Meal for Free or No Big Deal

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I'm with the rest here. It was replaced, no harm, no foul. The only time I would expect the comp would be if there was no replacement available. When I was at Buffalo Wild Wings, I found a purple object in my buffalo chips that was oozing some kind of goo. I can only assume that somebody had a lozenge and it fell out. They offered to get me new ones but I had already eaten half and knew they would just be wasted. I did not expect it to come off my bill. I ate half of it already, but they did as a nice gesture. However, even then I wouldn't have expected or insisted that I not pay for it.

 

[Bonnie40]

Then there must be a problem none of us know about because the problem presented was your daughter was given something you didn't want her to eat/she couldn't eat. That item was replaced with something she could eat. So, how did that not solve anything?

I agree!

 

[NHdisneylover]

If the menu labels an item specifically as "vegetarian" then it is okay to assume there will be no meat in it. Otherwise, I always ask (yes, even for things like grilled cheeses--some come with bacon and it is NOT mentioned on the menu). Or, if I don't ask, I look. I am responsible for my decision not to eat meat and for insuring that the food I order does not have it--the waiter is not.
I think (assuming that you were charged for one child's meal and not two) that the majority is spot on here and no free meal should have been given.

 

[luvmy3]

The only time I would expect my meal to be taken off the bill is if there was a foreign object found in it, like the time I found a piece of the latex glove in my omlette If I found some chicken in there, even if I didn't eat meat, I'd just pick it out or ask for another one. No big deal in my book.

 

[Magic Mom]

I'm with the rest here. It was replaced, no harm, no foul. The only time I would expect the comp would be if there was no replacement available. When I was at Buffalo Wild Wings, I found a purple object in my buffalo chips that was oozing some kind of goo. I can only assume that somebody had a lozenge and it fell out. They offered to get me new ones but I had already eaten half and knew they would just be wasted. I did not expect it to come off my bill. I ate half of it already, but they did as a nice gesture. However, even then I wouldn't have expected or insisted that I not pay for it.

Barf! in your case I WOULD expect the meal to be comped.

 

[DisneyScraps]

no big deal

I can't see expecting something for free unless it completely ruined the meal this didn't sound like it was anything close to that.

Lisa

 

[Magpie]

Something just occurred to me...

Did the OP ever inquire as to whether any animal fats were used in preparing her child's meal? For all she knows, her child's quesadillas were fried in lard!

Animal products show up in many unexpected places.

Red candy and soda pop can have carmine in it which is made from ground up insect shells.

"Shortening" is as likely to be made from lard (pig fat) as it is from butter. It's often used in cakes and cookies.

The calcium stearate in salad dressing comes from cows and pigs.

Gelatin is another animal byproduct (usually pigs).

Rennet, used in many cheeses, puddings, desserts, etc... comes from the linings of baby animal stomachs.

And there's tons more. If the OP is just going along assuming that something is vegetarian just because it doesn't have big chunks of chicken in it, then she's not much of a vegetarian at all. She needs to start asking questions!

 

[goofy!]

I get that most people feel like this isn't that big of a mistake on the restaurant's part, however, I in no way think it was a mistake on my part. I read menus really carefully and it said "Cheese quesadilla, size of salsa for dipping, carrot sticks, fresh fruit, or fries" It wasn't only not a special order, what they served, chicken quesadilla wasn't on the menu.

Yes, I could have been more proactive in preventing the restaurants mistake, but I can't see where I actually made an error.

Actually, I didn't change the story. I was just asking a slightly different question and emphasized slightly different aspects of things. I'm not exactly sure what you are implying, but, to be honest, it doesn't feel all that respectful.

It is interesting reading people's opinions. Rarely do I see such a united view around here!

I guess I think about this not from the perspective of, well, she eventually received what I ordered, because that's not really the point. I just know if I had accidently given a toddler a food the parent didn't request and morally objected to I would be mortified. I was actually quite understated to the waiter (perhaps why there wasn't more of a response. I believe one poster replied that one of her criteria for comping a meal was a really upset customer.) I don't know if its because vegetarianism isn't all that mainstream, or having moral issues with food is kind of ununsual. But, I genuniely find it intersesting that most people consider the problem to have been fixed by providing the right meal. From my point of view, that really didn't solve anything.

(And I'm being quite serious that I find it intersting. I'm not being sarcastic, I posted here because I was interested in different points of view and that's what I got!)

I disagree completely. I think the mistake was at least 90% on your part and 10% the restaurants.

You admit that vegetarianism is not mainstream, therefore when requiring a diet that is not mainstream, the responsibility falls on you to make sure that others are aware of what you need.

You did NOT communicate your needs to the waiter before hand. Nor did you even inquire "Is this child's meal vegetarian?"

Consequently, while the restaurant did make a slight mistake in preparing an item with ingredients not listed on the menu and the waiter forgot to tell you there was a menu change, it was ultimately your responsibility to make sure what you were ordering was appropriate for your needs.

There are many times that food is served with ingredients not listed on the menu. I have ordered a grilled cheese sandwich and it came with bacon on it.

Additionally, anybody who dines regularly knows that menu offerings can change in restaurants. Sometimes the printed menus haven't caught up with the kitchen changes. If the patron requires something specific, they need spend 10 seconds asking "Is this a vegetarian meal?" I highly doubt the service staff was clairvoyant.

Whatever happened to personal responsibility? The only way I would expect the restaurant to comp a meal is if you had made aware your needs and then you still received a quesadilla with meat in it.

 

[goofy!]

But did they err? It's not a vegetarian restaurant, and they actually gave a diner MORE than was (apparently) indicated on the menu. Unless there was conversation in advance of ordering of which we're not aware, the restaurant had no way of knowing you're vegetarians or that your aunt keeps kosher (unless it was a kosher restaurant?).

Exactly. It was the responsibility of the customer to ensure that her very specific needs were communicated with the staff.

 

[luvmy3]

I disagree completely. I think the mistake was at least 90% on your part and 10% the restaurants.

You admit that vegetarianism is not mainstream, therefore when requiring a diet that is not mainstream, the responsibility falls on you to make sure that others are aware of what you need.

You did NOT communicate your needs to the waiter before hand. Nor did you even inquire "Is this child's meal vegetarian?"

Consequently, while the restaurant did make a slight mistake in preparing an item with ingredients not listed on the menu and the waiter forgot to tell you there was a menu change, it was ultimately your responsibility to make sure what you were ordering was appropriate for your needs.

There are many times that food is served with ingredients not listed on the menu. I have ordered a grilled cheese sandwich and it came with bacon on it.

Additionally, anybody who dines regularly knows that menu offerings can change in restaurants. Sometimes the printed menus haven't caught up with the kitchen changes. If the patron requires something specific, they need spend 10 seconds asking "Is this a vegetarian meal?" I highly doubt the service staff was clairvoyant.

Whatever happened to personal responsibility? The only way I would expect the restaurant to comp a meal is if you had made aware your needs and then you still received a quesadilla with meat in it.

While I think its not big deal, I have to disagree. The OP ordered a cheese quesadilla meal from the menu, she should expect to get a cheese quesadilla not a chicken one. Thats like ordering a cheese pizza and it coming out topped with chicken This has nothing to do with personal responsibilty, this has to do with a simple mistake by the restaurant. I can't actually believe that people would expect the OP to verbally go through a list of ingredients (like meat) not typically found in a cheese quesadilla to make sure it isn't served with it because her dd is a vegetarian. That really has nothing to do with anything, would you expect a non vegetarian that ordered a meatless meal to have to ask for a list of ingredients to make sure there was no meat in the dish? Do the majority of you go into a restaurant expecting everything on the menu may have changed and make sure it hasn't before you order? I know I don't, I read what it says, order and expect that dish to come out.

 

[RachelEllen]

OP here. But I did communicate my needs very clearly. I asked for a cheese quesdadilla. That is exactly what I wanted. In a mistake free world, I shouldn't have to say "I want a cheese quesadilla, and here are my particular reasons that it's really important that you don't screw up." The restaurant made a mistake and put chicken in it.

Now, did I make a mistake? Sure. But my mistake was not guarding against the restaurant's mistake carefully enough. And there is a big difference between actually screwing up (putting chicken inside a cheese quesadilla) and not guarding against other people screwing up.

I totally get that some people don't think the restaurant's mistake is that big a deal. I happen to disagree. I happen to think that it was a big enough of a deal that comping the kids meal (about 5% of the total tab) would have been the perfect gesture to acknowledge and apologize for that mistake. But others disagree. No problem.

However, I think it's a bit over the top to start claiming (not as the direct PP has, but as others have) that the chicken was some sort of bonus or that I bear more responsibility that the restaurant in the matter.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Something just occurred to me...

Did the OP ever inquire as to whether any animal fats were used in preparing her child's meal? For all she knows, her child's quesadillas were fried in lard!

I'm very surprised at the ingredient here you all seem to be missing - the cheese. It's an animal product. It's why I've been stressing the moral objection to what I assume is eating animal flesh. The family doesn't eat that, but they do eat animal products.

By the way, because I don't recall it being done - and I've been wrong before - here's the entire original post

Interested in people's thoughts.

Our family is vegetarian. My mom took her sister, DD (2) and me out to dinner at a niceish hotel restaurant last night. I ordered DD a cheese quesadilla off the kids menu. There was no other quesadilla option on kids or regular menu and it was not a special order.

It was darkish when the meals came and I tore off a wedge of quesadilla and put it in front of DD. WHen I looked over, she had taken a bite, and there was a strip of chicken hanging out.

I told the waiter that DD didn't eat meat and that the quesadilla was supposed to just have cheese. He apologized and brought a new one.

At the end of the meal, DD was starting to get fussy, so I took her out to the lobby while my mom paid. After she came out, I asked her if they removed the quesadilla from the bill. She said no.

I was really suprised. I am not a picky person at restaurants. I can't remember ever sending a meal back. But, to me, this seems like a big deal mistake. (Extra hidden ingrediant in a kids meal) Maybe the waiter didn't think it was a big deal that a toddler was vegetarian, but it's a moral issue to her dad, and it's important to me to respect that.

I didn't ask for them to take the meal off the bill, as it wasn't the cost (really cheap kids meal) as much as that is the traditional way for a restaurant to offer a sincere apology.

Thoughts?

(btw, my aunt didn't think it was a big deal. But, she keeps Kosher. I asked her how she would feel if she bit into a grilled cheese sandwich and found a hidden strip of bacon, and she said it would make her feel kind of ill. I think she understood it better then.)

 

[Rumpus]

OP here. But I did communicate my needs very clearly. I asked for a cheese quesdadilla. That is exactly what I wanted. In a mistake free world, I shouldn't have to say "I want a cheese quesadilla, and here are my particular reasons that it's really important that you don't screw up." The restaurant made a mistake and put chicken in it.

Now, did I make a mistake? Sure. But my mistake was not guarding against the restaurant's mistake carefully enough. And there is a big difference between actually screwing up (putting chicken inside a cheese quesadilla) and not guarding against other people screwing up.

I totally get that some people don't think the restaurant's mistake is that big a deal. I happen to disagree. I happen to think that it was a big enough of a deal that comping the kids meal (about 5% of the total tab) would have been the perfect gesture to acknowledge and apologize for that mistake. But others disagree. No problem.

However, I think it's a bit over the top to start claiming (not as the direct PP has, but as others have) that the chicken was some sort of bonus or that I bear more responsibility that the restaurant in the matter.

The tab came to $100. That tells me that the restaurant not only values the food that they serve but the service. There was a mistake made with both. I think it is perfectly reasonable to have an item comped that was served in error, particularly when it didn't comply with the description; "CHEESE". I like chicken. For me, chicken would have been a bonus. If I were a vegetarian, I might have viewed it as a "fly in my soup". A bonus is always in the eye of the beholder. You were not wrong for expecting better.

 

[Magpie]

I'm very surprised at the ingredient here you all seem to be missing - the cheese. It's an animal product. It's why I've been stressing the moral objection to what I assume is eating animal flesh. The family doesn't eat that, but they do eat animal products.

By the way, because I don't recall it being done - and I've been wrong before - here's the entire original post

Yeah, except eating eggs and cheese is one thing - no animals are killed in their production. Eating lard and gelatin, etc, is the same as eating animal flesh. It's just been rendered, that's all. Which means if you object to eating animal flesh, you NEED to educate yourself, start reading labels and asking your servers how your food is prepared.

Just like it makes no sense to turn down a burger on moral principals, and then lace up a pair of leather shoes.

 

[goofy!]

While I think its not big deal, I have to disagree. The OP ordered a cheese quesadilla meal from the menu, she should expect to get a cheese quesadilla not a chicken one. Thats like ordering a cheese pizza and it coming out topped with chicken This has nothing to do with personal responsibilty, this has to do with a simple mistake by the restaurant. I can't actually believe that people would expect the OP to verbally go through a list of ingredients (like meat) not typically found in a cheese quesadilla to make sure it isn't served with it because her dd is a vegetarian. That really has nothing to do with anything, would you expect a non vegetarian that ordered a meatless meal to have to ask for a list of ingredients to make sure there was no meat in the dish? Do the majority of you go into a restaurant expecting everything on the menu may have changed and make sure it hasn't before you order? I know I don't, I read what it says, order and expect that dish to come out.

I don't expect that every ingredient is listed. As I mentioned and a previous poster mentioned, it is pretty common for a grilled cheese sandwich to also include bacon, although it is sometimes not listed on the menu.

I don't think that a patron should ask for all the ingredients of every meal, but again, as others have mentioned, there is a lot that goes into being a vegetarian, and non-vegetarian items are easily overlooked if not asked about.

The OP, since she has very specific, not mainstream needs, has the responsibility to ask one simple question:

"Is this a vegetarian meal?"

That would cover the obvious chicken and the not so obvious things such as lard and other ingredients that others have covered.

I agree the restaurant made a mistake in serving an item with not correctly listed on the menu. However, they replaced it immediately with the correct item. Their responsibility was covered.

The OP, if she is going to be a serious vegetarian in the future, must take the responsibility to question every meal.

Just as if a peanut allergic person might ask if the quesadilla was peanut free. No, peanuts were not listed on the menu, nor would anybody expect peanuts to come out with a cheese quesadilla. But, what about cross contamination with peanut oil or the ppj on the kids menu where the utensils might have been cross contaminated.

If a customer has very specific needs, it is the responsibility of the customer to make those needs known.

The restaurant satisfied their portion of the mistake quite satisfactorily by replacing the offending meal with an appropriate to the customer's needs one. No need to comp the meal.

Since the OP does not seem to even know much about vegetarianism herself, ie: all the other ingredients that need to be monitored for, how can she expect the restaurant to guess her needs?

When she did say that her daughter did not eat chicken (still not mentioning vegetarianism - the kid could just have been a picky eater), the restaurant promptly replaced the item.

Adequate to good customer service in my book.

 

[Rumpus]

Yeah, except eating eggs and cheese is one thing - no animals are killed in their production. Eating lard and gelatin, etc, is the same as eating animal flesh. It's just been rendered, that's all. Which means if you object to eating animal flesh, you NEED to educate yourself, start reading labels and asking your servers how your food is prepared.

Just like it makes no sense to turn down a burger on moral principals, and then lace up a pair of leather shoes.

It may make no sense to you, nor perhaps I, I am omnivorous. However, it could make perfect sense to a vegetarian who sets their own parameters and eats accordingly. Consuming something and eating something are quite different. I love a good steak but I would not eat my shoes.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I totally get that some people don't think the restaurant's mistake is that big a deal. I happen to disagree. I happen to think that it was a big enough of a deal that comping the kids meal (about 5% of the total tab) would have been the perfect gesture to acknowledge and apologize for that mistake. But others disagree. No problem.

However, I think it's a bit over the top to start claiming (not as the direct PP has, but as others have) that the chicken was some sort of bonus or that I bear more responsibility that the restaurant in the matter.

Well, it's interesting that you disagree with the majority of the posters, whose opinions differ from yours , and agree with the few posters who agree with you.

Would you mind providing the name of the restaurant? Do they post their menu online? Is it possible there's something in the menu description that you missed that might indicate that there might be meat in the cheese quesedilla? Is it a restaurant that caters to vegetarians? To vegans?

Despite all the posters here who have said that even if something isn't indicated on the menu, if they can't or won't eat it they specify that when ordering ("I'll have the chocolate cake with no onions"), even if we agree it's not unreasonable for a diner to not order like that, the waiter apologized and the restaurant replaced your daughter's meal with one prepared to your liking. They charged your mother for one entree even though they served your daughter two entrees. That's the proper way to handle the situation.

Had you said, "No, don't bother bringing a replacement - she seems to be doing fine with the sides, the bread, etc.", and they charged you for her meal anyway, that would have been a different story. Her one entree was inedible as far as you (but not she) were concerned and it would have been wrong to charge you for something she couldn't eat. It's absolutely appropriate to charge you for something she simply didn't eat because she was full (and now I'm hungry - I'm off to Chili's for some Southwest eggrolls!)

 

[allison443]

OP here. But I did communicate my needs very clearly. I asked for a cheese quesdadilla. That is exactly what I wanted. In a mistake free world, I shouldn't have to say "I want a cheese quesadilla, and here are my particular reasons that it's really important that you don't screw up." The restaurant made a mistake and put chicken in it.

Now, did I make a mistake? Sure. But my mistake was not guarding against the restaurant's mistake carefully enough. And there is a big difference between actually screwing up (putting chicken inside a cheese quesadilla) and not guarding against other people screwing up.

I totally get that some people don't think the restaurant's mistake is that big a deal. I happen to disagree. I happen to think that it was a big enough of a deal that comping the kids meal (about 5% of the total tab) would have been the perfect gesture to acknowledge and apologize for that mistake. But others disagree. No problem.

However, I think it's a bit over the top to start claiming (not as the direct PP has, but as others have) that the chicken was some sort of bonus or that I bear more responsibility that the restaurant in the matter.

I agree that the restaurant made a mistake. However, you keep saying you want an "acknowledgement" of their mistake. The waiter did acknowledge it, apologized, and brought the correct dish. I don't know why you are so hung up on getting comped the $4. Why wasn't the acknowledgement and apology that you received sufficient for you?

You really don't want an acknowledgement/apology, because you actually already received that. The only thing that would have sufficed for you is a $4 credit on your mom's bill. Because you believe the mistake was more serious since it was a "moral issue". But the restaurant didn't know it was a "moral issue", did they?

I agree with the prior poster who said "when people say it isn't about the money, it usually is"

 

[Rumpus]

Well, it's interesting that you disagree with the majority of the posters, whose opinions differ from yours , and agree with the few posters who agree with you.

And that differs from every other thread here how? I am relatively new here but I do see a pattern.

 

[dbrn]

OP, I think that perhaps because you had an understated reaction to the issue, the waiter felt that replacing the meal correctly was sufficient. Obviously, a lot of us here agree.

You seem to be most concerned with the moral issue, but as others have mentioned, this could pose a potential health issue if your daughter has never eaten meat - eating food containing meat products or even prepared on the same grill as food with meat products could cause her to become ill (don't know if this is the case for your daughter or not, but I do know people who have been vegetarians for a long period of time and it's the case for them). In the future, you may want to ask if food, even if it doesn't appear to have meat in the menu description, is vegetarian friendly. Even a cheese quesadilla may be prepared with lard or on the same grill with the chicken.

Some people, even waiters, may not realize the potential for a long-term vegetarian to become ill if they ingest meat products. If it were me, I would have requested a replacement meal, explaining why the mistaken order was concerning so that he could make the kitchen staff aware that the quesadilla needed to be vegetarian-friendly, with no meat products used, visible or otherwise.

If the problem was corrected promptly, I would expect to pay for the meal. If your expectation was that you should not have to pay for the meal, I think you should have made that expectation clear when speaking to the server or requested to speak with the manager.