Pros
- You really do make great money here. Obviously some months are slower than others, like during the summer and right after Christmas, but in general this is one of the best restaurants in Richmond as far as making money goes for serving. Most people stay at CAH for as long as they do because of the money they make. On a week night if you're not closing and not first out, you can typically make $100-150 depending on the night. With burger night it's hit or miss since it's a discounted special. If you close a week night, you definitely have the potential to make $200+. Fridays are typically better than Saturdays, though you never really know. If you close a Friday night, making around $300 or more is about right. But no guarantees of course. Week day lunch shifts are pretty decent compared to most restaurants downtown/in the fan. You can make anywhere from $35-60 on average and be in and out within 3-4 hours tops. - The people who work at CAH are amazing. Besides the money, this is the biggest reason why people stay for as long as they do. You obviously aren't going to get along with everyone you ever work with, but for the most part everyone gets along really well here. - Turnover is low. This is good because a lot of people working have been there for years and know what they're doing so you're not working with a bunch of idiots. And you don't have to worry about working with someone new all the time. Only downside to this is seniority; with half the staff being at CAH for many years, there's not much room to go up in seniority at CAH.
Cons
- CAH doesn't stop serving food til 1 am so late nights are almost always guaranteed. This is especially tough if you're a student who has class in the morning or working another job. At first it may not seem like much but after awhile you can lose a lot of sleep if you are trying to juggle working here and going to school. - If you have a table, you MUST stay with that table until they leave. You absolutely cannot give your table away to anyone else under any circumstance. So even if you've had that table for 8+ hours, you still have to stay with them. This has got to be one of the biggest annoyances of working here. - The downtown location of CAH is massive. Three stories to be exact. The restaurant is actually two buildings put together. The main floor is the main dining area, bar and music hall. Downstairs is the game room & bar as well as a beer garden. Upstairs is office space where the owners are. As you can imagine though, running around on a busy Friday night gets to be exhausting at times because of how big the restaurant is. If your legs aren't in good shape when you start here, they definitely will be within a month. - Requesting time off usually isn't a problem at all. If you do it in advance and mention it to the manager making the schedule, it's almost always granted unless there's a big party/reservation/wedding reception where a lot of workers are needed. In addition, they work well with school schedules and/or if you have another job. Only stipulation is that you have to work Monday for Burger Night. If you can't, you more than likely won't be hired; if you are hired, you'll probably be given a pretty lame schedule every week.