What are your biggest restaurant complaints?

The BBQ Pit
101

Or just get up and make a show of leaving. Hat and coat and all that. The server often snaps right into gear at that point.

But there have been two times I’ve walked out without paying. Both times it was the bartender I failed to pay.

The most recent time, all I had was a beer. I paid for it, but didn’t tip. The beer was $4.25 and I paid with a ten. The five I got back was then the only cash I had on me. When I finished my beer, I figured I’d have the bartender break it, and I’d leave him two. Could not get his attention. He was serving other people left and right, but totally ignoring me. He never said “be right with you” or anything like that. And I bet I stood there for a good ten minutes. After a while I realized I was wasting my time practicaly begging to give my own money away to someone who clearly didn’t want it. I walked out.

The other time, I ordered a salad at a bar. I’d been to this place enough times to know that the service was terrible, so I bypassed the whole waitstaff thing. The salad was something like $7.50. I had nothing but a twenty. When it came time to pay, once again I used my remarkable powers of invisibility. The girl would walk past me to serve someone else, and I’d wave the twenty right in her face. Too busy? Nope, when she was done she’d go back to watching TV. Once again, this was probably about 10 minutes of trying to pay her. I figured I could just leave the twenty and go, but no way in hell I’m tipping someone a 166% tip for absolutely no service at all. And I figured when she saw me leave, she’d chase me down.

Nope. She never did.

102

You and me both. By now Mr. S knows to order a large glass of ice water along with mine, because I will drink them both. If I finish mine and start on his, we have the waiter refill “his” now-empty water if they come around.

Or I’ll ask for a carafe or pitcher to be left at the table. Once the waitress told me, “We don’t have enough pitchers to leave them at the tables.” I told her that was fine, and I hoped she’d be prepared to come around very frequently to refill my glass. As I recall the glasses weren’t very large either.

Corollary peeve: when I ask for “a LARGE ice water, please” (and nothing else, so obviously this will be my only beverage) and get the usual token 6-ounce glass.

And then there are my three usual standing gripes: (1) Being called “you guys,” (2) being asked “Are you still working on that?” (I picture myself going at my plate with a backhoe and shovel), and (3) getting the old supper-club doggie-bag maneuver in which the waitress folds the bag inside-out over her hand, grasps the leftover piece of meat, and pulls the bag over her hand and the food and ties it closed. Urgh. Since I quit ordering red meat, I don’t get #3 anymore. Thank Og. That is just so unsightly. Spring for takeout boxes already!

103

What diagnosed medical condition causes such a reaction?

Even so, you really can’t argue that it isn’t self-imposed. And my point was, why should you impose your food issues on the waitstaff and cooks at a restaurant?

104

I’ve been a server. I will cut servers some slack. But I do have some ground rules.

If it’s busy and you’re in the weeds, a quick “I’ll be right with you” as you’re walking by my table will earn you more time. I figure if I’ve had time to peruse the menu and decide what I want and you still haven’t bothered to come by and acknowledge my presence, the service isn’t going to get much better. I’ve told the manager why I’ve left, only to hear the server snot behind me “But I was busy!” You can walk and talk at the same time, sweetheart. I am not stupid, I can see the restaurant is busy and I can see you rush by with a tray full of food. But don’t pretend I’m not there.

Don’t ever ever ever ask me if you want change when I pay the bill. That’s a presumption on your part. The best way to handle this is, “I’ll be right back with your change.”

For God’s sake, if it’s noisy or you didn’t hear what I ordered, ask me to repeat it. I once ordered a vodka tonic with an olive and the waitress brought out a Black and Tan with an olive. If it sounds bizarre, doublecheck. I’m sure the bartender had quite the shudder pouring Guinness and Bass and dropping a speared olive on top.

And managers, don’t give the newbies the 12-top. We had a dismal experience at Carrabba’s last week, with sides coming out 15 minutes before the steak so they were cold by the time the steaks arrived, one steak not ordered in the kitchen at all and coming out so late the rest of us were finished. The kid was pleasant and apologetic, the late steak was comped, but come on!

105

Maybe if you’d read my posts in this thread, you’d have the answers.

  1. When I started being a vegetarian over a decade ago, the microbiologist uncle of one of my friends told me about how the production of enzymes needed to digest meat properly (and I’m going off faint memories here) will be reduced greatly if you don’t eat it, but you can get them back with time.
  2. I fucking don’t impose my food issues on restaurant staff. I hate even asking if anything is vegetarian or not because I know they’re busy. I’d rather eat bland, almost-certainly-“safe” food than ask “does that contain meat-based broth?”
106

I don’t think it’s a matter of imposing, but more of finding out how meals are prepared so one can make an informed decision when ordering. Some restaurants will substitute, some will not. It’s not like you’re asking them to custom make an item from scratch for you, but it’s nice to know if the Caesar salad has chopped eggs in it.

I had one guy come with his friends into the seafood restaurant where I worked…and he was allergic to shellfish. Great bunch of friends he had, I tell you. :smack: Since we couldn’t promise that we had one kitchen surface that hadn’t come into contact with shellfish, the poor guy couldn’t order anything. I can’t remember if they stayed or not, but come on folks…if you’re allergic to peanuts, don’t take a tour of the Planter’s factory!

107

What’s all this about imposing food issues on the staff?

The deal with a restaurant is that I go there, we exchange information (they tell us what they are willing to make (in exchange for my money), I tell them what I am willing to eat (and pay for)), and if a suitable agreement is reached, then, hooray, I happily give them money and they happily cook me something I will be happy to eat. If we can’t come to any agreement, then, alas, it wasn’t meant to be, and we part ways. But nobody’s forcing anyone into anything they’d rather not do.

If I should happen to see a dish on the menu and think “Oh, this would be just great without cheese/without chicken broth/with olives, but I wouldn’t want it otherwise”, why not ask the restaurant if they can make it without the chicken broth or with the olives or what have you? We may come to an agreement we’re both happy with, and if we can’t? Well, I’m not holding a knife to them; they can always say “No, I’m sorry, we can’t do that.” I’ll either pick something else at that point, or, if I can’t find anything else I’d like, I can always say “Sorry to have wasted your time, then. I’ll be leaving”. But there’s no harm asking, is there?

If simply telling the staff what you’d like is imposition, well, gee, why even bother selecting from a menu?

108

And me, too. I go through even a fairly large glass of water very quickly. I frequently ask for an extra glass of water, or a pitcher. I love it when they bring water automatically, because then I can suck down my husband’s water, too.

The surest way to get a fantastic tip from me is to never, ever leave me with my water glass empty.

But here’s a pet peeve: ice cubes make water cold, but the trick is that it really only takes a handful, not the entire freaking glass. Swear.

109

…because you’re paying them to bring you food?

For that matter, why impose any preferences at all about the food, even to the extent of choosing what to order?

110

I don’t eat out often, mostly because I like to read while I eat rather than socialize. A few things do get on my nerves, though.

I usually request that the staff bring me a to-go dish right away when they bring my food. It helps me to manage my portions–I split the food into two portions and save one before even taking a bite. The to-go container arrives about 50% of the time. The rest of the time I have to ask again. And even then I often won’t get it until the end of the meal.

I really don’t like it when one person takes my order and then someone else brings it to the table. I’d prefer dealing with one person–it makes it easier for me to know whose eye to catch if I need more water or other assistance. I’d appreciate insights into why so many restaurants split these duties.

111

First of all, your cite is your friend’s uncle? OK. Guess you win. :rolleyes:

Second, you do impose your food issues on restaurant staff, such as when you requested tofu in a dish that calls for a choice of two MEATS.

112

From what I understand (I’ve never been a server) it’s simply to get the food to the customer as quickly as possible, rather than letting it sit and get cold while your server is busy elsewhere. Since your server has other customers, they can’t be waiting around for your food to show up; I think most customers would rather get their food faster and hotter, and aren’t so concerned with who actually brings it.

It is slightly annoying to have to tell somebody who gets what, or occasionally direct a server to someone else’s table (because they’re trying to give me somebody else’s food), but on the whole the system seems to work.

113

Bread. Bread is a big issue for me.

I’m a fan of what I call dinner roll and tablecloth restaurants. Because the have dinner roll, or bread, or cheese and crackers, or whatever. Sometimes I’m a little disappointed because it turns out that they don’t actually have these things. But as we shall see…

Last month I was at a place that had several different dishes featuring mussels. The descriptions were something like this (I can’t remember exactly):

Mussels Margaret
In a white wine and cream sauce. Potato, choice of vegetable 14.95

Sunset Mussels
In a garlic butter sauce with sauted onions and mushrooms 14.95

Steamed Mussels
Served classic style. Potato, choice of vegetable 14.95

OK, first of all, what’s wrong with this picture? What’s missing from the Sunset Mussels? A listing of sides, right? Basically the three dishes are the same, and are the same price, you’d figure that you’d get the same sides. I reasoned that they were not listed because the words wouldn’t fit on the menu.

Bad assumption. I know, I know, I should have asked.

But I got exactly what I ordered. Mussels. And nothing else.

After a while, it became clear to me that while tasty, this meal wasn’t going to fill me up. I finally asked the waitress if I could maybe get a dinner roll or something. She said sure, and brought out a little bread basket with bread and butter in it. It was then that I realized that it was complimentary, and every table in the place had it except me.

In fact, on that little vacation, I ate at four different restaurants. Three of them forgot the complimentary bread, and I had to ask for it.

114

Yeah, except when the system delivers your appetizer and entree at the same time.

115

That’s the sort of thing that this particular system is designed to prevent; food is delivered when it is ready, not when your server is. If the kitchen is producing both items at the same time, that is the kitchen’s fault, and has nothing to do with who brought the food. If the appetizer has been sitting around, then the waitstaff screwed up. Either way, it has nothing to do with what as-u-wish is talking about.

116

Yeah, I agree, it was really over the line when Ferret Herder somehow forced the staff to say “Yes, we’d be willing to make that substitution for you”. I don’t know how she did it, but I do know that that sort of thing is flatly unacceptable.

117

First, the uncle is a microbiologist.

Second, she did not request tofu, the waiter offered it when she requested no meat.

Reading for comprehension is a good thing.

118

Look, I know this is the Pit and all, where cites aren’t strictly required, but offering up “my friend’s uncle” as a cite is just plain bullshit. My friend’s uncle thinks he’s Prince Albert (in a can). What does that prove?

Comprehend this. She requested no meat, when ordering a meat dish. :smack:

119

Give me a fucking break. I didn’t treat her like a queen cuntrag, even though she is one. I apologized for the inconvenience, asked her what else she needed, brought her the check with an extra receipt for her expense account like she always wants, and was civil to her. She is a regular at these dinners and is always a bitch for something. I guess I was just amazed that someone could be such a bitch over my accidently bringing something extra (that she was not charged for, BTW).
Fuck her and fuck you if you think it’s OK to be that way. Newsflash: It’s not.

120

Comprehend this. She politely asked if the restaurant would be willing to do something, and the restaurant told her they were willing to do it. :smack:

If the restaurant had said they were unwilling and Ferret had then refused to take “No” for an answer, you might have cause for complaint. But that’s nothing like what happened, is it?