game’ is superior to anything else [I made that one up], and the more you as a critic sound like PC, the higher fee you will commarnd.

The beauty of food, of eating out, is that given certain ground rules of produce quality, hygiene and your/the chef’s competence, the whole thing is subjective. Yes, your opinion, your friends and family counts as much as a forelock-tugging pseud.

I watched ‘Celebrity Come Dine With Me’ the other night. It was won by Tom O’Connor. He scored 29 [out of a possible 30]. He spread onion marmalade on a slice of French bread, toasted some goats’ cheese [first time he had eaten it himself] on it for starters. The main course? Scouse [lamb stew]. The desert? Jam bread & butter pudding. Every course was eaten by those present with undisguised delight.

He scored highly on his company, and how he treated his guests. Does all this sound familiar?

So, value the total experience when eating out, expect a good experience, and realise those running the restaurant want to please you. Because if they don’t you will know as you walk through the door. So if you get a bad feeling, turn around then, go and have some ‘better’ taste buds grafted on to your tongue, book elocution lessons, and treat us lesser beings with contempt [to stop you getting found out].

Truffles and foie gras anyone?

Jack Stewart.

Pan Y Vino, Stockton Heath

We don’t go into this superb restaurant as often as we would like, simply because we enjoy different ethnic cuisines. However invariably the senior staff treat us as though we were regulars, and we sit down knowing we are going to have a good experience [see Let Us Complain below].

As fish-eating vegetarians [yes I know true vegetarians can't agree with this] the tapas menu is extensive. The service is done with more than a smile; unless they are all brilliant actors, the impression is staff love what they do.  Again as previously stated, Pan Y Vino is high tempo, and you do feel you are abroad. Spanish music and wonderful decor add to the feel.

Their reduced price midweek menu seems to have paid off. If you have a good restaurant, surely the trick is to get people in. Once they have sampled your wares, they will come back. [I get the idea with some restaurants, subconsciously the owners are scared to do this - not here obviously].

Wonderful.

Jack Stewart.

How Do We Do It?

That we have yet to be trampled in the rush to turn your restaurant around may be due to the following.

1. We have only approached one restaurant directly as a result of a friend’s suggestion.

2. This site has still to become widely known.

However, all is in hand!

If you are intrigued by our claims, perhaps you might want to think about these points:

• How much do you want to succeed? Would you rather ‘soldier on’, because you know better, even though your are clearly not succeeding? And is your ego such that only you know best?
• Are you sceptical of new  ideas? Does it go something like ‘we’ve heard it all before.’ And ‘If they [us] really knew how to do it, they would be running a restaurant themselves.’
• And finally, if you think hard work is the major ingredient in success, you are right. However, a closed mind-set or a false air of optimism, or a well-hidden resignation to what you secretly perceive as the inevitable will deliver just that.

What we do has worked, and will continue to work because it needs an outsider [can you afford Gordon Ramsey?] to see things you have missed. And it needs a complete shift in your thinking away from resignation or denial to one of optimism. optimism founded on possibility.

Nothing is guaranteed in this life, just ask Gordon Brown, the banks, Willie Walsh [British Airways] and Al [Global Warming] Gore.

We can help to convince you the missing ingredient may well be your mind-set. And if we can’t? It’s probably your mind-set!

And of course you always knew faith could move mountains. But you have to look at the mountain first.

Jack Stewart

The Johin, Latchford

An undiscovered treasure? No point in repeating all the boxes this great place ticks. It’s attraction?  Incredible value for money. Sister/brother restaurant of the Lalkilla in Orford Lane.

Deserves to be full every night.

Flavours, Lymm

Much to commend this restaurant, and improvements could be made.  Great ambience and lay out. And it’s wonderful to have a Turkish restaurant in the vicinity. The owner is brilliant and genuinely enjoys talking to the customers.

The starters were average, and there are just two [2] vegetarian options for the main course. Yes that’s it. If the Efes beer was £2.90 for 500 ml [as opposed to 330] it would make a real difference. The plates are barely empty before they are taken away. The bill was reasonable, but I didn’t like being led into paying a 10% service charge [it is stated on the bill, but is optional]. If you enjoy the experience, you don’t need to be encouraged to tip.

My main course was very good [vegetarian moussaka], the capuccinos first rate, and apart from the over zealous clearing of the table, the staff are civil, motivated and excellent.  

Would we go back? Probably, but not in a hurry. Do they care for our opinions if they are getting full on a Saturday? Maybe, maybe not. But are they full midweek, and who talks to who?  

Jack Stewart

The Sanam, Rusholme

Our first visit to Rusholme this year! We’ve been a number of times to the Sanam, and when other restaurants in this wonderful part of Manchester are just beginning to fill up, the Sanam is often full. All the usual criteria are met, food, service, ambience etc. Another very pleasant surprise is the cost. Superb experience, highly recommended.

Jack Stewart.

The Ideal Restaurant, Stockton Heath

Beer cheaper than the pubs. Great menu. Great atmosphere. Great service. Some of the food cheaper than takeaways. difficult to say what it lacks.

Tucked away down a side street. New coffee bar opening soon next door but one. Will bring more people in.

What do you want from a restaurant? You’ll get it here, and at silly prices.

Yes, I know what it lacks. Vindaloo. That’s about it.

Jack Stewart

Let us complain!

We have two dear friends who subscribe to the media mantra ’we don’t complain enough.’ The context was, of course, restaurants.

Now we both, when we have cause to, ask staff to rectify a problem.

However, having eaten out thousands of times we can count on the fingers of one hand when we have had to.  Coincidence?

Our friends have much cause to complain. Every time they go out. They have had free meals on the back of complaining, though that is not their goal. They visit the same restaurants as us. We have a great experience, they don’t.

Are we naive, do we have lower standards, will we put up with rubbish? No chance.

No, the difference is, we go out with an intention that we will have a good experience. It doesn’t enter our heads that ’we will have to complain.’ 

Rebuking yourself or others that ’we don’t complain enough’ pre-supposes there will always be something to complain about. And guess what? There always is.

Jack Stewart