Social House – Not so social after all.
The fourth Land Coffee aka Kopi Darat was held yesterday at Grand Indonesia’s Social House, which was located in Harvey Nichols’ grocery shop in the West Mall. The ones who made it were Boy, Devi, Parvita and Toni.
Now, first things first – Grand Indonesia kind of irks me. The size of the place, for a start, is simply too big. It’s humoungous. No one needs a mall that big. But I could be wrong – apparently Indonesians do. But seeing as there was a full on hype about Social House, (to be exact I can’t remember who suggested this venue in the first place but never you mind), we decided to give it a go.
I arrived with himself around 1 pm and we had our lunch at Kafe Betawi. I ordered Laksa Betawi and himself ordered Soto Betawi with rice. For drinks, we ordered Avocado juice (mine) and his was Lemon juice. When the food arrived, I had to say that I was a bit unsatisfied – the Laksa was a bit too sweet to my liking. Himself also said the same thing about his Soto Betawi, I ended up asking for some salt from the waiter.
Another thing that I noticed was that the waitresses were kind of pouty and unsmiling. I guess I never noticed this before, but working in a place where the students were trained to work in a five-star hotel environment, I began to be more aware of how important customer service skills were.
At work, the students were expected to smile – all the time. It was one of the most important parts of their job. They were not only required to smile, but also to change their whole attitude in general, including their body postures (slouching and leaning against walls are big no-no’s), their conversational skills (being able to say “How are you today” and hold a general chit-chat with the guests were to be expected from them). For the students who were training to become Assistant Steward Lido, they were expected to greet everyone by their names, to smile and to work efficiently. That meant no idle chit-chat with their friends while on duty, and they had to know when was the time to clear the guests’ tables so that the guests could proceed to have the next meal course. They were also expected to find out whether everything was satisfactory and up to the guests’ expectations.
With all those things in mind, I began to understand how customer service skills could easily make a difference in places like restaurants and hotels where manners and good services were not only expected but also maintained and improved.
At Social House, unfortunately for them, I didn’t witness any of those things mentioned above. Even Devi, who was the first person to arrive, got a rude welcome by the maitre’d who told her that to be able to get in she’d have to have a friend who was already sitting inside. Did that mean a single person was not allowed to eat at Social House? A tad bit discriminative, don’t you think?
I don’t care if it was in Harvey Nichols or Harrods or whatever, I thought the rule of customer service was that you had to be nice to everyone, regardless of what they looked like. Just because Devi wasn’t wearing a Rp. 16 million rupiah worth of dress, it didn’t mean she couldn’t afford eating at Social House.
Another thing that I noticed was that there seemed to be an ample amount of waiters available but all of them seemed to be very clueless on waiting tables. Sometimes they’d huddle around and gossiped with each other in one corner, and the manager would just walk around and did nothing. When Boy ordered bottled water, the waiter tried to pour it into the glass but the lid closed back up, and he just kept on pouring, rendering the whole thing to be completely useless. Poor Boy had to tell him to just never mind and he ended up pouring the water by himself. Atrocious.
Devi and Parvita ordered one of those hip-and-happening juices with names like Stress Buster and whatelses, and Devi thought it was funny that her glass was smaller than the one that Parvita’s came with. I ordered Forget Me Not (a mocktail) and the glass size was the same as Parvita’s. She complained to the waiter but the waiter didn’t give any solutions to make her feel better. What was even more comical was when we ordered bottled water, the bottle was unbelievably tiny but the glasses were big. How ironic!
For food, himself and I ordered the spaghetti with spicy garlic oil, prawns and fresh parsley. It came out green, which was unexpected. I could tell that himself was a bit turned off by the overall tone of it as the menu itself didn’t have any pictures of what the dishes looked like, but he ended up tasting it a bit and I finished the whole thing off, half-heartedly, off course. The taste was nothing spectacular, sorry to say. I really thought they could’ve had done a better job with the taste. Perhaps they meant the pasta to be al dente but it still left a floury, chewy texture on my tongue.
Himself’s opinion on the Iced Cappuccino was not exactly mind-shattering either. He said the Iced Cappuccino in Dunkin Donuts was much better. Ouch!
Another thing that I noticed about the service of the waiters was that we were sitting there, still talking and we already finished our meal but we were still waiting for Toni who got held off at Senayan. It was clear that we were in no hurry whatsoever, but no waiter came up and cleared our tables. Even when we already ordered something else, the waiter just left without offering or having the initiative to do so, until I had to tell one of them to do it! Social House, where the hell did you hire these people from? Did they know any single thing about working in a hospitality business at all?
But enough about the downsides. Apart from the lack of customer service skills, the atmosphere of the place was great. I loved the architecture and it was cozy enough to stay for hours and have a chat with your friends (until the waiters started giving you hints to piss off, that is). It was an ideal place to take some photos as well (as evident by Toni and Parvita’s results of magic hands), as the overall lightings gave out a friendly and warm feeling to the whole outlook of the place.
As for the verdict – would I be going back there? I don’t know, we’ll have to see. If they continued with that kind of services, I’d definitely not. The food was standard by any means, the service barely gave out any plus points. Not to forget that it was a part of Harvey Nichols, one would think they’d offer something much more spectacular and of high standard.
Perhaps next time I should stick to Cazbar.
17 comments
I think this is another example of high class place with a low class service, reading from your story.
i’ll link this okay?
salman´s last blog post..Tonight a comedian died…
SH ini resto ternama gitu yah ther? emg arisan disana gitu?
ahh u should train them how to treat customer well
emmy´s last blog post..untouched
ih bagus banget potonyaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!! (yang elo sama yefta)
kita juga baru land coffee… liat deh di fb. ntar gw tulis yaaa….
Pelayanan lama, minuman masih bersisa di meja mau diembat.
Anyway, we really had fun with a lot of laughter and those “xxx jokes”.
Thanks for waiting Therry
Toni´s last blog post..Dari bumi Sriwijaya (2) : kulinernya itu …
One minus point for SH,
High class look doesn’t guarantee the service after all
*still love the way this comment form are designed, gotta create one of these *
Eru´s last blog post..[FICTION] Stay / I Miss You
No doubt the Land Coffee was great, as usual.
It is interesting, isn’t it? Due to your job, now you start to observe the service more than just an ordinary customer. I can’t do more than say amen to your remarks about the service you got there. Customers are to be treated like King and Queen no matter what. Apparently SH personnel needs to undergo a Customer Intimacy training.
I’m curious about the prices of SH, obviously too high compared to the (non)service you got there? Thanks for sharing your experience Ther.
Lorraine´s last blog post..Film Noir on canvas
Hi Therry,
I went there for the first time a couple of weeks ago on a Friday. Luckily, I had a good night, and service was okay (not spectacular). Mind you, I do hear that early on their services were bad, and there seems to be some inconsistencies. Definitely things to fix. I am surprised though, considering that this is from Ismaya Group, the ones who brought Blowfish, Dragon Fly, and Sushi Groove, they should be pretty on to it.
Good thing the place is pretty good, and that picture of yours is gorgeous.
Cazbar – I have yet to visit, Anita said I should try going for lunch. I should really, considering it’s so close to my work. =)
Miss Lai Lai´s last blog post..On Levelling with Yours Truly
Why this does not surprise me? Over rated places with under rated service. The waiters at Social House should be sent for a training to Sari Sanjaya and get a rude awakening call. Anyway love the pic of you and yours truly.
Elyani´s last blog post..Updates and tails of two kitties
hunny bunny.. im happy that you are working but i miss youuuuu..
i miss our daily banter, our smses to get the other online cos we have something to say to each other, our nightly chats, i miss listening to you nag when you are pissed at something or excitedly tell a story when u’re happy, i miss knowing what you ate, where you went, who you saw etc.. i know this might seem like a sappy lesbian love letter (which it kinda is) but gw kangen jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkk.. taee nih gak pernah chatting lagi beteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…
hiks…
*menunduk dengan lesu*
rima fauzi´s last blog post..Indonesian Blogger Meet Up – Rotterdam, 3 May 2009
You made some good points in this article Therry. Customer service is very very important and seems to be chronically undervalued in a lot of restaurants. Its suprising how much effort people put into designing a cafe from decoration, menu and kitchen point of view but when it comes to personell they hire and maintain people who are actually detrimental to the business. Maybe good help is hard to find?
On the other hand it can be fustrating for owners too – if a waiter/tress turns out to be especially good there is always the risk that they will be noticed by someone who will pay them more money to work somewhere else. This happenned to me a few times in Bali back when I had my cafe. My waitresses kept getting married off or hijacked by other cafes. When this happens you tend to ask yourself how much training to put in to somebody hehe.
Nice to hear that the mall culture in jakarta is still going strong.
pjbali´s last blog post..Good for Them!
Well, will I go there? I might. This is one of the places where you want to see and be seen, a place to mingle despite of how the food and drinks are. Like you, I like the concept of the Social House and if we sit at the right spot, I can take interesting pictures.
It is typical in Jakarta, I guess, when there is a new place then everybody has to go there despite of the quality of the food or the service. As if they HAVE to be there so that they can be called ‘hip’. Jakartans are bunch of snobs anyways, that’s why overpriced things can sell here. But again, sometimes it’s the company that matters the most.
Must try having the next land coffee at a laid back Padang Restaurant, hahaha!
parvita´s last blog post..Between Swines, Flu and Those Around Us
Hehehe … kalau gw ikut pasti gw ngomel-ngomel deh. Soalnya kalau org yg kerjanya di CS dpt pelayanan dodol spt itu, pastinya BT.
I miss you all
Told my niece of this place and she had the same comment like you Therry …
oh, posting yang ini blom gw kasih komen…
you were the one who suggested this place
perlu buktinya? ;p
boy´s last blog post..Blaise Pascal said…
You just describe the hospitality service here in Budapest…imagine you get this almost everytime you go out in this city…
Ayu´s last blog post..Amara the trainer
Bukannya si Boy yg suggest? *kabur* hahahaha…. never been there sih tapi kedengerannya so unexpected for a high class resto ya. Most of my friends who are socialite (of which i’m not) go there all the time so at one point it does get me to wonder what is this so-called SoHo place like that makes everyone go back again n again? But reading this and hearing u tell it to me, well, I’m in no hurry to try it out hahahaa
Ivy´s last blog post..Latest Indulgence
too bad so sad. when we go to a restaurant, and charged a pretty high price, you have all the right to demand a good service other than a nice location and ambiance and [hopefully] good food.
you mentioned something about went to a school and being trained in five star hotels? were you a tourism student?
awesome pics, as always!
Diny´s last blog post..Me? Awesome? Oh Stop It!
Many usefull information and facts and also enthusiasm, both of which everyone will need, we appreciate you this particular.