What does it mean to provide good service? The definition can change depending on the situation; you don’t go into a meal at Puck N’ Wings with the same expectations you might have for an evening at a Mark McEwan restaurant. Increasingly, though, the typical relationship between customer and establishment, in which meeting the needs of the former is the core of a good business strategy for the latter, is being challenged. These days, it’s becoming trendy for restaurants to tell patrons how it is, and even to purport to school them in certain culinary matters. In this model, it is the expert, as represented by the business, that is always right, and the responsibility of customers to recognize their good fortune at being able to dine someplace sophisticated enough to demand respect.

In Toronto, the most notorious example of this is the Italian restaurant chain, Terroni, which is infamous among food lovers for taking a hard line on condiments, substitutions, and so on. At Terroni, if I want Parmesan cheese on my pasta but the combo doesn’t meet the restaurant’s standards of authenticity, my server will outright refuse me the cheese. The reasoning for their stance is outlined on the restaurant’s website, which states: “There’s a great satisfaction in preparing something that’s been prepared the same way for a hundred years. We respect tradition and work hard to prepare our food as authentically as we can.” (Apparently they don’t like substitutions in matters of vocabulary, either.) In other words, this is the way they do it in Southern Italy, and if you don’t like it, try Pizza Pizza.

Variations on the theme can be found throughout the city. At Pizzeria Libretto, a much-lauded joint on the bustling Ossington strip, it’s a point of pride to be the only place in town that has been certified by the Vera Pizza Napoletana, a.k.a. the pizza police. Libretto’s website (which actually has an “Ideology” section) echoes Terroni’s:

“Libretto aims to be loyal to what real pizza is, invented in Naples using local natural ingredients, cooked in a wood fired oven at extremely high heat to achieve a charred, blistered crust…Pizzeria Libretto makes the only certified Vera Pizza Napoletana in Toronto, using the guidelines set out by the Verace Pizza Napoletana Association and as set out by the Italian Government and the European Union. This strong statement is backed by our commitment to specifically selected high quality ingredients, made in a traditional manner with old world equipment.”

Again, the gist is clear: the average guest obviously doesn’t know what real pizza is, so we’re telling them, and they should be thankful to us for operating at such an exacting standard. (more…)

Tags: food, pizza, rules & regulations
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