Anyone ever bite into a mystery item at a restaurant?

[DeltaDiamond001]

A few years ago, I was having lunch at a local restaurant and found this giant, multicolored bug (like something from a foreign country) in my chicken Caesar salad. The worst part; it was alive and crawling around...

Needless to say, I brought it to our server's attention. The manager came out and was SO apologetic. Our meal was not only fully comped, but he also gave us a $50 gift certificate for a future visit.

We've been to this restaurant many times since and have never had a problem. I feel that the way this issue was handled was top notch, and unless both the food and service is exceptionally poor, I do not write off places completely.

 

[kimmar067]

"Let me ask you this: Did you ever eat a hamburger and there's a hard thing in it? It's like a toenail. You know it's not part of the hamburger, but you separate the meat and the lettuce and the pickle all on one side of your mouth and finally on your tongue you get this little thing. And it's like a bone...but it's not a bone. I keep asking myself, Roseanne Roseannadanna, if they can make a coffee I like without caffeine, how come they can't make a hamburger I like with no toenails?"

 

[Dr.Girlfriend]

My husband and his friend went to Olive Garden for dinner one night. When their salad arrived, my husband took the tongs to take out a scoop of salad, and he heard something rustle in the bowl. He dug out a plastic bag - the kind that salad gets shipped in to some restaraunts. The manager came over and was trying to insist that my husband put the bag in there because they don't use bagged salad (according to the manager - my husband didn't believe that).

We recently went to Earl of Sandwich and I ordered a tuna salad. I took a forkful of tuna off the top to eat first and I saw something shining...it was the part of the metal scoop (like an ice cream scoop) that "scrapes" the tuna off of the scoop when you hit the lever. I took it back to the counter and the manager gave me a new salad and tried to give me a brownie, but I said no. Haha.

 

[Dr.Girlfriend]

Oh man, how did I forget this?

Fourth grade. Lunchtime at school. I got fried chicken and you know how sometimes the chicken has like this little "concave" area under it where the bones are? Well - I noticed something darker colored than the caramel colored fried chicken. Turned it over - big, dead, wolf spider.

I didn't eat school lunch for a LONG time.

 

[luvmy3jewels]

We've had a few...

We bought some potatoes from a local farmer a couple of years ago. One of the potatoes had a large rock in it. The potato had grown around the rock, so we didn't find it until we split it open after cooking it. We told the farmer who we had bought it from, and they gave us a bunch of new potatoes (which we weren't expecting...we just thorught it was a fun story.)

My dad once found a penny in his baked sweet potato at an Outback. It was really bizarre and we all wondered how it ended up in the potato (I don't think our server believed him). What you posted about potatos may explain how it got there.

The next time we visited an Outback (this one was on the OBX), dad found a roach in his napkin when he unrolled his silverware. The waitress blew us off when we told her, so when I got home I went to their website and complained. Well, the manager called me and pretty much accused us of lying because "they have a contract with a pest control company who visits regularly". His attitude really ticked me off and we haven't eaten at an Outback since.

 

[PatsMom]

Many years ago I was in the Air Force and stationed in Oklahoma. My brother in law lived with us one summer because his parents wanted him out of California because of the crowd he was running with. One evening we decided to go to the NCO Club for dinner as a treat.

I remember we all had steak with baked potato and the salad bar. A real treat meal for us living on military enlisted pay! When Bobby, my BIL, was almost done his baked potato he found a huge dead spider at the bottom! Don't know if it died and the potato grew around it or if it somehow managed to get through the skin and died in there.

We brought it to the attention of our server and he was offered a replacement potato. Which didn't do much for us since we were pretty much done our meal. I was glad we were almost done because the thought of him biting into the spider made me pretty nauseous!

I do see a trend in Olive Garden postings on this thread. I think I will have to think hard before I eat there again!

 

[Mickeypooh99]

We were at the zoo one time in the fall. It happened to be a really warm fall day, and there were tons of ladybugs flying all over. I was just munching on popcorn out of a bucket, and all of the sudden I tasted something really bad in my mouth. I spit it out onto a napkin, and it was a lady bug!

Then my DS was eating a chili dog from National Coney Island, and he bit into a piece of metal shaving. It looked like a piece of a can that might have come off when they were using a can opener. The manager of that place was really good about it. He gave us a huge discount on the bill, and brought my DS something else to eat.

 

[MzDiz]

My husband and his friend went to Olive Garden for dinner one night. When their salad arrived, my husband took the tongs to take out a scoop of salad, and he heard something rustle in the bowl. He dug out a plastic bag - the kind that salad gets shipped in to some restaraunts. The manager came over and was trying to insist that my husband put the bag in there because they don't use bagged salad.

Yes they do, at least they did when I worked there in the early 90's. They use the Dole (I think it's Dole) American Blend. It comes in massive bags, but it is indeed bagged salad. It looks exactly the same now as it did back then, so I'm assuming it's the same bagged salad.

 

[MzDiz]

I once opened a can of green beans and found a HUGE grasshopper right there on the top of the beans. It was the same color as the beans. It was actually really funny.

The gross one was a wadded up dirty napkin at the bottom of a box of fries from Burger King. I don't even know how they didn't see that.

I've got to stick up for the ol' Olive Garden. When I worked there almost 20 years ago, it was the cleanest restaurant I've ever worked in. Though, you can't clean stupid off employees.

 

[marcyinPA]

I am the queen of finding foreign objects in my food. Let's see- a metal shaving (from can I suspect), a piece of glass plate, numerous times I've found hair- and the grossest- I ordered a main meal salad at Red Robin and there was a DEAD FLY in it. SOOOO GROSS!!! I told them to take it away, and I could not eat anything else that night. They comped the salad- which I only had a bite or two of anyway.

My DH laughs at me- because I always inspect my food as I eat it. Not him- he inhales his and probably would never know if he ate something he shouldn't have.

 

[marmalade]

I got hit 2x's at the restaurant Zebb's in one visit. I ordered a cheeseburger and when the waitress brought it out I looked at it and said really?????? It burnt to a crisp, the waitress said I told the cook to make a new one but he insisted on me seeing if you wanted it. Since I was not in the mood for charcoal I said I want a new one.

The next one came out and looked fine until I bit into it, there was a piece of a rubber gloved cooked into it. Needless to say I left there hungry that day and never returned. Especially since the manager never came out to apologize to me.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

I bit onto a hunk of plastic in my salad at Applebee. It looked like a piece of one of their drink glasses. got our whole meal free!

As kid my mom was make Stove Top stuffing and poured the stuffing in the pot with a 3" hunk of electrical wire came out of the package! She dried the stuffing and mailed it back to them. They mailed her 10 coupons for free stuffing.

 

[marmalade]

Another time I was in college and ordered chinese food and opened my fortune cookie first and it said "You are in for a great surprise". When I took my first bite of my lo mein I got the longest nastiest piece of hair. My fortune was correct that day.

 

[Princess Row]

A few weeks ago my mom and I ate at a local chinese restaurant and we were enjoying our meal when I suddenly hear a CRUNCH and my mom spit something out. There was a ROCK in our fried rice. Yes a rock. We showed the waiter....she shrugged and said hmmm thats strange. No appology, nothing.

 

[Dr.Girlfriend]

Yes they do, at least they did when I worked there in the early 90's. They use the Dole (I think it's Dole) American Blend. It comes in massive bags, but it is indeed bagged salad. It looks exactly the same now as it did back then, so I'm assuming it's the same bagged salad.

I went back and edited my comment because I meant to say that the manager told my husband that they do NOT use bagged salad - and my husband didn't believe him, either.

 

[Jeafl]

A few years ago I was eating at some restaurant with my parents. My mom ordered a diet coke, took a sip, and crunched down on something hard. Turns out it was a piece of glass. The restaurant didn't do anything about it and didn't even offer an apology.

About 4 years ago my friend went to Sonic and ordered a milkshake. She took a sip and found a fingernail in her mouth.

This post brought me to the edge...

Oh man, how did I forget this?

Fourth grade. Lunchtime at school. I got fried chicken and you know how sometimes the chicken has like this little "concave" area under it where the bones are? Well - I noticed something darker colored than the caramel colored fried chicken. Turned it over - big, dead, wolf spider.

I didn't eat school lunch for a LONG time.

...but this post pushed me over the edge

Another time I was in college and ordered chinese food and opened my fortune cookie first and it said "You are in for a great surprise". When I took my first bite of my lo mein I got the longest nastiest piece of hair. My fortune was correct that day.

Sorry, but that made me laugh. Only because we went to this famous ice cream parlor in Chicago and in my hot fudge sundae was a long black hair wound all through the ice cream and hot fudge. When I showed the waitress she told me it was probably hers, but not to worry because she washed her hair the night before!!!

Reading this thread is the BEST DIET EVER.

 

[daughtersrus]

So last night we went to Olive Garden......It was my kids choice so we obliged.....

My husband was eating the salad when he chomped down on something HARD on one of his molars....Ouch!

It was a piece of @ 1/8" thick triangular shaped plastic - he broke it in half!

His molar hurt ( and still does )....He is going to our dentist today to have him check it out to make sure he didn't crack anything. It's almost been 24 hrs and it still is bothering him.

The restaurant was very apologetic, and even comped our meal ( which I wasn't expecting but it was nice). We gave the manager our information & today Olive Gardens insurance co. called to make arrangements with our dentist to get the molar checked out.

I am very impressed with the level of service! The manager even called later on last night to let us know where the piece of plastic came from. It broke off a serving tong for the salads.

So, anyone else ever have anything else mysteriously end up in a meal from a restaurant?

Years ago we were at Chuck E Cheese. We had a pizza with everything on it. DH bit into something very hard. It ended up being a nut. Not a nut you eat but the nut off of a screw and washer. DH went to talk to the manager. His response was "Oh. We've been looking for that. It fell off of the food chopper". DH told him that his tooth really hurt. He told DH that he'd give us 10% off of the cost of the food. DH laughed at him and said he wanted it for free. About 1/2 hour later, he sent someone out from behind the counter with our money back.

More recently we were at a wedding in a banquet room at a very nice restaurant. Cake slices were brought to the table. When I bit into a piece, there was something hard in the frosting. It ended up to be a shrimp shell and tail. I didn't make a big deal about it there. Shrimp wasn't even served at our dinner. The next day I phoned the restaurant and asked to speak to someone in the catering dept. The man that I spoke with was very apologetic. I told him that I didn't want the bride, groom or anyone in the family to know but I thought that they should know. Especially since it was a sea food shell item and so many people have allergies. He said that the cakes are not made in their restaurant but are brought in. He thanked me over and over again and said that he would get to the bottom of what happened.

 

[MulanUSAF]

A couple years ago I bought a tub of baby greens from Costco, you know the "triple washed, ready to eat" kind that comes in a clear rectangular box? Well, as I was grabbing handfuls to toss up a dinner salad, a large moth erupted from the salad container and flew erratically around my kitchen while I screamed bloody murder. My brother eventually managed to kill it with a broom. That sucker was the size of a monarch butterfly! I don't know how it stayed alive through the triple washing process and survive the trip from California to North Carolina!

I took the salad back and got a refund, but I haven't bought that sort of salad greens since.

 

[Jeafl]

A couple years ago I bought a tub of baby greens from Costco, you know the "triple washed, ready to eat" kind that comes in a clear rectangular box? Well, as I was grabbing handfuls to toss up a dinner salad, a large moth erupted from the salad container and flew erratically around my kitchen while I screamed bloody murder. My brother eventually managed to kill it with a broom. That sucker was the size of a monarch butterfly! I don't know how it stayed alive through the triple washing process and survive the trip from California to North Carolina!

I took the salad back and got a refund, but I haven't bought that sort of salad greens since.

OMG! I bought those same salad greens and found a partially decomposed dragonfly in them! I thought it was a fluke, but now I am really wondering how clean those pre washed things really are.

 

[JessicaR]

"Let me ask you this: Did you ever eat a hamburger and there's a hard thing in it? It's like a toenail. You know it's not part of the hamburger, but you separate the meat and the lettuce and the pickle all on one side of your mouth and finally on your tongue you get this little thing. And it's like a bone...but it's not a bone. I keep asking myself, Roseanne Roseannadanna, if they can make a coffee I like without caffeine, how come they can't make a hamburger I like with no toenails?"

Classic!