Service 4: Dinner at Little Italy (26th June 2009)

Need:

Hunger

Desire:

The want to spend an evening with friends at a nice restaurant instead of eating in the hostel mes.

Expectation:

Although Little Italy is a new restaurant in Jamshedpur, my expectations were high owing to the other Little Italy outlets in Delhi. I expected high quality food with proper Italian taste and spices and excellent service from the restaurant attendants. Also, since my friends and I decided to reach the place early, we expected to be seated as soon as we reached instead of waiting for a table to get vacated. Our other expectations also included prompt service and adequate attention during the course of the meal - we did not want to be hovered by waiters the entire time nor did we wish to wait to get a waiter to pay attention to us and serve us or cater to our request. Of course, we expected the ambience of the restaurant to be in-line with other Little Italy outlets with soft music in the background which only enhances the experience.

Experience:

As expected, since we were early at the restaurant, we got a table as soon as we got there. The attendant walked us to our tables and presented the food menu which was a little different from the menu at the Delhi outlets. The ambience of the restaurant, however, met our expectations and it was pleasant to see that in spite of a change in the city and a noticeable change in the customer base, the restaurant had not changed its theme or ambience to suit the new customer base. The waiter serving us was highly attentive and we had to wait for just a couple of minutes before being served the appetizers. Even during the course of the meal, the waiter was attentive to respond to our requests. The waiter who was competent and knowledgable about the food being served at the restauratn also suggested food items as per our taste from the changed menu. During the main course, the manager also paid us a visit at our table asking us if we were enjoying our meal and if the food tasted good. The personal attention at the restaurant, which by then was fully occupied, was commendable.

The food itself at the restaurant was far above the other factors and it was indeed a wonderful experience at Little Italy.

Service Analysis:

The above figure summarizes the analysis of the service in terms of the Service Trinity, based on my experience.

Service Quality:

In order to determine the perceived service quality of Little Italy, the five dimensions of service quality (SERVQUAL) have been used. These dimensions are given in the table below along with the quality perceived by me during my experience.

Dimension	Rating (Scale of 1-10) 1 – Poor; 10 - Excellent	Analysis of Service
Tangibles	9	The ambience, music and food of the restaurant were very impressive and pleasing.
Reliability	10	Since the brand is well-known for good Italian food and our experience also validated the same for the Jamshedpur outlet, the reliability of the restaurant was perceived as excellent.
Responsiveness	8	The prompt and attentive waiters as well as the personal attention from the manager showed high involvement and responsiveness on the behalf of the restaurant staff
Assurance	9	Competence of the staff is high and their knowledge about the food at the restaurant is thorough High credibility for the brand Courtesy is a very important factor at the restaurant and is always observed by all restaurant staff Credibility is high since Little Italy is well-known for Italian food Security is also high as the restaurant is situated on the rooftop of a hotel and the staff is highly attentive. The food quality is also unquestionable thereby removing concerns about security
Empathy	8	The staff is highly involved with the customer and puts in a lot of effort to understand the taste and choice of the customer. Any suggestions made by the staff are made with due consideration to the customer’s taste.

Based on the above dimensions of quality, I would summarize the perceived service quality to be of a high level and I am a highly satisfied customer of Little Italy.

Opinions, comments and your experiences are welcome.