Worst Restaurant Stories You Have (Boston, Somerville: hotels, food, propane)

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

A few years back, myself and about 10 coworkers decided to go to Kowloon's in Saugus for lunch. It was a pre-thanksgiving office lunch, but we were paying our own way and not expensing it.

Waiter was new, and it was clear English was his second language as he was having a hard time understanding. We did out best to point and explain what he wanted. He did great, except for one meal he botched up. One coworker (who is about 120lbs soaking wet) ordered one particular sushi plate. Average, lunch-time portion. When the food shows up, he brings this person a 10-person sushi boat, just for him. It was HUGE and needed a serving tray setup for it. Common sense would say that nobody would ever order this for just themselves.

Anyway, they went back and forth on what the correct order should have been. As the waiter is leaving, he asks if we wanted the boat anyway. Nobody did, but he seemed to imply it was no charge. So we said fine, and picked away at it over the course of our meal thinking it was a freebie. 10 mins later, the person got the correct dish they ordered.

Bill came, the boat wasn't on there. We split it up evenly as most people had a similar item, and no alcohol. Manager comes over as we are leaving, grabs the bill and says he'll be back. Comes back and the boat is now added onto the bill. It was $90! We protested saying it wasn't what we ordered and the waiter offered it to us at no charge. Manager didn't budge, and waiter kept his mouth shut. Only about 4-5 of us actually ate off it, so we split that charge among those persons rather than everyone.

That was the last time I was there. We still talk about that one when we are trying to decide where to go for our holiday lunches.

Oof. That's definitely grounds for never returning. If it was a smaller group I'd probably fight (or flat out refuse assuming I had the customer copy of the original receipt). But with 10 people during work lunch, I probably would have done what you did too. I've still never been to Kowloon. I'm intrigued, but I've never been.


I have two:

1) When I was in 7th grade we took a restaurant in Chinatown that is long gone. There were language barriers understandably and one classmate asked if they had chicken fingers (like what you'd find at any garbage Chinese restaurant in any town in New England). They weren't on the menu, but the waiter said "yes" and went back to the kitchen. 10 minutes later he comes out and lift the lid off the tray and it's a pile of chicken feet. I've had chicken feet since and they're fine (a lot of work for minimal payoff), but for a group of 8 twelve and thirteen year-olds from basically the middle of nowhere, it was traumatic. Our chaperone paid the bill and we left.

2) More recently (this past November or December) I ate at Alcove at Lovejoy Wharf. It was a Friday night and we had a reservation. But it turned out that Corey Booker's campaign was hosting a campaign event there. So we were greeted by a long line (the restaurant didn't separate attendees and diners) and were nearly turned away by an event organizer before a host who overheard said she'd check if the table was ready (it was). Because the space was small, there wasn't any separation between the event floor (the back half of the restaurant) and the tables where people were eating. The crowd ended up spilling over into the dining area making it impossible for servers to reach tables and making it claustrophobic for those of us sitting to dinner. Management and campaign organizers did nothing to try to help. After our drink order was taken we waited an hour for delivery (the bar was also working the event). Then we waited another half hour for our food order to be taken, and after an hour it hadn't come (we had decided on only appetizers so we could go somewhere else after).

We flagged our server down who pushed through the crowd and apologized profusely and said she'd check. She came back with our apps - an order of mussels and fries, and an ahi tuna dish. Both were clearly old seafood that had turned/gone bad. It was inedible. My one bite of each was enough to keep me up all night puking and I almost never get food poisoning. The server finally came back and we explained we couldn't eat it. You could smell how bad it was at this point, and she agreed. She offered to take both off the bill. She came back with the bill that had both appetizers removed. I put my card down and she took it. But the manager came back a few minutes later with a new bill that added the items back on and said "you sat here and ate everything, so it's not fair to ask for it to be removed." I said, "No, we ate one bite each and the plates went back almost entirely untouched." He asked the server if this is true, she said ti was, and he slammed the bill down on the table and walked away. I asked if we were all set, she said yes. I left her $20 in cash and we walked out (3.5 hours after sitting down). My card wasn't charged. It remains my worst dining experience.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by lrfox

Oof. That's definitely grounds for never returning. If it was a smaller group I'd probably fight (or flat out refuse assuming I had the customer copy of the original receipt). But with 10 people during work lunch, I probably would have done what you did too. I've still never been to Kowloon. I'm intrigued, but I've never been.

We had the cash layed out on top of the bill and were getting ready to leave. The manager came over, and took the original bill and then came back with the sushi boat added on to the original. Another 2-4 min and we would have been out the door. We had the check in our hands a good 10 mins while we were working on splitting it.


I've been there dozens of times previously over the years and never had an issue. That one just burns me the wrong way so I've avoided going back.

[goyguy]

Why doesn't C-D have a "barf" emoji? Could've come in handy in this thread.
Anyway...on four occasions at four different places, money including tax and tip was left on the table before I, if not also other person(s), left. Each time multiple individuals chased me/us outside and caused a ruckus, insisting that I/we still owed them a gratuity although ample cash had been given. Once a $20 bill (this was some time ago lol) was presented for payment; I was given change for a ten and was told insistently that the lower amount had been all I'd paid. History hasn't repeated itself in recent times, since most of my restaurant meals go on a card now.
In the gross-out department, there was the eatery in the Berkshires where it was getting near closing time and a cook decided to do double duty. He nonchalantly squirted an unknown "all purpose cleaning fluid" from a clear bottle onto the grill AND onto food that was cooking. (Cue barf emoji)
Fun thread!

[wolfgang239]

Went to load up a plate at a Brazilian buffet in East Somerville and grabbing the plate rattled a group of roaches that scattered along the steam trays. Hang out near an alleyway or similar area and you'll see rats the size of a racoon. They gnawed through my city issued trash barrels a few years ago so I'm sure they can find their way into a building.

Hopefully the buffet goes away with covid, maybe have someone serving cafeteria style is more hygienic.

[johngolf]

Years back there was a breakfast place in Haymarket called Mondo's. It was open 10pm to 6am (if I remember correctly) and its purpose was feeding truck drivers delivering to the market and market workers. Well many of the "night people" (hookers, pimps, cop, bartenders (me), waitresses (my girl friend), etc) learned of it and we would go there.

The owner had a large old German Shepard that usually slept in a back corner. Every so often the dog would wake up hungry and wander over to a table an eat the food on a plate as in, your food on your plate. You would yell out, Mondo the dog ate my breakfast. Mondo would reply: No problem I will make you another and your breakfast is on the house.

[johngolf]

Another restaurant story. The Wurst House in Harvard Sq was owned by Frank Cardullo. In one corner there was a deli takeout and there was a small bar (maybe 6 seats) in there. Cardullo and I were both cigar smokers and we use to chat about cigars. One evening the bartender (Joe?), motioned for Frank to come to the end of the bar. Frank walked away and came back a few minutes later. About 20 minutes later Joe motioned to Frank again, Frank walked away and came back a few minutes later. As we continued chatting a couple comes up to him and the fellow says I am not sure if we should thank you or not. Frank says not a problem. Have a good night.

After Frank left, I asked Joe what happened. He said the couple had complained about the cigar smoke. The first time Frank went over he told them sorry, but this is a smoking restaurant and always has been. Joe said the 2nd time the couple said to Frank they were leaving and never coming back. Frank replied your check is on the house and I would appreciate it if you keep that promise. Now, please do leave.

[Louisville Slugger]

I went to the Cheesecake Factory in Boston with my sister and a few of her friends. Don't ask me why, but I ordered an omelette. When my food came I tried cutting it, but I had trouble for some reason. I began dissecting and found whoever made it used cheese that was still in the plastic.

I immediately signaled for the waiter and showed him my findings. He took it back right away and I got a new meal and a cheesecake at no cost to me. I was lucky I didn't choke.

Other than extremely long wait times and inconsiderate children I haven't had any crazy experiences.

This thread reminds me of this scene though:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdIXrF34Bz0

Oh and this one too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hioIiMub5U

"I just want to eat."

Okay sorry to derail, continnue.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by wolfgang239

Hang out near an alleyway or similar area and you'll see rats the size of a racoon.

Yup. That reminds me - The Red Hat in Beacon Hill. I was sitting at a table with my father near the entrance to the kitchen on the upper floor. The was a cart at the edge of the door and I spotted at least three large mice/small rats scurrying out and back again while we waited to be served. Server noticed the horrified look on my face and asked "what's wrong?" I told her about what I saw and she shrugged and said "Yeah, they're in there. They're everywhere around here." We left, I haven't been back since.

And speaking of rats in Somerville, two weeks ago we were sitting on our back deck at night sipping a beer. My grill and the propane tank (we had just cooked dinner about 2 hours prior) were right in our line of sight. We watched a giant rat casually walk onto the deck, climb up the propane tank, walk along the gas line, and climb into the grill through opening on the bottom for drippings to drop into the tray. I went over, opened the lid, and shook the grate a bit... took a minute, but he eventually left the way he came in in no real hurry. Needless to say, I have looked in the grill before I light it each time since. Plenty of rats around here.. I've nearly hit a few on the bike bath as well.

[cb2008]

Originally Posted by masssachoicetts

I ate at an Indian Restaurant near Kodak in Rochester NY too. And everything was room temperature and lying out on the buffet table. Definetly would have failed Food Safety Regulations.

Could this be the same Indian Restaurant? lol

Never eat at Indian buffet. Or any buffet.

[johngolf]

In general I do not like buffets but I do like Indian Lunch Buffets.