Capital Grille is one of the best places to eat in Nashville

So I’m out for a nice lunch at one of the best places in Nashville: Capital Grille.  I mean really nice.  This is the kind of place where the chef grows all of their organic herbs and vegetables.  TripAdvisor has it as the #1 place in Nashville as of this week.  And while I’m not cheap, I did happen to spot a GroupOn a few months ago for this amazing dining experience and you can guarantee I brought that with me.  $30 for $60 worth of food. Not bad.  Oh, and it was set to expire in two days, so I couldn’t lose $30!

But here’s the story… I was giving my wife a hard time earlier in the week because she took the wrong GroupOn to another eating establishment in our neighborhood called Mad Donnas.  So this time, I was in charge of getting the GroupOn to Capital Grille.  And I did.  But as I was about to hand it to the waitress, I read the fine print.  Dang!  It read “For Dinner Only”.

So I did what any other red-blooded American would do…. I gave it to her anyway (okay, maybe I am cheap).  I thought… dinner in the South used to be lunch, right?  Didn’t I hear that somewhere before?  Unfortunately, she came back and shared with me that the GroupOn could not be used at lunch and she was so sorry.  This was a case where the customer was not right and he knew it.  But the manager did something unexpected.  As a courtesy to me, he extended the GroupOn an extra 16 days so my wife and I could plan another evening out and use our GroupOn.

That made an impact on me.  It impressed me big time.  The food was already wonderful.  But this small little act of service to me was just enough to make me a loyal fan of Capital Grille.  Now I’m telling my friends and blogging about it.

Now I know what you’re thinking.  You’re thinking, that’s what high-end restaurants do because they can afford to go above and beyond.  But then there’s Chick-Fil-a.  A fast food restaurant that I love, love, love.  If you don’t know about it, than you must not live in The South.  Hopefully, you’ll get one soon.

Here’s why I love Chick-Fil-a.  Yes, their branding with the cows and stuff is pure genius.  That’s true.  But as a consumer, I love the way they treat their customers.  Prime example, I go into the restaurant the other day with a coupon (alright, that may confirm that I’m cheap).  After showing it to the cashier, she let’s me know that it had expired.  But it didn’t matter, they honored it anyway.  Wow…. what fast food restaurant does that?

But note to self… no matter what you thought of going above and beyond for your customers in the past, you’re now living in a social media world.  It used to be that a person who had a bad experience would tell 9 others.  Today, it’s way, way, way more than that.  And the same is true for a good experience.

For more info on great places in Nashville or how to use Social Media to create loyal customers, read Impressed By Crema.