[QUOTE=The Crooked Man]
Hot day – milkshake machine out.
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=kushiel]
…I thought I was in a nightmare that one time the Iced Capp machine was broken in the middle of summer.
[/QUOTE]
This really isn’t the same as running out of stuff. Machines break. And very few restaurants are going to have backups.
[QUOTE=PunditLisa]
A few years back, on July 4th, our local KFC ran out of chicken. It was something like 3pm. That was just one indication of how poorly managed that particular KFC was.
[/QUOTE]
Ours does this REGULARLY during the dinner rush.
[QUOTE=Gangster Octopus]
Well, I was at a restaurant that ran out of salt.
Salt.
[/QUOTE]
I ran out of salt at home a while ago and kept coming home from the grocery store without remembering to get any, because, you know, who ever runs out of salt?
[QUOTE=BubbaDog]
I stopped at an all night Dunkin Donuts shop one night about 1am and they had plenty of coffee…but no donuts…or anything else.
[/QUOTE]
Wow. So, whom does one call when the police are rioting in the streets? 
There’s an awesome This American Life story about a Subway sandwich place in Seattle that had been cut off from the coporate office (the owners had had some feud with the Subway company and for some reason had just left the country) and this young girl became the manager and tried to run it. She paid employees cash out of the till each day but I forgot how she paid bills like rent and utilities. They bought seemingly everything from the grocery store once the supply trucks stopped coming. If memory serves it was able to stay open for a few months before the Subway company stepped in and finally closed it.
[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner]
I went to the following restaurant:
http://www.oxfordrestaurantguide.co.uk/old_orleans/
It’s part of a chain in the U.K. doing New Orleans-style food (and more generally American food). Lots of their dishes are served over rice. It was in the middle of the day. They were out of rice. They made the dish instead over a baked potato.
[/QUOTE]
I think your mistake was going to Old Orleans in the first place. Culinary delights are not many to be found in (central) Oxford, alas. sigh
[QUOTE=Bearflag70]
My wife just ordered prime rib at Outback. When ordering, the server warned her that, “We’re out of medium.”
WTF? I thought a place like Outback cooked to order.
[/QUOTE]
Prime rib is all cooked as the entire section, the ends are well done and as you move to the center it gets rarer.
[QUOTE=tdn]
I am reminded of when my ex went to a coffee place for lunch and ordered a grilled cheese sandwich. They were out of bread. The waitress offered a tuna sandwich instead. Very long story short, ex ended up ordering a tuna sandwich, grilled, with cheese, and hold the tuna.
[/QUOTE]
Was Jack Nicholson around?
I went to this restaurant, and ordered Prime Rib medium, but they said they were out of Medium. Does anyone know why that could happen? Maybe it has to do with how Prime Rib is cooked? I’m dying to know!
[QUOTE=Ludovic]
I went to this restaurant, and ordered Prime Rib medium, but they said they were out of Medium. Does anyone know why that could happen? Maybe it has to do with how Prime Rib is cooked? I’m dying to know!
[/QUOTE]
See post #12
If you’ve never worked in a restaurant you’d be surprised how much sales are influenced by nonhuman agencies, particularly the weather. Years ago when I worked for Wendy’s, you just learned that on chilly days, people would order potatoes and chicken; on hot days, burgers and salads.
Knowing that isn’t always sufficient to plan ahead for stocking supplies. You could have a run of bad weather and suddenly your supplies are looking mighty thin.
Add to that the razor-thin margin on which many restaurants operate — you can’t order in extra lettuce, extra meat, extra tomatoes, extra cheese, extra whatever, without consideration for its shelf life, because you certainly don’t want to spend your food budget on stuff that’s gonna spoil.
There’s no excuse for running out of sugar packets, cups, napkins, or other non-perishable dry goods, though.
[QUOTE=Baldwin]
Wow – so they essentially told you they were giving the customers dirty silverware because they were out of clean ones? I’ve never called the Health Dept. on a restaurant, but that might be one of the times it’s needed.
[/QUOTE]
If only they had some sort of machine that could wash them.
[QUOTE=alphaboi867]
If only they had some sort of machine that could wash them.
[/QUOTE]
Even if the machine is broken, there’s always the good old manual option. Or the Manuel option, as it is in many restaurants.
Seriously, though, I would rage at a restaurant that tried to pass off dirty plates or silverware on me. Almost any food gaffe can be forgiven or worked out, but woe betide the poor bastard who puts a greasy knife or crusty fork in front of me.
[QUOTE=Antinor01]
This isn’t quite as bas as some of the other stories, but there is this cuban restaurant we go to sometimes. (Versailles in Encino).
[/QUOTE]
Dude! I love that place! Half a chicken, with black beans and fried plantains.
I still haven’t figured out why a Cuban restaurant would be named after the palace of Louis XIV. 
[QUOTE=Joey P]
Years ago my dad was at a bar, ordered is regular Barcardi and Coke and was told they where out of Bacardi. Huh? Yup, out of Bacardi. He walked across the street to a liquor store. Bought a bottle of Bacardi, came back, handed it to the bartender and reordered his drink.
Really, I can see accidentally running out of Jameson or Plymouth or Godiva Chocolate Liqeuor, but Bacardi. The bar owner should have just run over to the liquor store themselves and picked up a bottle to get though the night.
[/QUOTE]
In some states it’s illegal for one retail liquor outlet to buy liquor from another retail liquor outfit. They must order from a wholesaler that only sells to retail outlets.
Once, after a night of drinking, some buddies and I went to a large, pancake-style all night restaurant for some grub. I ordered, I dunno, a burger or something only to be told that the grill was broken. Okaay, I thougt. How about chicken fingers? Oh, the fryer is down for cleaning, is it? What DO you have?
Salad and ice cream.
[QUOTE= Weird Al]
So I got in my car and I drove over to the donut shop
And I walked on up to the guy behind the counter
And he says “Yeah, what do ya want?”
I said “You got any glazed donuts?”
He said “Nah, we’re outta glazed donuts”
I said “You got any jelly donuts?”
He said “Nah, we’re outta jelly donuts”
I said “You got any Bavarian cream-filled donuts?”
He said “Nah, we’re outta Bavarian cream-filled donuts”
I said “You got any cinnamon rolls?”
He said “Nah, we’re outta cinnamon rolls”
I said “You got any apple fritters?”
He said “Nah, we’re outta apple fritters”
I said “You got any bear claws?”
He said “Wait a minute, I’ll go check”
“NAH, we’re outta bear claws”
I said “Well, in that case - in that case, what do you have?”
He says “All I got right now is this box of one dozen starving, crazed weasels”
I said “OK, I’ll take that”
[/quote]
How can I be the first?
[QUOTE=Taber]
How can I be the first?
[/QUOTE]
Oddly enough the Wiki for previously referenced Cheese Shop Sketch mentions that this Weird Al lyric was inspired by the sketch. I personally don’t see the connection: we’ve all been somewhere where they seemed to be out of something.
And anyway, Albuquerque woulda been better if Al had shot the guy in the head.
My aunt, uncle, and their two kids once drove from Cleveland to Cincinnati to visit a relative. They got to the hotel just as the restaurant was about to close for the evening, and were informed that the only dinner option available was prime rib. Apparently the hotel had hosted a catered affair, and there were a bunch of meals left over from that, so the kitchen staff had decided to knock off early and tell the waitresses to push the prime rib, as any unsold entrees would have to be thrown out. When the food came, it wasn’t even hot – my aunt and uncle guessed that the plates had sat around for about three hours by the time they were served.
[QUOTE=silenus]
Dude! I love that place! Half a chicken, with black beans and fried plantains.
I still haven’t figured out why a Cuban restaurant would be named after the palace of Louis XIV.
[/QUOTE]
Yep, they are the awesome. Great food, lots of it, not expensive and they make great mojitos. 
We should totally go sometime.