Kharasch: I spy with my little eye: What a restaurant secret shopper is looking for

Secret shoppers are everywhere - stores, hotels and, of course, restaurants. I do secret shopping for clients all over the country every week, and what I'm evaluating most closely is not the food, but the guest experience.

It starts before you walk in

First, I take a close look at the outside of the building, starting with the cleanliness and condition of the parking lot. If there is garbage that looks like it has been there awhile, I am wondering why no one was sent to clean it up. If there are large holes and cracks, I think about why this has not been fixed. The key item I look at is lighting near and around the front door. Working lights around the front door are a safety issue that I take seriously.

The most important decision

I am a big believer that we decide whether to return to a restaurant between the time we walk in and before we are seated. Essentially, the host plays a key role in the guests' total experience. If there is no one at the host desk, or the host is on their phone and other servers walk by without acknowledging me, I am now questioning whether I made the right decision in walking in at all. I have found that if I must speak first to get someone's attention, the server and other staff will have to work extra hard to get back in my good graces.

Greeting the table

Managers constantly tell servers that they need to be at the table within a minute of the guests sitting down. This may be what the restaurant wants, but the guest doesn't necessarily need it.

What I need as a guest is acknowledgment. If I see that the server is very busy, I understand that I may wait more than that minute. The secret shopper in me is looking for that busy server to break away from a table, stop at my table, greet me and say, "Give me just a minute to take care of these guests and I'll be right over to tell you about our great specials and get your cocktail order."

Conversely, when the server lets you sit without a visit or acknowledgment, things begin to take a turn for the worse.

Dining with confidence

One of the key things that I look for as a secret shopper is for the server to stop back at the table three to four minutes after the meal is delivered. If everything is great, we all feel good. This is also when the server can catch a problem and solve it. Think about all the negative social media about restaurants, and you will discover that most of it could have been avoided at this point.

Secret shop extra credit

Restaurants score big with me on secret shops if I see a manager on the floor the entire service. That tells me that the restaurant supports its service staff and is focused on giving the best experience to the guest. I give an A++ to the manager who stops by my table and everyone else's. That is a restaurant that is likely to bring me back.

I think that, having read this article, you won't be able to help yourself when it comes to noticing what is really going on in a restaurant and determining if your experience was made better or worse for having the point of view of a secret shopper.