Do you send food back in the restaurant?

i never have

i should have

but only maybe twice.

ILX social mores poll beautiful work mad opinions incoming kiss 💋

the real question is if u tip after sending something back

Only once in all my years have I done this.

It was in 2000. We were staying in a tiny village in the west of Ireland. The hostess of the B&B talked up the idea of eating at the restaurant attached to a local school for chefs. The restaurant was of the white linen tablecloth and candle on the table variety and seemed a cut above.

We'd already eaten plenty of suppers over the length of our stay and I was tired of pub food or the inevitable salmon. To my surprise the menu listed tempura! To my lasting regret I ordered it. My wife ordered lamb I think.

When my plate arrived there were some cooked carrots, some rice, and three enormous dough balls, within which were exactly three small morsels of vegetable wrapped in inches thick of dough. I attempted to eat it, but it was inedible. Clearly, tempura was an item no living soul at the cooking school had ever seen a photograph of, much less eaten, but what I was served was assembled by guesswork and based upon a rumor, like sea monsters or the yeti.

I tried to explain that this mass of dough was not tempura. The young server took it back to the kitchen, but returned to assure me that I was mistaken and this was indeed tempura. They didn't even offer to comp me a different meal or not charge for the garbage they gave me. It was a hungry and disheartening evening.

My wife enjoyed her lamb.

I was once told "Eat what the locals eat," and that's good advice.

send it back and you get a few tablespoons of spittle and jizz in it the next time - the last thing you ever want to do is complain to some fucker who is making your food, no matter how bad it is! If the food is bad then just don't return there, I say.

only once. i was going out for lunch and there was a dairy queen nearby and for some reason i decided to order the hamburger. do not order a hamburger at dairy queen. if you have to eat something besides ice cream there get the chicken strips. anyway i sent it back and said "actually can i have the chicken strips". because i need to eat something before i went back to work, and i didn't have money to go to another restaurant and buy something more edible.

My wife has dietary restrictions. If her burger arrives with cheese, despite my having explicitly said "Burger — no cheese," it's going back. Me, I'll eat any fuckin' thing.

DQ burgers were cooked on a flame grill conveyor belt when I worked there and couldn't really go wrong. Saw some raw chicken strips in my day, however.

I don’t think I’ve ever done this before - no, wait, I did once at a Friendly’s in like 1998, when the pancakes were dry and gross.

Most of the time - and it’s rare that a meal is so utterly terrible that it’s inedible - I just roll with it. Sometimes the meal is the lesson that you’re just not meant to eat at a place again.

Never do this. If your meal is that bad, contact mgmt (the band)

Sometimes the meal is the lesson that you’re just not meant to eat at a place again.

otm. I don't think I have ever actually done this? trying to recall.

Never have never will. You eat what's on your plate and you live with your choices imo

No

why would you do this

besides allergies

raw chicken is the only other legit reason I can think of

I once sent back a risotto for being saltier than movie theater popcorn

I thought about it once when I got a ham and mustard sandwich in a pub in Soho and whoever made it either hated me or was not familiar with English mustard. it was absolutely slathered in it and completely inedible. since I am English I just scraped most of it off and got on with it

I’ve only done it that I can think of when I ordered a vegetarian version of a dish and they brought me meat. I’m not a jerk about it, but it’s not what I ordered and I’m not going to eat that.

once at a hotel restaurant i watched my mum silently finish a plate of carbonara pasta that was so overcooked it looked like scrambled eggs

my people do not “send food back”

we eat it and pay for our meal and leave and we then tell everyone we know that they should never eat there

this is the way

hard agree

I’ve sent back food with hair in it.

There was also the Denny’s in Colorado Springs where my dad ordered a salad with oil and vinegar salad dressing and he sent it back to the kitchen because the carafe of vinegar they brought out had a thin film of gnats on the surface of the vinegar; I don’t think that is a “just eat it” situation

In conclusion, there’s a difference between being polite and actively harming yourself

Oh, your dad was 100% in the right.

And: hair in the food would be a dealbreaker

*once* they did that whole taste-the-wine rigamarole and the bottle had gone bad; i was honestly pleased to learn that it was a possibility

never sent any food back. i'm not necessarily opposed to it, but it's never come up (and would have to be gross)

I feel like gross/unclean or dangerously undercooked are pretty reasonable reasons to send food back

bad wine you should absolutely send back given they mark that shit up like 500 percent

one time i was out with this guy and i got this order of "bacon" that looked like a slab of lard, i guess bc it was so fatty / undercooked or whatever - i was like whatever i just won't eat it. but he called the waiter over and goes " would you eat this? " lol

if I get something “wrong” or “bad” I just suck it up and get something to eat afterwards?

make this martini again, chap

look

mentioning the thing is an embarrassment for all involved and it’s better just to pack your bags and leave town than to confront anyone over it

this is the way

I generally don't even if it's a mistake. Unless it's something I outright can't bear to eat but really the only thing I won't eat is Eggs Benedict.

My parents don't either but one time we went to a Zaxby's and mom clearly ordered a Zax sandwich or something, then got mad when that showed up and started carrying on loudly like a child to dad that he screwed up her order, that she ordered the Zax Snack.

This was like 2012 when Dad still was fully functional, but he's embarrassed, Zaxby's staff staring awkwardly, and me saying through gritted teeth "that IS what you ordered, Dad and I heard it, and if you won't eat it, just give it to me and you can eat my goddamn food".

It was weird. She wasn't usually like that.

Also I have the worst palette so nothing tastes bad to me unless you piss on it so ....I mean a rare steak or a burnt one might do it.

I've sent back food that's gone bad quite a few times. I'm not gonna sicken myself, and also I should think the restaurant would want to know if their food has gone bad. Once I sent back some fish and a guy at the table next to mine said, "I could tell by the smell of your fish that it was bad." So I think even chefs don't realize sometimes what they're sending out. Less frequently I've sent back food that wasn't done enough... those cases can be borderline and sometimes I'll just eat something that's too rare for my liking just to avoid the bother.

Based on replies so far, only the first two options will get any votes with 'Never' the runaway winner.

The only time I ever walked out mod meal was because they treated my friend like shit.

My friend prefers to cook for herself because she can't have dairy due to an allergy, abd lots of restaurants don't have great dairy-free/vegan options.

One time a year ago we went to Kobe with her, a place she did love to eat out because they had vegan butter so she could eat it without having dairy. Did this many times without issue in the past, so it was a fav of hers.

Anyway, a year or two ago, we go, and get possibly the one dick Kobe cook that has probably ever existed in the history of Kobe. He starts ribbing her about her allergy and making jokes about having to use different butter for her ("nah, no vegan butter, we'll just call 911"), which she was not appreciative of.

But he cooks her rice properly in the vegan butter, so w/e. then he gets to her veggies and for whatever reason forgets about her allergy and the fact that he just made her shit in vegan butter and starts cooking her stuff in the regular butter.

So my friend just politely pointed out she couldn't eat that due to the butter and the cook like visibly gets agitated and says loudly "I GUESS YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED HOME THEN, huh"

Instead of apologizing and fixing it he got legitimately aggravated, out of the usual comedic trappings of thr usual Kobe cool, and he said loudly "I GUESS YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED HOME, then huh?", and gesturing to the other people.

One of the other customers said "yeah don't worry about her, you can't please everyone". Friend is mortified and leaves the table crying, her boyfriend tells him he's fucking rude and runs after her, and the rest of us got up and left.

We don't go to that Kobe anymore lol. But that was really weird like, I've been going there since I was a child and never ran into someone who was such an asshole

Sorry for duplicate text I was posting this on phone and parts I thought I deleted were left in lol

when mr veg and i first met we went to a starbucks & i ordered a mocha with whipped cream

they gave me my drink & there was no whipped cream on it & i said “thank you” and took my drink

mr veg was like “didn’t you ask for whipped cream?” and i was like “it doesn’t matter” so he just nicely says to the barista “hey can you add some whipped cream?”
as i dreamed of walking into traffic
but they did add the cream
and no one died
and it was an object lesson in just asking for things
but still it was terrible

In 50ish years, exactly once, for an actively unpleasant smelly piece of food. Otherwise I just pay and leave and don't go back.

Xpost And you dreamed of the barista who couldn't sleep at night, trying to find out how things went wrong.

How could I forget...her cream

someone out there who has sent food back 50+ times is reading this thread going hmph. hmph!

AS I DREAMED OF WALKING INTO TRAFFIC killed me a little

good story Neanderthal lol people are awful

The only other time I ever went food back was when I bit into my eggs and chomped down hard on a big piece of glass

omg. one time at a greek resto in queens a friend received a SCREW in her chowder and we all had a big laugh about it with the wait crew who were a lovely family and comped half our meal lol.

Just once, when the pizza crust was literally raw dough.

no, just peeing in the house wine I think!

Peeno Grigio

I have no problem with sending something back if there's something egregiously wrong with it, something like raw chicken, a large bug or other foreign object. I once found a short strip of heavy duty staples in my pizza at Blaze Pizza, and had no qualms with complaining about it.

What I've done most often is point out when the server/bartender got my order wrong or misheard me: fries instead of a salad. They often bring me a salad anyway.

I most recently sent back uncooked shrimp, which apparently scared a manager enough for her to personally apologize.

But otherwise it's been years.

Sometimes you *have* to complain - the meal as prepared is totally inedible or actively dangerous!

There is also the element of luck or fate in this - some of us just haven’t stumbled into as many (or any) awfully prepared meals.

yeah I'm highly unlikely to send stuff back too

sadly the thing is if the food's really shit not sending it back still leaves you with the waiter going "was there a problem with the meal?" and then you have to do the "oh no I just wasn't that hungry" spiel

i have worked the last two nights in the restaurant where i work and
* two ladies sent back their moscow mules because they tasted "weird". one replaced it with prosecco and the other asked for a West Bank (she meant Left Bank, one of our house cocktails) She loled nervously while i waited for her to stop.

* a child turned up her nose at the lemonade, asked for a rootbeer, received it. I forgot to take the lemonade off the check and the mom reminded me and said "it's ok, you don't have to take it off, but it's still on the bill" and I promptly took it off the bill because why bring it up if you don't want to have it removed?!?!

No complaints about the food because our food is good and the people who make it are consistent and professional some fucker who is making your food, they are not. (also please watch your words, these are real people and that is v rude!)

As for myself, i rarely eat in restaurants and the only time i remember sending something back is when there was a rock in the bruschetta. They comped our entire meal, which was unnecessary, but i did think they should know there was a rock in the food.

A Rock in the Bruchetta and Other Stories

Once I was traveling in Southwest China, a beautiful old city called Guilin. I as hungry, it was dinnertime, and every restaurant was packed except one which was suspiciously empty. I sat down to eat in it (first big mistake), ordered a dish with cooked meat and raw vegetables (second big mistake), which arrived immediately, lukewarm. I said "fuck it" and ate it anyway (third and final big mistake) and got the worst food poisoning (well, giardia) I've ever had, just constant cramping and expelling of liquids from both ends for three days until I could buy some antibiotics from a guy on the street on my first tentative venture outside the hostel.

xxp

my crude phrasing was not intended as a denigration of kitchen staff. I worked as Kitchen Porter before which is a combined dishwashing/dealing with kitchen deliveries/ cleaning role. Which kind of puts you at the bottom of the kitchen hierarchy! The way I see it is stressful work in a kitchen and it's still hard work even if you are making bad food and there could be a number of mitigating reasons the food isn't good which are beyond the kitchen staff's control. That's why I'd never send anything back unless it was raw meat or had broken glass in it, not because of the quality of the food.

I ate at Texas Roadhouse once, a real nightmare, do not recommend. We didn’t each much of our food because it wasn’t good. The manager randomly came over and asked how we were doing and we told her the food wasn’t that good but our server was amazing and a really kind person.

xp that is all great and thank you for the explanation although i had no way of knowing your intention when i read your post containing the phrase "some fucker who is making your food," and i got defensive of kitchen staff, who work hard and stand next to hot ovens to make food for hours on end, day after day

Yes, I send stuff back. Usually if it is something that's severely undercooked, still frozen in the middle, or includes non-edible items (rocks/glass/plastic). Probably the fussiest I get is if I get an over easy or poached egg and it comes completely cooked through. I really don't want a hardboiled egg on my eggs benedict.

I would never send something back if it is just not to my taste. That's a me problem.

Rarely but I will if something's not cooked or burnt or whatever. I mean, why wouldn't you?

"I don't like parsnips after all" vs "If I eat this raw meat I will die"

I have twice -- inedibly salty blackened redfish (the manager came out and loudly pass-agg apologized "but that's how blackened fish is supposed to be" and I said "no way, not that salty") and once with grouper that was still raw in the middle. I'm easygoing about most things but fish needs to be right.

a few years back a Brit tourist died of multiple blood clots from a severe reaction after eating raw chicken at a Greek buffet, it sounded like a horrible death as well. You don't mess about with raw chicken.

when I'm cooking chicken it's always overcooked, I wash my hands about 10 times and thoroughly wash the cutting board and knife for cross contamination risks. Raw chicken makes me queasy just looking at it.

never done this, i only would if i felt it was unsafe/inedible

one time I went to a cafe and got a completely raw piece of chicken on a bun, didn't want to make a fuss so I ate the whole thing. I did mention the fact it was a little underdone, he spit in my face and called me an asshole. I wiped it off and said "thank you sir." Ended up in the hospital with salmonella, when I got out I started a GoFundMe to help pay for the server's daughter's college education.

I will bring things up if they are really wrong but am always very apologetic about it. Like, "hey, sorry to mention this, but just thought you should know your toast is moldy."

A coffee shop I used to go to had a sign up saying something to the effect of, "___% of customers never complain about their food, they just never go to the place again. Please let us know if something's wrong so we have a chance to fix it," and so I think of that sometimes and try to balance it out with not wanting to be someone who complains. (That cafe had consistently terrible coffee, though, and I never asked them to remake it, but I also never drank it. I was there for the ambience and the couches.)

Once I was out at a restaurant in New York with my dad and uncle and ordered spinach ravioli and was brought lobster ravioli. I brought it up to the server only because I didn't want us to be charged for the lobster which was more expensive, and he was horrified and fell over himself apologizing in a way that puzzled me until I looked around at my table and realized how very Jewish we all looked.

lol ums

re: moldy stuff, I went to a gas station convenience store and got a sub because I was on my way to a tailgate and only had 5 minutes to grab anything.

I ripped off the paper and saw not only was the ham moldy, it wasn't even like a little bit....the ham was basically blue from top to bottom. almost threw up.

didn't go back to get my money back, cos I didn't have time. grossest thing I ever saw. I did email them though to warn them because I figured that wasn't the only moldy sandwich out there on the shelf.

when I was on the other side, as a waiter, the thing that annoyed me were guests who didn't know the temperatures of steak at all.

like how frequently people would order medium rare then make me take it back to get the 'pink' out of it.

Neanderthal- I have had the convenience store experience you describe, but with a breakfast sandwich. As someone who has a huge problem with mold I his was a dramatic thing though I didn’t throw up. Of course I didn’t open it up until I was back in whatever hotel, and wound up just throwing it away and looking for food elsewhere. Another lesson learned.

My experience of mold was at a quayside coffee shop in Exeter. I sat outside and ordered coffee with cream and a plate of toast with butter and jam, and was very pleased at being able to order something so simple and eat it by the water. The bread was moldy and the half and half had gone bad, so the entire meal was spoiled. I let them know but they didn't seem particularly concerned, probably because they knew I was a tourist who wouldn't be back anyway.

Back when I was a corporate whore and not a social worker I had a very bougie dinner at Gramercy Park Tavern (high end NYC place) and as I enjoyed my very delicious salad I encountered the teeny tiniest green inchworm, it was kind of charming as opposed to yuck! Spouse and I were admiring it and the server noticed, came over, and was completely appalled and apologetic, whisked it away and had another in front me in like 30 seconds. I was just impressed that the greens were so fresh that a wee inchworm was still living its best life in there. I would have finished it no problem, I'd just leave behind the little inchy and his home.

Similarly I was a high-end restaurant in Paris (dining is a favorite vacation activity, sorry not sorry) and needed a refill of my sparkling water. The bottle was right next to the table in a silver chiller thing on a stand, right at my arm. I picked it up to pour some more water, was spotted by the server; I really think he almost had a heart attack and literally RAN to take over the pouring. I think it ruined his day, so distressed was he that a guest was in a position to have to embark on the terribly onerous task of pouring H20 into her glass.

im gonna just check, paris france you say this was in the paris in france, that paris?

wait staff in paris france not what id have called famous for concern over guest welfare is the thing

i hear the high end in that paris is in nosebleed inducing territory, so maybe not so hard to believe in this instance

My wife and I just celebrated a milestone anniversary and we went to a steakhouse and her cut came out a bit more gristly/tendony at medium-rare than one would expect for a restaurant of that caliber so when the server came by to ask how everything was my wife mentioned it and showed the server how much effort she was making into getting through the steak and she apologized without hesitation and brought out another cut that was much better... she was happy to do it and we didn't feel guilty or anything. We don't eat out nearly as much as we used to so that's my immediate baseline.

Done it many times with corked wine and the somm is always on hand to verify and it's purely transactional, ime the employees don't have an emotional stake in the ops, it's a mere process.

agree with all of that, like calm down they can handle it

We had a long wait at a really popular breakfast place recently. When the food came out, mine was cold. Not lukewarm, but cold. It had obviously been finished first and sat there waiting. Under the circumstances, I did ask for it to be heated. To their credit, the staff were really apologetic and not only heated it, but took it off the bill. I almost felt like an asshole, but I would have felt worse if I hadn’t said anything.

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/anonymous-prole-info-abolish-restaurants

wait staff in paris france not what id have called famous for concern over guest welfare is the thing

while banging your fist on the table and clicking your fingers and yelling oi skippy every time you want another beer!

One time I found a metal screw in my pizza. Presumably from the oven. I quietly removed it, ate the pizza. I think they took it off the bill.

once a scalding hot metal ring just pinged out of a spotlight in the ceiling narrowly missing my head. It was more a case of I was talking to the waiting staff about how odd it was that it pinged out like a bullet and they apologised but I knew it would be the fault of whoever fitted it and didn't screw it on tightly. I did jokingly say does this mean I get a free pizza. I didn't get a free pizza.

i mean, that sounds like a free pizza to me.

xp a person of honor

I found wait staff perfectly hospitable in Paris it helps to try to speak French and not demand bangers and mash

― from a prominent family of bassoon players (Boring, Maryland), Saturday, 2 March 2024 19:58 (twenty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

cheers for the pointers but lemme tell you that the sentiment stands

One time I was eating foie gras and I bit down and was alarmed to find a piece of Philip Glass

did it repeat on you?

boom

The rest is silence

Oh shit that might be a pun I had missed (because literally, in music, a rest is, in fact, silence)

😂😂

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