Have you ever sent food back in a restaurant ?

Wren

Wren

Well-known Member
Location
Europe
If you found your meal to be inedible would you return it with a complaint or just leave it, not wanting to make a fuss ?

I’m not prepared to pay for food I can’t eat so have no problem sending it back, discreetly, without causing a scene, it’s only happened a few times and I accept a refund rather than another replacement meal ...
 

Yes, and wine, more than once.

On the other hand I also sometimes send a gratuity specifically out to the kitchen afer a particularly good meal..
 

If it was truly inedible (as in, something was actually wrong with it), then of course I'd send it back. If I just didn't care for it, then I simply wouldn't order it in the future. On a number of occasions, I've sent meat back because it was under cooked for my taste. The kitchen just puts it back in for a few minutes and everything is fine. I can only think of one occasion when a dish was actually bad. I notified the server immediately and they replaced it with different dish, with sincere apologies.

I've had a number of occasions when, after a meal, I've mentioned to the server that I didn't care for something and the restaurant has actually removed that item from my bill.
 
Normally I don't complain, offer to pay the check and make every effort not to go back.

I have sent things back a couple of times and it made the meal awkward. I would sit watching others at the table enjoying their meal and then have them waiting for me to gulp down my meal in front of them when it finally arrived so we could leave.

There really is no good option in those situations.

I live in an area with so many restaurants that there is no need to give one a second chance.
 
Once when I was a teenager and I ordered a hamburger which was raw inside. I did send it back. It's no hassle to fully cook something right?
 
Only once-and the server argued with me that there was nothing wrong with them! It was deep fried clams,and they tasted awful! As in rotten awful. I had had them there before,as well as at other places,so I knew what they should taste like. But these were just plain rotten. It was so weird for her to argue with me. Have never sent anything back ever again-but still would if it was bad. If I just didn`t like it,never-that`s on me. And if it`s over or under done,I just deal with it. Wouldn`t eat raw hamburger though.
 
Once. I had ordered medium rare and was served an extremely well done. Had the steak not been so expensive I would just eaten the baked potato and salad and resolved never to go back but I was not going to pay triple what I would ordinarily have spent for a dinner out and then be served a steak that was inedible. It was a dinner out with a group of new friends, their choice of restaurant, not mine.
 
Once in Puerto Rico traveling with family from San Juan to Ponce. Nice open air restaurant overlooking a banana orchard. White rice, pink beans, roast pork, a salad & cold Corona.


Meal looked great except my white rice was moving on my plate. Only mine, everyone else was stationary. Apparently the maggot in my rice was trying to escape the heat. I lost my appetite but everyone else was OK.


They didn't even charge me for the meal.
 
Yes on a visit to a very small country town last year ( while we was on our winter break in Queensland ) we paid $18 each for a burger . The burger was nothing special but my meat pattie had a very long black hair sticking right out of it ,TBH I don’t understand how it was not noticed by the cook it was stuck in the meat not loose on the burger
 
I have maybe 3 times in my life but I always told them to just take it away and not to bring me anything else. I've heard too many stories from people who have worked in kitchens to ever eat any replacement food. There was only one time there was a situation and I probably should have just let it go but I didn't. I think I was in a bad mood that day and I feel bad I probably ruined the day for the girl waiting on us. I ordered something ala cart in a Mexican restaurant since I usually eat part of my husband's meal. She brought me a whole meal and then what made me mad was she lied about it and said that's what I ordered. I told her to return it and not bring me anything back and so she took it back and scraped off the other food and brought me just the chili relleno so I told her to take it back but not to worry I'd pay for it. I told her to throw it in the garbage (I spoke quietly I never shout) that I wouldn't dream of eating a bite of it. My husband said "I will" so she gave it to him. I did drink my Margarita and his too. I figured he could enjoy his glass of water with the chili relleno he shouldn't have been eating. :sentimental: When he went to pay, the lady who was the manager or owner or whatever went to the cash register and told him that she'd removed my meal from the bill. He left a good tip as we always do. So that's one local eatery we don't go back to.
 
Just last night, I did. Went with some friends to the local Panera, which turned out to be less than wonderful. My soup was lukewarm, so was my friend's, so we both sent it back. And the sandwich was awful. We won't be going back there again.
 
No, prefer not to make a fuss. Just make a mental note and dine elsewhere in the future. Besides, if you send it back, beware what you may get in the replacement :eek:! Don...
 
Sunny said:
Just last night, I did. Went with some friends to the local Panera, which turned out to be less than wonderful. My soup was lukewarm, so was my friend's, so we both sent it back. And the sandwich was awful. We won't be going back there again.
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Your friends were lukewarm? Can't say I blame you for a disappointing evening. L.O.L.
 
Macfan said:
No, prefer not to make a fuss. Just make a mental note and dine elsewhere in the future. Besides, if you send it back, beware what you may get in the replacement :eek:! Don...
Click to expand...

Exactly

and as previously stated, you’ll be out of sync with everyone else if you send it back

Best to make a note and not come back

I have, however, checked out the offending place's websites and did a little review
or, most effectively, a direct note
Not scathing, just noting how the food was

Good results, usually
 

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