Daily Operation — Restaurant in Easthampton

We got married two weeks ago and were so lucky to have been able to work with Dave at Daily Operation to cater our big day! I first heard of Daily Op back in 2019 - I work as a wedding planner in the region and had been invited to the restaurant with the rest of my team by Dave, he treated us to a huge sampling and we all fell for the restaurant menu hard!

Fast forward a year and I knew I wanted to work with them for my own wedding - not only because of the creative quality dishes but because they truly support local farms and go out of their way to source what's in season. My husband is a vegetable farmer, so we knew we needed a menu to center around the food he grew to make the wedding meaningful for us. Dave was excited about this and worked up a menu that we couldn't wait for (and was also super gracious about changing a thing or two to better accommodate our family with picky eating habits and friends with special dietary restrictions). Every single guest said to us that it was the best food they've ever had at a wedding (and some of the best food they've ever had in general). Which I can 100% confirm as I eat a lot of wedding food.

We got married at a venue the catering team at Daily Op had not been to before. Having worked with catering teams in brand new locations previously, I was a little nervous of what would happen behind the scenes - which was silly because of course their team knocked it out of the park on the wedding day. Daily Op had a team of cooks, servers, bartenders and a clean up crew on site that day. They took care of everything from setting up a welcome beverage station, to passing apps, serving a large multi-course family style meal to 75 guests, and operating the open bar with signature cocktails, beer, wine and cider and had poured wine service at the dinner tables. Because the specific venue we were at also included vintage dinnerware rentals, their team also washed and put away dishes and kept the venue super clean when leaving.

Ken, one of the front of house folks that day, was so on top of everything I was able to focus enjoying our celebration and not working it - from making sure my husband and I were all settled in, to making sure when some guests needed to leave early they had dessert packed up and ready to go. Liz and Emma were also there and made sure our guests had a really amazing evening. I even heard that a stray dog showed up outside the venue and the team worked finding the owners into their schedule that night

Prior to last week, I would have given Daily Op 5/5 stars. I’ve been coming here for years and have eaten my weight in their aged cheeseburger and dumplings. No joke, these two dishes are some of the best I’ve had. Alas, today, I can barely muster a 1 star review but feel I must report my changed perspective as a kind of public service announcement to inform unsuspecting eaters about the service that comes with the food.

Eaters beware that if you come here, even though there are no rules communicated about seating, you must not (under any circumstances) move from a table you initially identified to sit and enjoy your food. My wife I and made this grave error on a busy Friday this past week. After ordering, we headed for a booth indoors only to find it was already taken. My wife waited at the nearby counter seating while I went to scout a table on their outdoor deck. I found one and she shifted outdoors to join me. All this within about a minute of ordering our food. Reminder: nothing was posted nor was communicated by the person who took our order about where we should or should not sit. In fact, when we’d asked him if we could sit anywhere, he responded, “yes, we’ll find you.”

After 30 minutes of waiting and seeing the couple next to us, who arrived 15 min after we did, receive their food, I told the food runner that we hadn’t received our food despite ordering at least 15 min before the couple next to us. He checked inside and informed me that there had been a mix up and the food would be out shortly. The food runner who had been working the indoor area came outside to say (brusquely) that our food was coming shortly and that “we couldn’t find you”. Confused, my wife said, “but we’ve been here the whole time”, to which she snapped that it had only been 30 min, it was a busy Friday night, and stormed off. Shocked by her rudeness, we asked who she was and learned, to our surprise, that this unprofessional behavior was delivered by none other than one of the owners - Jessica Pollard.

The bottom line is this: If you start out indoors, know that that if you don’t stay indoors, everyone (including an owner) will assume that you probably weren’t that hungry and have gone home, or that you have donated your food back to Daily Op, and most certainly will not wonder if perhaps you may be seated somewhere other than their indoor seating area…like their outdoor seating area. Good luck to all future hungry souls who decide to move tables at Daily Op…you will be hungry longer than you would like to be and will then get scolded by the pastry chef who may be happier interacting with sedentary dough. Good luck!

In all seriousness, Daily Op has been our first stop every summer after returning to our home in the area since it opened around 2018 and we are very disappointed to have been...

I've been to this place a few times because I like the burgers. Today on my way home, I ordered takeout, app said it would be ready in 15 minutes. I headed straight to the restaurant when I got into Easthampton as about that much time had passed since I ordered so thought it would be ready. When I got there, I was told it'd be ready in two minutes. So, I waited near the cash register instead of sitting down because I believed them. After more than five minutes, another staff member asked for my name and suggested I take a seat, saying they'd bring it out. I asked how much longer it would be as I could come back. Maybe that came off as snarky, but I genuinely meant it. I had a nearby errand I could have done in the interim. I could see they were busy. Then the man near the kitchen said, "Didn't I just tell you it would be a minute?" I reminded him that he'd said two minutes over five minutes ago. Instead of giving me a real estimate, he said something like, "I'm making sure it's prepared just for you. I am being serious" I was too stunned to respond. The staff around him smirked, which didn't help. I was genuinely confused how a request for an actual “ready” time turned to what felt like condescension.

I considered leaving because my desire for a burger was gone at that point. Another five minutes or so later, someone brought out my food. Unfortunately, the burger was salty—not sure if that was just random or "made just for me.” All I wanted was an honest estimate, but instead, I got an attitude. I get they’re busy and perhaps he was having a bad day, but the attitude from the staff was disappointing. From the start a simple, “it should ready in 5-10 minutes was all that...