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+--- Thread: A topic..Why is the service so.. (/showthread.php?tid=101347)
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A topic..Why is the service so.. - Oldtimer2 - 03-09-2016
at places like 3Dives . While reading/looking at the lovely pics that Wendy shot from 3Dives there were a couple of comments about wait time (mine being one ) . WHY ??? does it take so long ? Cooking any kind of fish is no longer than 8-10 minutes . Fries 12 minutes , callallo about 3-4 minutes . Without breaking a sweat 10 people could be served in 20 minutes max . I personally would love to stay AFTER !!!! I ate then you could leave when you were ready . Waiting before is being held captive. This isn't the rule everytime but it is most of the time . If I was to meet up with a couple of you guys I could care less about time or how long I was there but not when there are other things to do or places to go . Burger King is not an option ....yet .
RE: A topic..Why is the service so.. - jitterbug - 03-09-2016
good question ot . . . i know that 2 1/2 hrs of my holiday time waiting to eat is not acceptable and i would not return. . . . and i did not find the atmosphere anything special . . .
plenty of other places to eat at reasonable wait times . . . including burger king!
my favorite atmosphere and food is catcha! consistantly good!!!
RE: A topic..Why is the service so.. - Ron-Mon - 03-09-2016
There are probably a million answers to this but here are some things I have experienced. When we went to 3 Dives we got there when they opened. Obviously in the US the time you open usually means you are ready to serve your wares. That day we waited about 20mins before anyone even offered us a drink. Then we ordered and they told us it would be awhile as they just started the fires. So basically they used the time they opened to prepare their business. We walked out back drank a couple RS, smoked a spliff etc. to kill the time so it wasn't a huge deal. We know to expect some of this in JA obviously.
We have also noticed places at breakfast that have taken orders and then sent a runner to buy the food. Again we understand the economics in JA and that this is sometimes necessary. We have also heard often times the excuse of workers running late.
Again I am not complaining, just answering a question honestly. I did come to a conclusion after this last trip. We spent way too much of our day on breakfast. As we all know the morning time is beautiful and precious in Negril and often the best part of the day. In the past we have just done breakfast at our resort and usually a buffet style so it didn't take long. This year our resort didn't offer a breakfast menu so we had to trek other places. We were averaging about an hour and a half for pancakes and coffee, sometimes pushing two hours.
I really don't mind the wait for dinner as you enjoy the sights and sounds and talk about the day. I do however think I will go back to the quicker style of breakfast as we booked resorts for the next trip that offer the quick buffet in the morning.
RE: A topic..Why is the service so.. - Oldtimer2 - 03-09-2016
In days gone by I realize that they went for food to cook so I knew that it was going to take awhile . Now I think they just don't care . This morning thing is really important to people on vacation . Why wait your whole holiday on just waiting .
RE: A topic..Why is the service so.. - Tim - 03-09-2016
We had 2 places last trip that left us a little sour. Obviously I realize peoples clocks seem to run a bit slower on the island, but that only goes so far.
We went to Woodstock bar twice, first time had a few drinks and lounged on their wooden chairs for a while. All good. Next time we stood at the bar literally right in front of 2 waitresses and were totally ignored for what felt like 5 minutes. Eventually we just walked away and never went back.
On our day trip to Half Moon beach we made the mistake of ordering food after the catamaran group left. I don't recall what we ordered (or the other 2 people we were at the table with), but it was nothing special, was probably close to 90 minutes before we got our meals, pretty much minutes before our preplanned ride was there to pick us up.
Like I said before, I think some of these places should hire the beach higglers as servers and cooks, because they seem to have alot more drive than the average worker.
RE: A topic..Why is the service so.. - kylake - 03-09-2016
You know Lost Beach Bum should chime on on this thread. I know he was training some folks to cook up in the MB area or Nine Mile or some place. He could probably speak well to why the service is mostly so slow.
We try to be self sufficient for breakfast and lunch and just eat out at night when the wait times don't seem to interfere with the vacation time that much.
Depending on the place the wait times can most certainly be lengthy and that seems to be the same in a lot of places in the tropics not just Jamaica and Negril.
Never go absolutely starving is my advice as that will cause more hunger trauma if the wait time ends up being long:-)
RE: A topic..Why is the service so.. - rastagirl777 - 03-11-2016
The basic rule hasn't changed for me for 30+ years - never go anywhere too hungry. I have noticed some improvement on wait times for food orders but every now and then one of my favorite restaurants "slip up" and leave me hanging for an hour or more. But none as consistently as 3 Dives - for that reason I have not gone there in 7 years.
"Back in the day" I learned the magic words: "What's ready"? That question in "real" Jamaican restaurants would produce the answers - Brown Stew this and that, Fried Chicken, Curry something. Anything else was made to order and back then anything made to order you'd wait for for hours.
These days more restaurants still cook to order and many manage to get food out in a timely manner (for Jamaica, lol). Jus Natural is a good example of that.
Its just something I've learned to accept and even embrace in Jamaica. Fast food, aside from Burger King or a Patty of course, just does not exist there and I enjoy that change of pace. I won't lie, I get aggravated when extreme waits are involved (over an hour) but if I'm with a group of friends and a constant stream of cocktails we are able to find the humor in it.
RE: A topic..Why is the service so.. - Firemon - 03-12-2016
Last week...
Story 1) Went to Alfreds for dinner. Waited a bit for a waitress when I noticed six or seven tables with people sitting at them with no food. Got up and left before placing an order. Whew!
Story 2) Went to Sunset After Dark. Arrived 7 pm. There were three of us. One order was served at 8:20 pm.
Then an employee began rolling an empty propane gas tank out of the kitchen to the road. Sometime later a
full bottle of propane arrived and it was maneuvered into the kitchen. And the final two orders were served around 8:45. Table conversation ended abruptly. We were out of topics anyway.
RE: A topic..Why is the service so.. - Ron-Mon - 03-12-2016
RG has a good point about asking what is ready or what is available. I started doing this on our last trip and helped.
One point that seems to have gotten a bit lost is the vacation time issue. I never wait until starving to seek out food in JA, it's a time issue for me. I don't like losing two hours of peak morning time waiting on pancakes. In the evening I really don't mind so much as we budget in two hours for dinner. We always go somewhere scenic that serves cold RS and we just chill. It's the breakfast thing that gets me. Its for this reason I have booked resorts on my next two trips that serve some sort of buffet on site. I will miss my favorite spots and not hitting them daily but I don't want to lose 1.0 to 2.0 hours of time each day.
RE: A topic..Why is the service so.. - rastagirl777 - 03-13-2016
At this point its very rare that I need to ask "whats ready". At certain Jamaican restaurants I do - at Sips and Bites for example we always ask Rona what they have since they do post a menu...and sometimes run out of some of our favorite dishes! At One Mile the same but there's no menu posted and what they are fixing in the back varies.
I guess I get it about "vacation time". If I go out for breakfast (which I rarely do) I can imagine getting antsy sitting there when there's so many other places to sit lol! I'm usually with a group of friends and that passes the time nicely. At Jus Natural I'm in and out within an hour....but that's the thing about vacation...everything is an "experience" when you want it to be...be it breakfast in Jus Natural's beautiful garden setting or New Years Day brunch at Xtabi gazing over the sea on the cliff. Following the "not too hungry rule" we can truly experience the sights, sounds and each other over a relaxed meal.
After the first few days I'm there I find I'm into the swing of things and have started to achieve the first goal of my time there - not to sweat the small stuff. Truly get "zen" with everything including long waits for food. Don't get me wrong...my "zen" can run out at the 90 minute mark...at times.
Its funny - I have people over for dinner a lot when I'm in Negril. And if my "timing" isn't right those poor souls ending up waiting longer than I want them to wait to eat! But...I always have a fridge full of beer and a bottle of wine or two to keep them happy and once the food comes out it never dissapoints
