Hey Pandas, What Is One Of Your Worst Experiences At A Restaurant? (Closed)

Small restaurant with one waitress for the inside tables and one waiter for the outside patio. They argued with each other the whole time, YELLING at each other across the room/patio.

When our drinks arrive I notice that my straw has lipstick marks on it - obviously not mine. I mention to the waitress. She just pulls the straw out, throws it in the floor and walks away.

Finishing my meal then noticing they have a grade "C" the lowest rating by health department as I'm walking out the door.

After some late night partying, some friends and I went to Waffle House at about 3:00 AM. it was pretty dead, but after I got my coffee a busload of church choir members pulled into the parking lot and filled that place up. All was well until they were done eating, but at the time customers would receive their check and take it up to the register to pay, well this one woman wasn't having it. She yelled at her waitress who explained the way things were (pay at the register). Then the customer grabbed a napkin dispenser and threw it at the waitress, and missed, it landed right in front of me and almost spilled my coffee. The waitress then jumped over the counter and a two-woman fist fight began complete with clothes tearing and hair pulling. Eventually, the cops came and got everyone's statement. I sided with the waitress. Also, I lied, this was my BEST experience at a restaurant.

1992 in a Vietnamese restaurant in Berlin, Germany:
Ordered a vegetarian dish, found pieces of different kinds of meat/chicken in my stew.
I was 15 years old then, very timid, and had no guts to complain.
A friend sitting next to me noticed and was diplomatic about it: tried to adjust/change my order.
My bowl was taken away and brought back a few minutes later - SAME stew, only the meat/chicken had been fished out.
I felt so embarrassed and did not want to offend anyone - so I forced myself to swallow the dish, with as much rice I could.
Did not do me well - out of disgustment I threw up on the way back home and felt even more embarrassed :-(

I had been avoiding Asian Restaurants for a long time - but I am a great fan NOW:
There are fantastic vegetarian dishes on most menus nowadays!

Many years ago we went to one of the chain steakhouses which is no longer in business. We took my MIL who was visiting from out of town. The waitress was the most incompetent person I have ever seen. She was very rude. My MIL is very picky and takes a long time to decide. The waitress was very rude to her about ordering. Plus she made us wait for a long time to get our drinks. Then on the way out with out food she dropped my plate so I had to wait until they remade it.
The interesting part that a few days later I wrote a letter to the manager. He called me a few days later and apologized and told us to come back for a free dinner. He also said that he posted the letter on the employee bulletin board.
My wife and I went back a few weeks later and it was almost weird how royally we were treated. The set us up in a private corner and could not do enough to please us. Our table was about 20 feet from the kitchen door and every once in a while someone would peak out of the door and stare at us for a second just to see who these people were. The best part was that one guy stood about 10 feet from our table with a pitcher of water and every time we took a sip of water he would dash over and refill out glasses. I got to the point where I was drink water just to see him come over and refill the glass. Never been treated so royally before or since.

I asked for plain rice in a Chinese restaurant. When I got near the bottom of the bowl, I saw that they had picked out most of the pork. I have never been back.

Group of about 10 went to a pizza restaurant, good waiter, took our order, then disappeared. After an hour and a half asked another waiter if he could check when our food would be ready. Owner came out apologetic and told us
our waiter just started and had quit without placing our order. We had a good laugh and eventually got our food

I stopped in a restaurant for a lunch during my business travels. They had a lunch menu from which I picked “chilli con carne”.
I was given a microwaved can of beans and corn with cut sausage and a slice of bread. One of the worst food I’ve ever had.

40 years ago I went to a large popular steak restaurant with 7 friends. We ordered drinks while looking at the dinner menu. The waitress approached the table with all the drinks on a tray, stood next to me and leaned over to place my drink in front of me. As she leaned, the tray leaned with her and she dropped 7 iced tall drinks, glasses and all in my lap (of my white skirt). She dropped the tray on the floor, burst into tears and ran away. We never saw her again and had to flag down another server to help find a mop, many towels and a dry chair to sit on. I ate the whole meal in a soggy skirt and she apparently ran out the back door of the restaurant and never came back. No dancing that night, but the restaurant comped my meal, gave us free drinks and covered dry cleaning.

I can't say I've had many dreadful ones, but the worst must have been when I was in Ecuador and went to a restuarant with a couple of friends. After ordering, we waited for an hour until they brought the food, except for mine. They said they weren't aware of my order, so I had to bite my tongue while the others could finally eat and I had to wait another half an hour, starving.

As a vegetarian, I've had issues in some countries (Spain and Slovakia) where I'll ask for something withouth meat then get it and see it's got little bits of bacon in. When I point this out that I can't eat it, they just say "They're only small pieces."

One that made me smile was also in Slovakia, where I ordered a veggie pizza and got one that obviously had diced carrots and peas from a tin on it.

I was a 16 yo busser at a very fancy, expensive restaurant in NYC & almost killed a family of four. Well, two of the four anyway.
One of my responsibilities was to keep the salad bar stocked with dressings, croutons, cheese, other condiments etc. It was a very busy restaurant, I was new on the job & basically learning on the fly. Anyway, I entered the dining room from the kitchen & my manager & wait staff were helping a man & wife off the floor, trying to get them to sit down. It was chaotic & scary. These poor people were obviously sick, but nobody knew why. An ambulance took them to the hospital & they ended up ok, thank god. After a thorough investigation, it was determined that someone (guess who) had mistakenly filled up the vinegar dispenser with industrial grease cutter. Oh. S**t. Why grease cutter was stored under a salad bar is beyond me. I fessed up, admitted my mistake, but my manager told me it wasn't my fault. It should never have been there. I feel bad about it to this day.
I've always wondered how much it cost to settle that lawsuit. I'm not even sure if there was one honestly.

When we were on a city trip in Rome, we chose for our first evening a random little restaurant to have our dinner. We were the only customers when we sat. We ordered and waited for our food when a whole typical Italian family came and the chef started to rearrange some tables, set them up, carrying bread, bottles, cutlery… by the time the family sat they ordered and got their food immediately! We were waiting for an hour… in was about to pay for the drinks and leave when they brought us burned meat without many vegetables. I complained, but without any result and we got the cheque we were expected to pay a service as well… I do understand Italians have a whole different way for serving food in restaurants, but this was low in effort to give a good meal to paying customers… fortunately we found other small restaurants who gave us a fantastic Italian gastronomic experience.

Was at a small nice restaurant about halfway through my meal. Then this horrible smell comes out of the kitchen. I mean it was gag inducing. Several people just stopped eating, got up and left. Found out later it was some kind of really foul smelling cheese dish. First time on the menu and they took it off afterwards.

This is harmless compared to the other entries, but still disappointing at the time: It was my husband’s birthday and we went to an American diner (pretty rare where I live). We had already ordered food from there once or twice before so we knew their burgers were amazing, but this was our first time actually going there. On the menu, there was a pina colada milkshake. My husband loves pina colada, so of course he ordered it. Well. They refused to make it because apparently no one ever ordered it and they planned to take it off the menu. Outright refused. I felt so sorry for my husband - he had been excited as a pina colada milkshake sounds pretty delicious, and as said it was his birthday of all days.

I'm vegetarian, so, I usually struggle in my hometown finding something in the menu when I dine out with my family. Saw a "quinoa and vegetables patty, with a side of salad" and ask the waiter about it. He said that the only animal product where a little egg, so I order it.

It was like pure yolks with a little quinoa sprinkle over it, and some sad pieces of shredded carrot. The "salad" was iceberg lettuce with three thin slices of tomato. After showing my utter disappointment, the waiter went to talk with the kitchen, and then said "I can get you s dessert if you want, some carrot cake maybe?" Well, I was hungry and that "quinoa patty" was the only meatless item on the menu, so I said yes.

Carrot cake was dry as hell, and like older than my grandma. When bill arrived they charge with the patty and the carrot cake!! At that point was fed up. Paid up and never came back.

2 quick ones..
1.Got fired after a week from a country club w 3 employees, the chef, me(Sous), and a dishwasher.
I’d thrown out a handful (250g?) of shrimp that had gone off, and chef called me into his office and claimed I’d ‘stolen’ said seabugs. I’d put them down the disposal, so I couldn’t dig them out of the trash (they reeked!) and chef was having none of it. I was fired as of then (off season at a resort, there was zero money coming in, which I’m guessing was the actual reason).

2. Open kitchen, nice lady comes up and asks for help deciding what to get due to her “salt allergy”. I walk her through our low-sodium options, adding I can make most of our stuff sans-sel. She thanks me, returns to her table and orders the cheese omelette (appx 1500mg sodium, because, cheese). She loved it and didn’t die (and actually, without sodium, you really will die) so I’m guessing she just wanted some attention.

Once won $40.00 on a scratch off lottery ticket. This was a good many years ago, when 40 bucks bought a pretty nice meal. Restaurant in a mall, always busy, rave reviews. My husband at the time and I went for a nice steak dinner. I got food poisoning.

Getting decent food for kids can be a challenge. We were traveling up the East Coast and stopped at a chain sit-down restaurant known for their ice cream, and I ordered the kid menu pizza for my son. It was literally half a burger bun with ketchup spread on it and a slice of Velveeta, only slightly softened. Another time, took the same kid to a birthday party at a child-oriented national chain and there was vomit in all the sinks in the ladies room. Never been to either place again.

Many years ago, I was out to dinner with my BF’s family, about 10 people, for dinner. I was never served my entree, the server told me it was coming. The meal never came so I ate the apps on the table. The server never returned until the bill. I quietly leaned over and told my BF father that it never came and not to put for it. The server came back and argued that I did in fact receive the meal making a big scene. I said if that were true where is my plate. Server said Ohhh and took it off the bill. BF tipped her well as it was a large group but suggested another profession.

Went to this upscale restaurant for the first time. We waited 30 for a table (no problem, place looked the normal busy for dinner time). It took 20 minutes for someone to take out order....ok, not too bad I guess...Our dinner came 1 hour and 30 minutes later... we were starving by this point. My husband cuts into his stuffed chicken, or at least tried too when he noticed it was RAW inside. My ravioli was frozen cold in the middle. Told the waiter about it. He agreed the chicken was indeed raw and apologized, but then told me that the reason my ravioli was cold, was because the inside always cools down first....really dude?? Needless to say we left, but I still had to pay for my dish, my husband’s was comped. Oh! And they also threw in a coupon for a free appetizer for next time. Restaurant went out of business months after.