Thank You, Padgett at Ruth’s Chris Wailea
James and I agree on many things, but one of the most important is that a good steak dinner can cure bad days.
(Emotional eating? Guilty as charged.)
Yesterday was a doozy… so we went to Ruth’s Chris in Wailea to comfort ourselves. Thank heaven!
As soon as we met our server – a genial fellow named Padgett – we knew we’d made the right choice. Ruth’s has very good steak … but the service in Wailea is stellar. We generally don’t talk much about chain restaurants, but we can’t help but say:
Thank you, Padgett from Kentucky, who moved here twenty years ago and has a mortgage and kids to put through college.
You are the epitome of good service. You told us what you liked on the menu, and also WHY you liked it. You described dishes in detail. You picked up on our “we’re not ordering drinks” vibe right away and didn’t push. You did push dessert … but so artfully that we had to reward you with an upsell. You made sure our bread basket was full, but you didn’t hover.
Somehow you managed to take care of every other table, yet still give us the impression that you were only there for us.
Good service is an art form, and it’s sooooooo difficult. I’ve waited tables, and James has consulted restaurants (in DC), and we both know how very hard it is for the front line to do their jobs.
We told Padgett we thought he was a good server about halfway through the meal, and asked what the Wailea store’s secret is. He said “We hui it up. If someone comes with bad habits, we break them of those, quick. We all have mortgages to pay, and if someone gives bad service, we all lose … so we help each other out and we train each other.”
I’m using “hui it up” from now on. For those of you who don’t know, hui means “collective” or community or group in Hawaiian. It’s like saying “team up” or “get it together.”
So, thanks, Padgett, for the great evening – we forgot our troubles completely – and for the sizzling steaks.
Padgett’s not the first great waiter we’ve had, but it struck us that we (sadly) almost never rave about the service on Maui. Who’s your Padgett at a Maui restaurant?
June 1, 2010 @ 6:39 pm
My husband and I dropped in at Mama’s Fish House a little after noon on Saturday May 22 with no reservations. Our wait was about 10 minutes and had a nice view of the ocean, although not by the open window. The gardens, the view and the restaurant were what I dream of when I think of Maui. We had a prawn appetiser and an ahii salad to share keeping the cost down. The ahie salad was super, the prawn appetizer wasn’t what we expected. All in all, I would go back next time in Maui just for the atmosphere, not found anywhere else we went.
May 30, 2010 @ 3:43 pm
Moose McGillycuddy’s breakfast was a fun place, packed with hungry people. Our two-for-one coupon at our timeshare made it a super deal. Husbands eggs were cold, pineapple juice had to be replaced because it tasted like some alcohol had been spilled in it–but the replacement was good. My breakfast was good but unfortunately I forgot what it was.
May 30, 2010 @ 3:37 pm
Fat Daddy’s Smokehouse is a place I won’t go back too. The sauce was too sweet on the pulled pork dish we ordered. The small restaurant leaves lots to be desired in ambience–just a hole in the wall.
May 30, 2010 @ 3:34 pm
We ate the most wonderful Tahitian prawns at Buzzs Wharf in Maalaea, between Kehei and Lahana. We were very pleased with the prawns and the service. Janice was our server, and very personable and delightful–an instant friend. The only thing that wrecks the view of the ocean is the tour busses that park between the restaurant and the ocean. Oh well, we saw lots of the ocean while we were here.
May 30, 2010 @ 3:27 pm
My husband and I dropped in at Mama’s Fish House a little after noon on Saturday May 22 with no reservations. Our wait was about 10 minutes and had a nice view of the ocean, although not by the open window. The gardens, the view and the restaurant were what I dream of when I think of Maui. We had a prawn appetiser and an ahii salad to share keeping the cost down. The ahie salad was super, the prawn appetizer wasn’t what we expected. All in all, I would go back next time in Maui just for the atmosphere, not found anywhere else we went.
May 28, 2010 @ 3:38 am
I’m still wondering why Mama’s Fish House gets such raves. Yes, the food is excellent, but it is pricey. O.K., I know that going in, but with each visit I am always hoping that the service and ambience will kick in and make it worth the $$$$ spent. Not so once again. We were there on a Saturday nite in May, and our visiting friends had made the reservations weeks in advance. With that time frame in our favor I expected that our table would have the water view that everybody seems to love. (Does this really exist?) No such luck for us- we were once again stuck in the middle of a busy nondescript dining room with a busy nondescript waitress. What am I missing?!