When you didn't like your meal in a restaurant...

[kidd_freeper]

This happened to me two weeks ago at a mid-level restaurant.

I ordered a type of stuffed shrimp and peanut pasta. The peanut pasta was stone cold and it was impossible to eat the shrimp without eating some of the shell.

I asked if the pasta was supposed to be cold. The waitress said yes.

I then ate it all. I didn't even think of not paying for it. Nor did it change my opinion of the restaurant. But I won't order it again - and i'll probably stick with safety food next time at that place.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

I would never expect something to be comp'ed just because I didn't like it . I don't take food back to the grocery store because a recipe didn't turn out as I expected or I didn't care for it.

I'm not a very picky eater anyways, but if I try a new dish I'll generally ask if it has mushrooms in it (hate mushrooms) or if I order a dessert (especially cheesecakes, restaurants love to smother poor innocent cheesecake in fruit sauces) I always ask if there's any fruit sauce and to leave it off if there is.

 

[surfgirl]

I'm in the camp of, I ordered it, my fault. But I also agree with the posters that say this only applies if the item is exactly as presented on the menu. If it comes prepared a different way or with something added on, then I'll point it out and either send it back to get it the way it's presented on the menu or ask for something else.

I agree.

My pet peeve: when desserts come with nuts and they haven't told you that in advance! I'm pretty good at picking them off the top, but when they are in the brownie sundae (or whatever) that really bugs me.

There are also some restaurants that have virtually every chocolate dessert with nuts. I admit, I'm a chocoholic and love to have dessert when we eat out, but nuts on top ruins it for me. Clearly, the Exec Chef decided that everything tastes better with nuts. Well, I say "nuts!" to that! I COULD order it without, but I've had it screwed up too many times to count on it. Then I feel like that problem client and the kids are antsy and .... you get it. So I just skip it : (

 

[dvcgirl]

No, I'd never expect a meal to be comped if I didn't like it. Usually, when it does happen, it's because the quality of the ingredients used wasn't what I was expecting (for the price paid), or the menu description doesn't fit the menu item.

The only time I'd ever send something back is if it's not cooked properly, and even then....it really depends on the situation. If I'm with DH, I'd probably send it back. If we're out with a group of friends, I just suck it up and eat some of it. I don't want to disrupt the whole meal and the flow of the evening. Like someone else said, when you do send something back, by the time your meal comes back out....everyone else is finished.

 

[Halle]

OP, I think you're doing the right thing in your restaurant. Showing concern about your diners is the most important thing. We're regulars at a local restaurant. Last week 2 out of 4 meals were horrible, never have complained there. The waitress (who's known us for 15 plus years) noticed that those two meals weren't eaten. She spoke to the owner and told us that we weren't paying for any of the meals. Bottom line we insisted on paying for the two delicious meals, only disappointment the owner who we've known for 20 years didn't ask us about the meals. As a result instead of eating there weekly we're only going once a month.

 

[pigletto]

If I just don't like it.. too bad for me. If it is an issue with how it is prepared.. overcooked, undercooked, soggy, burnt etc. I will sometimes send it back.
Most of the time TBH I don't bother unless it's really terrible. I don't like to cause a fuss.

 

[MissBritt]

i would never expect to be comp'ed because i ordered something i didn't like but i admit that 3 times during my pregnancy i sent back an entire meal and changed it to a new one after 1-2 bites because it hit me the wrong way.

 

[kirstenb1]

I personally just suck it up. I'll either eat it, order something else, or see if someone else at the table likes and and wants to trade. It's not the restaurant's fault I ordered something and don't like it. I don't expect any comped meals.

This is me. However, I'd definitely remember and tell everyone I knew about it, if the server took the trouble to notice, and offered to bring me something in it's place, even just a simple sandwich.

 

[sarah4770]

A couple months ago, my son and I tried a recently opened Japanese restaurant. We both love Japanese food. My son ordered the sukiyaki. I have made it at home a few times and always leave out the sugar.
HE was not expecting a sweet dish, and it didn't occur to me to warn him... I just forgot that it is usually made with sugar.
The sukiyaki was wonderfully prepared with the best ingredients. The only problem was that it was So sweet. As in as sweet as sweet tea. It was inedible to both of us.
The manager came over and said that he would take it off the bill, and that normally patrons are warned that it is really sweet, but since we weren't he would just take it off.
We then ended up ordering a bento box to go for him, and also a roll to go for me.
We were also very impressed by the manager;s graciousness and concern for us.
He just gained 2 new loyal customers, and in fact I have told a few other ppl about how wonderful this new restaurant is. As a matter of fact, we are planning to go for lunch this week.
OP
maybe you can see if there is a pattern, if some dishes just aren't working, and take them off the menu? Just a thought. Good luck.

 

[ilovemk76]

If I ordered it I pay for it. I am lucky that if I want to try something "new" DH will ask what else I would like and order that. If I like my new choice I eat that or else we trade. Thankfully DH is not a picky eater.

 

[satorifound]

Last time was my anniversary. We did eat it because we don't like sending food back, who knows what mood the chef is in. LOL I actually told the waitress I didn't like it. She gave us 50% off our dinner and free dessert.

 

[dzorn]

What do you do when you don't like your meal in a restaurant? In the instance where nothing was wrong with the food itself (meat not cooked the way you wanted it etc.)-you just ordered a dish that you thought you would enjoy but didn't care for it.

What would you do? What would you expect the restaurant to do?


I'm asking because my family owns a restaurant and I've been working there for a long time. This comes up sometimes, a customer didn't care for the dish they ordered and although there was nothing wrong with it (meat not cooked right etc) they don't want to pay for it. We definitely want our customers to leave happy and we usually offer them an alternative dish from the menu, although we almost never offer to remove it from the bill all together as some income is better than none. And, we want the customer to eat a meal that they enjoyed so that they will return because they liked the food, rather than just taking it off the bill and having them not want to come back because they didn't like their meal.

Our restaurant is a very inexpensive 50's themed family restaurant, and we keep our prices very low. As such, our profit margin after paying employees and bills is not very high and we simply can't really afford to comp meals left and right like some places can (I worked at a fancy, expensive Italian restaurant in a wealthy community for a little while and they would comp meals for the most trivial of reasons, like there was a wait for a table...but they could afford it since their prices were so outrageous!)

So what are people's opinions on this? What do you expect out of the restaurant if you just don't like your dish? Does your opinion on this depend on the type of restaurant you are in? For instance, a diner vs. a fancy restaurant? Family owned vs. chain?

Unless there is something wrong with the food: over seasoned over cooked ect I would expect to pay. Heck every time you try something new it is a chance you take to not care for it.

Denise in MI

 

[DisneyCher]

If I just didn't like it, I'd expect to have to pay for it. I ordered something at a colonial tavern type place once and it was absolutely not what I thought it would be (I think it was supposed to be a pot pie of some sort, but when it arrived, it was a bowl of stoup [tm, Rachel Ray] with a hard puffed pastry piece laid over top and I didn't care for the veggies they used), but nothing was wrong with it. I just kind of picked at it and left most of it on my plate. We paid for it and never even entertained the thought that it should have been comped.

 

[BillSears]

If I ordered it and nothing is wrong with the food then I insist on paying for it. It's my choice to try something new and I refuse to have someone else pay for my choice.

On my most recent trip to WDW I ordered the Whiskey Flight at Raglan Road. Now I used to like whiskey in my 20s I didn't drink it at all in my 30s and 40s and recently I've tried it out again. I drank some recntly at a friends and decided it tasted off. So this was the perfect chance for me to try various whiskeys that I knew were the good stuff. I hated every one of them. The waiter wanted to take the price of the flight off of my bill because I didn't enjoy it. I almost had to argue with him for him to keep them on my bill.

If I felt that the restaurant would take the price off of something I didn't like then it would stop me from being adventerous. I take the risks and I pay for it when it doesn't work out. I don't want to dump my mistakes onto someone else.

 

[LilGMom]

There have been a few times when DH or I have ordered something, sometimes on the request of the server and sometimes just because the description sounded good, and we haven't liked it. I would never expect a comped meal or even a reduced price for the meal if it was prepared correctly and I just didn't like it. Nor would I expect a server to offer me a different meal in place of what I wasn't eating or didn't like and I sure wouldn't ask for a reduced cost or comped meal.

What I love (<--- say that word sarcastically) is when I've seen people next to use practically lick their plate clean and then complain about their meal not being prepared correctly or it wasn't up to their standards or they didn't like it and they expect/demand it be taken off the bill. Saw this at Kona Cafe once and almost chocked on my pan asian noodles when I heard the woman start her fussing.

 

[branv]

OP: you might want to change this to a poll so people can answer anonymously if they are send-backers

Personally, I would never expect to get my money back or a new dish for something I simply didn't care for. As long as there isn't some clear kind of negligence, it's a learning experience that's on my head.

The only time I've ever sent something back was when it was clearly an atrocious mistake -- half-raw shrimp, a strawberry sauce where the chef had accidentally salt instead of sugar, plastic in my food.

And actually, even when the cooking was flat out poor, there have been just a handful of times I've said something. One time DH and I ordered steaks that came out insanely salty..and I LOVE salt. We only ate a few bites before we just settled on eating the side items only. The waitress didn't know b/c an assistant was the one to clear the table. When she came to give us our check, I told her nicely that the kitchen was badly oversalting the meat to the point of it being inedible, and that we wanted to let them know before it caused problems with other patrons. She went and got her manager, who wanted to comp our meal, but we refused. Honestly, we just wanted to give them a heads up, and I was concerned they'd take our critiques less seriously if we accepted a comp.

Though honestly, anytime I've gotten poorly prepared food, it usually ends up being just one more thing in a long line of issues that includes poor service. I don't bother to say anything in those cases b/c it won't matter..I won't be back.

BUT, I will say that it is completely shortsighted on the part of the restaurant if they see a dish isn't being eaten and they don't ask. Replacing a dish or offering a free dessert may cost them some money up front, but they may win back a customer they might have otherwise lost.

 

[spacemountainmom]

I would never expect the restaurant to comp my meal because I didn't like it.

That being said, my favorite pizza place has a sign up that says if you don't like your pizza and want a refund, there must be over 50% of the pizza that was uneaten. I always want to ask them about it, but I guess I can safely assume they've had a few issues with it. I have to laugh, because their pizza is absolutely awesome!

I am a northerner and was visiting the in-laws in Memphis. DH and I went to a very "southern" restaurant because we love southern food. Our waitress immediately picked up our MN accents and was so concerned that we were not going to enjoy our selections. She kept asking if we liked it or if we wanted her to bring out something else. We enjoyed the daylights out of our meal, but it got almost comical how worried the waitress was. I don't think our clean plates even convinced her. Maybe the restaurant had problems with other northerners or something? That was about 9-10 years ago and we still laugh about it.

 

[Karenj2]

I could count on one hand the number of times I've returned food. The most recent was when I was pregnant with DD - it was near the end of my pregnancy, and I was beginning to get swollen, so the doctor suggested I stay away from salty foods, and I had ordered a brocolli pasta, and apparently they cook their veggies in saltwater, because it was VERY salty. I was going to eat it anyway, but the folks I was with got the waitress and had me order something else.

As for the original question, if I were a restaurant owner, I'd offer another item on the menu IF they hadn't consumed the whole thing.

 

[JLTraveling]

I run into sort of the opposite problem frequently. I'm far from a picky eater, have only a handful of things I don't like, and don't mind picking those things out and eating the rest of the meal. So no worries really about just not liking something.

But I have a small appetite. It's unusual for me to make it through half of a normal entree. If I have a dining companion that I can share with, great! Otherwise, there's still a ton of food on the plate when I'm stuffed. I'll get a takeout box if I'm going home, but if I'm going to be out for hours, I don't want the stuff sitting in the car getting hot.

Time after time, I have to convince the server that I really did like the food. They're always so solicitous and concerned, and eager to bring me something else. Sometimes I end up feeling bad, hoping the server doesn't tell the chef that I didn't enjoy the meal.

Funny related story - My dad was an industrial engineer for the Department of Defense till he retired. He and a coworker stopped at a hot dog place for lunch in a government car. They had been snacking all morning at their meeting, so they weren't that hungry. Each ate about half a hot dog and threw the rest away. When they left, the owner came running out behind them asking if there was anything wrong and how he could fix it. Dad and his friend explained the situation and the owner said something like, "Oh thank God. I thought maybe you were health inspectors and the food wasn't up to your standards!"

 

[mommycrawford]

I had my first experience sending something back yesterday....

I perused a menu and read details. I ordered a pasta dish which the menu stated had pancetta, parmesean, and one other thing (not tomatos.) I asked the waitress about it and all she said was that customers like it.

It arrived and was covered in tomato sauce so, without tasting it, I told her that there was no mention of tomato on the menu, and it was not what I had wanted, and I apologized for the misunderstanding and changed it for a dish w/o tomato sauce.

The dish was still viable for staff (untouched) and not as it was described, so I did not feel I was wrong, but I did feel badly to trouble anyone....It was scorching hot in NY yesterday, and if I was going to eat anything, and pay quite a bit for something I cook at home, I just didn't want to eat something I don't like....

I did leave a nice tip for the waitress for the trouble!

If I ate a dish, and there was nothing wrong with it, it was just not my favorite, that would be on me, and I would just not order it again, or, if everyone's food was mediocre, not return to the restaurant.