Meal for Free or No Big Deal

[RachelEllen]

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.)

 

[ms.yt]

They brought you a new one without chicken, right? If so, there's no reason they should have taken it off your bill. You make it sound like it was some hidden agenda against vegetarians, when it was probably just a simple mistake.

 

[AKL_Megs]

Did you SAY when ordering, "Is there for sure no meat in this, as she can't eat meat?" BEFORE you ordered?

If not, I think it is absolutely NO big deal at all.

If you mentioned it beforehand, I would think it was sort of an issue, yes.

BUT, if it's THAT important, you should always look first.

I'm allergic to uncooked/undercooked onions, so say, at McDonalds, even if I order a cheeseburger with no onions, EVEN IF it has the ticket saying they didn't add onions, I always do a visual myself.

 

[Manhattan Princess]

I honestly don't get why it would be free. She eventually was served exactly what she had ordered. My husband keeps kosher and restaurants make mistakes all the time with specifically requested ingredients, but as long as it is changed, he is getting what he ordered. I often order things without onions, and if they come with it, I send it back for a "clean" one. No need for me to get it for free. The idea is not to catch a server in a mistake so you profit, but rather to simply get what you requested.

 

[kaytieeldr]

It was a mistake in either the menu or the preparation; but as you said, she had taken 'a bite', and her meal was replaced with a complete, corrected meal. There's no real reason your party shouldn't have been charged for one entree for your daughter.

I even understand that not eating any flesh is a moral issue for your family, but overall there was no actual harm done. Had it been a medical - e.g. allergy - issue, that might be different.

 

[RachelEllen]

Did you SAY when ordering, "Is there for sure no meat in this, as she can't eat meat?" BEFORE you ordered?

If not, I think it is absolutely NO big deal at all.

If you mentioned it beforehand, I would think it was sort of an issue, yes.

BUT, if it's THAT important, you should always look first.

I'm allergic to uncoiled/undercooked onions, so say, at McDonalds, even if I order a cheeseburger with no onions, EVEN IF it has the ticket saying they didn't add onions, I always do a visual myself.

I get what you are saying, however, it wasn't a special order. Honestly, I would feel silly asking if there was any meat in a cheese quesadilla. I think your situation is a little different, as there normally are onions on a McD's cheeseburger (as I remember! I wasn't always vegetarian!) So you have to make a point of it and it would be very reasonable mistake to have onions. But, if you went to a restaurant ordered something that didn't normally have onions on it, would you make a point of mentioning your allergy and checking for onions?

 

[RunningGirl]

I would say no big deal. They brought you a quesadilla with no meat when requested.

 

[AKL_Megs]

Oh, I forgot to say, absolutely not, I wouldn't expect it for free.

 

[krcit]

I say no big deal. You noticed the chicken and they replaced it.

 

[plutotek]

I agree that they made it right so there should be no further reparation on the restaurant's part.

 

[AKL_Megs]

I get what you are saying, however, it wasn't a special order. Honestly, I would feel silly asking if there was any meat in a cheese quesadilla. I think your situation is a little different, as there normally are onions on a McD's cheeseburger (as I remember! I wasn't always vegetarian!) So you have to make a point of it and it would be very reasonable mistake to have onions. But, if you went to a restaurant ordered something that didn't normally have onions on it, would you make a point of mentioning your allergy and checking for onions?

Yes, actually, I do, because it's that important. It doesn't embarass me. If I don't ask/check, I suffer. I just say, "I'll have XYZ with no onions." The worst I've heard is, "That doesn't have onions."

Ultimately, I always check myself. You can't count on anyone else.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I get what you are saying, however, it wasn't a special order. Honestly, I would feel silly asking if there was any meat in a cheese quesadilla. I think your situation is a little different, as there normally are onions on a McD's cheeseburger (as I remember! I wasn't always vegetarian!) So you have to make a point of it and it would be very reasonable mistake to have onions. But, if you went to a restaurant ordered something that didn't normally have onions on it, would you make a point of mentioning your allergy and checking for onions?

Absolutely, esp with us and in a new restaurant. Ever see "When Harry Met Sally"? They would be grilled to the nth degree.

We are not vegetarians but we have reflux and we have to ask about spices, pepper, etc. Restaurants season food to death to make up for lack of taste these days. Heck we walked out of a restaurant once when they told us that we could not order anything unseasoned.

You would be surprised the varying degrees of what a quesadilla contains.

That being said my dh would have made them remove it from the bill if the item was listed incorrectly. Now if you made a mistake in menu reading then that is on you.

 

[Rumpus]

I think it would have been nice if they gave you the meal. I don't think the server understood the depth of your concern; "doesn't eat meat" probably seemed like doesn't like meat. There is a big difference. If one doesn't like meat, they leave it on the side of their plate. If one doesn't eat meat for personal reasons, they find the presence of meat offensive, so I do understand why you are asking the question. If you had said, "we are vegetarians", I would have expected him to apologize and take the meal off of your bill.

 

[RachelEllen]

Well, I guess I have my answer!

I do want to be clear that I didn't want a "free meal" for the sake of a free meal. It was a $4.00 kids menu item and about a $100 tab. I just always considered the "take it off the bill" to be a restaurants way of admitting that they really screwed up, and, honestly, I considered this to be a pretty big screw up.

(And, I guess I'll start checking more closely!)

 

[RachelEllen]

Absolutely, esp with us and in a new restaurant. Ever see "When Harry Met Sally"? They would be grilled to the nth degree.

You would be surprised the varying degrees of what a quesadilla contains.

Ok, that made me smile. I still won't be able to bring myself to ask if a cheese pizza or grilled cheese has meat on it, but I guess if it were a health issue I'd have to!

(and, perhaps I'm just too used to Chipolte style food where cheese quesadilla is just cheese and tortilla)

 

[dejr_8]

Well, I guess I have my answer!

I do want to be clear that I didn't want a "free meal" for the sake of a free meal. It was a $4.00 kids menu item and about a $100 tab. I just always considered the "take it off the bill" to be a restaurants way of admitting that they really screwed up, and, honestly, I considered this to be a pretty big screw up.

(And, I guess I'll start checking more closely!)

How is it a pretty big screw up?

I could see if you asked for something without nuts due to an allergy and it came with nuts, you ate and went into anaphylactic shock. That is a pretty big screw up.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Ok, that made me smile. I still won't be able to bring myself to ask if a cheese pizza or grilled cheese has meat on it, but I guess if it were a health issue I'd have to!

(and, perhaps I'm just too used to Chipolte style food where cheese quesadilla is just cheese and tortilla)

We would ask what kind of cheese do you use. Yes we are that bad.

Can't help it though, it is ingrained in us now. You should see my 14yodd question a server over the menu item.

 

[ajk912]

I get what you are saying, however, it wasn't a special order. Honestly, I would feel silly asking if there was any meat in a cheese quesadilla. I think your situation is a little different, as there normally are onions on a McD's cheeseburger (as I remember! I wasn't always vegetarian!) So you have to make a point of it and it would be very reasonable mistake to have onions. But, if you went to a restaurant ordered something that didn't normally have onions on it, would you make a point of mentioning your allergy and checking for onions?

I could maybe see your point if you would have double checked that the cheese quesadilla would be vegetarian and the server said yes, and you were served something different. Most people with allergies do this, just to be sure.

But ordering something assuming it would be one way- I would own up to that mistake myself and expect to pay for it. Just like if I go to a restaurant and forget to ask the burger without sauce, I would feel bad asking for a new one if I didn't special order it the way I like. Most likely it said on the menu the ingredients of the quesadilla, they usually do. So likely you were in the wrong here. I do get that most just look at the title and assume by the title what's in it- I've done that myself. But they made it right, so no harm, no foul.

 

[brockash]

they brought you a new one without chicken, right? If so, there's no reason they should have taken it off your bill. You make it sound like it was some hidden agenda against vegetarians, when it was probably just a simple mistake.

ita!

 

[waltsgirl]

I say no big deal. This has happened to us many times. My daughter does not eat meat and we ask for things to be made without and sometimes it comes with meat. We simply send it back and have it remade. I don't expect it for free just that it comes out right the second time.