If your food is inedible...

[si-am]

So last week we ate dinner at Cooke's of Dublin, my (one time) absolute FAVORITE restaurant in all of Disney. Their fried shrimp were to-die-for, seriously. I have posted many times about it on these boards, always recommending the place.

However.... this time the shrimp had a really weird breading. It was like they were coated in thick, gooey cake mix and barely fried. I tried eating one and almost choked. I tried a few french fries and they tasted "off" too-- they just had a really bad flavor.

So my brother kindly took my uneaten basket of food back to the counter for me (I have never ever in my life sent food back) and the chef came out to talk to him. He agreed the shrimp just didn't look right and said he'd make another basket. Er... I didn't really want to risk that. So he gave us his card and said to come back and have a free entree. We didn't ever bother going back that trip. I just couldn't stomach the thought.

So. We left, and had a delicious dinner at Raglan Road next door, but I kind of felt Cooke's was wasted money.

So if you've ever had to send something back... do you take a replacement knowing it might also be bad? Or do restaurants ever offer to refund your money?

Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things -- we didn't make a fuss and $12 or whatever isn't worth crying over. I just found the whole thing disappointing.

RIP, delicious fried shrimp basket. (Also, the meat pies, my husband's one-time favorite, have also changed. They don't look or taste the same as they used to.)

 

[disneybliss2]

I've never encountered this problem, but if I had I think I would have let them attempt to cook it again for me. In your situation, you had had this dish multiple times and loved it before. I would think if it had been wonderful before and they knew they were trying to make you happy because of an error on their part, chances are the chef would have ensured it was cooked properly on their second attempt. Sorry your meal turned out so poorly!

 

[si-am]

I've never encountered this problem, but if I had I think I would have let them attempt to cook it again for me. In your situation, you had had this dish multiple times and loved it before. I would think if it had been wonderful before and they knew they were trying to make you happy because of an error on their part, chances are the chef would have ensured it was cooked properly on their second attempt. Sorry your meal turned out so poorly!

I considered it, I did. I was just so traumatized by that one shrimp though!

 

[aussietravellers]

I considered it, I did. I was just so traumatized by that one shrimp though!

Sorry you had a bad meal. With the fries bad too, maybe their oil was not clean or not hot enough which made the fries and shrimp bad.

I have had it at a restaurant recently (not at WDW) and I (well we) asked for our money back on the whole meal. I think if the food is inedible, if you don't eat any of it (other than the bite to taste it) then you should get your money back. If it's really bad and you eat 3/4's of it then no refund. Our food was inedible, we had eaten at this particular restaurants other premises (owned by the same people, they opened a new restaurant across town). The food was SO bad, we literally couldn't eat it. We considered having the meals replaced, but when we found out that they actually cooked the food at the original restaurant and shipped the food to this place to reheat we just decided to skip it and get our money back (and never go back there). They didn't even question the refund request, just gave us a refund (they had to know the food was bad!)

If you knew your replacement was going to be the same as the first one, then there was not point getting another, it's a pity they didn't give you a refund on that dish.

 

[LockShockBarrel]

I suppose it depends on the issue..

For instance I usually give a place 1 chance to make things right, after that I'd be asking for my money back. I never pull the "eat the whole thing then demand a refund" thing, that's ridiculous and coming from working a place where people try to return chicken carcasses I just can't understand that mentality. If I was out and my whole party's food was bad/wrong then I wouldn't bother giving them a second chance.

 

[rentayenta]

I worked in the restaurant business for many years. I have no issue sending food back but will normally ask that it be remade or order something different. As a former server, I want my guests happy with their meal. Happy guests= bigger tips.

 

[mlittig]

What a let down

 

[Princess&CowboyMommy]

My husband ordered Fish and Chips from the Turf Club at SSR this past November and he took his first bite and it was coldish/near frozenish he said. It did not flake AT ALL - even looking at it it looked not cooked.

He pointed it out to our wonderful waitress and she and the staff replaced it with a much, much darker fried cod. But my husband couldn't bear to try it - he looked at it and picked it up to try it several times but just couldn't. He's soooo unpicky and this was very much unlike him. But, he just couldn't stomach a taking a second bite, even if it was a new meal. The waitress wasn't surprised, she said, because it's seafood.

They still charged us us the full ddp credit and didn't offer to take it off the bill...We were laving the next morning though, early, so we just shook it off...

 

[eliza61]

This happen to me at Ohanas last august (I wrote a report here so you can look it up if you want all the gory details. LOL).

I got a refund immediately. I have to give credit where credit is due. The manager at Ohana's was great. He tried to fix the problem once and did not give me any problem when I said I wanted my money back.