Tallinn

My wife and I just had a great week in Tallinn; it is a wonderful old town. The guide “Tallinn in your pocket” was a great help, we particularly liked the subjective descriptions of the different restaurants. Too bad, but the comments on the service quality and the excruciatingly long waits to get a waiter is right on the point.

There is a lot to gain on the service level in Tallinn. We actually left three places before we got any menu and two places after we got the menu – because the waiter/waitress did not come back to take the order. Actually, a couple of places we would have liked to leave just after we had eaten, because nobody was around to take our payment, but we did not have the courage.

Then we visited two places were the service was quick, friendly and efficient; the Peppersack and the Grillhaus Daube (I think they are under the same management). We enjoyed the surprisingly good service so much, that I actually tipped 20% – according to my wife that has never happened before. Could this information get across? For the life of me I cannot understand why people who live on tips don’t give better service, they must lose a lot of money that way.

On another matter, I think the guide is a little bit unjust when it comes to Oliver, the food was excellent and you could pick and choose side orders that gave the meal all the variety you could wish for. The service was actually good as well. We are really looking forward to coming back to Tallinn in a year or so, and hope they have been able to raise the general service level then.