Who’s the boss when dining out?

full itinerary that included the Sky Tower, Waiheke Island and the Grey Lynn Markets.

My wife’s priorities were slightly different: she wanted to check the eateries of a couple of TV chefs – Al Brown ( Hunger for the Wild) and Michael Van de Elzen ( The Food Truck).

While clearly both have the cooking credentials to put together fine restaurants, both establishments have received the super-charged dose of marketing that comes from primetime television exposure. So we were keen to (literally) find proof in their pudding.

Saturday night found us at The Food Truck Garage restaurant within the redeveloped City Works complex.

Even before we entered the restaurant the maitre d’ marched outside with a smile on her face greeting us in a big voice and inviting us in.

We’d been seated for less than 30 seconds before another smiling waitron approached us and took our drinks order. Then a minute later a third effervescent waiting person came to take our orders.

Every time we lifted out heads to get the attention of a Food Truck person it seemed they had anticipated our needs. Truly it was inspirational stuff, not to mention fantastic food.

The food at Al Brown’s Federal Delicatessen was also great, but the service at the other end of the spectrum. Given that it’s styled on New York’s Jewish diners where service was the defining characteristic, this came as a bit of a surprise.

We arrived just after they opened for breakfast and had the place to ourselves. Despite that, our meals arrived well after the third set of customers had got theirs.

When our meal did arrive, half the order was wrong. But what was really noticeable in the Federal Deli was how hard it was to catch the eye of the waiters, who appeared completely disinterested in filling up the apparently bottomless coffee cups.

Printed on the bottom of these cups was the word ‘‘more’’, a legend we had far too much time to contemplate.

To be clear the food at both was good – it was the service that stood them apart.

And here it would have ended if it wasn’t for one thing. The Federal Deli sends out online customer satisfaction surveys through their association with the SkyCity Grand Hotel.

So I got the chance to say exactly what I thought of the passionless service two days later. What’s more, someone actually read it and responded within two hours and has now done something about it. Full respect.

Springsteen once famously noted that ‘‘sustaining an audience is hard – it demands a consistency of thought, of purpose, and of action over a long period of time.’’

Timely and targeted customer satisfaction surveys are a great way of knowing when the consistent becomes inconsistent. The web makes this easy, instant and free with tools like Survey Monkey and Survey Gizmo.

Great marketing can win the business, but it’s great customer service that keeps the business coming back; and customer surveys lets you know if that service is going off the boil.

Without this you’re likely to be dancing in the dark.

Mike ‘‘MOD’’ O’Donnell is an ecommerce manager and professional director. His Twitter handle is modsta and his favourite Springsteen album is Nebraska.