There’s just something cool about that rarely-found confluence of great service, great food, great atomosphere, and great music. It’s easy to find one of those, cool to find two of them, incredible if you can get three out of four…but when you find a place that checks off all the boxes of this magical four-leaf clover, you know it was a good night.
We walked in to the Nona Slice House in Safety Harbor shortly after they opened. After visiting this small town on the Northwest corner of Tampa Bay, you quickly learn that if you like food and drink better than waiting for your food and drink, you get here early. As we approached the hostess station, we were excited to see a few open tables but my wife was even more excited to see a specific waitress flashing a friendly smile to a nearby table.
“That’s the girl that took care of me and Riley the last time we were here.” gushed Ronda. “She is amazing!”
It’s always a bonus to be such a good server that people remember you from previous visits. That’s called “leaving a mark.”
We asked the hostess for a table in her section and she happily led us to a table along the wall near the windows. The place was filling up quickly and there was a pleasant buzz amongst the place that felt like a perfect mix of hungry people, hippie vibes, and happy hour.
The server Ronda had pointed out stopped by our table and greeted us with an apologetic, yet genuinely friendly tone. It turns out the other server was running late so she was going to be covering all the tables until the rest of the crew arrived, but she promised to be back to help us. Ronda said, “we are going to be your easiest table of the night. You took care of me and my daughter a few weeks ago. We loved you, so just take care of what you need to do and swing back when you have a moment to breathe.“
Cheyenne was her name and she was immediatly likeable. She breathed a deep sigh of relief and said, “Can I at least grab you some drinks while you’re waiting?“
Now I breathed a deep sigh of relief.
We laughed together, ordered our drinks, and told Cheyenne to take her time.
When she returned with the cold drinks, she pointed to the table in the corner and asked, “were you sitting over there? Your daughter is a school teacher, right?“
“That’s us,” said Ronda with enthusiasm and a “that’s so cool she remembered us” smile on her face.
“She ordered a Postcard Pils from Green Bench Brewing, right? I think she really liked that one.” Cheyenne was right. In fact, Riley had liked that beer so much, we have a few six-packs ready to bring home with us in a few weeks.
Talk about a great first impression (it was my first time there) and a confirmation of a great first impression for Ronda.
Nona Slice House certainly doesn’t need this blog post to earn local or national credibility. Recent visits include comedian Jay Leno and Barstool’s Dave Portnoy gave Nona some love for one of his legendary pizza slice reviews. But anytime some place is #blogworthy…i.e “worth talking about” and making sure others know about it, I can’t wait to get home and start typing.
Cheyenne was incredibly attentive and made sure our drinks were cold, our pizza* was hot, and our experience was memorable. She stopped by to chat everytime she passed our table.
I mentioned to Cheyenne that whoever was in charge of the music needed a raise. It was an incredible mix of deep cut Grateful Dead songs, Phish, moe, and other fantastic jam bands that were the perfect compliment to the early summer vibes of the place. She smiled and said, “This is probably one of Joe’s playlists.“
“Who is Joe?” I asked.
“He’s our GM. He’s in the back tonight making sure everything looks and tastes great.”
“When we’re done tonight,” I said to Cheyenne, “I need to see Joe to let him know a few things.“
Cheyenne hesitantly said, “Is everything okay?“
I winked at Cheyenne and said, “It’s perfect…and Joe needs to know that.”
After a casual dining experience, we boxed up our leftover pizza (I need some tasty pie for tomorrow’s lunch) and we ordered their Monster Cookie for a sweet finish. While we waited for the amazing dessert to arrive, Joe came out to see us, somewhat bashfully. I high-fived him on his great choice of music. He smiled and immediately relaxed. He knew he wasn’t being ambushed for a burnt pizza crust or a undercooked garlic knot.
We chatted about many of the bands I had heard on the playlist and he was thrilled to know someone else liked his choice of tunes. He leaned in to tell me that it was the Widespread Panic channel on Spotify. I complimented him on what a great ambassador Cheyenne was for Nona and how friendly everyone on his crew was. This gave Joe a bigger smile than someone liking his groovy music choices…and it should. People don’t come to Nona for the playlists, they come for the pizzas.
The place was now on a 30-45 minute wait, so we thanked Cheyenne, Joe and the crew for a memorable evening. As we walked out (with our pizza box in hand), we could feel the healthy groove of the place continuing to simmer in the growing humidity and setting sun. We passed by the hungry diners waiting to get their own taste of the goodness that awaited them and knew they were in for a treat.
I hope they like the tunes.
I expect they will enjoy the cold beers, fruitful wines, hand-crafted drinks and the plenitful choices of hot pizzas.
I know they will love Cheyenne and her fellow servers and bartenders and be thankful that Joe’s in the back making sure everything is going to come out awesome.
That’s all you can ask for when you head to a place like Nona.
I know I’ll be looking for it when I come back.
Tonight was a great reminder for me that we’re all striving for repeat and referral opportunities. There’s nothing like earning the type of business than can happen two times, three times, or even more. We all need to remember that a referral will never happen if people aren’t willing to refer themselves back in the first place. If you’re not wanting to go back, you surely aren’t telling others about it.
Cheyenne and Joe and Nona’s made me want to come back.
I will be back. I’ll ask for Cheyenne. I’ll ask if Joe’s there tonight. And I’ll probably ask them to turn up the volume.
Maybe I’ll see you there.
*The Honey Cup – “Cup n’ Char Pepperoni, Piped Ricotta with Fresh basil and local “Fire In The Hive” hot honey drizzle.”
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