It was very big news. So big, that my best friend called during the workday specifically to tell me. And what was this news? That he had eaten in a very nice restaurant the night before in South Carolina, a small mistake was made with his order, and he was not charged for the entire meal.

In a small town, businesses live on repeat customers, and bad news travels quickly. But here, in New York City, with an endless flow of visitors, or shall we say unknowing victims, a restaurant can survive with poor service. On April 29, 2011, I wrote War Against Disservice (see Part 2 here), about a restaurant experience that was so bad to me, that it is still fresh in my mind years later. My friend’s story about his experience in South Carolina was quite remarkably serendipitous as it came on the heels of an experience I had just days before.

The Setup: I was in Olive Tree Cafe with a friend. We needed no menu – we typically order the same things, which includes one of my favorite drinks – Passion Punch. We order this virgin, i.e. no alcohol. The drink is made by the bartender or sometimes the waiter, depending on the bartender’s workload. The drink is full of fresh fruit and maraschino cherries. It is extra wonderful is Gerald is our waiter. We placed our order for food and drinks as soon as we were given the menu.

Round one: The drinks arrive. On this occasion, however, the Passion Punch was particularly sad, with nearly no fruit at all, only the juices. I am one who rarely complains in a restaurant or sends things back, as is my dining companion. However, in this case, our expectations and disappointment both being great, we did call over the waiter and, as politely as we could, pointed out the dearth of fresh fruits. The waiter apologized and promptly took the drinks away.

Round Two: He returned shortly with drinks that looked wonderful. However, one sip and I noticed there was a problem. He had mistakenly made the replacement drinks with alcohol. We were reluctant to complain again, but we had no choice if we were to have beverages – neither of us drink alcohol (in fact, my companion is technically a minor who cannot be served legally). The waiter, now very concerned at his bigger mistake, removed the drinks from our table.

Round Three: Our new drinks were everything we had ever expected and more. They were virtual meals with so many maraschino cherries we could barely finish them. But there was an even more pleasant end to the meal.

The manager, who must have been informed of the ordeal by the waiter, came over to our table personally to apologize and ask if everything was now to our liking. I was thoroughly impressed – Olive Tree is a busy place with lots of tourists. This type of extra consideration came unexpected. But there was more.

I speculated that there was an extremely remote possibility that we could be comped for the drinks. Unlikely, because one, we were in New York City and two, replacing drinks for three rounds without any hesitation from the waiter was certainly adequate compensation for their mistakes. Our check arrived. I was stunned. I had big news of my own and had to share it here. The drinks were nowhere on the bill.

I asked for the manager again to thank him personally. He assured me that their job was to serve their customers properly and that we should not pay for mistakes made. I photographed the check and told him the good deed would be the subject of a story for all to read and which I had already titled in my mind. I wish that more restaurants would follow the example of that place in South Carolina and Olive Tree Cafe and when there is a mistake with an order, just Do the Right Thing 🙂

Related Posts: War Against Disservice, War Against Disservice Part 2

More from the Olive Tree Cafe: Just Another Loud Mouth, All About Skin Tone (Part 1 and Part 2), Nice Camel Sweater, Timbuktu, Guam, and Siberia, Random Acts of Consideration