Do you ever complain or send food back in restaurants?

I've never sent food back nor complained.
I did though, in fact just the last time that we dined out at our favorite Asian Bistro, fix a dish myself, table side: Edamame in the shell had sugar rather than salt sprinkled over the top, one saving grace was the cook had not tossed all of the Edamame in the sugar. When the waiter brought us our bill I advised him of the cook's error and he agreed, said he would inform the kitchen.
 
Morning Glory said:
I have done both. Any examples? The most recent example I remember (which was a while back) was when I ordered a pizza with an egg broken on top. I stressed to the waiter when I ordered it that I wanted a runny yolk. And well... it wasn't. They got it right, after it got sent back.
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To be fair, your idea of a runny yolk is more on the raw side than most.:laugh:

But, as for me sending food back, if there is something that they can fix, I'll send it back. If it is clearly just bad food, I just don't ever order it again (or come back to the restaurant).

CD
 
TastyReuben said:
I did once send back some hash brown casserole (Cracker Barrel) that had the cook’s metal bracelet in it. :laugh:
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I was eating at the bar in a really good TexMex place in the Houston Airport, and my beverage had a gnat (or similar small flying insect) floating on the top, and I called the bartender over. I pointed at the beverage, and before I could say a word, his eyes got as big as ping-pong balls, and he apologized and got me a new drink. :okay:

CD
 
I've sent unopened clams back, keeping my pasta and the opened ones, got them back after being forced open with shell pieces in the clams, as well as on the plate. That didn't go over so well for the restaurant as I got a bit loud with the manager having a kitchen/server that served someone clams that wouldn't open. Ended up just eating my pasta. They did comp my meal.

Fried calamari that was all clumped together and still frozen in the middle got sent back and i passed on any other food from that place.

Normally, if it's just not great food I'll eat at least some of it, then say something when our check is brought. Not to get a break on our check, because i won't let them take anything off, but just to let them know. Unless it's a favorite place or part of the meal was really great, we either won't go back at all or we won't order the dish again.

I will send a steak back if it's not cooked correctly.
 
Having worked in restaurants, I know what can happen. I have had only a few instances where I had to send my food back, but I have done it and I was very gentle and polite about it.

One time I was at an IHOP (International House of Pancakes) which is a nationwide chain that serves all kinds of food, breakfast, lunch and dinner. I had ordered a typical American breakfast with over easy eggs, bacon, toast, and hash browns. My eggs came out not over easy, not even over medium, but with fully cooked yolks. I was sitting at a table in view of the line where I could see the kitchen and the grill over the barrier, so I knew nothing nefarious was going on with the food. I called to the server and pointed them out to her, then asked that I have some eggs over easy, the way I had ordered them. Twenty minutes later they came back out the same exact way (how does it take 20 minutes to cook eggs!), and before the server walked away, I pointed it out to her. She went and got the manager. I was very nice about the whole thing but the manager was quite irritated. She went back into the kitchen and made them herself and delivered them to my table and they were perfect. My husband had finished his meal already. The entire check was comped.

When my dear mother was still alive, we went to a steakhouse and they overcooked her steak. She was not nice to the server and browbeat him about it in a supercilious manner. I was a bit embarrassed and I explained to her she should not take it out on him, he didn't cook her steak, and bad things can happen in the kitchen to mean people's food. It came out perfectly the second time, but I still felt really bad she was so mean about it. I gave the server an extra big tip.
 
I have done it my self few times.but the one has sticker in my mind though I can’t remember what restaurant it was but there was hair in my food. I politely told the waiter and asked for a new dish. I was in the restaurant business and one time I was working at McDonald’s a customer ordered a Big Mac meal with out pickles due to allergies. The customer was loud so I heard her in the back. I told my co worker but My coworker was talking to another worker not paying attention well he went to put pickles on I grabbed him by the wrist (I didn’t hurt him) and said again no pickles the customer is allergic to them. I guess I was loud too because my supervisor came up to me and thanked me for making sure that there was no pickles
 
Thinking back, there was once a tag in my daughter's quinoa. We brought it to the server's attention. She was most apologetic, returned and informed us that it was a tag from a dish rag and it was brought to the cook's attention. She served a new bowl of the quinoa. The manager approached us and said we could order any dessert we wanted "on the house." OK. This was fine dining and I think they should've comp'd the meal.

Another time, there was a hair in my food. I brought it to the server's attention. The Chef approached me and apologized profusely. I told him it was OK, things happen. His reply? "No, it's not OK." A couple of minutes later, the manager approached and said our entire meal was comp'd.

Just recently, after waiting 30+ minutes, our appetizer and entrees were served at the same time. Annoyed, didn't complain but not good.
 
I think it depends on the standard (and price) of the restuarant. The higher it holds itself up (or charges) the higher the expectation and the lower the threshold for sending something back... if you are charging $50 for a piece of fish it has to be cooked well.

Last time was fairly recently for exactly that problem, was vastly overcooked and dried out. Before that was probably 2 years ago when 2 out of 3 pieces of chicken were badly burnt, not just the skin but the flesh under it too... before that? Can't remember the time before that. Think more commonly we have passed comment that something wasn't great (eg steak overcooked) or simply wasn't to our taste but haven't sent it back... would like to think the feedback is honest and balanced as you can like a dish other than one element etc

Morning Glory said:
What are truffle fries? Sounds interesting...
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Fries, skinny or chunky, some form of truffle flavour (oil, salt etc) or actual truffle shaving/grating and its fairly often also also with shaved/grated parmesan cheese. A local place where we used to live does them all year round and they are great but twice a year at the start of winter and summer truffle season they replace the oil with fresh truffle... don't charge extra, are not stingy with the truffle but once its gone its gone... a big stir on social media as soon as a fresh truffle was spotted
 
We had dinner last week at a local rib joint owned by an Iron Maiden band member. It was the second time we had been there. The first time, the chef/manager was a really skinny white guy with a mixed ethnic crew, open kitchen. This time, it was a black/latin crew. We got our dinners in a timely manner the first time, and the ribs, spares for Craig and baby backs for me, were fantastic. Not competition ribs, but fall off the bone, moist and tender ribs. This past Friday we waited nearly an hour for our food after we ordered it. Craig's spares were dry and tough. My baby backs were still very good, but not as good as last time as they were slightly overcooked. Between me and the table next to us, which we had warned not to order the spares, he sent them back and asked for a replacement of baby backs. Our server did replace them without batting an eye, making me wonder if others had complained.

We'll go back, but I will call and ask who the chef is and pass if the skinny white guy isn't working that night. Guess the saying is wrong about never trusting a skinny cook.
 
medtran49 said:
We had dinner last week at a local rib joint owned by an Iron Maiden band member. It was the second time we had been there. The first time, the chef/manager was a really skinny white guy with a mixed ethnic crew, open kitchen. This time, it was a black/latin crew. We got our dinners in a timely manner the first time, and the ribs, spares for Craig and baby backs for me, were fantastic. Not competition ribs, but fall off the bone, moist and tender ribs. This past Friday we waited nearly an hour for our food after we ordered it. Craig's spares were dry and tough. My baby backs were still very good, but not as good as last time as they were slightly overcooked. Between me and the table next to us, which we had warned not to order the spares, he sent them back and asked for a replacement of baby backs. Our server did replace them without batting an eye, making me wonder if others had complained.

We'll go back, but I will call and ask who the chef is and pass if the skinny white guy isn't working that night. Guess the saying is wrong about never trusting a skinny cook.
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AGREED !!!
There's a pizza, pasta, sub & salad joint in our area and if that skinny (the owner) guy is cooking, GREAT!
If the chubby (his son) cook is in the open kitchen, we turn around and go down the street :laugh:
 
Only once. A few years ago family went out for a meal for dad's birthday, the restaurant was part of a chain so wasn't expecting too fancy..in truth it was really bad, service was awful, staff surly, lazy and rude, food awful and some was sent back. When I went to pay I told the guy at the till and the 'manager' just how awful everything was, no way would any self respecting chef let that slop out of the kitchen and I made sure they took a lot off the bill because it was sent back, the 'manager' didn't seem too bothered but the guy on the till look really embarrassed and kept apologising, he wasn't our server so not responsible but I made my feelings very clear and paid only about half the bill....never had a worse meal.
 
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