Service Timing Checklist

Drop menus, the BTG list, and the wine list as soon as the party is seated. If the host has flagged a regular or birthday in the BNB notes, lead with that recognition before the menu pass.

Pull tonight's 86 list and feature card from the pre-shift lineup. Call out anything sold out before guests pick a favorite that's already gone — this is the most common avoidable comp on a Friday service.

Capture every modifier on the ticket — temp on the steak, dressing on the side, sub fries for greens. Free-text "no onion" notes that the line can't read are the top source of remakes.

Ask the table directly — gluten, shellfish, tree nut, dairy, vegetarian, vegan. Do not rely on the guest to volunteer it. State law in MA, IL, MI, NY, and RI requires an allergen-aware manager on shift; the ticket flag is what triggers the dedicated-tools protocol on the line.

Verbally announce the allergen at the pass and tag the ticket per house protocol (highlighter, ALG marker, or POS allergen flag). Line switches to dedicated cutting board, fresh gloves, and clean fryer if applicable. No bare-hand contact with the plate.

Bar pour, garnish, and run. Cocktails over 5 minutes lose carbonation and dilute; if the bar is buried, communicate the delay to the table rather than letting it stretch silently.

Read the table — finishing apps, mid-conversation, or pushing plates back. Call the fire to expo so entrées hit 3-5 minutes after the apps clear, not stacked on top of them or 20 minutes later.

Approach the table after the second bite, not the first. "How is everything?" is too generic — ask about the specific dish ("how's the steak temp?"). Capture any quality flag here so the manager can recover the table before the check drops.

Watch for everyone to put down their utensils — clearing while one guest is still eating is the single most common service complaint on Yelp. If one guest is lagging, ask before clearing the rest.

Manager visits the table directly, acknowledges the issue, and decides on recovery — remake, comp the item, comp dessert, or comp the round. Document the comp in the POS with reason code so it shows in the nightly comp percentage review.

Present the dessert menu in hand — verbal-only offers convert at roughly half the rate. Mention the cordial and digestif list; this is the highest-margin pour of the night and routinely missed when the section is buried.

Run the card at the table or pick up promptly — open tabs at close are a top cause of POS lockout problems and tip-out reconciliation errors. Confirm the receipt prints before stepping away.

Strip linens, wipe the top, reset silver and glassware, replace the candle, and signal the host the table is open in Resy or OpenTable. Target turn time is set in the pre-shift; a slow reset cascades into the waitlist.