The Barley Neck is a wonderful restaurant and inn with a long history - dating back to the 1850s. Except for a 20/25 year break from the 1950s through the 1970s when it was called the Packet Landing Inn, the Barley Neck has been a presence in Orleans, two miles on a rope down Beach Road from Nauset Beach. Originally founded by legacy members from the Doane family, this is an Orleans institution.
Open year-round, complete with a Trivia Night on Mondays, The Barley Neck is a place you should make and take the time to visit, off-season or on. The vibe is more restaurant than bar (a pleasant yin to a place like a Land Ho!’s yang), but it’s not formal. Medium-to-dark wood walls and tables, a stone fireplace, and muzak playing low in the background (honestly, just turn it off), this is the kind of place you want to stop by in December and put away a heavy dinner & a hot Toddy before heading back out into the cold just as the snow's started to stick.
For our write up, not only did we eat at The Barley Neck but we spoke to servers there (and elsewhere) about their strategies for making menu recommendations - as we completely turned our ordering over to the wait staff for dinner.
All Of The Recommendations
This night we took our sweet time settling in, ordering drinks, deciding on both apps and mains. Our server put no pressure on us and rolled right along with our timeline.
We had plenty of time for solid conversation about the menu, about our food moods, and which ways we were leaning. She ran the gamut and made recommendations according to her favorites: the Pizza Verde (not pictured due to its somehow being inhaled upon delivery, highly recommend); according to our palates: Braised Short Rib (oh, hell yeah); and then did a bit of gymnastics recommending according to both our palates AND one of our party not wanting to put to two of the same thing on the menu (we learned this is more common than you’d think): Short Rib Ragu off the specials. Also not featured here: Spinach Salad (applewood bacon, various fruits and nuts, bleu cheese, very good). Our table mate was pleased with their selection but they couldn’t be persuaded to hold off for the photographer’s return from the restroom. Yes, they washed their hands.
Another big point in The Barley Neck’s favor: their specials menu includes several drinks. You do see specialty cocktails from time to time but this is one of those exceptional and rare times we see not only special wine on the menu (a Rose and a Red), but two beers. Salut to you for that gesture.
Recommendation Matrices - so say servers from The Elbow to The Fist
It’s probably not a Rubik’s Cube how the waitstaff dole out their recommendations but for the uninitiated a quick review won’t hurt:
- Some staff will push the most expensive dishes. The math says the higher the bill the more the tip, right? 20% of a bigger number is better than 20% of a smaller one. It’s easy enough, and generally a safe bet quality-wise, to steer folks into a bigger ticket, richer tasting entrees. This is also common practice in a tourist-heavy environment because you don’t know if you’ll see those visitor around again.
- Other staff will push the specials. The reason for this are severalfold: yes, by and large they’re very good and feature something someone high up on the restaurant chain wants showcased (usually the chef or the owner) - so it’s a good sign and a solid bet. Also, specials often feature, a limited, hard-to-source, high-demand, and typically more expensive, specialty ingredient. And those ingredients don’t stay fresh forever, right? So move the specials while the top-shelf ingredients are in peak form.
- Lastly you’ll have the staff that just recommend their 100% genuine favorites. Will favorites also overlap with other categories (high priced or occasionally recurring specials)? Of course. This track, of recommending your favorites can go wrong every once in a while if your taste buds aren’t lining up with your table’s or if you or they don’t ask any follow up questions BUT! This path is usually your best bet because when you’re recommending your true favorites, the enthusiasm and the true high vibrations of joy that food can give us transmits and it can impact your customer’s experience, even their taste buds. That’s also how 20% climbs to 23 or 25%: trust.
“I am of this last order of staff and it’s done very well by me, if I do say so myself.”
There are also several types of recommendations - to wit:
- “What’s good here?” This is a great prompt, doesn’t put the staffer on the hook to share their faves yet and opens the door to any number of recommendations types - see above. This prompt also leads to a productive Q&A … you feel out what kind of person your diner is and what they’re looking for. Some diner want the most expensive thing on the menu and are looking for permission to get it. Some want to eat something nobody else at their table will eat - this fun psychological ping pong, when engaged properly, will often lead to a more rewarding experience for everyone involved.
- “I’m undecided - it’s between the …” Also a good approach for a server - now they’re on the spot and this will likely lead to a similar Q&A as the above. Also, they’ve just shortened the game of ping pong for you - instead of running through meat-centric or veg-centric or whatever-centric dishes, they’ve given you Door Number One and Door Number Two. From here a server can really shine - the table is willing putty in your hands and, as long as you have eyes on making their meal the best it can be, this is a very direct path to a successful table experience.
- “What do you order?” or ”What’s Your Favorite?” As mentioned, this is the easiest and simplest if you’re pure of heart. The harsh reality is that sometimes the rent’s due, sometimes the night, or, worse, the week has been slow for whatever reason and the dire wolf is at the door … sometimes you’ll find yourself pushing the priciest special you have. And sometimes it works. But, generally, when you stay true to your core, the extra tip that would have come in from the extra $5 or even $15 markup finds its way to you through other means. And that’s true. Generate wealth with honesty and integrity!
Where we end up landing here is on the fertile ground that, like just about any job, an engaged and present server is a successful one who will roll that enjoyable experience down to the table with every delivered plate. Out here in the cold, and newly much darker, off-season, we'll use this concluding paragraph to plead for good spirits and genuine interactions when we sit down to patronize our year-round establishments. We appreciate the places that stay open for us and the people who are there on those nights to keep us fed and watered. Hats off to The Barley Neck and all of its historic character today.
All good things until next time.
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Do you have a favorite Outer or Lower Cape year-round restaurant of which you’d like to regal us with tales?
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