Your Table is Ready by Michael Cecchi-Azzolina; Book Review

 

As I was packing my things to travel over winter break I was unsure which book to read on the plane, so I asked my dad for recommendations. He gave me Your Table is Ready by Micheal Cecchi-Azzolina. The book details Cecchi’s life in the restaurant business. He started as a 15-year-old choir boy taking orders for drinks at his church but became a world-renowned maitre d’hotel and restaurant owner. Maitre d’s oversee the table captains, servers, and busboys, ensuring diners a smooth restaurant experience. The inner workings of a restaurant may sound a bit dull to read about, but that is far from how you will feel when you read Your Table is Ready. 

Cecchi was born into an Italian-American mafia household but left at the age of 18 to live on his own in New York City. He knew that he either needed to get out of his childhood town or he would overdose, get shot, or die some other premature death like his cousins and close friends. He originally planned to pursue a carrier in acting but waited tables on the side to make money. His acting dreams were eventually abandoned. But he was drawn into the restaurant business for life.

 

If I learned anything from Cecchi’s time in the industry it is that the ‘1980s was a crazy time and customer service is a grueling job. When he started out in the ’80s there was no HR department; meaning colleagues could say wildly inappropriate things to each other without repercussions and bosses could fire employees whenever they wanted for no good reason. Just one example of terrible workplace conduct from Cecchi’s experience was a chef he worked with. The chef often threatened other staff with knives and once kicked a waiter so hard in his private parts that the waiter was hospitalized for two months. All because the chef was offended by the proclaimed overcooked stake the waiter brought back to the kitchen per a costumers request. The chef was never fired, but the injured waiter was fired for being unable to return to work right away. To get through shifts employees regularly drank large amounts of alcohol on the job, were tipped with drugs like Cocaine and went home with the guests after and even sometimes during a shift. Servers were paid very little and often forced to work 12-hour shifts at 5 dollars per hour just to keep their jobs. Such low wages left servers to rely heavily on tips from fickle guests who unfairly blamed servers for mistakes. On top of that, the 80s was the height of the AIDS epidemic leading to the deaths of many of Cecchi’s colleagues, and friends in the restaurant business.

I highly recommend this eye-opening and hilarious book about the successes and misfortunes of Cecchi’s experience in the restaurant industry. Next time I go out to eat I will better understand why a server may take what seems like forever to get water for the table or accidentally bring a dish we did not order. Restaurants can be hectic and heavily rely on perfect timing to turn tables and to meet reservations. So next time you eat at a restaurant make sure to have patience. 

Thank you for reading,

Sasha Goncalo