I am a picky person to dine with no matter the venue.
From fast food to the finest restaurants, I am aware of the experience from the moment I walk in the door.
I am extremely particular about where I sit, who is serving me, cleanliness of china, glass and silver and, most importantly, if the employees and the environment are clean.
I am spending time and money, and I want to feel welcome and important.
Located in the Gardner Building, The Red Rock Café is our on-campus dining and is home to Big D Deli, Home Cookin’, Sweet Corner, Rebelano’s, Backyard Grill, Wok Your Way and Soup’r Salad.
In the case of the Backyard Grill, I am often on my own to figure out how to get all my food at the same temperature and all of it at the same time.
One of my biggest peeves is being ignored by someone who is being compensated to pay attention to me. During every one of my visits to the Backyard Grill, I have to ask other students to help me put my meal together. Relying on other patrons for assistance is inexcusable in customer service.
Perhaps those students should clock in and be compensated for their effort.
The man cooking on the grill is so busy that he can’t possibly pay attention to me. Not only is this not fair to me, but it’s not fair to him. There should be an attendant to handle the front of the counter.
As the saying goes: “A restaurant’s food draws patrons in. The service will keep them coming back.”
This is a difficult sell in the case of The Red Rock Cafe.
Somer Gagnon, a sophomore communication major from St. George, eats in the Red Rock Café a couple of times a week.
Gagnon enjoys the Chinese food and the salad bar. Though she finds the food to be tasty, the service seems to be lacking.
“The grill guy is usually really grumpy,” Gagnon said. “We try to be nice to him, but he’s still grumpy.”
David Columbus, a freshman art major from Los Angeles, eats in the café several times a day five days a week.
Columbus enjoys the Red Rock Cafe because he gets to socialize, not for the service or for the food. He finds both of these areas of the Cafe to be lacking.
With Dixie State achieving university status, our services will be exposed to more influential people in the state. Knowing how to please guests on our campus becomes increasingly more important.
Our campus should see this as an opportunity to step it up in order to keep up with the status of a university.
“I have been to USC and UCLA,” Columbus said. I’ve seen the food choices they offer, and they are way better than here. They need to step it up.”
Another problem is that the staff interacts more with each other than they do with the customer.
Midway through my last experience, two staff members came into the dining room and began giggling and talking like two teenage girls in the hallway at school. They were running around and joking with an older woman who also willingly participated.
They were wiping tables with a sour rag that left the smell of old socks in the room while I was still eating. Not only is this unappetizing, but it spreads germs from one table to the next.
If this behavior is acceptable in full view of customers, I can’t help but wonder what goes on in the back of the house.
Tables that have been touched by customers should be cleaned with disinfecting wipes in the prevention of contamination rather than a dishtowel.
Staff should conduct themselves in a more professional manner when dealing with the customer. This is a job serving others, not a self-serving job.
I would like to bring guests into a place that I can be proud of, but right now, I view it as average and nothing to brag about.
