Good customer service...

Amedeo's North has the best restaurant customer service. It is a family owned business. The owner, Rick, really makes you feel welcomed. You can watch a game with friends and enjoy dinner with your kids. The lasagna is the best in town. There is a good priced lunch menu. The staff are friendly and serve your food quickly. It's clean and so inviting.

Santana Creative
on Hargrove Road
santanacreative.com

Their focus is shoe and bag repair. Super nice! They PERFECTLY repaired the finish on the handles of my favorite handbag. It looks BRAND NEW. When I picked it up, they brought it out to me plump with tissue ;-)

Bistro 64 in MacGregor Village has by far, the best staff in the area! From the hostess to bartenders to servers to the owners, they go to great lengths to remember guests' names and dishes they like. Very, very personable and they aim to make your evening the most enjoyable experience possible. And the food is FANTASTIC!

The Athlete's Foot at Cameron Village is tops for running stuff. It took me three pairs of shoes before I found the right ones, and they were helpful and patient, and even exchanged a pair that I had purchased and tried out and then discovered that they weren't the right match.

I second the Trendy Toes endorsement...my daughter has narrow feet and the owner knows right away which styles will fit. It's the only place I have gone to buy shoes for her in the past two years.

I also like Swagger in Cary - it's a unique gift shop, reasonable prices and excellent customer service.

The gals over at Kim's Tailor at corner of Strickland and Falls are great. They do a fantastic job making suggestions on how things should be done to look right. They questioned if it was worth tailoring one of my older style suitcoats, and they were right - now that it's tailored, I still don't wear the thing. The finished product always looks great on me and the price is right.

I love the customer service at Ace Hardware at North Ridge's and Seaboard, and Seaboard Wine. They'll leave you in peace if you want to browse, are very helpful if you need assistance, and will tell you where to look if they don't have what you're looking for. Plus, 90% of the things I would otherwise get at Lowe's or Home Depot, I can find at Ace Hardware in 10% of the time.

I've always had great success with Cary Plumbing. They give fair quotes, are neat and tidy, and honest. We redid our guest bath this summer ourselves but needed them for a little plumbing work. We thought we would need a pipe connection moved in addition to some other work. The plumber showed us how to make the existing connection work with the vanity we bought and saved us money. That's refreshing and rare!

The Borough, really? Must have a different staff than the time I attended. Notably haven't been back since... may give it another try. Maybe.

Hudson's Hardware in Garner is one of my favorites. If I can avoid one of the home store big boxes for what I need, the service, experience and knowledge of Hudson's trumps the big boys.

I'm sure I have more local recommendations, but I'll have to come back when they hit me.

OH - before I forget - Olde Raleigh Shoe Repair (sandwiched in between Caribou and Moe's) does the BEST job I've ever seen on my heels and boots and for much less than others... so impressed that I blogged about it on my fashion blog - Hanging In My Closet.

Trendy Toes in Saltbox Village (Cary) has EXCELLENT customer service! We always go there for our daughter's shoes. The owner is very knowledgeable about all the different styles and brands they carry. I like that he helps you narrow down all the possibilities to the ones that are likely to fit your child best, so you don't have to try on every pair in the store to find something that works.

They are also very patient with kids who aren't too crazy about getting measured or trying on shoes (like mine!). It is SO much easier than trying to wrestle your kid in & out of 15 pairs in the aisle at Target.

Great Grapes in Cary has consistently excellent customer service. The owner and the employees are extremely helpful and knowledgeable when discussing wines, but they never talk down to you (me!) if you're unsure of what you're looking for. They also send out frequent emails informing customers of wine tasting events, special sales and current good deals -- and the deals are usually _very_ good! As a young consumer who refuses to go to Total Wine because I don't want to fill out a form with all my information on it (which they make you do if you're under 30 or 35), I prefer to support this local business any chance I get.

I almost always have outstanding service at The Borough. The staff there really knows how to take care of the customer. They're also all witty and friendly. They don't just wait on their tables and ignore empty glasses at tables beside them. Instead they work together as a team to make sure all their tables are taken care of. Also the food is delicious and super cheap!