Do you send food back at Restaurants?

I used to send it back until I was briefed on what happens in some places when you send it back. Now I just eat at places that tend to get it right every time.

Never. Not even when I ordered a plain double cheeseburger at Burger King and received a single burger with barbecue sauce and onion rings on it. And I despise barbecue sauce.

It's not cuz I'm a doormat. It's cuz I worked in food service for ten years, and have nothing but empathy for fast-food employees, waiters/waitresses, and cooks. They don't get paid nearly enough to put up with the shit customers give them.

I would never, ever send food back.

No way.

And I would not complain until all the food prdered was out on the table.

*Rushes in waving a sheaf of papers*

I have shocking information relevant to this discussion!

Ever send food back when you're on a date? Think Again(Number 25)

swvaughn said:

Never. Not even when I ordered a plain double cheeseburger at Burger King and received a single burger with barbecue sauce and onion rings on it. And I despise barbecue sauce.

It's not cuz I'm a doormat. It's cuz I worked in food service for ten years, and have nothing but empathy for fast-food employees, waiters/waitresses, and cooks. They don't get paid nearly enough to put up with the shit customers give them.

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Me, too. However, I also know what a halfway decent foodserver should be capable of. Though I am usually a good tipper, if a server hasn't made an effort to serve me well, it will be reflected in the tip...

I will send food back, but I avoid eating at places where I think I'll have to. Namely those ubiquitous restaurant chains. Go to a local place...a 'one hit wonder', and you'll get better food prepared right because the locals have a rep to maintain.

The big places like ...well...you know... the staff doesn't really care. They aren't in food service for the longhaul. They are just there to make money...not to make a great meal.

Those are the places I will send food back in. So I avoid those like the plague. Of course I have a friend who thinks Appl....that place is the cat's meow. So when I go out with him...we go there. I eat first and order the salad when I get there. I don't want to eat their meat.

All in all, when people suggest we go out, unless they are paying, I counter with...'come over to my place and I'll feed you'.

It's nicer that way.

Jaycinth said:

All in all, when people suggest we go out, unless they are paying, I counter with...'come over to my place and I'll feed you'.

It's nicer that way.

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What time is dinner?

Nope. I just won't go back.

I used to work at a restaurant, so I know what happened in the kitchen when customers sent food back. X_X

Not a fair question, actually. I haven't learned to speak Thai yet, so I'm not even able to send the food back. Thus far there's been no desire, though, so it all works out.

(Some of you are thinking that I haven't learned English yet either. Shut up!)

Bmwhtly said:

*Rushes in waving a sheaf of papers*

I have shocking information relevant to this discussion!

Ever send food back when you're on a date? Think Again(Number 25)

Click to expand...

I KNEW...just KNEW...that bloody list was gonna follow me EVERYWHERE!!!!

Just ignore the spewed tea all over the monitor--so basically, your face--and my keyboard--so basically, your lap.

Sending food back is like sending sex back; don't stare a gift horse in the crotch...er...wait...that's not right...

Damnit! *wraps towels tighter, tucks fold into cleavage, stomps back to Cabaret*

Yes I send it back-but first I spit on it! Saves the chef the trouble! In front of the waiter/ress-I tell them to tell the chef that my snot/spittle is far worster than theirser-and that before they heat it up and serve it to another they should consider that which I am sure they do not-then I get up-walk out and do not tip or pay-well I have been known to write seriously nasty things on napkins which do not always have to do with the food!

You should have a-neither of the above option in your poll-or who cares-I just spit on the food in front of the waiter'ess do not pay then walk out-or at least another option or 30 or 40

It depends where I am. At a greasy spoon, never. At an upscale restaurant, yes. But at an upscale restaurant, it's hardly ever necessary.

Public Service Announcement: Avoid Apple...uh, that place Jay was talking about.

I wouldn't dare.

I've heard the stories...

*shudders*

Havin been a short order cook in my teen years I know what occurs to that steak that's broght back because it's undercooked or overcooked etc. Very baaad things.

I'll haunt a place that I like and get to know the staff by name; that usually gets me a good table and good service and edible food. It also imresses the hell out of the Mrs. that I always get a table at this one particular diner no matter how crowded.

I send drinks back - and go with them.

Lots of places don't know wtf a Tom Collins is and the bartender thinks I won't figure it out when they send something unidentifiable in a shot or martini glass. Ditto Irish Coffee (Applebee's told me "we don't have brown sugar or whipped cream, so we leave it out") and Gimlets.

So I go back to the bar - with the drink - and either teach them or get something else. Heaven forbid I should order a Sidecar or a Manhattan...

I've put up with boo-boos and don't take it out on the waiter - its usually not their fault. If something is really wrong I send it back, want it off the check but DO NOT get a replacement. I had a friend that was a cook - he got pissed off at a guy that kept sending a steak back. He spit on it, jumped up and down on it......that always stuck with me. BYW, that customer said "now thats how I like it" Ug...

I don't send anything back unless a) it is clearly the wrong order or b) there is a hair in it. I'm sorry, I don't do hair. I just don't. But I am always VERY VERY nice about it.

I worked as a cook while in high school and college. The people I worked with wouldn't even think of despoiling someone's meal when I was around. They knew better. What happened when I wasn't there is another matter.

One of the strangest customers I ever ran across was an older woman who returned a t-bone because it was overcooked. She had ordered the steak black and blue, where the outer portion is seared and the inner part very rare.

The steak was cooked perfectly. The manager told me to put another one on the grill, count to ten, flip it over, count to ten again, and he'd serve the meal himself.

I was certain the woman would complain that the steak was now undercooked; in fact, it was raw.

Some time later, the manager returned and said, "Come here, I want to show you something."

We walked into the dining room, where he pointed to a table. "I think she liked her steak," he said.

The woman had eaten every scrap of meat off her plate, even the fat, and was busy gnawing on the bone like a dog.

I've sent wine back when it was obviously a bad bottle. It happens and no one's at fault. I don't think I've ever sent food back. I grew up on my mom's cooking, just barely. Believe me, everything is better than that.

I didn't send it back but here's a story.

I eat at what seems to be the unmentionable A place. I don't drink so I ordered a virgin mudslide. The waitress just looks at me and says that's basically a milkshake. I said yes that's what I want. She says you know that's just vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup. I said yes I know I would like one please. She was just so confused as to why I wanted that drink.

I would have ordered a chocolate milkshake but I didn't see any on the menu.

I do send my food back. I don't like eating at Outback because they never get my steak right. And I don't like eating at Carrabbas because they undercook their pasta.

I think the whole what they do to sent back food is a myth perpetuated by the food industry so that customers will be too scared to send back their food if it comes out wrong.

I only send it back when it's either clearly not what I ordered (ordered steak and shrimp but got chicken and rice) or there's something horribly, horribly wrong with it (it's so spoiled, flies won't even land on it because the stink rays are blocking them). I'm willing to give them some leeway, but you have to draw the line somewhere; a friend of mine always had to send food back at one place because he always asked for his burgers well done and always, for some odd reason, kept getting them medium well (I joked with him that this was the reason why he went vegetarian).

rosemerry said:

I think the whole what they do to sent back food is a myth perpetuated by the food industry so that customers will be too scared to send back their food if it comes out wrong.

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I wish it were a myth, but it's not.

Think of the cook as a writer who just had his work rejected. He thinks the meal is perfect, wonderful in every way, and the customer must be a dumbass for thinking otherwise. So he takes out his frustration on the customer.

Many cooks, like writers, just roll with the punches and accept rejection. Others take it very, very hard and lash out.