# What's the Worst Thing You Ever Ate at a Restaurant? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [November 3, 2022, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-you-ever-ate-at-a-restaurant/974287 "2022-11-03T13:23:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-you-ever-ate-at-a-restaurant/974287/202 "2022-11-09T03:31:35Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > The menu was written in Korean first with poor English translations and I wasn’t familiar with anything on the menu. 😆 There was a place in Little Tokyo in LA that had a similar menu. On item was simply called “Steam Thing”. We used to joke about it and sing, _“Steam Thing! I think I love you! But I wanna know for sure!”_ ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-you-ever-ate-at-a-restaurant/974287/203 "2022-11-09T03:43:04Z")
Sea urchin. I have no idea if it was fresh or spoiled, but it’s one of the very few restaurant items in my life I couldn’t choke down. Oh, also raw crab parts, possibly innards, at a Korean restaurant. And a filipino stew with blood gravy (which my daughter liked just fine). ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-you-ever-ate-at-a-restaurant/974287/204 "2022-11-09T03:56:14Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > Can I eat a single slice of bologna and margarine on white bread for five days a week? I did throughout elementary school. You just brought back some memories. Bologna sandwiches and plain potato chips for lunch every single day for ~9 months. The homeless shelter eventually let us use the microwave so at least we got some variation then. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-you-ever-ate-at-a-restaurant/974287/205 "2022-11-09T05:19:12Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > And a filipino stew with blood gravy (which my daughter liked just fine). That would be dinuguan. I’ve seen it on a few menus around here but never worked up the gumption to try it (I always end up ordering lumpia or pancit). I’ve had black pudding and I enjoyed that, and my Filipino coworkers tell me it’s delicious, so maybe I’ll try it eventually. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-you-ever-ate-at-a-restaurant/974287/206 "2022-11-09T19:00:31Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > This is the bone marrow I got in Budapest about five years ago for about $10 (might have been closer to $7). > > [https://www.peterpawinski.com/IMG\_6035.JPG](https://www.peterpawinski.com/IMG_6035.JPG) > > Pure. Meat. Butter. Heaven. I know it’s not sexy, but damn, it’s good. That was the best thing I ate that trip. Maybe it’s just yummy, but having seen a lot of bone marrows (microscopically for the most part), I’m not tempted by the idea of spooning out runny glop that consists mostly of fat, developing red and white blood cells and bony spicules. [![](https://cerebralpalsynewstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/shutterstock_74663083.jpg) ](https://cerebralpalsynewstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/shutterstock_74663083.jpg) If compelled by starvation, I’d probably choose bone marrow over any dish involving intestines. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-you-ever-ate-at-a-restaurant/974287/207 "2022-11-09T19:01:03Z")
No issues here! More for me! And no hot dogs for me unless they are natural casing, thankyouverymuch! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-you-ever-ate-at-a-restaurant/974287/208 "2022-11-09T19:27:45Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > having seen a lot of bone marrows (microscopically for the most part), I’ve eaten frog legs even though looking at gastrocnemius muscle preps in a physiology lab led to 1/4 of them being discarded due to parasite cysts. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-you-ever-ate-at-a-restaurant/974287/209 "2022-11-09T19:48:30Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > A man I dated in college loved to tell the story about when he went to a “genuine” Chinese restaurant, and decided that for 99 cents, he would order an appetizer he’d never had before, and that was fish lips. That’s correct, fish lips. They brought out a platter of these THINGS that he said looked and tasted like gelatinous rubber bands, but it was worth 99 cents (in the 1980s) to say he’d tried fish lips. LOL that reminds me of a long gone restaurant here in town that called their curly fries “Kaw Valley Carp Lips”. (“Kaw” = Kansas River) ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-you-ever-ate-at-a-restaurant/974287/210 "2022-11-09T20:11:14Z")
You’ve never tasted it. Marrow on toast is ambrosia. I don’t know how pathologists eat anything after spending the day describing things as caseous, scirrhous and myxatomatous. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-you-ever-ate-at-a-restaurant/974287/211 "2022-11-09T20:29:29Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > I don’t know how pathologists eat anything after spending the day describing things as caseous, scirrhous and myxatomatous. I wonder how many non-pathologists savor dishes that are [caseous](https://www.cfsph.iastate.edu/DiseaseInfo/ImageDB/TUB/TUB_001.jpg) (cheesily necrotic), scirrhous (composed of dense scar tissue) or myxomatous (mucoid). But chacun à son goût, and all that. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-you-ever-ate-at-a-restaurant/974287/212 "2022-11-09T20:44:41Z")
I don’t personally care for yogurt or liquidy cheese products by themselves. I do like chicken skin and similar stuff fried in batter. I do dislike tapioca. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-you-ever-ate-at-a-restaurant/974287/213 "2022-11-09T22:27:07Z")
I _hate_ tapioca. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-you-ever-ate-at-a-restaurant/974287/214 "2022-11-09T22:32:59Z")
Mmmmm, tapioca. Love the texture/taste/concept. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-you-ever-ate-at-a-restaurant/974287/215 "2022-11-09T22:59:02Z")
It’s like eating sweet vomit. ---
**Author:** ![Beesnest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@Beesnest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beesnest)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-you-ever-ate-at-a-restaurant/974287/216 "2022-11-09T23:05:49Z")
Not a specific meal but a general gripe. Whenever a dish lets you pick a protein add-in the meat comes out of a side freezer and has absolutely no taste to it that matches what it is put in. It Might/maybe be warmed but always tastes of being stored in a walk-in.(thinking of Thai meals ) I order tofu now instead of chicken. Except Carraba’s that does a decent job with their flaming frying pan entrees. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-you-ever-ate-at-a-restaurant/974287/217 "2022-11-09T23:39:50Z")
I’ve extracted the marrow from beef bones that I cooked for stew in my Instant Pot. You’re right, it’s delicious. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-you-ever-ate-at-a-restaurant/974287/218 "2022-11-10T00:28:37Z")
I went to an Indian Buffet in Los Felix district, Los Angeles. Tried an unidentified green leafy-soupy substance. It tasted like pure gooified evil. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-you-ever-ate-at-a-restaurant/974287/219 "2022-11-10T00:32:36Z")
[Saag paneer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saag#/media/File:Punjabi_Sarsoon_Ka_Saag.JPG)? [Baingan bharta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baingan_bharta)? The first is a mashed spinach dish, while the second is a mashed eggplant dish. I admit that both might look unappetizing, but when prepared well, both are tasty. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-you-ever-ate-at-a-restaurant/974287/220 "2022-11-10T03:44:27Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > but when prepared well, both are tasty. Pardon my snip, but most (by no means all) buffets miss the prepared well steps in favor of fast & cheap. 🙂 And while I don’t care for baingan bharta (just not a big fan of eggplant), saag paneer is a thing of glory, even when cooked at home. Even sans the paneer, it’s very possibly my favorite cooked vegetable dish. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2022, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-you-ever-ate-at-a-restaurant/974287/221 "2022-11-11T00:11:09Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > It’s like eating sweet vomit. I’ll take your word for it. I’m not going to do a comparison tests. And I love tapioca pudding with some cinnamon or a very light dusting of nutmeg on it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-you-ever-ate-at-a-restaurant/974287.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-you-ever-ate-at-a-restaurant/974287.md?page=12)