When eating out, and the food is meh....

[funksouljon]

Do you say something? Example. Went out tonight, salad was great but the salmon was a touch overcooked. I've done it better, but done it worse and eaten worse at home. But if the food was meh but edible, do you complain?

How bad does it have to be before you send it back? Or when they ask, do you indicate "meh" (which will then turn into a "thing")? Everything else was good, but it got me thinking, how bad would it need to be..... what do the Hawkeye Bacons say?

 

[BrianNole777]

Never, I just don't go back.

 

[StormHawk42]

In a rare occurrence, I might complain about terrible service. Never about food though. I just won’t go back.

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

I never send food back. I don’t trust the cooks.

My kids who have served say that more and more people will eat a lot then complain believing that the restaurant will comp their meal or give something else for free. People are shitheads.

 

[DirtyJohns97]

Do you say something? Example. Went out tonight, salad was great but the salmon was a touch overcooked. I've done it better, but done it worse and eaten worse at home. But if the food was meh but edible, do you complain?

How bad does it have to be before you send it back? Or when they ask, do you indicate "meh" (which will then turn into a "thing")? Everything else was good, but it got me thinking, how bad would it need to be..... what do the Hawkeye Bacons say?

If it's cooked as they intended but sucks, I say nothing, don't punish the server and move on. But if it's a piece of meat that is ****ed up I send it back. I will give one degree of latitude on steaks. I always order medium rare, if it's rare or medium, I am fine. If it's still alive or well done, it's going back.

 

[Jimmy McGill]

I will say this....I've noticed a decline in food prep and service.

 

[DirtyJohns97]

I will say this....I've noticed a decline in food prep and service.

 

[funksouljon]

I never send food back. I don’t trust the cooks.

My kids who have served say that more and more people will eat a lot then complain believing that the restaurant will comp their meal or give something else for free. People are shitheads.

Yeah, I wasn't interested in comp meal etc. Considered it as "feedback", but just decided it wasn't worth making a big deal out of it and possibly escalating, plus the rest was good and my chat with the bartender was fun.

Years ago, I sent food back one time in my life, it was fully warranted (hair in it) and the kitchen tried to send the food right back to me after covering it up. The manager was summoned and I showed him that they sent the same food back after removing the hair. Meal was terminated and we went elsewhere but just as you say, I don't trust cooks.

 

[noleclone2]

It’s got to be really bad or completely wrong for me to say anything involving getting a new meal. To start with, you have to worry a bit at angry cooks tea bagging your new entree but more a true impact is sitting there awkwardly as rest of table eats. I might complain to someone walking out under these circumstances.


Now sidebar, and not to hijack thread, but my biggest pet peeve in a restaurant is ordering appetizers and having them come out basically with meal. I will cancel them and send back every time or get for free. I have noticed it happens a lot these days so we now know to order right away and give big time gap before entree order. And even then it still happens.

 

[funksouljon]

If it's cooked as they intended but sucks, I say nothing, don't punish the server and move on. But if it's a piece of meat that is ****ed up I send it back. I will give one degree of latitude on steaks. I always order medium rare, if it's rare or medium, I am fine. If it's still alive or well done, it's going back.

Exaclty where it was, one degree overdone. And the rest was good.

 

[DirtyJohns97]

It’s got to be really bad or completely wrong for me to say anything involving getting a new meal. To start with, you have to worry a bit at angry cooks tea bagging your new entree but more a true impact is sitting there awkwardly as rest of table eats. I might complain to someone walking out under these circumstances.


Now sidebar, and not to hijack thread, but my biggest pet peeve in a restaurant is ordering appetizers and having them come out basically with meal. I will cancel them and send back every time or get for free. I have noticed it happens a lot these days so we now know to order right away and give big time gap before entree order. And even then it still happens.

It's like two different people wrote these paragraphs

 

[LuciousBDragon]

I ate OP Mom’s tuna once and it was way overcooked. But that was because I was like 10,000th in line. I didn’t complain and she comped my next meal.

 

[funksouljon]

I ate OP Mom’s tuna once and it was way overcooked. But that was because I was like 10,000th in line. I didn’t complain and she comped my next meal.

 

[Dr. Phil Seuss]

Do you say something? Example. Went out tonight, salad was great but the salmon was a touch overcooked. I've done it better, but done it worse and eaten worse at home. But if the food was meh but edible, do you complain?

How bad does it have to be before you send it back? Or when they ask, do you indicate "meh" (which will then turn into a "thing")? Everything else was good, but it got me thinking, how bad would it need to be..... what do the Hawkeye Bacons say?

If it is an expensive-ish place, I’ll tell them if something isn’t cooked right. If it is just a matter of me not liking the dish, I won’t say anything.

 

[DirtyJohns97]

I ate OP Mom’s tuna once and it was way overcooked. But that was because I was like 10,000th in line. I didn’t complain and she comped my next meal.

This story makes no sense. If you didn't complain, why did she comp your next meal?
Not only that, If you knew anything about OPs mom's tuna, you would have said it's drastically undercooked.
Last time I went for a snack I was fighting off swarms of seagulls.

 

[WolfeHawk]

Anyone who has seen the movies Road Trip or Waiting might be able to answer this in a way that expresses my opinion on the matter.
Also I worked at Wendy’s 22-23 years ago and may or may not have seen some things…
FYI don’t disrespectfully hit on the cute girl at the drive thru window…
Don’t be a local school Vice Principal dickhead named Casas.

 

[SI_NYC]

Do you say something? Example. Went out tonight, salad was great but the salmon was a touch overcooked. I've done it better, but done it worse and eaten worse at home. But if the food was meh but edible, do you complain?

How bad does it have to be before you send it back? Or when they ask, do you indicate "meh" (which will then turn into a "thing")? Everything else was good, but it got me thinking, how bad would it need to be..... what do the Hawkeye Bacons say?

Most decent restaurants want you to leave happy. What they don’t want is for you to never come back so if the meal is subpar, you should tell them and most will be happy to make you another meal.

 

[General Tso]

There are a couple families we won't go out to eat with anymore because one person in each family always finds something to complain to the wait staff about and/or generally treats them like shit

 

[KFsdisciple]

I try to not to do custom orders. Nothing worse than going out with someone who wants to create their own menu item. "I want the nachos, no beef add steak, add beans, no tomatoes, no onions, no peppers, add sour cream etc." There comes a point where you don't want what you're ordering. Get the chicken tenders and fries and keep it moving.

If I am going to do a custom order, I order through an app. For instance, I'm not a fan of pickles on my burger, by ordering through the app if I screwed up I can only blame myself this has about a 98% success rate and if my burger has pickles on it, I just shake my head remind myself America's best and brightest don't make a career at McDonalds, take the pickles off and enjoy.

 

[hawkeyetraveler]

I worked in restaurants through high school and college. In one restaurant the staff would f*ck with returned food, spit on the flattop, etc.. The servers weren’t great and the place was a pigsty behind the scenes. I quit as quickly as I could from that place. Very broken culture. In the next, we never messed with people’s food they returned. The culture was “the customer is always right” and we took pride in the food. We kept the place sparkling and bad seeds on the staff were quickly weeded out.

I apply this rule of thumb in restaurants. If the food is messed up and you can see the wait staff aren’t attentive/are lazy/dour, tables are left unbussed, etc then I don’t say a thing. The culture is such that I wouldn’t trust the food…just don’t go back.

If you have great service and there is a problem I will almost always say something as it provides them with a learning opportunity.

 

[beanerhawk]

Now sidebar, and not to hijack thread, but my biggest pet peeve in a restaurant is ordering appetizers and having them come out basically with meal. I will cancel them and send back every time or get for free. I have noticed it happens a lot these days so we now know to order right away and give big time gap before entree order. And even then it still happens.

Why? Does it make them less appetizing?

 

[beanerhawk]

I never complain or send back food, as many have said on here I just don't go back to said restaurant. There's really no point in either to me.

 

[InsaneHawkJJP]

I have a different diet than most people on here so I have sent food back multiple times, because for some reason people just can’t wrap their brains around the fact that I don’t eat cheese/dairy.

Now if I go to a new restaurant I know to politely tell the waiter at least twice sometimes more that I don’t want meat or cheese on anything and everything is usually right.

 

[noleclone2]

Why? Does it make them less appetizing?

Yes, actually. They are suppose to be shareable and well before your meal hits since they often don’t even match what you ordered. It’s kind of similar to when they give you your soup/salad at 69 seconds before enter. Not as appetizing often and don’t want to have to eat at same time.

 

[millah_22]

Do you say something? Example. Went out tonight, salad was great but the salmon was a touch overcooked. I've done it better, but done it worse and eaten worse at home. But if the food was meh but edible, do you complain?

How bad does it have to be before you send it back? Or when they ask, do you indicate "meh" (which will then turn into a "thing")? Everything else was good, but it got me thinking, how bad would it need to be..... what do the Hawkeye Bacons say?

Not unless it's obviously bad. Like burnt or cold. if it's meh, I just don't order that dish or go back to that restaurant again.

 

[CarolinaHawkeye]

I get a little tired of the wait staff asking about my meal, while I still have the first bite in my mouth.

 

[Nole Lou]

I guess as others have said...if they just do a poor job of it and I don't like it, I don't say anything.

If, however, it's very obviously some kind of mistake...like burnt to a crisp on one side, missing an ingredient, served totally cold, not cooked through, etc...I do say something. So me, if I had a restaurant and a literal mistake was coming out of the kitchen, I'd want to know. Like the rule of thumb is, it should be something that is quite obvious, not subjective. Everyone knows raw chicken is raw chicken and shouldn't be served on a plate LOL.

Historically, my experience has been that when you point that out to a manager or something, especially if you're gracious, they've both been very grateful to have it brought to their attention and eager to replace the meal, take it off the bill, and often both.

That has changed in the the last few years...they simply don't care at all. If they serve a drastically wrong meal (raw chicken, burnt meat, wrong ingredients, etc) and you bring it to their attention...they are just like "Oh, sorry to hear that." No offer to replace, no offer to take off the bill. My assumption is that given the tight margins and inflation and labor issues, they have seen a huge influx of customers complaining, both in earnest and disingenuously, and decided it's a matter of policy to not comp or replace anything no matter what.

I stopped saying anything, but it's crazy because sometimes a waitress will come get my plate, with one bite out of it, and be like "Oh didn't have the appetite you thought you did, huh?". Or "So, did you change your mind?" which I consider an invitation to explain. And I'll be like "no, I was hungry, but I ordered it medium rare, and as you can see it's dark brown throughout." And they're still like "Wow, it sure is! That sure isn't right!" and just drop the check LOL.

 

[beanerhawk]

Yes, actually. They are suppose to be shareable and well before your meal hits since they often don’t even match what you ordered. It’s kind of similar to when they give you your soup/salad at 69 seconds before enter. Not as appetizing often and don’t want to have to eat at same time.

You seem a little high strung. I'd just snack on the apps with my meal and wouldn't think twice about it. Life's to short to get worked up about something like that for me.