I am unsure of what the standards are or what the rubric may be when it comes to Dixie Kitchen. Make no mistake about it, the food is often times not only good but consistent (which is rare) for the prices that you pay. However, as decent as a meal may be, in my humble opinion, customer service, accommodations and atmosphere have the power to seal or break a deal. Down throughout the years, I've gone to Dixie Kitchen. I was moreso fond of the one in Hyde Park. However, Karyn Crowley, General Manger for the old location in Lansing, IL and now the newest location (still in Lansing), does not meet my expectations. Not only was the service in the old location extremely skittish, but they only accepted cash at that location. For various reasons from their vantage point that made sense, it still never made "business" sense to me. Today, I dined there with my son in the newest location. Not only did we have to wait approximately 20 minutes (give or take a second), but the server had a "meh" type of personality. Perhaps we were his last customers for the night before he punched out. Who knows. At any rate, he never really came back to see if we needed anything (I only needed tartar sauce to which I politely asked one of the twin bus boys to get for me and he did. They were young (10,12 maybe?) and they seemed tired). Equally important, the music is always so unbelievably loud. Why does the music have to be so loud? Is Ms. Crowley trying to attract a rowdy crowd? Is she trying trying to provide a club atmosphere in a restaurant? The music choices themselves are not bad, but it's a horrible place to have a business meeting or a simple place where you wish to have decent conversations with whomever you dine with because it's just too loud. I remember asking at the old location, when I chose to have a business meeting there, if it were at all possible for them to turn down the music just a tad. My colleagues and I had business of importance to discuss. Of course we were turned down. Maybe if we were of another racial persuasion, our request may have been granted. Again, who knows. On today, grateful that it was just my son and I, I asked for our check. I handed the waiter my card. He comes back moments later to say that they only take cards with chips in them. I'm like, "What?" Within a few milliseconds, I calmed down and concluded that it's going to always be something with Dixie Kitchen. Fortunately, I had another card with a chip. Nevertheless, they went from "Cash Only" to now only taking certain cards. I guess we should be grateful for that, right? Right.
Ms. Crowley may have endured the test of time by remaining with Dixie Kitchen, but in my opinion, there's no growth in customer service, no consistency with accepting various forms of payments and her overall approach isn't as inviting as it could be to take Dixie Kitchen to another level. The potential is there but I think she lacks the vision for it. She also really needs to really re-evaluate the type of crowd that she wishes to service when consistently playing loud music (if CHILDREN say the music is too loud, CLEARLY take a hint! This isn't just coming from my son (there were other children sitting across from us who complained of the same thing along with their grandparents)). She may also want to consider getting off of her high horse (very seldom does she smile and I've seen her down throughout the years), re-institute the sampler that Former President Barack Obama endorsed (whoops that was the Dixie Kitchen in Hyde Park and not Lansing), get up to date credit card terminals that will accept all forms of payment and perhaps visit other restaurants that have a better criteria in place that won't only cater to her likes but the customers' expectations as well. Kudos to the chefs that keep the recipes consistent. As an aspiring journalist and current columnist for one of Chicago's newspapers, I can honestly say, "A pleasant atmosphere with great service makes an immense difference. No sense in eating a steak if it's served on a garbage lid." read more