service is slipping ... avoid sunday brunch. while the food is still very good, service is definately slipping. four of us went for sunday brunch today and while we were told it would be about a 30 minute wait, ended up being almost an hour.we observer a lot of patrons enjoying what my son from atlanta called it, a nice leasurely breakfast with good coversation. or so it seemed till we got seated.
after we got seated and began to observe the ebb and flow of the traffic, we observed something else. we observed a lot of inattentiveness on the part of the staff which had the net effect of prolonging the dining experience. the hostess seated us and it was close to 5 minutes before our server showed up. she did take our beveridge order which was promptly served but it was another 10 minutes till she came by to check again. we placed our order and while it did take longer to it should have, we recieived our meal in a not totally unreasonable time considering the volume of restaurant traffic.
at the end of the meal, when they were beginning to remove the finished plates, it was another 10 minutes before our check arrived. the problem was that this was not an isolated event because we witnessed it at both tables on either side of us as well.
no wonder there was an hour wait. the tables were not being turned fast enough and when this occurs, long waits result not to mention loss of revenue and unhappy patrons. i don't know what the problem is but i would guess it's not enough wait staff to service a sunday brunch volume of traffic.
another observation about a lack of staff. restaurant is normally very clean but today the floor was very slippery because of spilt food on the floor which had been cleaned up. traffic has stepped on it in several spots leaving very greasy spots. these were not in inconspicous places but in the main traffic aisle in the main dinning area. again for what would appear to be a lack of staff situation.
unfortunately events like this reflect badly on both the management and the restaurant as a whole.
it will be awhile before i recommend zada jane's for sunday brunch to our of town quests. i come back in a couple of months to see if the situation has improved back to what it used to be or has further declined.
-----09 sep, 2012-----
charlotte's answer to haight ashbury. my wife and i had been wanting to try zada jane's for a while now but we rarely make it into the area of charlotte during the normal times when we would be dining. today we had to pick up some furniture so it became the perfect opportunity.
if i had known it was as good as it was, i would have found an excuse to try it earlier.
when you step into the door, it's a bit of a step back into the '60's. not psychedelic but definate elements of the counter culture movement i grew up with. ok, so i'm telling my age. some of the wait staff were even wearing granny dresses.
it's a popular spot and even though we were at the end of the breakfast crowd and just before the lunch crowd, we had to wait for a couple of minutes. no problem because while they don't rush you, they do turn the tables fairly quickly. vacant tables do not stay vacant long. as soom as someone leaves, a swarm of locust decent and the table is promptly cleared and cleaned. one point i would like to make about this. i've been in a number of restaurants which promptly clear the tables but in most cases, cleaning the tables is almost an after thought. you end up sitting at a table that is half clean and the menu and your hands stick to the table. not at zada janes's. they do a great job, not only clearing the table, but when you sit down, you're sitting down to a clean table.
i ordered black coffee and my wife ordered unsweetened tea. unfortunately the only thing they had close to unsweetened tea was passion flower tea which was good but not exactly what my wife wanted. so much for a good earl grey. the coffee on the otherhand was excellent. a good rich dark roast with a good robust flavor.
i order the amaretto french toast with the local gratefull growers sausage as a side. since we were right on the cusp between breakfast and lunch, i wife asked if she could order off of the lunch menu and they said they would try to accomodate her depending on what she ordered. she asked about the turkey burger and was told it would not be a problem.
both orders came out perfect. the french toast was perfect and unlike most orders of french toast i get, it was not heavy and the bread still maintained a bit of an airy character to it that was refreshing. the sausage was great. a bit on the spicy side but i like some spice to my sausage. the turkey burger was excellent. turkey burgers since they are low fat are difficult to prepare without being dry. this one had the proper degree of cooking and the right balance on garnishments to not come off with that dry texture.
on the whole, a great dinning experience and will definately have to go again. next time it will the object of the journey and won't have to find an excuse of being in the area to justify going thiere.