Meal On The Run

     One Thursday October 4, 2012 I was in the town of Belleville, IL. I decided to stop in to check the restaurant out and have dinner. As, I pulled into the parking lot, and having; been a veteran of Hardee s’ for over 16 years. I have a tendency of being an observer and I critique restaurants upon most of my visits. At this point, I had a flash back of my “Hardee’s Days”, I was trained to be a Mystery Shoppers for one another to assure great customer service visits. I took notice of the parking lot. Was there paper or cigarette butts on the ground, how did the sidewalks look, had they been cleaned, was there any gum on the pavement outside the doors? To my surprise the outside of the restaurant was in great condition; as if someone, informed the store manager that I was coming. After scanning the appearance of the parking lot; something really caught my attention, the landscape was beautiful, the colored rocks stood out, they were multi-colored, white and brown brick colored with a hint of silver specks. I had never seen the mixture of rocks before,  the bushes was cut to waist high, I knew the purpose of the low cut bushes was for security reasons; to assure great visibility of the parking lot.

     While; I was still in my car, I decided to pull up to the drive thru menu, this was my chance to check out the prices and look at the layout of the board. I was checking the menu board for cleanness, visibility, missing price tags and consistency. Overall, the menu board was in excellent condition, I must confess, I pulled up the menu board to check it out and a nice friendly voice came across the speaker, at that point, I had to say that’s alright I will come inside. This had to be done in order for me to give a complete review of my visit.

I chose this title because so many times we eat on the run but never stop to look at our surrounding.

More that anything, the highlight of my visit; wasn’t the food but, the service and conversation form the cashier.

Meal On The Run

     One Thursday October 4, 2012 I was in the town of Belleville, IL. I decided to stop in to check the restaurant out and have dinner. As, I pulled into the parking lot, and having; been a veteran of Hardees for over 16 years. I have a tendency of being an observer and I critique restaurants upon most of my visits. At this point, I had a flash back of my “Hardees Days”, I was trained to be a Mystery Shoppers for one another to assure great customer service visits. I took notice of the parking lot. Was there paper or cigarette butts on the ground, how did the sidewalks look, had they been cleaned, was there any gum on the pavement outside the doors? To my surprise the outside of the restaurant was in great condition; as if someone, informed the store manager that I was coming. After scanning the appearance of the parking lot; something really caught my attention, the landscape was beautiful, the colored rocks stood out, they were multi-colored, white and brown brick colored with a hint of silver specks. I had never seen the mixture of rocks before,  the bushes was cut to waist high, I knew the purpose of the low cut bushes was for security reasons; to assure great visibility of the parking lot.

     While; I was still in my car, I decided to pull up to the drive thru menu, this was my chance to check out the prices and look at the layout of the board. I was checking the menu board for cleanness, visibility, missing price tags and consistency. Overall, the menu board was in excellent condition, I must confess, I pulled up the menu board to check it out and a nice friendly voice came across the speaker, at that point, I had to say that’s alright I will come inside. This had to be done in order for me to give a complete review of my visit.

Picture in the Window

Life is filled with full circle moments and my recent visit to one of my favorite restaurants was one. As we continue down this road called life we are constantly reminded of life’s perspectives and constant lessons. My black blinders have forever been removed thanks to the multifaceted picture in the window.

My strategy for writing this article was avoiding over used phases. I tried to focus on the overall topic without repeating myself.

Conclusion: Fuzzy’s Taco Shop; One Ounce Away

The pricing of the menu would be fair provided the main ingredients were more abundant in each dish.  Overall, Fuzzy’s food was good, but not something I would go out of my way to recommend.  Maybe one day I will return with sunglasses in hand and try the jumbo burrito, but for now, and for my dollar’s sake; Fuzzy’s Taco Shop was one ounce away from being a great place to eat.  Enjoy your dessert.

My summary was part analyses and part judgment.  I make reference to prior statements in the essay to solidify my opinions of the experience.

To Enjoy a Meal: Even with Chaotic Parking

My kids and I enjoyed our juicy steak and our sizzling, juicy, tender chicken breast. It was delicious as ever. I still get goosebumps thinking about parking. As I leave The Best Steak House my fear of my car being hit or ticketed because I didn’t put enough money in the meter is in the back of my mind. As my kids and I approach the car and everything is as we left it, I let out a sign of relief. All is well, my kids are fed and I am happy that I could share this great meal with them.

I chose to refer back to the theme for my conclusion because that what haunts me as I keep going back to one of my favorite places to eat. To bring the paper full circle that was the conclusion strategy of choice. It’s still a work in progress.

Neighborhood Bar and Grill

Although the doors are constantly oscillating  and new and old patrons entering; the host continues to keep her smile and generosity while seating customers in their designated seating area of choice. The waitress continues to keep up with the flow of customers orders; the cook continue to prepare succulent dishes as the customers kept the orders flowing, while they watched television, enjoyed appetizers, and receive out-standing customer service.

I choose to give details about the flow of customers and customer service because some customers can be demanding and can be a challenge for the waitress and the cook on how fast they get orders out, it also can be a reflection on good customer service, and it can make or break a business. I back this up with details of good service and hot food at the table in a timely manner.

Our Crumbling Dining Experience

Karlos and I are discussing who gets the tip and how much should we leave them, if we don’t know how much the bill is. Although, we did enjoy the meal and the company of each other we can’t shake the fact, of how disappointing it is, to have servers treat you like crap. We didn’t have to pay for our meal but we wanted to leave the server who treated us with dignity a nice tip for the service she rendered to us. So, as we were leaving Karlos put a $20.00 bill in her hand. The manger waved to us as we left out the door and the greeter did give us smile.

Even though the greeter and the server were disrespectful to my grandson and I we kept our composure and let the manager handle his staff as he thought was appropriate. We left showing that we were not bent out of shape, because we didn’t allow their rude behavior to have a dampering effect on our time together. He rewarded the other server with a generous tip.

Dining On A Dime

On the whole, I enjoyed myself even though my meal was not the way I wanted it to be. This must have been an off day for the cook; because usually I don’t have a problem the way my meal is prepared.    With that being said, I consider this Applebee’s location a restaurant you would want to patronize.  The location is great, the menu has something for everyone, and you get great value for your dollar.  Plus the atmosphere is nice and the food is great; Applebee’s is my kind of place to dine on a dime.

My conclusion style the synthesize, I chose this type of conclusion because it shows a brief summary of my paper’s main points.  Using this style of conclusion shows the reader the points I made and the support and examples fit together.

In Conclusion

The Best Steak House boast its atmospheric tradition of being a historic casual cafeteria serving selections found in many of today’s contemporary restaurants.  The menu includes steak combination plates, chicken combination plates, grilled pork chops, shrimp, fish, fried and grilled mushrooms, a vast selection of sandwiches and desserts.  The cafeteria continues to hold their enthusiastic loyal customer bases credited to the meals prepared are delicious.  The positive energy of the people amongst you enjoying their meals and sharing stories of how long they have enjoyed dining there is also becoming.  Loosen your tie to take part in the memory of a classic casual dining atmosphere that includes; the long line, the yell of the cook “Next”, along with the laughter of customers, enjoying the confusion of who is next will encourage you to return and introduce a group of friends to this experience.  Most importantly to me, “the steak is worth the wait.”

I chose to summarize the topics of the review in the conclusion.  I selected this method to leave the audience with a clear view of my dining experience.  In addition, it gives an overall brief description for those who choose and prefer not to read it in its entirety but are interested in what I thought about The Best Steak House.

Essay 3 Conclusion: So What?

Many writers find conclusions to be challenging.  Often, a writer simply restates the introduction, leaving the reader with little to think about after the essay.  Or, sometimes a writer continues to introduce new ideas in the conclusion, thereby leaving the reader–and the essay–hanging.

For this week’s blog activity, record your working conclusion to Essay 3.  In a separate paragraph, explain what conclusion strategy you are using and why.  For more on strategies, see the handbook (p. 47), and The UNC’s Writing Center Handout on conclusions: http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/conclusions/.

Please post conclusions by Wednesday, October 10, at 10 PM, CST.  Provide feedback to 2 of your peers by Friday, October 12, 10 PM, CST.  Check back over the weekend to see what your peers and I have written about your conclusions.  Remember: writing “this looks good” neither helps the writer nor earns you full points for this activity.