These are a few more quick tricks that you may or may not be using.  Several of these are common, but some may be new to you.

Steaks by Color: We have all had it happen.  A guest orders a steak medium rare, but sends it back because they didn’t want any pink in it.  It seems no two people view steak temperatures the same way.  Your job as a server is to translate the picture in the guest’s mind to the picture that is in the grill cook’s mind when he hears the temperature.  You can improve your translation in two ways.  If the guest orders a steak by temperature, repeat back to them a description of what that means.  For example, if a guest orders a steak medium rare, respond to the guest by saying “that will be warm throughout, but still very red on the inside.  Is that correct?”  The other method is to ask the customer to describe the color they would like on the inside.  Translate their definition on your own.  Both of these methods are more likely get the steak out right the first time.

Read the full post at Tips For Improving Your Tips