Dining Experiences, by Cassandra Delacey

Before coming to Sevilla, I had learned that it is customary in the Spanish culture for everything to run more slowly, however I have realized the extent to which everything runs slowly was more than I had anticipated. The biggest difference between the US and Spain in this respect is the customer service in restaurants. Because waiters are not working for tips, along with the inherent slowness of this culture, going out to eat can become an hours-long ordeal. Waiters take a long time to greet you, give you menus, take your order, bring out the food, and later the check. I have been used to waiters constantly checking up on me throughout a meal, and wondering what else they can bring in a timely manner. However here, I find myself having to try to flag down any waiter to get another bottle of water (that we have to pay for), or for the check. The slowness of eating out is sometimes preferable, in order to facilitate longer meals full of good conversation, however other times I would like to be able to eat and leave in a shorter amount of time in order to get on with my day. This has especially been difficult during lunches while visiting a new place, because my friends and I will want to grab a quick bite to eat before moving on and continuing with sight-seeing or other activities. We have been trying to fit so much history and culture into each of our trips, and we are often stuck sitting in the restaurant waiting until we can see a waiter that will be able to help us get the check.

I do appreciate how waiters here are paid enough to live off of that salary, because I don't think that people in the US should have to rely on tips in order to survive. I do believe that the customer service could be better in Spain, even if they are not working for tips. I don't think I can say which way is better, but it is a bit of a shock when you expect a restaurant experience to go one specific way, and it ends up being very different from what you had been expecting.