Originally Posted by
hillrider
OP: your post is spot on, including with the estimates. The things that you list under outstanding service are the true differentiators: a cherry on an order of ice cream may be seen as superfluous by many ("I just wanted ice cream!"), yet has a huge impact on the experience and differentiates a "nice" restaurant from an "average" one.
... Whereas I would argue the cherry has absolutely nothing at all to do with whether a restaurant is 'nice' or not and one should instead be evaluating the quality of the ice cream. (Snobbishly, I might even argue that the cherry is inversely correlative to actual quality...)
I know we're speaking in metaphor, but this is precisely how we diverge on what constitutes good FA service as well... some want the cherry, I suppose, but perhaps there's a reason that you generally find such things on the children's menu...