Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Challenges
I have been getting a little grief lately for posting to the blog so sporadically so I promise I will try to get better. First off I would like to tell everyone to stop by and check out all of the changes that we have made at Victory 44. We have done a fair amount of re-modeling and we aer pretty excited about that. You have to see the "praise the lard" picture. I think it is pretty cool. We also have some pretty great new menu items that are pretty tasty. So now to business...I had one of my favorite regulars stop by Victory 44 tonight and she gave me some really great feedback. Some was hard to swallow and humbling, but good none the less. She and her husband are really great customers of both of my restaurants so I always appreciate her critiques. The majority of her critiques had to do with some of the consistency in our service at Victory 44 and the lack of finesse at The Kitchen. I couldn't but agree with what she had to say- that was the humbling part. I am continually striving to find perfection. I am continually looking to create better camaraderie amongst the staff and to really inspire them. I think one of the hardest challenges I have faced now as a owner is really finding cooks and servers that are making this industry their career and not so much their job. I find that the staff that are career oriented are so much more passionate and focused than one that may consider it just a job until they move onto something else. I love to see someone who is passionate about what they do and I really hope that I can continue to inspire and nurture the cooks and servers that I have working for me now. I appreciate the feedback as sometimes I become so tunnel visioned that I dont see some of the obvious areas I can work on in my own restaurant. I love a good challenge and I actually love good honest criticism so I can keep growing. So thanks for the feedback- I am sure you know who you are......
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Hey-I work in Mpls (on the 800 block of Washington). We read about your restaurant in the paper and decided to try it. WOW WOW WOW. We had the BLT, the beef tongue something or another and I had the country fried chicken. I would put this meal in the top 3 of meals I've had this year. I will definitely be back, as will my coworkers. Our only bad thing was slow service. We waited about 10 minutes for our order to be taken (there was only one other table in the restaurant when we sat down), and almost 30 minutes for our food. From where we came from that almost puts your restaurant out of reach for lunch (all in all it took us 1:20 total). But I'll add that I'll be back with my hubby for dinner. That food....wow. You just don't get that level around here, and for a fabulous price too.
ReplyDeleteHey Chef Erick,
ReplyDeleteI am glad I saw this topic on your blog, especially after the dinner my husband & I had at Victory 44 last night. Our first experience at your restaurant was about a year ago, and was the perfect restaurant experience, period. We raved so much about the place, to complete strangers, even! Last night, however was a far cry from our last visit. It was a Sunday night, and while your perfect burger was your "special" we went with your 5 course taster menu, because it was so amazing on our last visit. While the flavors in each dish were great, the portion sizes and how slow the food came out of the kitchen was not, and after the 4th course (2 hours later) we found our selves still really hungry, so we ordered a burger & crispy trotters before the dessert came out. We asked for the burger "medium" and it came out pretty much rare all of the way through. The crispy trotters were great, and the 5th course ended up being a big chunk of blue cheese (more savory than sweet dish)with more of the same ingredients from the past 4 courses accompanying the cheese. There seemed some repetition in the ingredients throughout the 5 courses... and generally just seemed like the restaurant was not prepared to offer the taster menu on that evening overall. We did share our concerns with our server - who apologized and invited us back, but didn't offer removing anything from the bill or any type of incentive to do so. I am taking the time to share this detail as I really do care about the future of an amazing place like Victory 44. We hope you have better luck finding team members that have your passion and dedication to great flavor combinations & the perfect restaurant experience. Hope this helps, good luck.
I had an amazing dinner @ Victory last night. It was a forever moment. The "chicken noodle soup" will be in my head for days. I am a writer...and I am wondering if there would be an opportunity to interview you, for a new personal project. If that is not possible, I will just continue enjoying the work you do.
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