Obviously it’s your money and your choice, but for anything over 5 bucks or so, if I was within a 5 minute trip to a restaurant, store, or another business establishment that has ripped me off, I would damn sure go back and call them on it, demanding (politely but firmly) to have them make it right via refund or replacement, preferably both…
Again, if it’s something that only cost a dollar or two, or the place is 50 miles away, I would either just let it slide or call them up and try to have them give me credit on a future visit, but for me, a place only 4 blocks away (especially one that I patronized regularly) that took me for something to the tune of $20 (or more) would be getting a quick, businesslike visit from me, resulting in a full refund, company or no.
I went for breakfast once at a restaurant that I hadn’t been to for many years. I’m vegetarian, mentioned it to the server, yet found a big chunk of bacon in my homefries. I guess the bacon and homefries are cooked on the same grill with no cleaning in-between. Not going back.
I remembered another one. I was at a local Thai place with some co-workers, and I had a fierce craving for duck with gingery sauce on top of salad. They served exactly that. Frabjous day! I ordered it.
I’d scarfed down about 2/3s of it before I found, underneath it all… a used bandaid. Curled up, obviously come off of someone’s finger.
We all got our meals comped. Haven’t been back since. Refused to meet my (now husband) there for a first date.
There’s a very popular steakhouse in this town called the Texas Cattle Company. I know why it’s popular as their steaks are pretty good, but their service is just fucking horrible.
I was at a birthday party there with a group of friends. We arrived at about 7, got our table at 7:30 and order. The food doesn’t get there until almost TEN O’CLOCK, and when it does…lo and behold, they forgot my order. Didn’t just leave it in the kitchen, they forgot to put it in. So, it’s 10PM and they haven’t even started on my steak yet. They half-heartedly offered to make me the steak, but I declined. The salad and bread was probably healthier anyway.
So, I don’t go back there until several years later when one of my wife’s relatives wants to go there for their birthday (it’s popular with birthday people because you get a free small steak on your birthday). I go with them, against my better judgement. We get there a bit before 7, don’t get seated until an HOUR later, and the food doesn’t come out till ten. Again. At least this time they didn’t forget my order.
I haven’t been back since.
I got the munchies after 10:00 one weeknight a couple years ago, so I drove the couple blocks to the Jack in the Box (my favorite fast food spot, and I’m still a regular there). However, since all of my previous visits had been in the afternoon I’d never paid attention to what time they closed, and unfortunately they had closed a few minutes before I got there.
Oh well, I’ll hit McDonald’s. Let’s just say that, having almost three decades of foodservice experience, I couldn’t think of any conceivable reason why it should have taken 20 minutes to get a Quarter-Pounder with Cheese. I’ve refused to patronize the place since.
The other was at a local bar. Apparently I, being in my 40s, didn’t fit the desired demographic of this place. Because I sat down at the bar with my money in hand, and despite the place being dead slow, I sat there for 15 minutes without anybody so much as acknowledging my presence. The owner herself was standing 20 feet away chatting with a handful of young hipsters, and occasionally glanced in my direction, but never asked if I wanted anything or even said a word to me. I put my money away and left, and didn’t go back.
I will give credit to the Pizza Hut here in town because they actually open the box and ask you if it looks all right before they charge you and let you take it. They suck at keeping their buffet full at lunch hour though.
I used to order take out from a local Chinese place…the food was always good. Then one day I looked at my soup-there was a dead yellowjacket wasp floating on the surface.
Never went back.
Prior to my giving up on Friendly’s, way back in the early 90’s, I was served a burger with a bee. I went to take the tomato out, and the bee flopped out onto my plate, stunned but still moving. I figure, bees aren’t exactly roaches, so I cut them some slack once they comped the meal.
They could have been bothered to scrape any food left lying on the grill to the side/off so it didn’t cook in with the next batch of food. Who wants overcooked bits of the previous dish cooked in with their food?
And once again, some people don’t realize that, no matter what the sign out front says, restaurant cooking is not “home cooking”. While the above quote is entirely correct (and I do agree with it), the simple fact is that a restaurant is not cooking one dish at a time. Unless you are the only customer in the restaurant, there are going to be other, different, orders sharing the grill with yours, and accidents happen.
The appropriate action when something like this happens is to summon your server, explain the problem, and ask for a replacement. If the restaurant refuses to replace the food, or if this happens over and over, then it’s reasonable to say “I’m not coming back here”.
