The day started out normal, in fact it was going so well that Kyungsoo let out a sigh of content as he looked up at the wall clock striking 4:00pm.

All the prep for the night and Saturday brunch had been done by Kris and himself. Pastry Chef Hyeri and her prep cook, Yoona, were stocked on desserts for the evening and the books weren’t as full as last week. Service started at 5:30pm and the last reservations should be seated by 9:15pm. Service ended at 10:30pm and from there on out it would be FOH’s problem.

Things shouldn’t be too bad tonight. Oh crap, shouldn’t have thought that. Kyungsoo knocks on the wooden prep table to dissipate the bad luck. He turns and walks to the front of the line and sees that the team has everything set. Chanyeol’s prep is wrapped neatly and his pans are warming under the salamander, Minah’s extra tongs and drip plates are stored securely and squarely away on the overhead cupboards, Jae’s parcooking some chicken for Minah’s friend chicken dish, and Tao just finished his garnish and shellfish platters for the evening.

He spots Kris chatting with the dishwashers and walks over.

“Nice work today Kris, thanks for taking care of the rainbow carrots and the oysters for Tao.” Kyungsoo says as he claps his hand on the prep cook’s shoulder.

“Yeah no worries Chef, I know Tao hates scrubbing those Kumamotos.” Kris chuckles and continues, “Are you guys gonna be okay for tonight? I can stay if you want me to.”

“We should be fine,” Kyungsoo replies, “Yeonhee says the only spike is around 7pm because of that 10 top. There aren’t a lot of resos today, I’m actually hoping we get more walk-ins to balance things out.”

“Alright cool, thanks Chef. I’m going to wipe the station down and get going.” Kris replies.

Kyungsoo nods and thanks Kris once more before heading out into the dining room.

He scans over the floor and sees that most of the tables are set up. He walks towards the fireplace at the center of the room to get a better view of what the FOH team is up to.

Seohyun and Junmyeon are teaching Sehun the importance of cutlery placement and which fork is for which course. Xiumin and Yixing are laughing in the distance at Jongin’s face after trying the specialty cocktail for the evening. Yeonhee is out on the patio going over the night’s specials with Jongdae, Baekhyun, Seulgi, Sooyoung, and Bokjoo. Around the corner at the front door Luhan is polishing the marble podium and wiping down the menus.

Seeing that everything was in order, Kyungsoo smiles and walks towards the crowd on the patio.

Yeonhee’s voice cuts through the air as Kyungsoo quietly opens the door, “Braised Spanish Octopus served with house made chorizo and new potato hash topped with Harissa aioli. Make sure to find out if customers are okay with pork in the dish, if they’re not pork eaters we can switch out the hash. Also, Chef’s using garlic, onions, and paprika.” Yeonhee softly moans, “It sounds so good, doesn’t it everyone?”

The servers laugh at the manager’s remark. Jongdae turns and waves to Kyungsoo, “Hey Chef! We’re just going over the appetizer special!”

Yeonhee cheeks pink as she turns to greet Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo laughs and waves her off to let her continue.

“Achem. Well aside from that there’s the entrée special for the evening. Ah, did you want to explain that Chef?” Yeonhee turns to acknowledge Kyungsoo who’s now standing next to her.

“Mmm,” Kyungsoo hums, “but I like it when you describe the food Yeonhee, you always make it sound so good, like we’d be missing out on something delicious if we weren’t working tonight.”

“And aren’t we lucky to be scheduled tonight!” Jongdae says cheekily, “We’ll get staff tasting tonight right Chef?”

The servers and Kyungsoo laugh in response while Yeonhee’s cheeks flush.

She replies, “Well okay then, for the entrée special tonight we’re doing an apple cider brined Kurobuta Porkchop, about 9 ounces bone-in, served with a smoked cherry compote, a side of whipped buttermilk potatoes and sauteed rainbow chard. The dish goes for $32 and we have about 20 orders all day, right Chef?”

Kyungsoo nods in agreement when all of a sudden, the side patio doors screech open revealing a gasping Luhan.

“Yeonhee! Hyoyeon called out! She has food poisoning or something and can’t come in.” Luhan gasps.

The servers give a collective noise of despair and looks to Chef and Yeonhee who are both still.

Yeonhee flashes her eyes from Luhan to Kyungsoo. She catches his hands wrenching into tight fists, knuckles whitening from his grip. Kyungsoo’s façade turns from calm to stressed in thirty seconds. His eyebrows scrunch inwards as he breathes deeply to calm down.

“It’s fine Luhan, I’ll come in and talk to her right now. Chef, I’ll expo tonight. Can you stay an extra hour Luhan?”

Luhan shifts hesitantly from the door and looks at Jongdae while letting out an, “Uh, I can stay until 10 but it can’t be later than that, I’m sorry Yeonhee.”

Jongdae shoots him a look before speaking up, “Yeah sorry Yeonhee, we made plans with some schoolmates a while back. We confirmed with Donghae before he left for the night. He said it would be fine since we didn’t have that many resos.”

Yeonhee sighs frustratedly, “Guys. How many times do I have to tell you that when it comes to scheduling and especially day of requests, you have to tell me and not just the General Manager? I would have called in an extra server if I knew the two of you had to leave exactly at 10.”

“Sorry Yeonhee. We won’t do it again!” Luhan cries.

“Yeah seriously, it won’t happen again. We know better than to try to leave right at closing time.” Jongdae says.

Kyungsoo opens his eyes and starts, “As hospitality professionals I expect each of you to understand that the restaurant comes first. As servers you know that service is from 5:30pm until 10:30pm the earliest! That’s aside from your own scheduled shifts! Rarely do we ever end before 11pm since we’re responsible for cleanup and shutting down the side stations. I get that it’s Friday night and we want to be out with friends, but I hope you all recognize that this behavior is unacceptable because you’re basically asking your coworkers to finish your work for you. If you know you have plans, then it’s your responsibility to let management know so we can work with you on the schedule as well as find someone to come in for extra support. Friday nights are the most unpredictable. Do you all understand?”

“Yes Chef!” the service staff yells.

Kyungsoo clears his throat and looks at Yeonhee and says, “I’ll expo the first half if you can come in and do the second half during the 10 top.”

“Of course,” Yeonhee nods, “Luhan can handle the front until 9pm, the 10 top should be half way through entrees by then and Junmyeon can handle the dessert course by himself. Plus, he has Sehun tonight too.”

“Yeah right,” scoffs Baekhyun, “More like he’s going to be lugging around dead weight all night. Sehun can’t concentrate around pretty girls.” Baekhyun turns and winks at Sooyoung who scoffs looks away cheeks tinted pink. Bokjoo and Seulgi roll their eyes at him.

Yeonhee presses a hand to her forehead, “Baekhyun, saying that doesn’t help. And please don’t flirt with your coworkers, HR will have a field day if they see you. I’ll have you take a table from Jongdae’s section so we can make sure someone’s covering it come 9pm.”

Baekhyun nods and grins, “Great! Maybe I’ll actually make some money tonight.”

“Alright, Junmeyon, Sehun, and Seohyun are going on their breaks now and will be back at 5:30pm. I expect the rest of the table settings to be done before they get back. Here’s to another great Friday with the greatest team!” Yeonhee finishes by having the team put their hands all in together for a cheer.

Kyungsoo chuckles at the antics and walks back to the kitchen slightly less stressed but still worried.

An hour into service…

“Tao! Remake the Ceaser with Salmon! This is WAY too much dressing. Also, I need those two shellfish platters for 62 and 104. Minah’s almost done with their fries. Right after that we need to start prepping the 10 Strawberry Rhubarb salads for Junmyeon’s party. Chanyeol! Where are you with those halibuts and the side of brussels? Jae! We need 4 burgers medium for table 30, it’s dragging on 5 minutes now, where are they! HANDS!” Kyungsoo yells, his hands flying as they wipe plates, garnish the tops of dishes, and stabs tickets and puts the new ones up on the pass.

Sooyoung drops the silverware she was polishing and flies towards the front of the pass as Kyungsoo hands her three plates.

“Table 50 Seat 1 octopus, Seat 3 branzino, Seat 4 soup du jour.” Says Kyungsoo as he steadily hands off the dishes to Sooyoung.

“Heard. Table 50, 1, 3, and 4.” Sooyoung confirms and walks out the door.

“Hands!” Kyungsoo yells as soon as the In-door swings open.

It’s Yixing and he’s slightly out of breath. Nervously he says, “Chef, it’s that couple at the bartop. They’re incessant about the fries. Is… is it possible to do them on the fly?”

Chanyeol, Jae, and Minah look at each other silently wishing Kyungsoo won’t blow up at Yixing. Yixing visibly pales as Kyungsoo turns around eyes as wide as saucers, and speaks eerily calm, “Yixing it’s the middle of an unexpected dinner rush. The bar is slamming us with hot apps and oyster platters non-stop and we’re dragging 3 tickets. Having items be on the fly right now is not happening. Do what you need to do to placate the guests. Comp them the fries for all I care. Now take these to Table 102 and come back to help us run the rest of this food!”

Yixing nods and takes off with the platters of food. Plates are flying up to the window and Kyungsoo grunts as he’s slight thrown off groove by Yixing’s request. He slides a few tickets around before shouting, “Alright, hold up on table 13 Minah. Let’s give half their fries to Yixing, we can use the other half for the side of fries going out with Chanyeol’s halibut for Table 20. Tao for the love of God please tell me the plates for the party are chilled. Yeonhee! Hands! Yeonhee!”

Yeonhee bursts through the door with a bus tub full of dishes and hobbles over to the dish pit. The dishwasher ajusshi takes them from her and she bows gratefully in return.

“Yeah! Chef, here!” She says while washing her hands.

Kyungsoo turns and checks the time it’s 6:45pm, “Did the party arrive yet?”

Yeonhee’s drying her hands as she speaks, “No. They called 15 minutes ago and said that there’s traffic coming down south.”

“No there’s traffic, what did they expect on a Friday night,” Kyungsoo retorts, “Think they’ll be sitting by 7pm?”

Yeonhee sighs, “Honestly no. And I can’t hold their table for more than 15 minutes after their reservation time. Luhan’s swamped with the walk-ins. Minseok and Yixing gladly took half and Seohyun and Seulgi are splitting the other half of the wave. Jongdae’s got his regulars up on deck, all three parties coming in between 7:30-8:00pm. Junmyeon and Sehun are all set up, they’ve taken three tables to help ease the crowd and Baekhyun’s section is full. Most of his tables are about to turn so that’ll give us a breather.”

Kyungsoo sighs and leans against the counter I totally jinxed us.

“Alright, that’s fine. We can get through these next fifteen minutes. Go out and grab anyone you can, we have 5 tables worth of food ready to go.”

“Heard,” Yeonhee nods and scurries out the door.

“Timer!” Hyeri yells.

Yoona rushes towards the ovens and begins filling the bread baskets. Seulgi comes in just in time to help bring them over to the expo station as Junmyeon, Sehun, and Baekhyun enter with Yeonhee on their tails.

Kyungsoo whips into action, “Starting with Table 62 and 104, Sehun! Take these shellfish platters out for the table. Next, Junmyeon! Here are your halibuts, seat 4 with brussels on the side and seat 6 regular. Baekhyun! Four burgers for Table 30, one split, 3 regular. Condiments are on the side already, just go. Yeonhee, take these fries over to Yixing and the Scallops over to Minseok. Thanks guys!”

The servers move like a gust of wind as soon as they’re out Jongdae and Jongin come in.

“Chef table 13’s asking for the kids chicken tenders,” Jongdae quips.

“Perfect timing!” yells Minah as she plates the tenders. Kyungsoo wipes the edges and slides on the ramekin of apple slices and a side of ranch before handing it off to Jongdae.

Jongin is nervous and shy as he doesn’t want to interrupt Chef at the moment, but he knows he has to. Kyungsoo feels his presence behind him and says, “What’s up Jongin?”

“Uh.” Jongin mutters, “There’s this lady at the bar Chef and she’s asking for something special. Like off menu…”

Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow and continues, “Well, Jongin, what did you say?”

“Uh. I said I would ask the chef.” Jonging replies softly.

Kyungsoo sighs in frustration, “Did you try offering her the specials for the evening? Or the cocktail special Yixing and Minseok made earlier?”

“Yeah I did!” Jongin says, “But she says she eats the same specials every other week and is asking if you, the chef, uh, has anything…new?”

“Yikes,” Chanyeol mutters under his breath.

“Oh, here we go,” says Tao.

“I need more potatoes!” Minah yells for Yoona.

Jae just pays more attention to the burgers and steaks cooking away on the grill.

Jongin shifts uneasy and moves out of the way as Sooyoung and Sehun come back in.

“I bet 63’ll finish 5 baskets of bread before the entrees,” Sehun says to Sooyoung as she laughs in response.

“Yeah, I know right? I mean where are they even putting it all! If I were them, I’d be stuffed by now.” replies Sooyoung.

“I don’t know Soo, If I were sitting at that table, I’d ask for more bread from the pretty girl too.”

Kyungsoo turns to the duo and shushes them before going back to Jongin, “Jongin, tell that lady that I can make her the carpaccio dish she loves so much BUT there will be no next time. If she wants new food she can go to a different restaurant.”

Jongin nods and all but runs out the door.

“Coming in here on a Friday night demanding a custom dish my . Who does she think she is?” mutters Kyungsoo under his breath.

Sehun clears his throat and says, “Uh Chef, Junmyeon wanted me to tell you that the party called again and said they’ll be here at 7:15pm.”

Kyungsoo sighs again before closing his eyes and leaning his head against the hot pass, “Sehun.”

“Y-yes Chef?” Sehun replies.

“What time is it right now?” Kyungsoo asks.

“Uh. It’s 7:15 Chef.” Sehun says quietly.

“Right. And are they here?” Kyungsoo asks again.

“Uh. No.” Sehun answers.

“Then obviously they lied to save their table. Go get Yeonhee.” Kyungsoo commands.

“Right. Uhm. Yes Chef.” Sehun stutters as he scurries out the door.

Sooyoung quickly picks up on the polishing and acts busy before Kyungsoo turns around and looks at her.

“Sooyoung. I know Sehun means no harm, but would it kill you to tell him to flirt with you after service?” Kyungsoo teases.

Chanyeol’s booming laugh fills the kitchen and the rest of the line cooks and dishwashers join in. Sooyoung blushes hard while she squeaks out a “Yes Chef, Sorry Chef.”

Yeonhee pushes the door in and welcomes the site and laughter.

“Don’t pick on Soo, Soo.” Yeonhee points at Kyungsoo and back to Sooyoung.

Everyone chuckles while Sooyoung just polishes the silverware faster.

“Any word on the ten top? Also how are the rest of the tables looking so far?” Kyungsoo asks, hope tinging his voice.

Yeonhee mutters, “It’s gonna be a long night, Soo. A long night.”

8:30pm

The kitchen is cranking. The ten top table was broken down into three separate ones to help with the walk-ins. The ten top is now in the private dining room with Junmyeon going over the specials and Sehun pouring the waters. Baekhyun and Junmyeon had to switch sections because of the delay in the large party but he didn’t mind, he really was making more money tonight. Plus, table 52 just sat down and he’s so happy because wow those girls are cuteee.

Seohyun is helping Yixing and Minseok with the overflow of guests crowding the bar and Jongin is desperately trying to get out of this conversation with an older lady who won’t stop hitting on him.

Tonight is not Yixing’s night. Almost every couple he’s had has been demanding and always “forgetting” to order a side of fries or brussels and thus having him trek over into the kitchen to face Kyungsoo’s wrath and hatred of on-the-fly-orders. He’s on his third trip back from the kitchen when he realizes that table 101 is dining alone. Seohyun is preoccupied with cleaning up 102 and is bending over the wipe the table and gasp what does Yixing see but that loner creep staring at her . Yixing starts to walk faster and purposefully walks past 101 yelling a quick “Corner!” startling the loner and forcing him to look away shamefully serves you right you . Yixing huffs and smiles before dropping off the appetizers for the bar guests. As soon as he’s done he turns towards Seohyun and calls her to come to the bar. The loner still looking away pointedly, face red as a beet, trying his best not to look guilty.

Minseok finishes the last shake of the cocktail, pours it into the high ball glass and garnishes the thing before sending it off with Seulgi to table 15. He sighs and rests his hands on his hips and takes a look around at the bar. What in the Minseok catches Jongin looking like deer in headlights as the woman in front of him is leaning in closer over the bartop. Oh Christ Minseok hurries himself over to Jongin and pulls him back before she could advance any further.

“Jongin I need you to go into the kitchen and get the special from Chef.” Minseok says while waveing a confused and uncomfortable Jongin off.

Minseok turns to the lady in front who’s scoffing at his disturbance. The lady is in her early thirties, dressed in a deep navy dress with black frilly lace coming off the shoulders, she takes a sip of her martini before looking at Minseok and raising an eyebrow. She grins and shrugs her shoulders before saying, “He’s a cutie. Couldn’t help myself.”

Minseok sighs puts on a fake smile and says, “Sorry Ma’am but as the bar manager I’m going to have to ask you to stop harassing my employee. Also, as state policy goes, I’m going to have to offer you coffee or any other beverage from here on out since that’s your fifth? Yeah fifth martini.”

The lady scoffs again and rolls her eyes. She downs the rest of her martini, slaps a couple of bills onto the bartop and waltzes off towards the entrance. Luhan greets her and calls a cab for her as she waits by the Maitre’D stand.

It’s now 8:45pm and Kyungsoo is screaming “HANDS! I NEED HANDS NOW. HANDS!”

The door flings open as Junmyeon, Sehun, Sooyoung, and Bokjoo come in. Yeonhee is expediting now and has a checklist in front of her as well as 10 salads and 10 soups.

“Alright everyone, each guest gets a salad and a soup. Take only one salad and one soup with you! Hyeri and Yoona, if you can please come help. Come back immediately to finish off this drop!”

The pass is half cleared but it’s immediately refilled.

Yeonhee begins pulling down plates to wipe and garnish.

“Hands!” she yells.

Yixing, Seohyun, and Jongin reach her side and take the dishes out to the designated tables. The rush continues for another two hours before finally every guest has paid their checks and are just left lingering at the tables. The service staff comes piling into the kitchen as Kyungsoo pulls the last dessert ticket off the window. He sends Bokjoo and Sooyoung out with the last of the cheesecakes for Junmyeon’s party and sighs with relief thinking 11pm damn. At least we made it through with no serious hiccups.

Chanyeol and Minah’s laughter pulls Kyungsoo out of his thoughts and he turns to see them pointing at Tao’s poor sauté skills as he tries to flip a pancake. Jae is frying up some chicken for the rest of family meal. Hyeri comes back to the main part of the kitchen from her pastry corner. Kyungsoo smiles and turns to address the staff.

“Thanks for tonight team! We made it through! Family meal should be ready in about 15 minutes. Please walk through your sections to see what else can be done before we close down for the night.”

“Yes Chef!” the team responds.

Yeonhee breathes a sigh of relief, “Damn Chef. I thought we were going to be in the weeds earlier.”

Kyungsoo laughs, “Yeah I know right? It’s always a miracle that we work things out.”

Yeonhee snorts, “Miracle schmiracle. It’s because you have the best FOH team and you know it.”

Kyungsoo squints at her and retorts, “You mean the best culinary staff.”

Yeonhee waves him off and laughs, “You ready to do it all again tomorrow?”

Kyungsoo looks at his crew behind the pass, at the servers who have now piled back into the kitchen for dinner and smiles back at her, “Always.”