Great people: Papa Razzi/Paparazzi Restaurant and Back Bay Restaurant Group

Papa Razzi Restaurant
What a great place. I keep getting more and more impressed with Papa Razzi and its sibling restaurants such as American Joe’s. The basics are that the one in Hanover, MA as well as the one off Newbury St in Boston have interesting food, but not pretentious or dull. Plus, it’s food that Maggie can eat, with her limited food choices. Even better, prices are pretty low–especially when you consider some of the overpriced junk out there.
The restaurants themselves are classy but not stuffy. They’re kid-friendly but not in the overt way that say Olive Garden and other big chains are. Those places are dumbed-down for children who couldn’t function in a regular restaurant. But Papa Razzi manages to have an environment that has those kid features (like crayons, coloring pages) but still have an adult feel to it.

But these things are not why I’m writing this. What’s amazed me is the quality of the people who work there. How do they get such great people? Every time I go I’m perplexed. In any workplace it would be hard to staff well, but I’d think a restaurant would be especially challenging. I bet they have incredible training and hiring.

* Every single person has been friendly, every time we’ve been. And friendly in a down-to-earth way.

* There’s often a senior-level hostess or maitre’d, but there are also quite young people also greeting people, and it shows that the younger ones are being mentored or groomed for leadership.

* Now that we have young kids, it can get crazy at the table, as hard as we try to stay normal. But they’re always accommodating and never seem to flinch at things flying, food spills, or the disaster area we leave behind.

* They have a rewards program where you pay $25 or so to start, but you accumulate credits as you spend. They were great when they even mailed in the forms for us because I said I just never get around to signing up. They even credited me for a previous meal since I had the receipt.

And finally, I just got a hand-written thank you card in the mail today.

“Mr. James Prickitt,

Thank you for choosing Papa Razzi’s for your dining ‘on the road.’ I hope your trip home to Truro went well. Please, join us again.

Thank you, Julie. “

How’s that for personal attention? I doubt they outsource that overseas…

I wish I could buy stock in Back Bay Restaurant Group!