We are here in Bocholt with our friends Annick and HC. I want to especially mention this city here because in my opinion it has without doubt the best places for eating pizza and ice-cream. I have lived in the western world for the last ten years and if once in a while I don’t eat Indian food, I eat pizza. There is no other western food that I really like. And here in Bocholt I know I can eat the best pizza that I have ever had in the past ten years!
Do you think I started writing restaurant reviews in my blog now? Well, I might for this one but I am not allowed to!
We always go to this pizza place once on each of our trips to Bocholt. It is not a big restaurant. They have tables for all in all maybe 30 to 40 people in one room. In the same room, separated by a screen, is the pizza oven. There is a kitchen in the back and the bathrooms. That’s it. I never saw more than three people working there. One is the cook and I was told he is the owner of the restaurant, one is the cook’s assistant and one man is responsible for taking orders and serving, the waiter.
If I was allowed to write a review for this restaurant I would first of all mention that their service is horrible. It is just bad, I have never seen worse. When you go there, you need to bring a lot of time. Once we were sitting and waiting for longer than one hour and when we asked when our pizza would be ready, they told us that they would start preparing it at that moment!
You might think that they want you to drink a lot until they bring the food. Everybody knows that restaurants make most of their money by selling beverages. This is not the case though! Nobody comes to ask you whether you want to drink something else when your glass is empty! When my friend HC asked the waiter for another beverage, the waiter nodded but after ten minutes HC had to get up, go to the counter and literally get it himself. No, they don’t try to make money with their beverages, either!
In terms of decoration, there are candles on the tables. The waiter just never has the idea to actually light any of them. When Annick once asked him to do that, he took a while to find a lighter and in the end gave it to her to do it herself.
While waiting we once witnessed another scene. A man came in with his son and asked the waiter to put up one of the tables and two of the chairs which were outside on the terrace. It was a beautiful day and they wanted to enjoy the summer evening outside. The waiter told him however that this was too much work and he wouldn’t do that on that day.
Why then would I say that this is the best pizza place I have ever been to? Because the moment when the pizza actually arrives at your table and you take the first bite, everything else is forgotten. You are in pizza-heaven! It is really great pizza, thin dough, just enough vegetables on it, not too much cheese but enough for those who like it. It is just wonderful!
On the way out, we went by the owner who was busy baking pizza and I told him that this was the best pizza I have ever eaten anywhere in the world. He leaned over and quietly said ‘Thank you, but please don’t tell anybody!’
You can imagine my surprise. Any other business man would say the opposite, please recommend us! But he obviously doesn’t want any more people there! Maybe he is afraid that he won’t manage if there were even more customers.
We had our experience with their bad service several times but nevertheless we go there again and again. We do our best to get food earlier, for example by ordering on phone before we even start from home but we still get it late sometimes. I am sure we are also not the only ones who made this experience but the restaurant is always nicely full. People come, eat, and go. Even the man who wanted to sit outside changed his mind and came inside although the waiter refused to do a bit extra work for him. And the owner keeps on telling people not to recommend him.
I believe they have simply the best marketing idea they can have: good quality.
Whatever you do, give your best to give good quality. It will work out! I don’t recommend forgetting about good service. A marketing expert might say that service is everything and that you can sell any product you want if you have good service. I agree, you will have more success if you don’t compromise with your service but whatever you do, the best quality will show. Let quality be out of question. It always has to be great. Then your product will market itself, no matter what it is.
I will stick to my promise and will not tell you the address or even name of this pizza place! If you really want to know, though, write me personally and I will whisper it into your ear!