Restaurant Service (beer, appetizers, substance, coupons)

[Dingler]

I was eating at an expensive restaurant the other day and had one bad experience after another. The service was slow, the wait staff rude and finally when the food arrived 45 minutes later, it was burned, cold and tasteless. After eating about 1/3 of the food, we tracked down our waiter and told him we were not happy with the food. He told us to reorder. Knowing that would take another 45 minutes, we refused and got up to leave. We just walked out. The Manager of the restaurant ran into the parking lot with the bill. We refused to pay and drove away.

What would you do in such a situation? Would you pay?

[Racelady88]

I have walked out of more than one place. Usually because it takes them too long to take orders or bring food.

If I have a problem with the quality of the food I always ask to speak to the manager. I have never had a manager expect me to pay when I had not eaten the food.

[Travel'r]

I have walked out of a few, but usually before ordering. You can tell either by the attitude of the hostesses, or waitresses walking around lackidasically -- especially while you're just waiting to be approached or even greeted. When the beverage service is unreasonably slow, there's another good red flag right there to get up & go. Family's left after actually ordering entrees once (we were starving & pickins were really slim up there, so put up with the initial signs). The manager understood.

[TakeAhike]

I read a post like this a few months back--must happen a lot.

[Cattknap]

You can be arrested for walking out of a restaurant without paying. It is against the law. Not worth the risk of being arrested to me - we pay whether the food and service is to our liking or not.

[sunsprit]

I've had numerous times where the food was unacceptable, and it generally matched the service ... so I've made my dissatisfaction known and walked out without paying ... but I didn't eat the meal, either.

In one example, I was at a Mexican restaurant (one of the more prominent ones catering to the coat & tie crowd) in Salt Lake City. It was a busy lunch hour, but the waitstaff was more than adequate for the place. The waiter took our orders, and the "food" was "delivered" (not "served") fairly quickly. We never saw the waiter again; I tried to locate him or any other waitstaff in our area to inform them that my "smothered shredded beef burrito platter" had nothing but two flour tortilla's rolled up and smothered with green chile ... but no filling of any sort inside the tortillas. My wife finished her meal, which was OK ... during the time it took for her to eat her meal, we never saw another waitperson.

I literally unrolled both tortilla's on the plate and there was nothing there, and I ate only one bite of a tortilla. We got up to leave, and I headed to the front door with full intentions of paying for my wife's meal. We never did get beverages ... we'd asked for water only. The manager accosted me at the counter by the doorway about my tab ... and I told her that I wanted to pay for my wife's meal, but we'd never gotten a check or seen a waiter after the plates were "delivered".

The manager got very belligerent about finding and presenting our meal check, and demanded payment and an appropriate gratuity. I told her I'd pay for my wife's meal only, that we didn't get any beverages which were on the tab (and we hadn't ordered) ... and retrieved the plate that was my meal from the table. Showed the manager the absolutely clean and white flour tortillas, no filling inside. They were clean and dry ... never had anything in them, it was obvious I couldn't have eaten a filling and had a dry tortilla left behind. The manager threatened to call the police on us, and I invited her to do so ... and refused to let her take my plate away, I wanted to show the police the "rip-off" "meal" they'd served me.

Anyway, she finally relented and we walked out without paying.

I had another experience with a very upscale Italian restaurant in Denver, where I was there dining solo and next to me was seated a larger group that was apparently celebrating some sales quota ... lots of booze and appetizers and expensive entrees. The waitstaff was simply fawning all over these folks, but my meal was ... for lack of a better term ... simply "delivered" to the table. The waiter had already turned his back on me and departed before the plate even hit the table ... he didn't ask if I needed anything else or note I needed a refill on my water, etc. Never came back to check on the meal ... veal piccata. In time, I was finished with the meal and sat around, seeking to get the attention of a waiter.

Everybody ignored my waves or attempt at eye contact. I finally went to the front desk and asked for my check, and paid with a credit card. I paid for the meal in full, but left a one penny tip on the table for the waiter. Later, the CC bill came through and I saw that the total I had entered on the bottom line and the X'd out Tip portion had been altered; the waiter felt he deserved a 25% gratuity and so noted on the CC receipt processed by the restaurant.

Considering I ate at that restaurant and entertained clients there almost weekly for a few years, one would have expected better treatment. Anyway, I went back down to the place (it was close by my business) and rather angrily related the whole miserable experience to the owner/chef and showed him my copy of the CC receipt which I'd kept. No tip for the waiter on that, I had the proof, and I told the owner why I'd left a minimum cash tip. Anyway, for all my trouble and inconvenience, the owner gave me coupons for two meals of their very finest ... which I didn't use in the near term and that was unfortunate, because they shut down a few months later. I was told they had encountered a lot of help problems and the owner just threw in the towel on that operation ... too bad, because the food was rather good and reasonably priced.

Another ... at a Tony Roma's in SE Denver. The ribs we ordered were completely overcooked, hard as a rock and dried out ... then smothered in BBQ sauce. We let the waiter know immediately, and he re-ordered for us. Got the same quality of food on the second try, sent it back, too. At that point, the manager came over to find out what the problem was at our table. We explained, he assured us that the next plates would be their best efforts ... St Louis ribs, which they're famous for.

He shouldn't have bothered ... the ribs were hard, dried out, rock like in character, and just swimming in BBQ sauce. I'd gotten to a point where I was scraping the sauce off the ribs and didn't even attempt to eat them ... you couldn't cut them with a knife, they were so overcooked.

Bad night in their kitchen, I guess ... but I wasn't going to pay for such crap for me and my date. We walked out of the place, and the manager was pretty indignant that we should pay for the meal .... caught up with us in the parking lot. Sorry, you didn't serve any food and we didn't eat it, either. Call the cops if that's what you want to do ... and please save our plates so we can show the cops we didn't eat the foodlike substance you'd served.

We left without further incident.

Had a chicken fry steak ("the house specialty") at another place in Englewood, CO. The one served to me was fabricated from old shoe leather, and would have been softer and tastier if they'd left the sole on it. A completely cooked until it was rock hard piece of ... something ... covered in the gravy. You couldn't cut it with the steak knife they provided. I scraped it off ... and showed it to the waiter, who had me show it to the bartender who owned the place and served as their bouncer, too. They tried to get their tab paid by intimidation ... I felt lucky to escape uninjured from the place. Anyway, I didn't pay them ... they had no interest in trying to make the meal "right", just acted like they were going to beat me up if I didn't pay even though they could see the "steak" was hard as a rock, totally inedible.

And so it goes ... I expect food that is as represented in the menu and service consistent with the place. I'll gladly pay for both if correct. Otherwise, I'm not paying ... or it's a very reduced price ... especially poor waitstaff that ignores my table and shows they know what good service is about at an adjacent table.

More poor restaurants would go out of business faster ... appropriately ... if people would stand up for their rights about getting what they're paying for.

I've no intent to defraud anybody; when I've had a legitimate dispute with a restaurant, I've always invited them to call the police immediately so I can show them what the problem is. The restaurant has an obligation to serve food fit for human consumption if that's the business they pretend to be in ... no cop is going to arrest me for refusing to eat and pay for crap when a restaurant won't even attempt to make it right for their customer.

Because I travel a lot, I eat in a lot of out of the way places that aren't glamorous ... it's amazing how good the food and service can be at a lot of hole-in-the-wall places where folks are trying to make a living in this trade. Those folks get my repeat business and I tip and compliment well enough that they remember me next time ... some have even given me coupons for free entrees on my next visit.

[gnubler]

Wow, that previous post was a MOUTHFUL.

I have had a couple experiences at bars where I order a beer at the bar, the bartender gives it to me, then walks away to do other things and never returns. Once, after standing and waiting for a good 3-4 minutes with a five dollar bill on the counter I just took my money back AND my beer and walked away. What am I waiting for? Why isn't my money taken at the moment the beer changes hands?

[Paula Lynn]

I walked out at one of my favorite local breakfast/lunch places. I was a party of one and ordered tomato juice and breakfast ......... Got the TJ, 45 minutes later, I called the waitress ..... she said she was busy with a party of 10. I told her to cancel the order and she responded "have a nice day". I thought what a b***h. So, I went to the cashier to pay for the TJ and the manager heard me complaining, and she told me not to worry about the TJ.

If you're unhappy with the food, COMPLAIN. Chances are you'll get it free; but don't eat 1/3 of it and just walk away. Yes, that is considered theft.

[PinkString]

I've never walked out without paying at a restaurant. Ive eaten cold and tasteless food a time or two and never went back to the restaurants. But did write bad reviews about them.

[foma]

You need to pay for your food. At least talk to the manager first before walking out. It's not the waiter's fault the food was sub-par but did you leave gratuity? He did, afterall, still serve you. Instead of just walking out and no "lesson learned" sharing your experience may help the restaurant in the future. You could've paid for the food, written a letter at home and mailed it. The restaurant establishment would probably give you a gift certificate for your horrible evening. Or, you could've called the next day.

IMO, not paying for the food is like stealing. There could've been a better way to approach the situation. I'm not defending restuarant establishments b'c I know how hard it is to find quality dining. It's your hard earned money at stake! In the same respect, just leaving without paying the bill is in poor taste and inappropriate.