The Northern Stories of Chef Lao Tan

Chapter 271 Old Friends Lurk
Lao Tan attached great importance to what Lin Yan said, and when he got home, he checked the rest schedule of the middle-level managers and saw that the manager of the Taishan Road store would be off tomorrow, so he decided to visit tomorrow.

The next day, Lao Tan called his old neighbors Brother Li, Brother Liu, Wang Ming and Xiaofeng respectively, and said that he would invite them to the restaurant on Taishan Road for lunch.The four old friends belong to Sandaizi, and they have never been to the Taishan Road store. The foreman and waiters don't know them, so they can observe the real situation when they go.

Lao Tan said on the phone: "I went to order normally, let alone know me, just like ordinary customers, mainly because of the service attitude of the waiters."

Xiaofeng and Wang Ming were keen on this matter, and they stated that they must do a good job in latent work and guarantee to complete the task.

The Taishan Road store has been open for three years. It is an old store on this street, with a stable source of customers, and the business has been very good.

The store manager was still there when it opened and has not changed.The head chef, Master Feng, has just been transferred from his post as a successor trained, and now he is doing an internship with Zhongqing. The new head chef is the original sous chef.

In the past three years, the front desk clerks have almost changed. The remaining three old clerks have been promoted to foreman and floor manager respectively.

The catering industry is like this, with a high turnover rate of employees, no matter how good the restaurant is, and no matter how high the benefits are, some people will quit, which is understandable.

At [-]:[-] in the morning, four old Brother Liu entered the store.

A waiter greeted with a smile: "Welcome to Aqiao Dumpling Restaurant, do we have a reservation?"

Xiaofeng said, "No."

"Excuse me, are there four of us?" the waiter asked politely.

"Yes, four." Xiaofeng said.

"Among the four, please—"

The waiter made a gesture of please with his left hand, bowed sideways at 45 degrees at the same time, and then began to take the seat.

When walking inside, Wang Ming asked the waiter, "Beauty, find a private room."

The waiter glanced at the four of them and said politely, "Sorry, all our private rooms are booked out."

Wang Ming and Brother Li took a look at the hall, and saw that there were only three guests at a table eating dumplings, and they didn't know what happened to the private rooms upstairs.

Wang Ming asked in disbelief: "All booked out? Is your business so good?"

"My family's business is good, but there are not enough private rooms, and some of them are booked in the first two or three days." The waiter said.

"Oh—" Wang Ming nodded.

The waiter said: "Let's sit in the lobby. The lobby is also very nice and bright."

At this time Xiaofeng said: "See if we can have a private room, let's talk about something, don't want to be disturbed."

The waiter said with embarrassment: "All the private rooms are booked out, I'm really sorry."

"Speak to your manager, do me a favor, we eat fast, and leave after talking about things." Xiaofeng said.

The waiter hesitated and said, "Wait a minute, I'll ask the leader."

The waiter came to the bar, the foreman and the cashier were standing and chatting in one bar and outside the bar.

"Sister Wang, the four guests who came in are talking about something and want a private room." The waiter said to the foreman.

The head waiter glanced at Xiaofeng and the others, and saw that the four were dressed in ordinary clothes, neither like rich people nor businessmen, so he said: "You are stupid, the minimum number of private rooms is eight people, How much can four people go in and spend? Tell them that the private rooms are all booked out, so let’s take a break.”

"Told them all—that woman must have it," said the waiter.

"Explain well," said the foreman.

The waiter had no choice but to turn around reluctantly.

When the waiter and the foreman were reporting, Xiaofeng asked the three men: "Do you think his house has a private room?"

Brother Liu said, "It should all be booked out."

Brother Li said: "Impossible, we should have come here earlier."

Wang Ming said, "It's because we don't have many people, so we don't want to be called in."

Xiaofeng said: "That's right, it seems that Lao Tan really needs to rectify—"

In the end, the four of them failed to enter the private room and sat in the lobby.

To be honest, from the time the four of them entered the door to the present, the attitude of the waiters is remarkable, neither good nor bad, which is normal.

But when I sat down and started ordering, I felt uncomfortable. The waiter kept recommending high-priced dishes, and the cheap ones were not appealing at all. He also pretended not to hear when Brother Liu ordered "dried tofu in soy sauce". Write it down on the order treasure.

Wang Ming lost his temper and said, "Let's just have a simple meal. You don't need to cook all the most expensive dishes in your family. Isn't there a recipe here? You can remember what we order!"

The waiter immediately shut up and stood there expressionlessly waiting to order.

Seeing the waiter's cold face, Xiaofeng was not angry, and said with a smile, "We sell potatoes in the city, and we don't have much money. Just order two dishes and eat two plates of dumplings."

Brother Li smiled, and lit a cigarette casually.

Old Brother Liu said with a smile: "Don't scare the waiter."

After the four people ordered the dishes, the waiter repeated it procedurally, asking if there were any taboos and special requirements, and the four said no, the waiter took the menu on the table and turned to leave.

Wang Ming stopped the waiter, "Why are you so busy, the wine hasn't been ordered yet."

The waiter turned around and said with good reason: "You said light meals, but I thought you didn't drink alcohol."

"Are you not allowed to drink while eating light meals?" Wang Ming asked coldly.

The waiter seemed to want to talk back, but seeing Wang Ming's unkind expression, he felt a little guilty, and said, "I didn't say no." Then he asked, "What kind of wine to drink? White beer?"

Wang Ming was really angry, his eyes were wide open, his face was red and his neck was thick. This is Lao Tan's restaurant, and he would have scolded people if it wasn't Lao Tan's restaurant.

Seeing how angry he was, Xiaofeng smiled, and said to the waiter, "Four taels of rose wine, four jugs of health-preserving old wine, and one jug of cistanche wine."

The waiter was taken aback, and couldn't help but look at the four of them carefully—they were all old customers who could proficiently name the health-preserving wine in their house, but these four were new to them, so they couldn't help but make up their minds.

"Remember?" Seeing the waiter in a daze, Xiaofeng reminded.

"Oh, I remember." The waiter hurriedly nodded and walked towards the bar in a little daze.

After the waiter left, Wang Ming asked Xiaofeng angrily, "Why order cistanche wine? Do you want to drink it?"

"I'm afraid I'll make you angry, what if you suffer from kidney deficiency, I'll make it up for you." Xiaofeng laughed jokingly.

Wang Ming was furious.

When the food started to be served, Lao Tan opened the door and walked in. He first glanced at Xiaofeng and the others, and then walked towards the bar.

When Lao Tan opened the door and came in, the foreman saw it, and hurriedly greeted him with a smile on his face. Lao Tan nodded with a smile, and went to the bar to ask about the reservation situation.The head waiter said that all the large private rooms have been booked, and there are three eight-person tables that have not been booked.There is a full moon banquet in the hall at night, with twelve tables.

Lao Tan said yes, and then asked for a private room, told the head waiter that Xiaofeng's table was his guest, and asked the waiter to transfer to the private room.The foreman was a little dazed, and when he woke up, Old Tan had already gone to greet Xiaofeng and the others to go upstairs.

The foreman hurriedly called the waiter just now to turn the station. The waiter didn't know Lao Tan, and when he saw Lao Tan leading Xiaofeng and the others upstairs, he asked the foreman with resentment: "What's the matter, didn't you ask them to enter the private room? Why did you let them go again?

The foreman whispered in fear, "Do you know who that is? Mr. Tan."

"Mr. Tan? What are you doing?" The waiter looked blank.

The foreman wanted to slap her.

"What are you talking about? Mr. Tan, our boss."

The waiter let out an oh, and then remembered who "Mr. Tan" was, and opened his mouth wide in surprise: "What? Mr. Tan?"

"Keep down." The head waiter glared, "Hurry up and serve the dishes."

The waiter panicked, mumbled "It's over", and then hurried over to serve the food, almost dropping the plate on the ground due to nervousness.

After turning the stage, the waiter walked up to the foreman and asked, "Sister Wang, what's the matter?"

"How would I know?" The foreman said angrily, and then lurked in doubt: "I haven't seen these four people—"

(End of this chapter)