An unreal experience in Ljubljana - I experienced world class customer experience

Having delivered full day internal marketing workshop for around 50 employees at Mladinska Kniga - Slovenia's largest publishers of books, magazine publishing, 60 retail bookstores, etc. - I was pressed for time to finish the preparation for my speech at an email marketing seminar in Ljubljana (organized by Dima Center / Promarket) the next day. But I had to eat. So I walked down to the center of Ljubljana to the same restaurant where I had lunch with that same customer Tuesday afternoon as part of my preparation for the workshop .

After arriving at the restaurant I found a table and ordered a few dishes. But it took quite a long time before the first course was served. I therefore asked to have the bill when they would serve the second course, while I explained that I was getting stressed because I was in a hurry and it was took far longer than expected to get the food. (at this time it was around 21 and I still a couple of hours of preparation for my 3 hour long lecture the next day).


The food was quite delicoius, the coca-cola's tasted like they should, but when the bill was presented it came along with the highly surprising "we have decided that you do not have to pay for dinner - we'll only charge you for the sodas."

I was not quite sure I had heard the waiter correctly and said "excuse me?". He repeated, and I have certainly looked like one big qustionmark. It actually took me the better part of an hour to get over the experience. That's how unusual and world-class it was.

Now that's what I call delivering a fantastic customer experience, and all that at a restaurant that - notwithstanding that many customers are likely to be tourists and business travelers - takes its own quality seriously. Whether or not this is an integral part of their business philosophy or a special case, I do not know. Hopefully when I am back in Ljubljana, I will get a chance to ask them to learn more about their customer experience philosophy.

This was an experience that I will certainly tell to others over and over again. The name of the restaurant in Ljubljana Slovenia is Gostilna restaurant and can be found at this URL.

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