Worst experience you have ever had with a restaurant and its staff?

[pumpkineater2]

After my high school graduation, my family and I went to the Red Robin in Tolleson, AZ.  As I was eating my burger, I discovered a very long and thick black hair embedded in the patty. I pulled on it and it just kept coming and coming. We got hold of the manager and showed him the hair, and he said it was most likely a horse hair and that it probably got in there at the meat packaging plant somehow. He was reluctant to refund the meal at first, but eventually he took my meal off our check.

A few months ago at a Macaroni Grill in Avondale, our waitress was bringing our food to the table. My whole family was there so she had her arms full. In the process of serving our food, she leaned too far over and the spaghetti that my sister had ordered slid right off the plate and onto the floor, and oh the spectacular SPLAT sound it made. The best part? She just put a chair over the mess and left it there for our entire visit, never once sending anyone out to clean up the mess. The whole thing was hilarious to me; the sound, the mess, and the chair as her solution. I burst out laughing several times during our meal.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

One person mentioned cashiers pushing Coke as your drink if you don't specify. This was a McDonald's policy when I worked there, along with if you order nuggets that you will be asked "barbecue sauce with that?"  It's called "back to basics"  order taking. I'm not sure if its intent is to save a couple seconds on an order or what. I usually ignored it and asked what a person would like to drink.

[Plutonic Panda]

Denny's in Edmond, OK last year. Had a waitress throw orange on me after I asked for pulp and she brought it out with no pulp. When I complained about it for the second time she threw it on me and said "what if I go home and grind down my gold jewelry, would that be good enough for you?"  

If that were a guy we probably would have thrown fists. Since it was a lady, I just yelled "fuck you"  and walked out without paying as did my friends.

I wrote to Denny's about it twice and received no response. I will never go to another Denny's anywhere again because of that. I had on an expensive shirt too.

[index]

As I was eating my burger, I discovered a very long and thick black hair embedded in the patty. I pulled on it and it just kept coming and coming. We got hold of the manager and showed him the hair, and he said it was most likely a horse hair and that it probably got in there at the meat packaging plant somehow.

Oh, dear lord. I get very disgusted and nauseous when I get hair in my mouth, I don't even want to begin to imagine that. That must have been fun. 

[kkt]

Denny's in Edmond, OK last year. Had a waitress throw orange on me after I asked for pulp and she brought it out with no pulp. When I complained about it for the second time she threw it on me and said "what if I go home and grind down my gold jewelry, would that be good enough for you?"  

If that were a guy we probably would have thrown fists. Since it was a lady, I just yelled "fuck you"  and walked out without paying as did my friends.

I wrote to Denny's about it twice and received no response. I will never go to another Denny's anywhere again because of that. I had on an expensive shirt too.

That's messed up.  Could have charger her with assault.  They should at least have paid for your shirt's cleaning.

[J N Winkler]

My worst recent experience was at a combined restaurant and sports bar in Maryland Heights, Missouri.  I arrived around 9.30 PM, sat down, and a waitress came by to take my order, without of course having given me so much as a drinks menu.  I requested a menu and ice water to start.  Then I had a drink and entrée order all ready to go by the next time the waitress swung by, at which point she told me dinner was not available and I was therefore restricted to finger food like buffalo wings.  This made me angry, not just because I felt I should have been told up front that the kitchen was closed, but also because when she was pointing out the page of finger-food items that could still be ordered, she was rapping on my table with a lot of noise and vibration.

"I must go.  What do I owe you for this water?"  I asked.  "Nothing, water is free," she said, and only at this point did she seem to realize how close to boiling I was, and started to apologize.  I insisted on going, saying that I had come in expectation of a full meal.

In fairness to the restaurant, it was one I had found online, and I think hospitality websites that sit between the provider and the customer, like TripAdvisor, need a better system for indicating kitchen closure when this is separate from the overall closing for the establishment.  I also think it should be socially unacceptable at the very least, and possibly also illegal, for drinking establishments that also serve food to try to hold on to foot traffic by hiding the fact of kitchen closure from a walk-in until the point a food order has to be refused.

As it happened, the Denny's across I-270 was able to accommodate with a reasonably filling avocado chicken salad.

[jeffandnicole]

I also think it should be socially unacceptable at the very least, and possibly also illegal, for drinking establishments that also serve food to try to hold on to foot traffic by hiding the fact of kitchen closure from a walk-in until the point a food order has to be refused.

The kitchen wasn't closed.  They just weren't serving what you wanted.

As far as legality goes, I believe in Delaware that if you're a restaurant that serves alcohol, the kitchen does need to stay open.  I don't believe they need to keep everything on their menu available though.  In many other states, I've never heard of such a law. 

[Roadgeekteen]

Once a chinese buffet was mad that my family brought in food for my brother who is allergic to peanuts when the boneheaded people working there could not tell that peanut oil is actually peanuts  .

[J N Winkler]

The kitchen wasn't closed.  They just weren't serving what you wanted.

I beg to differ.  The appetizers they were still willing to serve were all of the kind that can be taken out of a freezer, put on a plate, and reheated in a microwave kept behind the bar.  To me that is not an open kitchen in any meaningful sense of the word.

As far as legality goes, I believe in Delaware that if you're a restaurant that serves alcohol, the kitchen does need to stay open.  I don't believe they need to keep everything on their menu available though.  In many other states, I've never heard of such a law.

There can be a food sales requirement for some types of drinking establishments.  In Kansas, for example, counties have the ability to allow liquor by the drink subject to a food sales requirement (usually 30% of total food sales), though there are counties that are still dry, as well as counties that have abolished food sales requirements.

I didn't actually encounter establishments with separate kitchen closing times until I went to Wisconsin earlier this summer for about a week.  There it is typical for a separate kitchen closing time to be posted somewhere on the premises, but not to appear in the establishment's TripAdvisor profile.

[bandit957]

Once when I was about 13 or 14, I went to a local Pizza Hut with my grandmother and my aunt. When the Pizza Hut employee was seating us, my grandmother politely said that she'd prefer a different seat, which was a reasonable request. Then the Pizza Hut employee yelled out at the top of her lungs, "FINE!!!!!" She threw a stack of menus down on the table! Then my aunt asked to see the manager. The Pizza Hut worker replied, "I AM the manager!" Then my aunt said, "Well, what a manager!"

Once in the early '90s, my brother and I stopped at a restaurant in a nearby town. I don't even remember what this place was called. I tried ordering chicken, but the waitress refused. She said that their chicken is "froze" and they don't always thaw it, so it wouldn't be available. So why is it on the menu?

[SectorZ]

Man, I've lucked out, I can't match anything so far in this thread. Closest I had was my wife asking for a second glass of wine (on our anniversary no less) and not only not getting, but the waitress having had the gall to charge for it. She took a solid 20 minutes to fix the bill. That is the first and only time I've been so pissed that I literally blanked her tip.

I do have set rules. 10 minutes with no wait staff at the table equals me out the door. If it starts that bad, it likely isn't getting better.

I've also noted you can tell how well the economy is doing based on service in restaurants. When the economy is going great, it seems service gets cruddier, because the jobs are a little more disposable to the people working them. YMMV.

[formulanone]

One time I was eating at a Zaxby's (can't go wrong with Zaxby's), and it was full of people. I sit down and wait for a waiter to show up. Eventually one does show up, and takes my order.

A waiter at Zaxby's? You mean you don't order at the counter like most other fast-food places?

At Raising Cane's, they do what I find increasingly obnoxious -- they take your name and then call it when your food is ready. What's wrong with just issuing a number on the check/receipt and then calling the number?

The one time I ordered in at Cane's, I told them my name was Dale Earnhardt. 

They also ask your name at Arby's and Chic-Fil-A. The former "recalls"  your name by the same method of payment on a return visit.

Doesn't really bother me; although numbers give you an idea how long you might wait.

[hbelkins]

^^^

Stopped at a Taco Bell today to use their restroom and decided to order a snack. They asked for my name, but the printed receipt had an order number. Made no sense to ask for a name when they could just as easily call "Guest 265!" (Or whatever my order number was.)

[Scott5114]

I think the idea behind names is that it is more personable and friendly than a number. Personally, I don't care one way or the other, but I could see how using names would cause problems–what do you do if you didn't realize there's more than one Brian in the place, or what if someone else took an order for someone named something like "Zxfby" and you have no idea how to pronounce it?

[J N Winkler]

I can see people objecting to being called by name to pick up an order because it seems overfamiliar, or because they just don't feel comfortable with a whole roomful of strangers being able to match a name to a face.

For a deaf person looking to "submarine," it is another piece of information that has to be said out loud that an hearing order-taker is probably not going to understand, with no benefit to the deaf customer, who is going to be standing next to the pickup counter waiting for something to come out that looks like his or her order.

I'd personally just prefer a number that is also displayed on a LED readout at or near the pickup counter and a system of attaching order slips to packaged orders that can be compared to the receipt to double-check you aren't picking up someone else's food.

[formulanone]

I think the idea behind names is that it is more personable and friendly than a number. Personally, I don't care one way or the other, but I could see how using names would cause problems–what do you do if you didn't realize there's more than one Brian in the place, or what if someone else took an order for someone named something like "Zxfby" and you have no idea how to pronounce it?

I used to use fake names for silly purposes, but also think that paying with a credit cared that has my name on it and then telling the clerk I'm "Takehashi", "Gerhard", or "Zbigniew" seems a bit shifty, and a time-wasting aggravation to explain the spelling. When I rented in a gated community, we'd tell the guards a fake name because we found they wouldn't randomly ID someone with an uncommon name, but Michael and Jane would.

Probably more fun to try that at Starbucks than the local chicken shack.

[Takumi]

I once told Starbucks I was James May. They didn't get it.

[Brandon]

I once told Starbucks I was James May. They didn't get it.

Thanks, Captain Slow!

[Mr. Matté]

I think the idea behind names is that it is more personable and friendly than a number. Personally, I don't care one way or the other, but I could see how using names would cause problems–what do you do if you didn't realize there's more than one Brian in the place, or what if someone else took an order for someone named something like "Zxfby" and you have no idea how to pronounce it?

I used to use fake names for silly purposes, but also think that paying with a credit cared that has my name on it and then telling the clerk I'm "Takehashi", "Gerhard", or "Zbigniew" seems a bit shifty, and a time-wasting aggravation to explain the spelling. When I rented in a gated community, we'd tell the guards a fake name because we found they wouldn't randomly ID someone with an uncommon name, but Michael and Jane would.

Probably more fun to try that at Starbucks than the local chicken shack.

When I go to the Five Guys near my work, I always call ahead. The first time, I told them "Matt" but when I arrived to pick up my order, after telling the cashier my name, he went "Matt is here" and down the kitchen staff line was them screaming out the same thing, which kind of unnerved me a bit. Nowadays, I'll use either the name "Doc" or "Norm" to see if anyone gets old-timey TV references (Johnny Carson Tonight Show and Cheers, respectively). Much to my surprise, the 20-somethings working the staff do not get them.


To the original topic, one instance of bad service I remember (though I can't specifically remember why it was bad) was a 2004 visit to an Applebees. My mom is a big complainer at restaurants if they forget to bring you ketchup and other minute things. It was more notable for my dad (at the time an avid Jeopardy watcher) and me (as a game show fan) since the night we were there was the night Ken Jennings lost.

[Roadgeekteen]

Once when I was about 13 or 14, I went to a local Pizza Hut with my grandmother and my aunt. When the Pizza Hut employee was seating us, my grandmother politely said that she'd prefer a different seat, which was a reasonable request. Then the Pizza Hut employee yelled out at the top of her lungs, "FINE!!!!!" She threw a stack of menus down on the table! Then my aunt asked to see the manager. The Pizza Hut worker replied, "I AM the manager!" Then my aunt said, "Well, what a manager!"

Once in the early '90s, my brother and I stopped at a restaurant in a nearby town. I don't even remember what this place was called. I tried ordering chicken, but the waitress refused. She said that their chicken is "froze" and they don't always thaw it, so it wouldn't be available. So why is it on the menu?

Do you know what time it was at the pizza hut?

[bandit957]

Do you know what time it was at the pizza hut?

It was around lunch, probably during summer vacation.

[allniter89]

It seems whenever I order at a fast food drive thru I get the food thats been under the heat lamp the longest, I guess I should check the food b4 I drive away but I dont. I never had this happen when I order inside but "to go". To be sure I get fresh food when I initially order inside I say its to eat "here", then as their putting it on the tray I say "change of plans pls put that in a to go bag, I prefer to eat in the car anyway.
And why do people sit in a drive thru line that has a dozen or more cars ahead of them?? I can go inside, get my food & walk out the door & the line only advanced a couple cars....lazy people!!!

[Scott5114]

It seems whenever I order at a fast food drive thru I get the food thats been under the heat lamp the longest, I guess I should check the food b4 I drive away but I dont. I never had this happen when I order inside but "to go". To be sure I get fresh food when I initially order inside I say its to eat "here", then as their putting it on the tray I say "change of plans pls put that in a to go bag, I prefer to eat in the car anyway.

At least where I worked, if an order was placed for here, to go, or drive-thru made no difference as to the freshness of the food. It was done more or less in sequential order by order number. The fresh food would go to whoever happened to have the next order up after we ran out of the previous batch.

The heating unit did feature timers that indicated when a batch of product was theoretically supposed to be thrown away, but they were not always reset when they were supposed to be, and batches sometimes co-mingled, so sometimes stuff didn't get thrown away when it probably should have been. (It should be noted that since the heating unit kept food warm enough to keep it out of the temperature danger zone–which, as a shift manager, I was responsible for measuring and logging–this was a question of food quality, and not food safety.) In any case, we often found ourselves stretching food past the timer since customers were more likely to complain of wait times than freshness.

Some restaurants pre-build a number of sandwiches with the standard toppings, so that if someone orders a Whopper with cheese or whatever there's one ready to toss in the bag. (The restaurant where I worked was rarely busy enough to justify this.) If this system is in place, it can easily be worked around by ordering a sandwich with one condiment removed or added, although you will of course have a longer wait as a new sandwich has to be made.

Some people would ensure that they would get fresh fries by asking for fries with no salt. Sure enough, we always had to make fresh fries for them, but it was generally considered to be a dick move because we had to throw away or set aside the existing, salted fries and be sure to keep that one person's order sequestered from the salted fries, which is more difficult to do than you'd think due to the kitchen not being set up for such a thing. So if getting fresh food is more important to you than not looking like a dick to the staff, then I guess that's an option one could explore.

In general, one should remember that "fresh" and "fast" are often opposite sides of a continuum. The only exception is when the place is busy enough that everything is going out the door fast enough that it doesn't have time to get stale, and when that's the case you're likely to run into a bottleneck where order volume overwhelms the ability of the humans behind the counter to physically take the orders or produce the food.

[jeffandnicole]

Nowadays, I'll use either the name "Doc" or "Norm" to see if anyone gets old-timey TV references (Johnny Carson Tonight Show and Cheers, respectively). Much to my surprise, the 20-somethings working the staff do not get them.

I'm not sure what they're supposed to do, even if they do get it.  Do you expect them to reference the shows or something?  Besides...I work with a Norm, and Doc is a kinda-normal nick-name for, well, doctors.

[Roadgeekteen]

Do you know what time it was at the pizza hut?

It was around lunch, probably during summer vacation.

It was not even late at night? What a dick.