When do you decide to send food back?

[jodifla]

Twice this summer, my DH sent back food in restaurants, once at an Outback and then at Yachtsman Steakhouse. Now, I almost NEVER send back food at a restaurant....maybe twice over the course of 50 years of eating out! But my husband is more particular and has over the years send it back several times over the 30 years I've known him. I've always sort of thought he was over-reacting. And it drags out the meal and means he finishes much later than I do.

But both times he told me he was thinking about sending his food back this summer, I asked to taste it, and I actually had to agree. Both times, his meat was really substandard. At Outback, we both had the exact type of steak, but mine was worlds better. His was mealy and course. At Yachtsman, he had a more expensive steak than mine, and it taste like nothing. It was tough and flavorless (not to mention 60 bucks!)

So, what's your barometer on when to send food back? Does the cost matter? (Like for $60, the steak should be really great?)

 

[Disneylover99]

I will send my steak back if it's not cooked properly. I ask for well done, and that's how I want it.
I will send my soup back if it's not hot.

 

[JOE DELL]

I send it back if its cold, taste, or not cooked right.

I rarely go to restaurants like outback and Fridays because the service is crap and the food is sub par for the amount you pay. I'd rather spend a little more for a higher end place, like if I want stake I'll go to a real stakehouse like Ruth's.

 

[leebee]

I figure, I am paying for something. They ask me how I like it cooked. If they can't cook it like that, they shouldn't be asking. I'm not eating it until I get what I asked- and am paying- for. I always am nice about it, but you should get what you order. Soup should be hot, food should be hot, meat should be cooked to the ordered doneness, and food should taste like what it's supposed to be (flavorful, well-seasoned, etc.) You're PAYING for this.

 

[jodifla]

I send it back if its cold, taste, or not cooked right.

I rarely go to restaurants like outback and Fridays because the service is crap and the food is sub par for the amount you pay. I'd rather spend a little more for a higher end place, like if I want stake I'll go to a real stakehouse like Ruth's.

It's funny, we almost never eat at Outback, but the one in Sandusky, Ohio, is really good typically. Much better than other Outbacks we've been too. The service was great and the manager came over personally to talk to us about why the steak was bad.

Do you find Ruth Chris better than Morton's?

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

It depends on the place. My mom refuses to send anything back at the risk the server will do something to it.

If I'm paying good money for a medium rare steak, it better be medium rare. If it's an average spot and it's not cooked to order - oh well. That's what I get for ordering from that place. So long as it's not charred, I'll keep it.

I've always believed leaving food on the plate sends a bigger message than sending it back.

 

[JOE DELL]

It's funny, we almost never eat at Outback, but the one in Sandusky, Ohio, is really good typically. Much better than other Outbacks we've been too. The service was great and the manager came over personally to talk to us about why the steak was bad.

Do you find Ruth Chris better than Morton's?

Never been to Morton's so couldn't say but right with Marks or Burn's. To me its about the service as well. Love Red Robin there burgers are premo but omg the service is like that at the DMV so I REALLY want a burger from there to put up with it. But bad food + bad service, naw boy imma throw some food hahahaha

 

[OKW Lover]

We would send back food if:

• It wasn't cooked properly (over- or under-done)
• Wasn't hot (obviously doesn't apply to things that aren't supposed to be hot)
• Wasn't what we ordered

We would never send something back if we simply didn't like it. That's not the restaurant's fault.

Just about any restaurant from McDonalds to a top-end steakhouse will occasionally have a mis-step in the kitchen. One time shouldn't be enough to write-off the restaurant. If a restaurant repeatedly fails then its time to move on.

 

[disnut8]

I will send my soup back if it's not hot.

I know you mean soup that is supposed to be hot but on the Disney cruise, my mother-in-law requested her soup be taken back because it was cold. Our server then politely informed her that's how that soup was supposed to be eaten. She's a soup fan and had no idea so from then on, every time she ordered soup the server smiled and said, yes, that's a hot one! She also has an aversion to cilantro as she says it tastes like aluminum foil so that same server made sure she didn't have any cilantro added to any of her meals for the entire cruise.

 

[OKW Lover]

I've always believed leaving food on the plate sends a bigger message than sending it back.

The message might be "I really wasn't very hungry"

 

[Disneylover99]

If I'm paying good money for a medium rare steak, it better be medium rare. If it's an average spot and it's not cooked to order - oh well. That's what I get for ordering from that place. So long as it's not charred, I'll keep it.

Average spot or not. Food should be cooked to your specification. Now if you get a deal for a really cheap cut of steak and it's tough or really fatty, well, you get what you pay for. But again, it should be cooked the way you want it.

 

[Networth]

Steak not cooked medium rare - back
Seafood or Chicken over cooked- back

Anything else is a case by case scenario.

 

[WIcruizer]

And it drags out the meal and means he finishes much later than I do.

This is how I feel. I have only sent back a meal 2 or 3 times in my life as well. If it is really awful, yes. Otherwise I just eat it, I would just never return to that restaurant. Besides, the times I did send it back, the meal was just as bad as the original attempt.

 

[powellrj]

I can think of twice I have sent food back. Once was a steak that was suppose to be medium rare and was charred and burnt and tough as leather. Another was a soup that was stone cold.

I have had 2 problems with iced tea. Once my DD and I were eating out and DD said the tea tasted like coffee, I tried it and it was coffee. We asked for water and later the waitress came back and said a new guy had put coffee in the tea machine. The other time was just a couple of weeks ago. I had ordered un-sweet tea and it was sweet, so I was just drinking my water. The guy next to us told the waitress the tea was sweet and she acted like she didn't believe him. We eat at this place often enough that she knows us and I stopped her and told her the tea was sweet, so she brought us both out new teas. I said something because I felt bad for the guy that she wouldn't believe him.

 

[Dean Marino]

Twice this summer, my DH sent back food in restaurants, once at an Outback and then at Yachtsman Steakhouse. Now, I almost NEVER send back food at a restaurant....maybe twice over the course of 50 years of eating out! But my husband is more particular and has over the years send it back several times over the 30 years I've known him. I've always sort of thought he was over-reacting. And it drags out the meal and means he finishes much later than I do.

But both times he told me he was thinking about sending his food back this summer, I asked to taste it, and I actually had to agree. Both times, his meat was really substandard. At Outback, we both had the exact type of steak, but mine was worlds better. His was mealy and course. At Yachtsman, he had a more expensive steak than mine, and it taste like nothing. It was tough and flavorless (not to mention 60 bucks!)

So, what's your barometer on when to send food back? Does the cost matter? (Like for $60, the steak should be really great?)

Yes - this one is tough. Was the food marginal, or REALY off? And where are you?

I HATE having to do this . I always believe a really GOOD restaurant is, in fact, a really GOOD restaurant. And that they are trying.
But I've just had to do this at WDW owned restaurants about 3 times in 10 years, because the food was REALLY off .

Artist's Point - steak totally incinerated on a medium rare order.
HW Brown Derby - pretty close to the same issue.
Can't remember the third....

OK - in fairness.... Sandy and I have learned a very important trick. When ordering a Steak, go into "directive mode". RAISE your voice, and CLEARLY ENUNCIATE - "Medium RARE". So many rushed staff can MISS this, and deliver a "MEDIUM WELL" order . If required? ASK FOR THE WAITERS PAD - and WRITE IT DOWN YOURSELF. Yup - that would be directive . If you ever do this? Please, tip him well .

 

[Mikka]

In general, I'm so panicky about what they might do to my food that it would be a rare case that I would send it back (as I've heard horror stories from people who work in the restaurant industry- I personally think that's gross and unprofessional, but I suppose people are people).

I try to avoid it by not ordering steak or seafood unless the resturaunt is known for either. Still, fish that's overdone is pretty usual, and medium rare hamburgers and steaks that are more medium I'll just deal with (though I may complain to the people I'm dining with). I had one restaurant that gave me a filet that was half fat and majorly overcooked, to boot. But it was a local chain (similar to the Outback), so I just sighed and dealt with it (though I was unhappy). Likewise, getting cold food when it should be warm, I just eat around it unless I can't.

I would rather send it back, but- too many horror stories. So I just take it and usually remind myself not to order that item there again.

 

[kaybird]

Have never in 40 years at WDW had an issue that required sending anything back. If the food was bad, I would send it back. If not to my taste, I would chalk it up to different tastes. Not liking something is not necessarily a reason to send it back.

 

[worm761]

I've only ever sent food back once. I'm allergic to pickles and there was a pickle on the plate. I didn't see anywhere that that said the food with come with a pickle spear.

I'd be willing to send food back but haven't really ever had to other than the above situation.

 

[DisneyHardin]

The only thing I have ever really sent back was overdone steak or underdone chicken. I've never sent anything back at a WDW restaurant. One night my DH got food from Capn' Cooks at the Poly and brought it back to the room. The chicken sandwich he got me was so terrible, I would have taken it back if we were eating in the restaurant and not already back at the room.

 

[Sarahbelle341]

I have sent eggs back for being cold and sent eggs that were supposed to be over easy that came back completely hard all the way through.