If you send your food back, why? (pancakes, marinade, gourmet)
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Once, when there was an extremely long hair coiled in the mustard on my sandwich. <ehhhhhhrp> The manager couldn't convince me to order anything else "on the house", and I never went back.
Another time I ordered a loaded baked potato and there was a huge, black, gooey, fungus blob inside the potato. Even the waitress gagged when I showed it to her.
Location: The Land Mass Between NOLA and Mobile, AL
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OMG, I don't feel so bad now. The only things I will send back, and I do it as soon as possible, is an overdone steak (medium-rare, please) and extremely overdone eggs (poached/over-easy eggs are among the easiest things to cook).
Mr. diva and I are good cooks, though, and mostly eat at home. I do not send things back merely for a menu misread or other error. I will, however, *inform* kitchen/wait staff if there is something like a bone fragment in collard greens or something like that merely because I know other diners could and will throw an absolute hissy fit. Otherwise, my attitude is laissez faire. We all make mistakes!
I don't like sending things back, but I also don't like undercooked beef (my definition of it at least). I order everything except filet mignon medium-well to well and if it comes totally pink after the first bite, it goes back. But this rarely happens and I've sent things back less than 5 times in my life, I'd say. And we eat out a lot, so I'm at restaurants at least once a week on average.
Mistakes happen. When you go out to eat, you're ordering something a certain way and you're paying for it. I don't think people should feel bad about sending something back, as long as it's for a genuine reason, they do it nicely and politely, and don't do it often.
if there is something so bad or wrong or gross or substandard or off that it needs to be sent back
then i just leave
i don't want to eat there
and i would also wonder worry not trust that they might do something gross to whatever they next send out as replacement. I've heard too many stories from people who've worked in kitchens who do gross stuff to food.
so no i would not send it back i'd just pay and leave and be nice about it and not go back. say i wasn't feeling well or i got an urgent message and have to leave. pay and tip and go. and not come back.
Sent back: chicken. It was undercooked.
Sent back: steamed veggies. Broccoli was rock hard.
Sent back : hoagie. Bread was stale.
Result: chicken received a bic flame and they thought I'd just consume it. I didn't.
Result: steamed broccoli never made its way back. But I got charged.
Result: New fresh hoagie with fresh roll,yum!
Bottom line, if I pay ,it deserves to be editable and prepared to standard.
Too salty to eat (literally, it burned it was so salty.)
Meat ordered medium rare that came too rare to cut with the provided knife.
An item that had an ingredient that can send one of our party into anaphylactic shock that was not mentioned in the menu description (scallops in a fish dish.)
Kitchens expect a certain amount of this and if it's a valid issue and not just pickiness, the employees don't seem to get upset about it. It helps them make adjustments to keep it from happening in the future.
I've sent back incorrectly cooked meat, very cold food and overcooked mussels, among a few others. At other times, a server has noticed I wasn't eating anything (wildly oversalted dish, for example) and offered to replace it.
I've worked in a lot of restaurants and there's nothing wrong with sending back something that is incorrectly cooked. Sending back something you don't care for is another story (even though I've certainly been disappointed by some restaurant meals). Sending back a plate doesn't have to come off as rude or causing a scene, either.
Too salty to eat (literally, it burned it was so salty.)
Meat ordered medium rare that came too rare to cut with the provided knife.
An item that had an ingredient that can send one of our party into anaphylactic shock that was not mentioned in the menu description (scallops in a fish dish.)
If someone has a food allergy that severe, they should always mention it to the server if for nothing else, than to ensure there isn't cross-contamination, or trace ingredients (like using scallop shells to make fish stock).
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