Went out to eat tonight. Ordered a burger. Like always, I order it plain, no cheese and to burn the burger. As almost always the waitress then asks “Well done?” and I say “Yes Burn it”. Of course it comes back bright red inside. I then cancel my order and go to Burger King. I never send food back to be redone. I’ve talked to too many people who were in the business who’ve told me that the cooks don’t like it when food comes back, no matter the reason, and either spit on it or worse. So my questions are do you feel safe sending food back and if you’ve been in the food service business, how often does “soiling” the food happen?
Had several restaurant jobs. Never seen anyone fuck with someone’s food, or talk about fucking with someone’s food. Seen some angry chefs, but they were still professional about it.
I will sometimes send something back if it is not the way I ordered it, not always.
You should just admit you don’t like hamburger.
Yes, if it’s not what I ordered, and a rare hamburger would qualify if I ordered well done. And you should, someone made a mistake and they should fix it. Restaurants know this happens and won’t have a problem dealing with it. If they do, leave.
Very, vary rarely. Last time was a Longhorn Steak House, asked for the Sirloin medium well and got it medium rare. Pointed it out (very politely) to the waiter, they took it back and it came back just fine, and the manager stopped by to make sure I was satisfied (I was and told him so). So being polite and non-confrontational worked for me.
There are a few places that I like to go to lunch that have a very poor track record of getting the order right. These are takeout, pick up at the counter places, not sit-down restaurants, although they are not fast food chains. I always check my order, and give it back to be remade if something is wrong. I’ve probably had the same tuna melt (on poppy-seed ciabatta) remade 7 or 8 times now. Sometimes they have to redo it twice before they get it right. It is good when it’s right, though.
I’ll send it back if say I ordered a burger and they bring out a chicken sandwhich. But if the meet temp of a burger is a grade to well or rare, I won’t bother.
I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of meals I’ve sent back, and one was a porterhouse at Longhorn. I felt terrible doing it, but it was well done, and I like my steaks mooing, and I told her that, and we even chuckled together at my “just knock it over the head and drag it through a warm room” request.
It was a $30 steak, and I tried to like it well done, I really did. But three bites in and I just couldn’t do it.
I know it wasn’t the server’s fault, and I told her that, and I told the manager who came to check on me later that. I also asked her if it would come out of her paycheck (because I totally would have tipped the value on top of the regular tip if so, because I HATE it when the servers suffer for things that aren’t their fault). She told me no, it wouldn’t, and not to worry about it, so I hope she wasn’t lying to make me feel better. I did leave an extra $10 in the tip anyway. Not enough to cover the price of the steak, but hopefully enough to make up for causing her extra work and a probably tense confrontation with the cook.
But my mom did a really solid job of making me believe that I need to eat what’s put in front of me whether I like it or not, so mostly I don’t send things back.
I never have.
A number of times, I’ve received an incorrect order. On occasion, I’ve mentioned it to the server. “This isn’t what I asked for…but, hey, no worries. This is good too.” Once or twice I’ve sent feedback to corporate food-chain headquarters, saying what happened.
On VERY rare occasions I’ve been served meals that were dreadfully unpalatable. But they weren’t prepared incorrectly. Just…bad. There used to be a chain called “Good Pizza.” They lied.
Posted by WhyNot: “…my mom did a really solid job of making me believe that I need to eat what’s put in front of me whether I like it or not, so mostly I don’t send things back.”
This. In our case my dad did the heavy lifting in the “eat what your mom made for us” arena.
I am willing to ask that a whole plate be heated up in a microwave oven, just to raise the temperature. No one has ever seemed to mind.
I’ve asked several cooks/chefs/food servers over the years about deliberate food contamination. I trust their responses and none have ever witnessed anything.
Maybe I’m lucky but I’ve never had to send back food that was different from my ordered wellness or simply tasted horrible or cold etc. I definitely have sent back food that had sauces I did not order on it.
But…
that’s crazy talk! I’d definitely send back something that was entirely different from what I ordered.
But why? It was fresh and delicious. Yeah, I’d ordered a hamburger, and got a chicken sandwich instead. I like chicken sandwiches just fine! Besides, they’d have to throw it out, and it’s a sin to waste good food.
Now, if it had been something I really hate, that might be different. (Joyous fact: there isn’t anything I really hate!)
I’m not picky, but the last place I sent back “food” was Burger King. It was a Whopper Jr (hamburger with lettuce and tomato). The “lettuce” was that central chunk where it’s connected to the root, about the size and shape of a small golf ball. The manager apologized and cheerfully had a new one made.
The only other time I’ve sent food back in the last few years was McDonald’s, mostly because the burger was so sloppily prepared (I can’t recall what type it was). The patty was about 75% off of the bun, and the toppings had slid off of the burger into the wrapper and made a total mess. I’ve been told by former McDonald coworkers that asking for TLC is a magic term for “slow the fuck down and do it right” - meant for the manager to hear so they would ease up on the cooks, so sending food back was a beneficial to them.
Why is this in the Pit?
only if it tasted spoiled or something like that but if it was horrible I get ahold of customer service or something
I usually eat what is brought. But then I don’t order $30 steaks.
However, I can’t eat runny egg whites. I always order them over medium. If the egg white looks like snot, I will ask them to cook them a little more. And they do it.
I see what you did there. 
We do from time to time.
My son is autistic and he likes his food a certain way. For example, plain burger, ketchup, no cheese. We are always very, very specific with our orders, and have learned to get it read back (folks really like to make cheese burgers). He’ll still get a cheese burger or something with extra sauces about 1/4 of the time. Back it goes. He’s getting more flexible as he gets older, but I’ve learned not to be uncomfortable about it at all. We’re paying for it. We’re clear about it up front. We send it back if we need to.
I have sent back precisely one meal in my life. I was on a date, and I ordered a steak medium well, which means there’s still pink inside of it. It’s just not red anymore. I would have accepted medium or well, because it’s a delicate balance and I’m not picky.
The steak came with garlic toast and a salad.
I couldn’t eat the steak. It was beyond well done. There was no meat to the meal anymore, it was simply too done. It was now more like a block of wood. I don’t send back meals, but it was an expensive meal, and the date had only just started, and my date insisted I send it back.
When I sheepishly explained the situation to my waitress, I compared the steak with the garlic toast and said that the toast was a lot more moist than the steak. I told her not to tell the cook that. I probably shouldn’t have said it out loud, but I was just being honest.
Steak came back fine, I left a nice tip. I just want it done right, I’m willing to be patient.
Oh, this might count as sending back, but I didn’t get it remade.
I went to Wendy’s and returned some uneaten food when they got every part of my order wrong. And it wasn’t a switched order, it was my order, but I got salted fries when I asked for no salt, I got both sandwiches with mayo and I said no mayo, and I got a ton of ice in my drinks and I said no ice. I didn’t want a refund or a remake, I simply wanted to return the food so the manager would understand that their process needs a fix. I didn’t yell at anyone, I just asked to see the manager, I explained the problem, said I don’t want anything. Just wanted to let them know so they could fix the process for other customers. It sends more of a message that way that I’m serious, the order was really wrong, and I’m not trying to game the system to get free stuff. And it wasn’t the first time I got an order made incorrectly. They had a 50/50 accuracy rate. I just love Wendy’s so I tolerated it for a long time.
Never had a single problem with that Wendy’s again. I imagine other customers must have complained as well, I don’t believe a single complaint actually fixes problems that big.
Why would you want a burned burger?
Rarely.
One restaurant we went to made a bitching buffalo chicken patty sandwich, then one time the cook sent out grinder up shreds of chicken in buffalo sauce in a sub roll, I was so grossed out by the texture, one bite, I sent it back. I mean, whoever cooked it COMPLETELY changed the sandwich.
At a Bennigans once my wife bit into a chicken patty sandwich, and the meat was RAW.
As for angry cooks, at another restaurant my wife was served a buffalo chicken patty sandwich with MOLD on the bread. She sent it back, and the cook stormed out of the restaurant. After he came back mp;;;;;[pkky wife refused any more food because she didn’t want him spitting in our food.
I was once a short order cook at a supermarket cafe, and it was near the end of my shift, and this old biddie sent back a cheeseburger TWICE on me, for two different reasons, and I threw a hissy fit, and she complained to the cashier about my poor attitude. I was fired 12 weeks later, thank goodness.