As fine as the flavors and presentation may be, going out to eat is not just about the food and drinks. Sometimes the service is what puts your dining experience over the top and makes you want to return to that restaurant again and again.
We want to give credit where it’s due by honoring hardworking waiters and waitresses that take the extra steps to make things not just special but stellar. The work can be physically grueling and emotionally straining, but these are the true masters that push through the pain and don’t show the strain. They love what they do, and it shows. And they’re so great at it that, like many others, you’ll want to request a table in their section.
While we are spotlighting only a handful of star servers from our area, we realize that many more in our midst are also deserving of such acclaim. Think of these stories as a tribute to all of the exceptional service industry career professionals who truly rock the (front of the) house.
Margaret King
The Original Oyster House
Lots of people care enough about Margaret King to give her career advice these days, but she seems to have a very good reason to disagree.
“Everybody’s like, ‘You need to retire. You need to enjoy life,’” says King, “but I enjoy life waiting on my customers.”
Her enthusiasm for the job has been evident for a really long time. When she started at the Original Oyster House on the Causeway in 1994, she already had long stints at other restaurants, including Wintzell’s in downtown Mobile.
The 77-year-old native of State Line, Mississippi, has a very reliable benchmark when recalling exactly how long she’s been in the business: “My youngest son was a little over a year old when I started, and he turned 50 in July,” she says.
That humble beginning happened at the Airway Motel’s little restaurant in Wagarville in Washington County. A friend was recovering from surgery and asked King to cover for her. Though she had no experience, it turns out that King was a natural. That’s probably not surprising given that her mother waited tables for 21 years at Korbet’s at The Loop in Mobile.
Guests at the Original Oyster House are drawn to King’s friendly and low-key manner as well as her reassuring attention to detail. Co-workers look up admiringly to her as a mentor, and several generations of new staffers have counted on her to carefully and patiently show them the ropes.
Over time, she has cultivated an extremely loyal following from many of the restaurant’s regulars. She also appreciates the many opportunities she has to meet new friends who are visiting from so many different places.
“I talk to them and visit with them when I have time,” she says, “and I try to make sure the service is up to par and all of their needs are met.”
King was recently off for 12 weeks because of a medical issue, and she dearly missed being at the place that has been such a big part of her life for more than three decades. On the night of her return, a party of eight showed up with smiles, flowers and a small cake to welcome her back. Others had left cards for her, and she found it all very touching.
Andrew Cooley
Ruth’s Chris Steak House
Andrew Cooley has one of those smiles that makes you smile right back, and it’s usually one of the first things you see inside those double doors to the main dining room at Ruth’s Chris Steak House.
You can tell from his expression that Cooley likes being there, manning the bar with ease and confidence that suggest he’s been doing it for a really long time. He describes himself as a quick learner, so that may explain why the youthful 35-year-old already seems so well established at the vaunted Midtown restaurant.
Cooley arrived at Ruth’s Chris Steak House just seven years ago after gaining valuable experience at the family-owned Cactus Cantina, first in Pensacola and then in Fairhope, where he was general manager. Besides fully embracing his first foray into fine dining, he finds fulfillment from the personal connections he constantly makes.
“I love people, and I love hearing their stories and getting to know them,” says Cooley. “I’m always starting up conversations with people wherever I am, whether I’m at the gas station or the airport or when I’m about to go for a run in the afternoon.”
Besides a chat with Cooley, guests at Ruth’s Chris Steak House can expect to enjoy a fine meal that may well include a libation or two from his hands to theirs. Of course he pours plenty of full-bodied red wines that pair nicely with those sizzling prime steaks. Old fashioneds made with high-end bourbon whiskeys are another popular order, he says, and so are the signature martinis, which are garnished with olives that are hand stuffed with blue cheese. “They’re dangerously good,” he teases.
His clientele ranges from well-heeled executives and power brokers to others that might seem slightly intimidated when they enter the warmly lit dining room that’s elegant but not formal. He wants them all to feel at home, and that smile of his sure seems to help.
“You want to make people important,” Cooley says. “They are here for a special experience, so you want to make sure you deliver that to them.”
On the topic of being made to feel welcome, he knows that feeling from the opposite perspective. He says he’s been absolutely charmed by the Southern ways since relocating to the Gulf Coast from upstate New York. He was weary of the cold and snow he endured in his hometown of Saratoga Springs. He can’t say enough about the friendly nature of the people he encounters daily, and he still seems starstruck by the sun, sand and sea.
“The beaches in this area are incredible,” he enthuses. “It feels like you’re in Greece or the Bahamas.
Jennifer Mennuto
Doc’s Seafood Shack
In the hot summer months that mark the peak of the tourist season, the air conditioning and the tasty seafood dishes are two big reasons that people can’t wait to get inside Doc’s Seafood Shack in Orange Beach. Waitress Jennifer Mennuto is another one.
Once the visitors are comfortably seated, Mennuto wants to make Doc’s a fond vacation memory for them. She must be great at it — many come back year after year and ask for her by name. Some of the repeat visitors have children that run up and give a hug to the cool waitress they call “Miss Jen.”
She has worked in restaurants, off and on, for nearly half her life. Having done most of the jobs you can do at a restaurant, she says she particularly enjoys being a server. Her approach to approaching the table isn’t complicated.
“I treat my guests the way I would like to be treated when I go out to eat,” Mennuto says. “It’s truly just as simple as that.”
Sometimes that starts with helping them navigate a menu filled with options they don’t get at home.
“People who aren’t from here may not be real familiar with oysters, or they don’t know what soft-shell crabs are or the difference between crab claws and crab legs,” she says. “So I enjoy educating people on seafood.”
She is also one of those waitresses with an uncanny ability to remember her customers’ food and beverage preferences. This comes into play every Tuesday morning when a lively crowd assembles for a weekly get-together.
“It’s a group of about 20 or 30 Alabama football fans called the Bama Brunch Bunch, and I can tell you what every single one of them drinks,” she says. “Some of them drink sweet tea, some of them drink unsweet tea, some drink half and half, some drink water and one drinks a Dr. Pepper, and he likes his key lime pie before his dinner.”
So what’s the trick?
“When I’m real busy, I don’t have time to think about anything else other than work,” Mennuto says. “I can stay more focused because I don’t have time to be distracted.”
This being the slower season for beach tourism, she’s preparing for some vacation time of her own. “My husband and I love to travel, and we’re big music lovers, so we travel and go see concerts,” she says.
She expects to rev up to full speed again starting in the spring, pleasing countless hungry guests at Doc’s.
Sue Brown
Fairhope Yacht Club
Sue Brown sat inside working with computers all day when she took a part-time job at night at Fairhope Yacht Club. Before long, she quit her day job and hasn’t looked back, though she does enjoy turning around to gaze at the stunning sunsets over Mobile Bay that she sees so regularly.
Doing such an outstanding job for so long — 30 years this month — can grant you certain rewards. For Brown, it’s her own designated section, where the many diners who request her as their server often gather for food, drinks and loving camaraderie.
“It’s called Section 2, and it’s in the front of the dining room,” says Sue, who just turned 74. “It’s a six-table section, or sometimes seven. Everybody that sits there can look at the water and the boats and the harbor and everything, and we have the most beautiful sunsets here. You would not believe. It’s better than Key West sometimes, you know.”
By any measure, those are some pretty big selling points, and once Sue got a taste of it, she was hooked and decided to go full time. At age 74, she is still so happy being at Fairhope Yacht Club that she takes extra shifts when she can and is first in line to work many of the private parties they host. Her favorites are the lavish weddings. “I like to help people decorate and get everything perfect,” she says. “I want them to have the prettiest wedding in the world.” Such dedication doesn’t go unnoticed.
“She’s the star of our show,” says her much-younger boss, Keegan Hopper, who was born about the time that Sue came aboard. “She’s by far our most-requested server and she knows this place from stem to stern.”
And likely the one before it. Brown was almost a decade in as a server when Hurricane Katrina came along and demolished the previous quarters in 2005. With stately columns and wide verandas, its replacement stands grandly in its place as an Eastern Shore showplace.
“Katrina took the whole building away,” she says. “I worked out of a boat barn across the street by myself. It took about four years for them to complete this new building.”
Like many longtime pros, Brown is quick to give credit to her co-workers and customers for helping to make the yacht club special.
“It’s not like a regular restaurant,” she says. “We’ve got a good family here that works together, a really good staff, and if we didn’t have them, this place wouldn’t be what it is.”
Cheryl Shifflet
Callaghan’s Irish Social Club
When Cheryl Shifflet’s on shift, customer service starts when patrons cross the threshold. Maybe this goes back to her days as a restaurant hostess, or maybe it’s just her friendly nature. Either way, it sets a beautiful tone at Callaghan’s Irish Social Club.
The energetic Irish redhead is not just a server; she’s the front-of-house manager, handling just about everything but the kitchen operations, payroll and music booking at the Mobile institution. But she really enjoys waiting tables, too, and even when she’s super busy, she wants to make sure that people feel welcome as soon as they arrive.
“I think it’s very important to acknowledge everyone, even if I’m running around getting drinks for another table,” Shifflet says.
The historic Irish Social Club, which is a well-known music venue at night, has more of a bustling cafe vibe during the day. She sees many of the same faces week after week, and some of those repeat diners are the grown kids of people she’s waited on since she started there 20 years ago. She knows what many of them want for lunch before they sit down. Others, however, are stepping in for the first time to see what Callaghan’s is all about.
“To me, it’s important to remember that it’s not just about my regulars,” she says. “We also have people that are passing through and are looking around and want to know the history of the place, so I don’t want them to feel like I’m too busy to answer their questions.”
Shifflet has worked in many restaurants in many different capacities since she was 14. It’s a list that includes such popular establishments as Gulf Gate Lodge, Michael’s Midtown Cafe, the Lumberyard Cafe, Big Kahuna’s, Hayley’s and Port City Brewery.
She also has a degree in education and has lived in Thailand, China and Japan teaching English as a second language. She loves where she’s landed, though. She figures she’ll probably stay at Callaghan’s until it’s time to retire. If anything manages to pull her away from there, it will probably be the desire to teach again.
“This job keeps me feeling young,” Shifflet says with a smile, “though I did have to have my right knee replaced two years ago. I don’t know who I would be if I didn’t work at Callaghan’s anymore. There is such a community here — much more so than any other place I’ve worked. I feel like I have to live up to a certain standard because of that, and that’s a good thing.”
