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I would like to see quotes from kitchen workers who say this is the case.
If I order something and it is not up to what it should be, I ask to speak to the manager. The server really has no way of correcting a problem and that is what a manager is for.
Last year, on my birthday, we went to a restaurant we frequent and I order prime rib, medium well, a baked potato with butter, sour cream, and chives, and a salad with ranch dressing. This was after an almost 25 minute wait for a server to come to our table.
We waited another 20 minutes for the server to bring our salads and another 20 after that for the food to arrive.
My wife's steak and french fries were cold.
My prime rib was cooked until it was the strength of leather, the potato was less than half-cooked and cold. I called for the supervisor and raised hell, walking out without paying for the food.
We've been back since and a manager always stops by to see if everything is okay.
Sometimes it pays!
I worked in restaurants all though college. Restaurants ranging from chains to high end privately run places. I can tell you for a fact tampering with food happens. Sending food back politely can get good results. Being an a$$ ups the ante that you will get your food tampered with. Of course if the cook's gf just cheated on him you may find yourself on the losing end of some DNA. It all depends on the situation. I leave nothing to chance. I don't send anything back. If the food is bad I ask to take it off the bill and eat somewhere else. You have been warned
I worked in restaurants all though college. Restaurants ranging from chains to high end privately run places. I can tell you for a fact tampering with food happens. Sending food back politely can get good results. Being an a$$ ups the ante that you will get your food tampered with. Of course if the cook's gf just cheated on him you may find yourself on the losing end of some DNA. It all depends on the situation. I leave nothing to chance. I don't send anything back. If the food is bad I ask to take it off the bill and eat somewhere else. You have been warned
I usually won't send something back unless it's real bad. I remember one time some friends and I were eating at a restaurant and my friend got a nail in his food, I forget what he had ordered but luckily the manager was nice and replaced it no problem.
I did have one bad experience where I got a beetle in my salad and when I told the manager he just looked at me and said "It's just a salad beetle". I complained enough that he finally replaced it.
This is why I always order the soup over the salad with my meal. I'm scared of what happens to room temperature food, especially if it has the potential to come in contact with meat that might have salmonella.
I have found bugs in my own lettuce I buy from the grocery store though. I found a moth, a lady bug, and a fly at various times. This is probably not as scary as from a restaurant though.
Being that I'm part of a fourth generation restaurant family, I have to call you out on this because it is so wrong and untrue.
First of all, anytime you send something back to a kitchen, managers are notified. No cook or chef is ever left alone with your food.
If someone were to spit in your food you sent back multiple people would see it happen and you would get fired.
You are perpetuating an urban myth.
I've been working in restaurants since I was a child and I've never seen it happen nor heard of it happening.
This may be true in your restaurant but completely false in many restaurants. I give you credit for being a professional, but the guy making your food at a chain restaurant that is vastly understaffed is not being monitored. Sorry but that is the truth.
I've been working in restaurants since I was a child and I've never seen it happen nor heard of it happening.
It happens - and it has been documented using hidden cameras.
When I cooked we never considered doing anything to anyone's food - we took pride in our product. Once we had a busload of teenagers pull-up at closing. The manager looked at me, I shrugged my shoulders and said let's rock-and-roll (it was just the two of us - everyone else had gone home). Restaurants provide a service and should be operated with that in mind. Today's competition will trample any restaurant that does not work hard for the customer's dollar.
This may be true in your restaurant but completely false in many restaurants. I give you credit for being a professional, but the guy making your food at a chain restaurant that is vastly understaffed is not being monitored. Sorry but that is the truth.
I'm not talking about one restaurant. I'm talking about the hundreds my family has been associated with being either chain or family owned.
Yes, it has happened on extremely rare occasions but is very far from the norm.
Restaurant help is cheap, they generally aren't understaffed.
Also, many many kitchens are open and many these days have security cameras.
Last edited by blueherons; 01-30-2014 at 04:43 PM..
First of all, anytime you send something back to a kitchen, managers are notified. No cook or chef is ever left alone with your food.
I have worked in restaurants for 45 years. Managers are very, very seldom in the kitchen and the kitchen staff is 98% alone with your food. Most will not spit in it but when the food comes back, they are angry and will ignore it until they feel like dealing with it, FACT.
I only sent back food once many years ago. My dad and I went out for seafood to a place that we always went to, I ordered snapper ( a fish I never had before) It was raw in the middle so I sent it back and got something else. Other than that one time my husband and I have never sent food back.
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This is probably not as scary as from a restaurant though.
