line cook

server

to-go specialist

dishwasher

front desk receptionist

Legal Sea Foods

I worked as a hostess at Legal Sea Foods in Paramus, NJ for almost a year.

A typical day at work included:

Managing floor-plan/server's head-counts/restaurant "flow", greeting/seating guests, taking/confirming reservations over the phone and via Open Table, completing takeout orders, accommodating guests with any allergies/special needs/etc., making kids' packs, keeping host-stand organized and presentable

What I learned:

Legal Sea Foods was my first experience hosting and my first experience working in a full-service restaurant, so I learned quite a bit about restaurant management and the like.

Management:

The worst part of the job, hands down.  With the exception of one or two, the managers at the Paramus Legal Sea Foods have little idea how to do their jobs correctly or even appropriately.  Every employee is treated differently depending on their personal relationship with management; they make their favoritism blatant and it is most often completely unwarranted.  You could be the best worker they have but if they don't "like" you, then prepare for the worst shifts and for your voice to go unheard.  They are more than willing to ignore the restaurant and the needs of their employees as long as it keeps their hands clean and their favorites happy.  It's honestly like high school all over again; if someone gets written up, they have no shame in gossiping about it to their other employees in detail.  They give "fake" promotions to employees (regardless if they've been there for 4 years or 4 weeks) so they can spend the entire day locked-up in their office without having to "worry" about what's going on in the restaurant.

I have been working since I was 16 (23 now), and I am quite used to the favoritism and unfair treatment that comes with the territory of any job, however Legal Sea Foods in Paramus, NJ took it to an unimaginable level.  They have no trust in their employees and immediately comp any customer over the smallest complaints without even asking for their employees' side.  I regularly made ILLEGAL (they do not offer delivery services or have a company car) deliveries in my OWN car, using my OWN gas because management had "made a deal" with the company to have their food delivered.  Management also made "deals" with the majority of the other hostesses there (one who would only work Saturday nights as long as she "never" had to close; one who would only work Monday and Tuesday at 6 PM) forcing the rest of us to bust our butts. There was a point over the summer where we were so strapped for hostesses but my one manager wouldn't even look at applications from males because she found them to be "less reliable".

I was so excited that they called me in for an interview. Got hired, went through training for over a week and passed the test. It didn't take long before i noticed how unfair, unprofessional and irresponsible the majority of the people working there were. Let's start with the unfairness, as a newly hired server, you won't expect to get the best section or best tables of course. But the bottom line is, every one (senior servers) else's section will be filled before they start seating your section and by the time you're on your third table, they're on their sixth or seventh table turned. Hostesses are really unfair with the seating process and carelessly make it obvious. Amdthe funny thing is that you only get three tables during your shift. How are you supposed to make money with that if you son't get sat enough. I came from a place with high standards where every one, regardless of seniority, is given an equal chance to make money and everyone works as a team. I cannot say as much for Legal Seafoods. During training, they will tell you they set such high standards, but once you start working, it's an absolutely different world. The majority of the servers are very unprofessional and somewhat rude, they will be on their phones in the middle of a rush, chatting in the kitchen and don't even get called out on it by a manager or a chef. Their carry loud conversations where guests can hear them, whether at the bar or in the kitchen and i could go on and on. Only a handful of servers will help you when you need them, sometimes without even you asking. This place needs a "people" makeover, that actually care, more bussers on the floor (because two bussers cannot handle a dining room of 45 tables or more). Same applies for a single food runner that cannot run everyone's food in a timely manner. Resuts: as a server, when in a busy rush, you fall behind because you spend time doing your busser or runner's job, clearing plates, running food, it affects your quality of service. Managers are hard to find sometimes when neeeded. They lack floor presence at times. 
Working here was such a disappointment, because it is very far from what it seems. The money wasn't great at all, hours were long for nothing, and the majority of the people were horrible.

What is the best part of working at the company?
I absolutely loved the introduction and training with the opening team for the restaurant. Unfortunately I was harassed by a disgruntled pot washer. Nothing was done when reporting out. The Exec chef was blind and a group of well trained with great experience carrying the load and directing from each other and the sous chef and kitchen manager. Mother’s Day was the worst encounter I have ever had in the industry. The chef did nothing to bring us to as a team or in quality and quantity of food. I asked if a limited means and they looked nd me and said we got that huge menu together and we will do it ok. Reservation s were not shared, seating times or what a disaster plan would be.
As a man that’s been in the business for decades. I was pushed by the Gm and chef to not worry about it.
I left 


What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The leaders in VA beach. Corporate left with all the soundness of a great team. Unfortunately no one and it was never made clear that benefits would start in 6 months? Huh


What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Big boys got us set, middle managers lost the wheel


What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Me and the crew managed everything so it was good talented culture

Servers here do not have reliable schedules and sections.  Some days you have a 20 seat section and some days its only 6 seats. Unfair.  Often overstaffed and hard to make any reliable money.  Schedule seems to change week to week.  I have only two shifts this week. 

Kitchen is inflexible (and at times angry) with guests' special requests making guest contact confrontational and awkward.  The attitude seems to be "OH WELL! We can always get more customers!".  A visiting corporate manager actually said this to us my first week.

Some servers came here from a recently closed location and they say that this is a good company and they do care about good service and happy employees and things but I have not seen evidence of this.  

Many of us new people are moving on to other places and the attitude of management is OH WELL! They can always get new servers. 

Rock hard concrete floors in dining room hard of feet and back.  Double shifts are particularly bad.  

We are now made to wipe down plates by hand because the dishwasher doesn't work right.   Dishes always covered in a greasy film.  This has been a problem for months and nothing is done. And no one cares.

A typical day at Legal Harborside began arriving to work and collaboratively completing opening side work routines to set up for the day. The restaurant guests begin to arrive and endure a long wait for a table in order to enjoy the view and fresh seafood. Since it was first come first serve seating, it was important to have open communication with my colleagues to provide assistance when necessary. We worked closely and collaboratively to ensure guests had an enjoyable restaurant experience. I learned that working as a team and helping others was an important and effective way to improve as a server. The most enjoyable part of the job is meeting and interacting with guests and colleagues. The  most difficult part of the job was maintaining guests' satisfaction when food or beverage service was taking longer than anticipated due to high-volume and long ticket times. Overall, I learned a great deal about time management, guest service, and food/beverage knowledge from working at this establishment.

Training at this company is very intensive, because of seafood and shell fish allergens we have to be extra careful when serving any guest. When I originally began my career with legal, I lived in Boston. The location I worked at was home to a 10,000 bottle wine cellar and every server was inclined to build their wine knowledge. The company offered wine tastings as well as dish sampling through our training. Management was always very pleasant and helpful. All of my co-workers were very knowledgable whether it was wine and spirits, or food. The hardest part of this particular job was making tea believe it or not. We had individual cast iron tea kettles that we would bring anyone who ordered tea. It wasn't a difficult tasks by any means, just time consuming, and if you had a couple of orders of tea and it was busy and there was no cream close by, or any clean kettles, you might just be pushed into the "weeds" a bit.

For me it was a good learning experience, we had a lot of important guest come in to eat at our restaurant. We also had to learn how to interact and deal with guest that weren't so nice from time to time. 
Personally I had to learn that everyone is not a team player, I believe that was the hardest thing for me while working at this job. I'm more of a hands on person and love to interact with the guests and not everyone is like that. if I had to pick one thing that was enjoyable at legal seafood's it would be the pressure. before working at legal seafood's I had an issue with everything being down on time. an also with everything being done perfect and even though It was hard to learn. I learned it and it has helped me a lot in my life now. I needed to learn that no one is perfect and everyone is going to make mistakes and its ok as long as you learn from them.

Follow sop to a clean and well organized opening of the restaurant. Participate in daily wine/beverage tasting, food tasting, role/plays, development of product sales techniques. Management was very motivational, sometimes lax however supportive of development and improvements. I progressed my knowledge further into the realm of wine/fine wine/dining/fine-dining/cocktails and fine food. Had my first restaurant management experience that was positive yet turned out to not be what I had wanted to forward my career. Job was not difficult, the more difficult situations transpired from tolerating irrational work habits of senior staff and management. Most enjoyable was the ability to apply new knowledge from wine/food/beverage directly to the work place.

Good money, if you work at one of their busier locations. A slow night can be anywhere between $150-250 and a busy night $350-400 and on occasion a really busy night you can make even upwards of $600. Management is pretty nice. The bad things are the teamwork is lacking, a lot of servers are lazy and unwilling to help each other.  We never have enough lobster crackers and supplies to have a successful shift and most of the staff act like whiney children who don't understand hard work and leave without doing their sidework. Management seems to have a hard time disciplining staff so people just do a half a**  job and get away with it. The restaurant is also decrepit and needs a renovation, the bathrooms are disgusting, we have roaches and mice, the fans are covered in dust and the vents are clogged. The place is honestly disgusting. 

Legal Sea Food is a great way to get experience in a fast paced work environment, especially if one is interested in working in a semi-upscale restaurant environment. One can easily develop relationships or sense of familiarity with guests as it is a long term staple within the Chestnut Hill community. However there are not many opportunities  to advance in restaurant positions and for pay raises, especially if you are a seasonal worker &/or student while working here.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Line cook 144 salaries reported	$18.95 per hour
Server 97 salaries reported	$38.43 per hour
To-go specialist 82 salaries reported	$17.33 per hour
Dishwasher 74 salaries reported	$17.17 per hour
Front desk receptionist 164 salaries reported	$31.00 per hour

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