Horrible restaurant experiences

[leekohler]

I just figured that it would make for a more interesting thread if others shared their experiences instead of keeping it solely focused on mine.

Just because there are incidents of people in the restaurant business taking abuse from customers doesn't mean customers don't have the right to bitch about incidents in which they were treated like crap. If someone who worked at a restaurant started a thread complaining about a bad experience with a customer and asked for others to share their experiences, I wouldn't tell them to suck it up and focus on the good instead.

I didn't tell you to suck it up. But never mind. It's just bad memories of that business on my part.

 

[snberk103]

...

Why not focus on the good for a change?

Post #89....

And I'll add another.

In the small community I live in, there are a lot of people who have food sensitivities, mostly imaginary. (I know that food sensitivities are a serious issue.. it's just most of people we know don't have real ones, they just like the attention, in our opinion. Or they are following the current fad. Going out with friends can occasionally be an ordeal as the various "I can't eat .... X " list is consulted, and substitutions made. Ironically, we'll often see them eating "X" the next week because it's part of dessert..... )

Wait the 'positive' stuff is still coming ...

There's a saying here - "If you don't have a food allergy when you arrive, you will soon."

However, what this means is that when someone with a true food sensitivity eats out - the restaurant copes easily.

We had a couple of friends visiting from Calgary. One was extremely gluten intolerant, the other was vegetarian. They don't eat out in Calgary much. They said there are something like 3 restaurants in the entire city that they are now comfortable with after having some nasty experiences.

Even here, with restaurants that are used to coping with food sensitivities, it was hard to convince them to eat out. However - we prevailed and we headed out to a place we had confidence in. The server was knowledgeable about the menu. Knew what to avoid (for the gluten sensitive friend) and what could be substituted. They knew the importance of getting it right, and even consulted with the kitchen at one point. Finally, the meal was ordered. Shortly later the server came back and told the gluten sensitive friend that the kitchen was concerned with the order because they were worried they may have had some accidental cross contamination earlier that day into a sauce. The kitchen suggested an alternative (something that was not on the menu, incidentally) which was then ordered. The alternative meal was ended up being the best meal on the table that night! (And our meals were not bad at all...) The kitchen had really gone out of their way to make amends with a special effort, and our friends were suitably impressed.

 

[Surely]

I didn't tell you to suck it up. But never mind. It's just bad memories of that business on my part.

I know you didn't specifically say "suck it up", but to me your first post kind of said that in not so many words. Focus on the good, ignore the bad.

No biggie though.


For every bad experience I've had, I'm sure I've had at least 50 uneventful or good experiences. Unfortunately, the really bad ones stand out because they're rare.

 

[leekohler]

I know you didn't specifically say "suck it up", but to me your first post kind of said that in not so many words. Focus on the good, ignore the bad.

No biggie though.


For every bad experience I've had, I'm sure I've had at least 50 uneventful or good experiences. Unfortunately, the really bad ones stand out because they're rare.

I don't remember if you said so before, but did you ever talk to the owner of the French place? I just ask because usually **** comes from the top.

 

[Surely]

I don't remember if you said so before, but did you ever talk to the owner of the French place? I just ask because usually **** comes from the top.

The host who treated us like crap is the owner. I stated that in the OP, but I could understand missing that point because of how ***** long it is.

 

[leekohler]

The host who treated us like crap is the owner. I stated that in the OP, but I could understand missing that point because of how ***** long it is.

Oh great. I've worked for people like that before. If he was like that to you, imagine what he must be like to work for.

 

[cambookpro]

I wouldn't call it 'horrible', but I was at Wagamamas once and after we received our starter and ordered our main course, it basically never came. We waited 45 mins before asking someone, but they were very apologetic and gave us free drinks along with 25% off the bill. It was a pain waiting as we needed to get back for a 'party' (sort of a family gathering), but the service generally was great and the yasai katsu curry from Wagamama remains one of my favourite ever dishes.

 

[Jessica Lares]

I got ran over by a waiter at an outback once. I was lucky that the boilng food didn't spill on me.

 

[Carlanga]

I know it sucks being left behind a 'regular'; it happens in any restaurant that is not part of a chain. It has happened to me before and it will happen to all of us at one time or another. You just have to know how to deal w/ it; talk to the manager state your complain on how they skipped you and that the next table available is going to be yours right? (in a nice way though, you don't want 'extras' in your food ).

My worst experiences have been getting sick after eating; Once was w/ a chicken wrap w/ a spicy mayo sauce and another time was when I ate an eel roll of sushi that appears to have been undercooked. I also remember one time when I was in TX I called a manager of an Italian restaurant to complain and explain to him that you are not supposed to leave the shrimp w/ it's shell inside the pasta; only the ones that rest on top if you want.

 

[samiwas]

I think my worst experience so far was at a Friday's in downtown Philly (adding to my dislike of Philly). My wife and I were there for several weeks on a work project, and had sworn off this Friday's years earlier from a bad experience.

Previously, the waitress served the wrong salad twice after taking forever, and wrong drinks. This was on our lunch break from work, so we didn't have time to deal with it all. The manager just brushed it off as "she's really busy!" even thought the restaurant was nearly empty.

Anyway, years later, when back in Philly again, we decided to give it another shot. We went in later in the evening to get some dinner after a long work day, and it was on the walk back to our hotel. So we go in and sit, and wait...and wait. It takes forever to finally get someone's attention. I think it was a busboy. We asked him about our server. Finally, this guy who looked like a burned out Abercrombie model, comes over to our table and just huffs and says "Order". No greeting. No "My name is". Just "Order".

Since we had been waiting a while, we decided to order our appetizer and meal at once. So I order mine, and then my wife orders hers...she wanted one of the pastas without the meat. He barked back "You can't do that". She replied that she ordered it this way in plenty of other Friday's restaurants. He argued with her for a couple more rounds, and finally said "Alright, but I can;t discount the price for no meat." She said "I didn't expect you to...I just don't want the meat." His response, "Hey...I was just trying to help you out." All of this in a very condescending tone.

So now we wait, and wait, and wait...and finally get our drinks. Then we wait, and wait, and wait...and we see him coming with our appetizers. As he comes down the stairs, he loses his balance and drops the tray, so some of the stuff falls down on the floor, one of them being the bowl of chips for the spinach and artichoke dip. He proceeds to pick up the bowl of chips, with about four chips left in it, and comes and drops everything on our table without saying a word. Four chips in the bowl. Which had been on the floor. There was something else that I can't remember that he picked up and threw on our table. The guy was just a total douchebag.

My wife and I stared at each other in disbelief. By this time, she was practically in tears. We decided that we were done. I looked for someone to call over a manager, but yet again, no one was to be found for several minutes. I finally went up to the bar and demanded that a manager come see us at our table. Finally, a manager came to see us and I, very calmly (surprising even myself), told her the string of events. I told her this was the absolute worst service I had ever experienced at a restaurant, and that we were leaving, and not paying for anything. I also let her know that this was the second time we were writing off this restaurant for the bad service. She begged us to stay and that she would comp our meal, but there was no way. Not if I had to even see that server guy again. I hope that guy got fired that night...he had absolutely no business serving people.

So we left and went to another place where we had a wonderful dinner, and service.

 

[radiogoober]

It sounds like the vast majority of the horrible customer stories on that website are completely fabricated. While I do not doubt that there are *many* horrible customers, the way they are written screams "********!" In every single story the waitstaff is behaving flawlessly while the customer sounds like a complete lunatic. ...

 

[jsolares]

I think my worst experience so far was at a Friday's in downtown Philly (adding to my dislike of Philly). My wife and I were there for several weeks on a work project, and had sworn off this Friday's years earlier from a bad experience...

The only bad experiences i've had at a Friday's is when it's almost empty, not once when it's full or even has ppl waiting.

 

[hafr]

You should have just gone with this in the first place.

I'm not going to waste my time replying to your nonsense.

You rather sit there on your high horse? Fine by me. Take care.

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Probably just as badly as it would affect business in a situation where someone showed up on time for a reservation and was made to wait.

In the OP's case - that restaurant lost a new customer. Chances are if the "regulars" would have been made to wait, they would have understood. Because, you know, they were late. On the other hand, the new customer was treated poorly - and the restaurant lost business that night and future business because of it.

You don't have to have worked in a restaurant to understand logic. If some of these restaurants put themselves in the shoes of their customers, they would probably be better off.

Do you know the other couple hadn't been in earlier and seen that there would be a long wait? Do you know they hadn't called in advance to notify that they would be late? Are we sure that the table that they (a couple) was big enough to seat OP and his entourage?

And to be honest, the fact that the OP chose to stand with his arms crossed and staring at the personnel probably didn't help one god damn bit, but most likely just increased the hostility of the situation.

Of course there is the possibility that the restaurant personnel was being right bastards, I'm just saying that with the information given it's far from obvious.

 

[avro707]

Worst one might have been a Thai place in my city. The food was good, but waited for ages. It wasn't very busy either. And that's only really a minor complaint, so nothing too much to worry about.

Otherwise, I've not had any particularly bad experiences. I do my research first and go to the known better restaurants.

My favourite is probably En Casa in Sydney, love that place. But it is so loud! They do takeaway too, which is just super!

I also used to eat breakfast in the mornings at a very nice cafe/restaurant in World Square Sydney, and they knew about customer service. Great Segafredo coffee made by a Barista who really knew what he was doing, and the staff knew exactly what the regular customers wanted, before you even asked. The barista apparently was also a DJ in another time, had a good sense of choosing great music.

And you didn't order at the counter, oh no - you simply took a table and the staff would come to you.

Unfortunately the coffee changed to a different brand, and the barista left, but the service is still the same.

 

[eric/]

Fortunately, the worst experience I've had was simply a chain restaurant attempting to charge me an adult meal price for the kids meal I ordered.

 

[Old Muley]

The year, 1991. The place, Eau Claire Wisconsin. There was a little local place that friends and I had been enjoying for a while, kind of an eclectic menu of American and international fare. I hadn't been in for a while so I decided to take my wife (then girlfriend) in for lunch. Apparently between my visits the restaurant had come under new management and they decided to go in a more vegan direction with the menu. The first thing we noticed on arrival was the presence of a large golden retriever which was wandering in and out of the kitchen and around the dining room. The dog spent a fair amount of time visiting with us since although it was the lunch hour, we were the one of two couples in the whole place. The waitress who took our order arrived at our table barefoot. (I thought "no shoes/no shirt/no service" applied to patrons, not employees.) we found something on the menu to try, I forget what I had, but my girlfriend ordered a salad. When the barefoot waitress returned with our food, my girlfriend noticed something moving in her salad...there were several small, green inchworms crawling about. We immediately called the waitress back and pointed out the bugs. Her response was something like "we use organic produce", to which I asked "you still wash it, right?!?" We then involved the manager who at first told my girlfriend to "eat around the worms"; he might have been joking, but I couldn't tell. They took my girlfriend's salad back to the kitchen, and brought her a "new" one, but it was obvious that someone had just dug through hers to look for worms and then returned it. At this point neither one of us were in the mood to eat. As I recall, they didn't charge us for my girlfriends meal. This was our final visit to this place, and soon thereafter it was closed down for good.

 

[Surely]

You rather sit there on your high horse? Fine by me. Take care.
.

High horse? No.

I just feel it's a waste of time to interact with you.

 

[iJohnHenry]

I just feel it's a waste of time to interact with you.

Some people on MR would argue that a dead man is alive ..... to the corpse.

 

[anjinha]

I don't think I've had any "horrible" experiences. There have been little screw ups but nothing serious. As long as they fix it and are polite it's really not a big deal for me.

This one time I went to a really nice Peruvian restaurant with my boyfriend and a group of friends. Pretty much as soon as we got there I started feeling really terrible (I was just coming down with the flu). I only had an appetiser (and barely) and then ordered some tea. Since it was taking a while I asked our waitress about it. It turns out that they had run out of the tea I ordered and she got distracted with one of her other tables so she forget to tell me. She apologised, told me all the teas they had available and brought it right away and comped it. She also brought a heater closer to me because I was shivering, even though I already had my boyfriend's jacket on.

She fixed her mistake right away, was very polite about it so no harm done. We still gave her a great tip.

 

[Hexiii]

They sold me orange chicken instead of tangerine chicken

 

[Purple2012]

Haven't posted this in a while.


A couple of weeks ago we decided to cruise out to Ryan's Steakhouse for dinner. It was a Wednesday night which means that macaroni and beef was on the hot bar, indeed the only night of the week that it is served. Wednesday night is also kid's night at Ryan's, complete with Dizzy the Clown wandering from table to table entertaining the little bastards.
.......................
When I finished getting dressed, I picked up the hose and cleaned up the entire stall, washing down the remains toward the drain in the center of the room. I put down the hose and walked out of the bathroom. I had intended to go to the manager and thank him for all he had done, but when I walked out, three of the management staff were there to greet me with a standing ovation. I started laughing so hard that I thought I was going to throw up again, but managed to scurry out to the car where my wife was now waiting to pick me up by the front door. The upshot of all this is that I strongly recommend eating dinner at Ryan's Steak House. They have, by far, the nicest management staff of any restaurant in which I have eaten.

This story is something I will remember for the rest of my life.

 

[firstrev360]

I remember seeing a small, dead cockroach in my iced tea... It was really traumatic...