CornerShot: Kudos for Alexander's

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Lindsey Nair | 981-3343

Friday, May 24, 2013

Alexander’s, a downtown Roanoke stalwart for 33 years, has been named one of OpenTable’s Top 100 Restaurants for Service in the United States for 2013.

According to the restaurant reservation website, the award is based on more than 5 million user reviews of some 15,000 restaurants across the country.

Only four other Virginia restaurants made the list, and none is in our part of the state.

Alexander’s owner Bridget Meagher commented on the win in a news release: “ It’s wonderful to know that these diners who visited Roanoke from all over the U.S. thoroughly enjoyed their overall experience and gave us such high marks.”

Meagher praised general manager Boni Mills Webb and members of the senior service team, Bjorn Lindholm, Kelly Ontiveros Gearhart and Ryan Cook, assisted by Chris Blankenship. She pointed out that this award puts Alexander’s in some very fine company; also on the list were The French Laundry in California and Per Se in New York.

The fact that they even have a “senior service team” says a lot about Alexander’s commitment to excellence. There’s a reason Alexander’s has waitstaff who have made the job a career — it’s because they are treated well, they have pride in the place they work and they have a beloved cast of regular customers.

Meagher and Webb are not the type of restaurateurs who seek attention. They don’t call me asking for stories (not that there’s anything wrong with that) or advertise specials to lure diners. They don’t have to.

They need only keep doing what they’re doing, which is staying fresh, changing what they need to change to stay relevant, and not touching the aspects of the business that don’t need to be disturbed.

Congratulations to the staff at Alexander’s.

Monday, August 12, 2013