"Wazin' me" approach ensures unmemorable service experience

One can live with a salad with grilled chicken that arrives instead of a 'chicken caesar'. It's how it's handled that shortens the bridge to tasting just as good as what one ordered. 
Last night we went to one of our favourite local haunts where we've been customers for years. The restaurant owner of Cantine can't always be there; when he is, it's usually a notch up, although he has managed to hire a couple of really conscientious front-house folks who display intelligence and awareness around customers the way he does - last night no one was about that took in the details. Too bad.

We arrived without a reservation on a Tuesday night around 6:45 - not too busy yet. No welcome.  The waiter made eye contact after a few minutes, but that was it. We asked if we could sit at a table for two near the front as we weren't being shown to one - and were told 'go for it'. Mmm. We ordered a 1/2 litre of wine and two dinner salads; my husband's was chicken caesar, mine salmon. Pretty simple order, right?  
We asked twice for water; when it finally came, there was no acknowledgement. The salads were brought by another waiter, who we have been delighted by before. He's 'got it' - gracious, patient and focused on us having a great experience. My husband let this waiter know that he'd ordered a chicken caesar, which hadn't arrived, and this chap apologized and offered to fix it. No, my husband said, he'd rather eat at the same time as me, and he'd just take this one. The delighting waiter told the one looking after us about the error in our order. He came to our table a few minutes after we'd started and said, "the kitchen made a mistake with your order". Oh. "So, " we both thought, "you took the order, it got screwed up, and your knee jerk is 'the kitchen made a mistake'?" Did it matter who's fault it was?  Is the fact that the ash cloud canceled a flight an excuse for not 'owning' making the best out of a situation for the customer?  Because we were ready to take the mistake and not kick up some dust, was it assumed that we didn't care or didn't need acknowledgment?  Apparently. What we were left with was the feeling that our waiter didn't care.

Opportunities were lost. Ours to be delighted just by being 'seen' instead of being treated like it didn't matter, especially because the blame could be placed elsewhere. The waiter's because he would likely have a more powerful perception of self if he had owned the problem, acknowledged this was less than ideal for the customer and set about to make it right. Cantine's for not watching the big picture and taking no notice when loyal customers aren't treated as valuable guests as well as revenue.