my ex wife threw a tantrum if the order was wrong and would not let them fix it. That never happened at one place because she ordered the same exact dish every time for about 50 visits. She looked at the menu and ordered the same thing, shrimp fra diavolo. Not sure why she wasted time looking at the menu. She said she might see something new.
I really don’t think the kitchen staff messes with people’s food. They’re just cooking, not having to deal with bitchy customers. Sometimes it might be a sign if a couple of orders come back that perhaps something is wrong with the temperature of the oven. Or perhaps a manager is helping out, either because someone was out sick. And, at chain places sometimes the managers like to show you how brilliant they are and start ‘helping’
Yeah, I cooked on a line at a restaurant in my youth. We were proud of the work we did, to “mess with someones food” was unconscionable, it just wasn’t done.
I feel a little offended when people suggest it would happen, although I guess it has, though rarely.
I don’t know how this trend started where correcting a mistake involves free everything from now until the end of time, the firing of the person who made the mistake, posting a 1-star incendiary review on Yelp, and demanding the resignation and execution of the corporate CEO are seen as the appropriate steps, but it needs to stop. Mistakes are made, mistakes are fixed, problem solved.
The biggest lie ever told and perpetuated is “the customer is always right”. If you have a problem that cannot be fixed to your satisfaction simply by direct replacement or you don’t like the food just don’t go back. How hard is that to figure out?
There’s reasons why our “exes” are in fact exes. :eek:
Geez, you must know some real assholes. The restaurant reacted quite appropriately.
Some people just see this sort of thing as an opportunity to let out their frustrations on people who can’t fight back and to maybe get extra free stuff, too.,
I did too in college and I guarantee I was probably more upset at a grade on a paper in college than have to remake an order. The servers knew who most of the pain in the ass regulars were so they’d often tell the Expo ‘It’s Mrs So and So’ if it was a known complainer.
And, at least at the one place I worked the longest, we had one really good expo and one really good grill guy, but they can’t work every day. So, more mistakes happened on those days
“Suppose we refund your money, give you another one for no charge, close the store, and have the manager shot. Would that be satisfactory?”
The people demanding a full refund PLUS extra money for their “distress” PLUS still wanting to call HQ are probably the same people who ask that ingredients be left off because they are deathly allergic to them (e.g. hamburger with no tomato slice), but don’t bother checking to be sure the ingredient has in fact been left off.
I would be mad about the manager’s reaction, and for that reason alone I would not return. But expecting a discount or even no charge when, in the end, you received your order is too much.
About twenty years ago, I was doing some work in a impoverished city in a foreign country. My coworker and I were staying at a very nice hotel and went out to dinner at a very nice restaurant located inside the hotel.
After we were seated, the waiter brought us water. He fumbled and split about half of one of the glasses. No big deal to us, but the staff was absolutely horrified. Half the staff rushed immediately to us, full of contrite apology.
Then they gave us free drinks “because they spilled the water”.
We ate a very nice meal without further incident. Then they gave us free dessert “because they spilled the water”.
And, as we were leaving, the staff presented me with a huge floral bouquet “because they spilled the water”. And it was presented to me by the manager with sort of a ceremonial flourish.
And it wasn’t like any of the spilt water got on me. It was really more of a slosh, dumping a few ounces of water and a couple of ice cubes on the tabletop. I seriously hope they didn’t fire the waiter, I seriously hope they didn’t ritually murder him.
On this same trip I left 4 crumpled dollar bills and about a $1.50 in loose change on the dresser in my hotel room one day. When I reentered the room there was a note telling me that my “valuables” had been moved to the hotel safe and they requested that I be more careful about securing my “valuables”.
They served him food that was put on a dirty plate from someone else’s meal. Eating at a restaurant isn’t entirely about getting food to eat, it’s also about competent service.
That’s really it for me as well. I don’t expect total groveling and ass-kissing for a $15 pizza that some harried pizza-slinger likely got confused with one of the other hundred orders that hour.
I’d probably have just taken the one with the peppers, and happily hung onto the coupon for the free one and felt like I’d been treated especially well by the pizza shop.
I would have been upset had they told me that my only option was to wait for the new one to be baked, OR that my only option was the free coupon, and that I couldn’t keep the screwed up one. Neither of those is accommodating to me as the customer for the mistake they made.
Yeah, I wouldn’t expect being refunded, but I would at least expect acknowledgement of the error, it being rectified, and perhaps a free dessert or something of that nature.
Last year or so we went out to a barbecue place. My wife & I ordered our usual dishes, and one of the kids got chicken tenders. The other got something else. I forget what. Anyhow, food comes, a bit slow, but we weren’t in any hurry. I cut into my kid’s chicken tenders and there’s still raw meat inside. I don’t mean just barely any raw meat, I mean, like half of it was obviously uncooked. I call a server over, he takes one look at the meat and his face turns ashen. Now, I wasn’t particularly pissed about it, I was just happy I cut into it before my kid tried to eat it. At any rate, they fully refunded BOTH kids meals and they took 50% off our adult orders, including the drinks.
So, despite the rather dangerous snafu, we still left felt that the situation was more than adequately addressed, and we were actually ready to return (but they went out of business in the meantime. That was only our second time there. The first time it was unexpectedly good; the second time, besides the raw chicken issue, the food was closer to what I was expecting the first time – average-to-below-average, but I was happy with the way the situation was handled that I would have returned to give it a third try and see whether my first experience there was anamolous.)
I find the options presented to the OP to be acceptable. I’m a picky eater, and I want my food the way I order it. I’d have waited for the remake, and likely charmed my way into a coke or a cookie or something while I wait, cuz I’m charming like that.
One night, regrettably close to closing, my husband and I ordered Penn Station. They were not very happy with us. When I got home with the food, one sandwich was wrong and the other was burnt. Husband tried calling the store - no answer. He tried to email them. No response. He emailed corporate. No response. We don’t eat at any Penn Station anymore.
I would have called the health dept on that restaurant. It’s one thing for a plate to not be 100% clean from the dishwasher but it’s clear that plate wasn’t even washed.