What Makes Famous Restaurants Great?
There is probably no single answer to this question. What makes famous restaurants great is down to a combination of different things. A great restaurant, whether famous or not, will have a certain sense of posterity- it will be able to hold its place in time either by changing its mood and menu to keep up with the ever-shifting food trends or it will maintain its longevity by appealing to a certain sense of tradition within the community.
Of course, one of the ways that a restaurant becomes famous in the first place is because it serves great food. Our taste for food is very subjective: some of us prefer sweet food, others spicy, while some prefer much more sublet flavors altogether. Two people eating the same meal in the same restaurant may well disagree over the quality of the meal. However, even if the majority of a restaurant’s customers agree that the food is great, this is not enough alone to bring the restaurant fame and prestige.
Service and ambience also play key roles in a restaurant’s reputation. While you don’t want a server hovering over you every minute of your meal, it’s good to have one that is knowledgeable about the dishes they are serving there when you need them and take the time to answer any of your questions about the menu or the restaurant with a pep in their step and a bright and shining smile. If the customers have to wait too long and the food comes to the table cold or the servers lack important people skills, then the restaurant may quickly find that there a lot of empty tables in the dining area.
Ambience is also important. From the décor to the music to the temperature of the room, the little things in the way that the restaurant is set up can either set a positive mood or one most foul.
Another way a restaurant become famous and great is if the chef is well known, not only for his culinary skills but because he is a television personality. Even if this is the case, no chef should assume that he can ride to greatness on the wave of his fame alone. No matter how many television shows a chef has appeared on, he or she should still be great in the kitchen and in the front of the house where he or she should be prepared to spend time talking to the customers and listening to their feedback about the restaurant.