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

[Scott5114]

The kitchen staff needs to take dietary considerations into account instead of automatically assuming someone wants to be a jerk.

It was rare that it happened in the first place, but the person ordering it would usually request salt packets at the window, so we knew what was really going on.

[21stCenturyRoad]

My mom got mad because a clerk at a department store chewed bubble gum.

Why?

I asked my mom about it recently, and she said it was "probably because she was blowing bubbles in my face." The incident happened around 1988.

Why were you at the store with your mom at age 16? I usually stay home when my mom goes out.

Oh my God, who the hell cares?

[kphoger]

My mom got mad because a clerk at a department store chewed bubble gum.

Why?

I asked my mom about it recently, and she said it was "probably because she was blowing bubbles in my face." The incident happened around 1988.

Why were you at the store with your mom at age 16? I usually stay home when my mom goes out.

Oh my God, who the hell cares?

Not to mention that it's actually normal for families to go places together. Seriously...

[SectorZ]

My mom got mad because a clerk at a department store chewed bubble gum.

Why?

I asked my mom about it recently, and she said it was "probably because she was blowing bubbles in my face." The incident happened around 1988.

Why were you at the store with your mom at age 16? I usually stay home when my mom goes out.

Well aren't you the cool one around here...

[US71]

Red Robin, many years ago. Table of two received their order before I received mine even though I had been there before them AND got my order wrong. Management wouldn't do anything, so I contacted corporate HQ. I was told the store manager would be in touch.  Six weeks later, still no contact so I wrote back and basically told them to go screw themselves.

I've not stopped at a Red Robin since that time.

[Roadgeekteen]

Red Robin, many years ago. Table of two received their order before I received mine even though I had been there before them AND got my order wrong. Management wouldn't do anything, so I contacted corporate HQ. I was told the store manager would be in touch.  Six weeks later, still no contact so I wrote back and basically told them to go screw themselves.

I've not stopped at a Red Robin since that time.

At a restaurant I went to the server dropped my dad's steak and he got a free meal.

[formulanone]

Oh my God, who the hell cares?

Thank you.

[bandit957]

My mom got mad because a clerk at a department store chewed bubble gum.

Why?

I asked my mom about it recently, and she said it was "probably because she was blowing bubbles in my face." The incident happened around 1988.

Why were you at the store with your mom at age 16? I usually stay home when my mom goes out.

I wasn't with her, but I remember her talking about it.

[Roadgeekteen]

My mom got mad because a clerk at a department store chewed bubble gum.

Why?

I asked my mom about it recently, and she said it was "probably because she was blowing bubbles in my face." The incident happened around 1988.

Why were you at the store with your mom at age 16? I usually stay home when my mom goes out.

See those quotation marks? That means his mom, not him, was the one with bubbles in her face. He had to ask her about it too, so he probably wasn't even there.

Anyways, that was a ridiculous question. We're talking about 30 years ago  Who cares if he was there or not?

sorry for my extreme stupidity.

[hbelkins]

We probably all have had bad experiences with restaurants getting orders wrong. One thing I've found is that it pays to complain, and the best way to do that is to fill out the surveys that are promoted on your receipts.

One local fast-food place was terrible about getting orders wrong. I finally filled out the survey and complained. A couple of apologetic emails followed, along with a request for my mailing address so they could send some coupons as an apology.

Sheetz has also gotten my order wrong a couple of times in recent months. The first time, I went online and filled out their "contact us" form and ended up with free credits on my Sheetz card. This last time, not only did I do that, but I filled out the survey listed on my receipt. I got double the free credits by doing that.

[TheArkansasRoadgeek]

Applebees' is really bad some days, we don't go there very often anymore. Terrible service...

[Rothman]

Applebee's is bad, period.

[Scott5114]

I have heard often enough that I believe it to be true that Applebee's just microwaves frozen food that's cooked elsewhere and shipped to them. That's fine for fast-food prices but for a full-service casual restaurant I'm paying for actual cooking.

If something goes wrong at a restaurant, the best way to handle it is to contact the manager on duty (usually a shift or assistant manager) and calmly relay what is wrong. Most often, you'll get an offer to replace the food and/or comp your next order. If you're not satisfied with what the MOD offers, then the next step is to find out how to get in touch with the store or general manager. GMs are usually pretty busy and don't appreciate their AMs being unable to handle it, are most likely the ones to get shit if it goes any further, and generally have enough authority to be able to resolve most situations. If you need to proceed beyond this, either the district manager or corporate is the next step, and both are likely to rain enough shit down on the restaurant that hopefully the issue will be permanently corrected.

If you find that a place is just hopelessly unable to get things correct, it's probably best to stop going there for a while in the hopes that decreased revenue will get their attention.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

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!!!

It depends on the chain. Since many fast food places actively clock drive thru speeds as a top priority, they may push your front counter order off to the side to get a few more cars out of the drive thru before making your order.

[Scott5114]

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!!!

It depends on the chain. Since many fast food places actively clock drive thru speeds as a top priority, they may push your front counter order off to the side to get a few more cars out of the drive thru before making your order.

Of course, the reverse is also true. If the person at the window is waiting for one special-cooked item (like an infrequently-cooked fish or chicken sandwich) the drive thru will back up while the front counter is still slamming out orders, since there's nothing physically blocking them from the other customers.

[hbelkins]

I'm not a huge fan of Applebee's. All of those places seem severely overpriced for what you get. If I had to pick a favorite fast-casual place, it would probably be Chili's, because I like their chicken strips (the dinner comes with fries and corn on the cob).

I like O'Charley's better than Applebee's, and have never been to a Ruby Tuesday's, so I don't have a lot of experience with the genre, other than to know that I'm not impressed with Applebee's.

[Rothman]

A friend of a friend worked at Olive Garden.  Most of their meals were frozen and essentially warmed up there.  I have no idea why people are enamored with the place.

[Roadgeekteen]

A friend of a friend worked at Olive Garden.  Most of their meals were frozen and essentially warmed up there.  I have no idea why people are enamored with the place.

I have never heard someone say that they like olive garden.

[Roadgeekteen]

I've never been to Olive Garden.

don't go

[Takumi]

The only good time to go to Olive Garden is when they have the unlimited pasta.

[Roadgeekteen]

Once apple bee's messed up my families orders. No one in my family wants to go there anymore.

[oscar]

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!!!

It depends on the chain. Since many fast food places actively clock drive thru speeds as a top priority, they may push your front counter order off to the side to get a few more cars out of the drive thru before making your order.

Hardee's/Carl's Jr. seems to give that kind of priority to drive-through customers, to the point of making service painfully slow for walk-ins. So when I go there (only for breakfast, sometimes), I use the drive-through unless I need to use the restroom.

McD's does better at serving walk-in customers. But I usually do the drive-through with them as well, unless there is a long drive-through line.

[Roadgeekteen]

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!!!

It depends on the chain. Since many fast food places actively clock drive thru speeds as a top priority, they may push your front counter order off to the side to get a few more cars out of the drive thru before making your order.

Hardee's/Carl's Jr. seems to give that kind of priority to drive-through customers, to the point of making service painfully slow for walk-ins. So when I go there (only for breakfast, sometimes), I use the drive-through unless I need to use the restroom.

McD's does better at serving walk-in customers. But I usually do the drive-through with them as well, unless there is a long drive-through line.

I also find drive thru quicker. Also I don't have to drive my lazy ass out of the car if I use drive thru.

[US 89]

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!!!

It depends on the chain. Since many fast food places actively clock drive thru speeds as a top priority, they may push your front counter order off to the side to get a few more cars out of the drive thru before making your order.

Hardee's/Carl's Jr. seems to give that kind of priority to drive-through customers, to the point of making service painfully slow for walk-ins. So when I go there (only for breakfast, sometimes), I use the drive-through unless I need to use the restroom.

McD's does better at serving walk-in customers. But I usually do the drive-through with them as well, unless there is a long drive-through line.

I have noticed the drive-thru preference at several places (McD's included) but Subway probably tops that list in my experience.

[epzik8]

Back in 2006, my dad, two brothers and I were trying out this new seafood place in our neck of the woods north of Baltimore. They were like "you food will be out right away" and it took almost an hour, and it was pretty bland.