WHAT MAKES A RESTAURANT GREAT

I read an article by Ruth Reichl on her very fine Blog Paris by Mouth. It was about going to the famous old temple of excess restaurant L’Ami Louis with her husband and son. “A restaurant I’d been vainly trying to get into for years. Michael, my husband, was only moderately more enthusiastic. Another overpriced French meal, he grumbled, making it clear that this was his idea of hell. It was late when the evening ended. That, my son announced as we made our way back to the hotel, is a very fine restaurant.

But all you ate was French fries and chocolate cake, Ruth pointed out.

C’mon Mom, he replied. You know restaurants aren’t really about the food. Can we go back tomorrow?”

If it is not the food, what is it? And what makes one want to go right back?

The main thing for an operator to remember is that there is no “no” in hospitality. Say “yes” and then figure out how to make that happen. Then there are these:

Consistency: Not a case of nothing changing. Rather make the things that count remai…