mjmooney Posted September 10, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted September 10, 2023 16 minutes ago, villa4europe said: At least you probably got your food served at the same time and in the right order.... Britain 1 the Continent 0 Absolutely untrue. We've just had a couple of days in a hotel, and the restaurant service was crap - food was OK, but the waiting staff had no clue. Sticky tables, slow service, bad timing, etc. I've never experienced that in France or Italy. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted September 10, 2023 Share Posted September 10, 2023 7 minutes ago, mjmooney said: Absolutely untrue. We've just had a couple of days in a hotel, and the restaurant service was crap - food was OK, but the waiting staff had no clue. Sticky tables, slow service, bad timing, etc. I've never experienced that in France or Italy. Germany is OK to be fair to them but I'd say Germany, especially outside of the cities, is near 100% independently owned, there's no breweries owning the pubs and next to no chains It takes a while to get used to the pace though but that's a good thing, my main complaint in the UK is that it feels like a race to get you your food quick and get you out of there but the restaurants in the villages by me a meal out is 1 to 2 hours But it's all horses for courses, I've been in restaurants here where asking for the bill and paying takes 20 odd minutes and takes the piss, I've been served the wrong thing (including asking for a butter chicken and a naan bread in Belgium and being served a pepperoni pizza... And the naan bread...Indian restaurants that also serve Italian is a thing) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seat68 Posted September 10, 2023 Share Posted September 10, 2023 21 minutes ago, mjmooney said: Absolutely untrue. We've just had a couple of days in a hotel, and the restaurant service was crap - food was OK, but the waiting staff had no clue. Sticky tables, slow service, bad timing, etc. I've never experienced that in France or Italy. Hoping to guess which one. The Vine or The Shire Horse. Absolute standouts at bad service in the town. If it's The Swan then I would be shocked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted September 10, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted September 10, 2023 13 minutes ago, Seat68 said: Hoping to guess which one. The Vine or The Shire Horse. Absolute standouts at bad service in the town. If it's The Swan then I would be shocked. It was The Swan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seat68 Posted September 10, 2023 Share Posted September 10, 2023 7 minutes ago, mjmooney said: It was The Swan. Mike that's an anomaly. They are excellent usually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted September 10, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted September 10, 2023 8 minutes ago, mjmooney said: It was The Swan. It's a dive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VILLAMARV Posted September 10, 2023 Share Posted September 10, 2023 2 hours ago, Mr_Dogg said: Because hospitality is seen as a temporary job or for minimum wage immigrants in these islands. Couple that with understaffing. In Europe, there is more full time employment in hospitality and waiting staff, where the experience adds up as well as more pride in the job Agree with this MrD but I would also add that as an ex-licensee some people just get it and some people don't. There's a pub in our town famous for no music no sports no tellys etc. Old school go in and have a chat. Lovely engaging woman who 'got it' (KW) would chat to customers when quiet, go the extra mile to make everyone feel welcome. They sold it after Covid put them out of business and the new owners employ a very pretty barmaid who basically sits at the bar, looks a bit annoyed she has to put her phone down for 5 minutes to serve people and if there's one or 2 people in there sat at the bar, she'll be found sitting at the end of the bar on her phone ignoring people. I went for a Thai meal recently, the food was amazing to be fair but it had the worst service we've ever encountered. From ordering beers that arrived with the tops still on the bottles to the hassle of trying to attract the attention of the waitress who was not only sat on her phone at the bar but with her back to us and the only other table in there. When the food arrived she didn't know what it was "who ordered this", "what is it?" *shrugs shoulders* and every plate that came to our table was dumped on the end we were sat and me and MrsVM served the rest of our group. We were genuinely laughing about it it was so bad. But @sidcow is bang on the money for me. Get from the bar, collect glasses, wipe the tables (empty the ashtrays in my day and brush them out with the paintbrush used for cleaning the ashtrays). Treat all thecustomers in the way you would like to be treated. But the key factor is caring about it. My own personal bug bear (when it's obvious they don't do it) - cleaning the condiments whether thats wiping the globs of ketchup off the bottles or the drips of mustard of the salt shaker and so on. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted September 10, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted September 10, 2023 32 minutes ago, Seat68 said: Mike that's an anomaly. They are excellent usually. They were just sloppy. Long waits for service (and it wasn't busy), bringing the wrong things, not clearing tables, etc. And then the same again at breakfast (I wasn't impressed by their F.E.B., either). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted September 10, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted September 10, 2023 45 minutes ago, VILLAMARV said: My own personal bug bear (when it's obvious they don't do it) - cleaning the condiments whether thats wiping the globs of ketchup off the bottles or the drips of mustard of the salt shaker and so on. Oh god. God yes this. Such a tiny detail but makes a huge huge difference. Also, Something dies inside me when I see ketchup sachets. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VILLAMARV Posted September 10, 2023 Share Posted September 10, 2023 1 hour ago, sidcow said: Also, Something dies inside me when I see ketchup sachets. I almost mentioned them in a similar vein 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted September 10, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted September 10, 2023 4 hours ago, luckyeddie said: Newspaper? its 2023. Just whip out the iphone and use it as a scraper.. Best use for one as far as I'm concerned. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted September 11, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted September 11, 2023 11 hours ago, Anthony said: Best use for one as far as I'm concerned. I saw one of those 'interesting maps' on FB that purported to show the relative prevalence of different mobile phone brands in European countries, and it showed the UK as being mainly Apple, which I find hard to believe. OK, I get it that the Android OS is used by several different manufacturers, which kind of 'splits the Android vote', but even so...? An anecdotal survey of everybody I know (various generations) came up with only three iPhone users. Could it be regional within the UK? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seat68 Posted September 11, 2023 Share Posted September 11, 2023 11 minutes ago, mjmooney said: I saw one of those 'interesting maps' on FB that purported to show the relative prevalence of different mobile phone brands in European countries, and it showed the UK as being mainly Apple, which I find hard to believe. OK, I get it that the Android OS is used by several different manufacturers, which kind of 'splits the Android vote', but even so...? An anecdotal survey of everybody I know (various generations) came up with only three iPhone users. Could it be regional within the UK? Anecdotal, in this house, Samsung, Apple, Apple and Google. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted September 11, 2023 Moderator Share Posted September 11, 2023 41 minutes ago, mjmooney said: I saw one of those 'interesting maps' on FB that purported to show the relative prevalence of different mobile phone brands in European countries, and it showed the UK as being mainly Apple, which I find hard to believe. OK, I get it that the Android OS is used by several different manufacturers, which kind of 'splits the Android vote', but even so...? An anecdotal survey of everybody I know (various generations) came up with only three iPhone users. Could it be regional within the UK? We have apps for both Android and iPhone so I see the usage figures, using our platform there are over four iphone users for every Android one, the ratio is roughly 4.3:1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted September 11, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted September 11, 2023 1 minute ago, bickster said: We have apps for both Android and iPhone so I see the usage figures, using our platform there are over four iphone users for every Android one, the ratio is roughly 4.3:1 OK, perhaps it's true, then. I'm surprised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted September 11, 2023 Moderator Share Posted September 11, 2023 42 minutes ago, bickster said: We have apps for both Android and iPhone so I see the usage figures, using our platform there are over four iphone users for every Android one, the ratio is roughly 4.3:1 The Android people must all use Ubers. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted September 11, 2023 Administrator Share Posted September 11, 2023 21 minutes ago, blandy said: The Android people must all use Ubers. I've seen evidence several times that iPhone users are more likely to install apps (and more likely to pay for them). VillaTalk sees just below 2:1 iOS v Android for page impressions. But that will include users with iPads too, whereas Android users tend to use MacOS / Windows / Linux / ChomeoS. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted September 11, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted September 11, 2023 This was the original map. And I misremembered - it wasn't even by brand, it was iOS v the rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted September 11, 2023 Share Posted September 11, 2023 I’d be pretty much 99% ipad for VT. My phone is android. I just like being awkward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted September 11, 2023 Share Posted September 11, 2023 21 hours ago, sidcow said: Why we are SO bad at hospitality? We've just come back from a UK beach holiday. With a modern apartment and balcony right on the seafront and the hot weather it felt kind of like a Mediterranean holiday. But we both commented on one massive difference when eating out. Both sat there with an often badly cleaned, sticky table. You almost always have to ask for someone to come clean the table. Waitresses take forever to take the previous occupants mess away. On The Continent waiters pretty much jump on a finished table, whisk away the plates and put A NEW TABLECLOTH on the table. Why do we have to wait so long for tables to be cleared, for them to be left dirty and why do we just not have tablecloths? It makes for a much more miserable, soiled experience sitting at a British pub table. You really only get tablecloths at proper restaurants, even "posh" gastropubs have the sticky table. I just don't get it. It's not a hard thing to fix. Even a cheap disposable paper tablecloth would be better than a bare sticky table. What do you expect in Wetherspoons for £5 for a meal and a pint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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