Horrible service, filthy conditions, rude managers... Sometimes, going out to eat is anything but a piece of cake.
These restaurant goers shared their outlandish stories from the time they walked out of a restaurant after they were already seated. All content was edited for clarity.
“We Should Have Known”
“We had family visiting us from out of state. My sister had been following a ‘popular’ local eatery on Facebook and requested we go there on their visit. We, ourselves, had never been there before that day.
I called ahead to see if we needed a reservation since there were 11 of us. They said no.
We arrived at the restaurant and the host looks at my 10-year-old niece and makes a snide comment to her about her father being a Yankees fan since he was wearing a Yankee shirt. We thought it odd, but laughed it off.
The host brings ELEVEN of us, seven of us being full grown adults, and the other four being children ages 10 through 13, to a table for SIX. I am not kidding! They somehow put two small tables together and arranged 11 chairs around it. There was NO WAY possible we were fitting or for our plates to fit. There were plenty of empty tables near us so we grabbed a table for four next to us and the other seven stayed at the other table. Worked out beautifully.
Well, the host comes over and yells to us, ‘NOPE! You have your assigned table there. Get up! You cannot have this extra table!’
I very nicely explain that it is IMPOSSIBLE for us to all fit there and if the extra table we took is for a reservation then we apologize. If they can’t accommodate us, then we will leave, but would like to make a reservation for better seating for a future date. Mind you, the restaurant is 90% empty. There are only two more occupied tables.
The host says in a very NASTY tone, ‘No, that extra table is not reserved. That is for other people who will be coming in throughout the day!’
Makes no sense, so I say, ‘Okay. We’re out!’
We start leaving and the host yells, ‘I HOPE YOUR KIDS GET KIDNAPPED!’
Um, what? Sorry sir, now you just POKED Mama Bear(s) and Papa Bear(s). Needless to say, I lashed out, my family members lashed out. Some crazy customer got involved. It was an absolute train wreck for sure. My mother got the kids out of there. By the time we adults got out of there, the host was hiding behind the counter behind two waitresses.
It was hard calming my husband and brother down and not allowing them to beat the life out of this man. Let me tell you.
What a crazy thing for a man to say about someone’s children. We should have known from our initial ‘greeting’ that this guy had issues.”
“My Husband And I Both Had The Same Reaction”
“My husband and I wanted to grab a quick bite at the local place that has awesome pizza, although it’s expensive and service is inconsistent. We’re okay with paying extra for good, but we have our limit, which in this case, is poor service with an attitude.
This particular evening we arrived at the restaurant to find it nearly empty. We were told to wait. No explanation given, no eye contact made. The woman who told us to wait then made her way back to where the staff was hanging out and chatting. There seemed to be a lot of laughing at some joke going on back there. But we patiently waited for almost 10 minutes until a different person came and without bothering to greet us, motioned for us to follow her.
The unfriendly waitress took us to a back table wedged right next to the fridge with soda cans and the waiters’ station.
My husband politely said, ‘We’d like to sit at the front, those tables are all open, and it’s uncomfortable back here.’ The waitress began to argue, protesting and objecting that this wasn’t possible. There was no event planned there, so there was absolutely no reason why we couldn’t have been seated at the open tables by the windows at the front. When my husband asked her to specifically explain why it was a problem to move us, she couldn’t come up with a reply but kept arguing regardless.
We were still standing next to the table at the cramped back corner when she told us to ‘hold on’ because another waitress had motioned her over.
My husband and I both had the exact same reaction to being told to wait again. We weren’t going to pay a small fortune to be rudely talked down to and seated at the worst table in an empty restaurant.
We walked out as she was headed back over and my husband told her, ‘Your service stinks. I’m not spending our time or money here.’
“They Had No Way Of Knowing”
“I was in Amarillo, Texas, about 5 hours from where I live.
I’m 61 years old and my traveling companion is 23. I’m an old white guy and she’s young black girl. We enjoy each other‘s company on occasion.
We had gone to a Hooters one afternoon and sat at the bar. We were having a good time talking to one of the regulars who lived nearby.
Apparently, we were having too much fun. The manager came over and told us that an app on their computer system had ‘determined’ that we had had too much to drink. Of course, that was ridiculous. They don’t have an app on the computer, they have no way of knowing without an awful lot of sophisticated software what our capacity is. When they stopped serving us, they did not suggest we drive an Uber but watched me jump in my truck.
I happen to keep a small portable breathalyzer in my vehicle and I was well under the legal limit.
But there aren’t a lot of places to go in Amarillo, Texas. At least not that I knew about, having never been there before. So the next day we went back again. Walked in and saw that our bartender from the day before was the hostess and she directed us to a table on the elevated platform. We had eaten on that platform two days earlier.
So, we sat there for about 15 minutes without anybody coming by to take a drink order. Apparently, we were being blackballed. I’ve never had that happen.
I still don’t have any idea why it happened. I posted the story on Yelp and the representative from Hooters who responds to complaints half-heartedly apologized, but offered no explanation.
But, they did accomplish one thing—they made me decide to never go to a Hooters again.”
“We Weren’t Born Yesterday”
“I went to an Italian restaurant opposite our hotel in Düsseldorf. We really fancied pizza and were enticed by the menu in the window that promised a good value selection of the same. We were quickly sat down and asked to see the menu. The waiter brought forward this blackboard on wheels with lots of pricey dishes on it, all completely different from the ones in the window. And there was no pizza anywhere on the blackboard.
The drink list was similarly extortionate in cost and, realizing that this was more like a clip joint than a restaurant, looked over at my wife who had come to the same conclusion. The waiter returned just as we were standing up to leave and asked where we were going.
I told him (in German) that we weren’t idiots and we weren’t born yesterday. We wound up going to a quirky little place a couple of streets away instead that not only had excellent, fairly-priced pizzas but also half-price drinks. So, instead of being fleeced by some conmen, we proceeded to eat well and have a roaring time, finishing the evening doing shots of pear schnapps with the owner and declaring everlasting international friendship.”
“He Didn’t Apologize”
“Whenever my family went to eat, we went to this big buffet place. Wanting a change of taste, we decided to go to a different restaurant, which we’ve never been to.
We walked in and it didn’t look too much different from the other restaurant we frequented. We walked to a table and had a seat. More than five minutes after we sat down, no waiter showed up to take our order or welcome us into our restaurant. We signaled to a stocky grumpy man who was carrying plates of delicious-smelling food to come take our order.
He saw us, but with a grunt, walked away from us and into the kitchen. We assumed he would come back, but after almost six minutes, he didn’t show up. He seemed to be the only person serving food.
He came out of the dining room after ten minutes and my dad approached him to tell him that nobody was serving our table. He grumbled and muttered something about waiting at the door for someone to collect them.
He didn’t apologize or anything, but rather told us, quite rudely, ‘Go to your table.’
We told him that we wanted to see the manager and he said that he is the manager. Shocked that a manager would disrespect his customers this way, we notified him that we are leaving and never coming back. He muttered something along the lines of, ‘Go away, I don’t care.’
We left and haven’t gone back since. I’m kind of surprised that the restaurant hasn’t gone bankrupt yet.”
“I Was The Waitress”
“I once walked out of a restaurant and I was the waitress.
It was just a temporary part-time job to pay a bill off. I was young, but not stupid. The owners were very penny-pinching people running an Asian restaurant.
Anyway, I put in my customers’ orders and when the sweet and sour pork came up––the cook slid it across the rack so hard that it went completely past my hand and splattered on the floor.
I said, ‘Sweet and sour pork down… need another one.’
The cook replied ‘Pick it up, put it on a clean plate and serve it!’
I refused.
The cook, who was the owner’s son, came flying out of the kitchen, scooped up the mess onto a serving plate and handed it to me, saying ‘SERVE IT!!’
I tossed the contents of the plate into the trash can next to the window and then walked directly to my customers table and in a voice loud enough that all nearby tables could hear me, I told them exactly what happened. I said that I had been instructed to serve it to them, but refused to. I apologized, removed my apron, grabbed my purse from the back, and walked out.
Nope, NOT serving food off the floor (which was FILTHY). End of my waitressing career. Yes, it happened that fast. I HOPE the customers also left.”
“He Did NOT Expect That”
“Once I got a snotty manager who gave me a hard time over a barely eaten plate of soggy, lukewarm, rubbery breaded fish. He claimed it was hot when served, I’d just let it sit too long while chatting with my dining companion. He obviously expected me to meekly eat the rest of my meal without complaint. My friend rolled her eyes, knowing me well enough to know what was coming.
I got the manager’s name, got on my smart phone and looked up the restaurant’s corporate headquarters, and right in front of him dialed their number and asked for customer relations. He did NOT expect that! He quickly offered to comp the meal, but it was too late. I reamed him to the customer relations person, by name, and loudly enough that the other patrons could hear.
Then I got up and left without paying. My companion was not happy, but then, she hadn’t ordered the fish. We went straight to Outback Steakhouse and had a lovely meal of steak and shrimp.”
“I Think We Stumbled Into A Parallel Universe”
“It was quite a bizarre experience. Our nuclear family was in the Blue Mountains and feeling quite hungry. Where we were was not a big place. It was basically just an old pub, small antique shops, and restaurants. We notice a place named Retro Diner that looked like a beautiful 50s themed American style diner. We were in Australia, so this was a special opportunity.
We walk in and there’s the server and the boss at the entrance and about three or four customers sitting at tables. Everyone is dressed in 50s gear… and silently looking at us. I turn to the server and ask for a table for four. We get a nice booth in the front window and she hands us menus. Everyone is still looking at us.
The menu looks great, the kids are checking out the jukebox thingy on the table and I tell the server that we’re ready to order. She tilts her head slightly, holds up a pad and pencil and just blankly looks at me. Everyone is still looking at us. I order burgers, onion rings, two large coffees, and two shakes. I was with kiddos, so I politely asked if the shakes could be in takeaway coffee cups so my four-year-old wouldn’t spill. She said no.
‘I’m sorry I don’t understand, what do you mean no?’
‘Well sir, no means we only serve the shakes in milkshake glasses, so no,’ she replied.
Everyone is really looking at us now.
‘Ok, but if you give this four year old that enormous milkshake glass he’s going to spill it. Could you please put it in a takeaway cup so he won’t spill it and cause a mess, I’m happy to pay full price, I just don’t want a mess.’
She said no again.
The food here is expensive—I’ve ordered well over $140. The shakes are $8 each. There are four customers in a place that seats 40 and it’s Sunday lunchtime. You’d think they would welcome the customers. I look at the boss and he’s looking right at me, saying nothing.
‘Well, okay, I guess that’s that.’ I stand up, my family stands up and I say to the server, ‘Please cancel our order, we’ll go somewhere more child friendly.’
She asks why. I’m serious now when I say this, she was genuinely confused, the boss’s eyebrows were raised like, ‘Why are they leaving?’
I say, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me right?’ and we walk out the door.
I left a bad review and they shutdown within six months. It was a shame, they put in so much effort to get the period costumes and decor right, it must have cost a fortune to get it shipped over. All they had to do was learn to customer service.
I sometimes think that we’d stumbled into some bizarre, slightly off, parallel universe since the staff and customers were so weird.”
“I Was Worried The Cops Would Get Us”
“We were at an open buffet where the host and waitresses were very polite and fancy, so my dad brought us for lunch.
The table the host led us to was a table for four, even though there were three of us. The table had no silverware.
We called the host and asked for forks and knifes and he told us to get our food while we waited. I went and got some tomato soup, salad, and some potatoes and waited. No silverware. We asked a waitress. Waited. No silverware. Dad walked up to the host’s desk, saw silverware behind it and asked for some. He sat down. Waited. No silverware.
We waited for HALF AN HOUR. The place wasn’t even that busy! There were like four more families. My dad walked up to the host. Asked for silverware. Host goes to desk, talks to waitress. We wait five more minutes. No silverware.
Our food was long since cold. Dad stood up, plate full, and walked straight to the main hall. My mom and I followed. The host tries to stop us (some NERVE he’s got) and my dad calmly told him ‘bye’ and walked away.
The host screamed at us for ‘stealing.’ Me being a ten-year old at the time, I thought it was theft and was worried the cops would get us. I wish the guy would’ve called the cops. Maybe we could have got him fired for being a moron.”
“We High Tailed It Out Of There”
“I was with a group of 5 people in Ottawa for the day. We were hungry and looking for a place to eat before we headed home. Not being from Ottawa, we didn’t know good from bad.
We found a place that looked okay and went in. Our first clue should have been the fact that there were no other customers in the restaurant, not one. It was about 4 in the afternoon, but logically there should be some customers.
Four or five staff members talking amongst themselves eventually noticed us and said someone would be with us shortly. And yet still it was a while waiting before someone actually came to show us to a table.
We got a table, sat down, got menus and then another woman and I went to the washroom downstairs in what truly felt like the dungeon. And that was it for this restaurant. The bathroom was filthy. Paper towel and toilet paper all over the counter and floor. Toilets not flushed. Stalls filthy and some with no locks and one stall had a huge hole in the wall behind the toilet. Looked like the place hadn’t been cleaned in weeks. We texted upstairs and said no way were we eating here.
Judge a restaurant’s cleanliness by their bathroom and that was a huge fail. We got our buddies together and high tailed it out of there quick.”
“I Pulled Out A Bill”
“It was a Tuesday around 11am. I had just dropped my then-girlfriend off at work, and drove the 15 minutes to the populated area of town where there was a mall and about twenty or thirty restaurants from upscale to fast food. It had been a while since I had a decent meal out, but I was still pretty tight on cash, so I went to Outback for a steak.
I walked in and stood at the hostess station for about 10 minutes before I was noticed and seated. The hostess asked if I was alone and I said yes.
She then said, ‘Jamie will be your server. I’ll have her come right out with a menu.’
5 minutes. 10 minutes. Finally, 15 minutes later, an older woman walks by, and asked if I was helped yet.
‘To be honest, I was just about to get up and walk out. I’ve been sitting here for almost 15 minutes, and haven’t even seen a menu,’ I replied.
‘I’m so sorry. I’ll be right back with one. Can I get you something to drink?’ I ordered a drink, and about 2 minutes later, I get the drink and a menu.
5 minutes goes by. Nothing. 10 minutes. Still nothing. 20 minutes. Still no waitress, and now I need a refill on my drink. I pulled a $1 bill out of my wallet, dropped it on the table, and walked out.
I wonder how long it took before they realized I wasn’t there anymore.”
“We Made The Correct Decision”
“We went as a family (two adults, 3 teenage kids) to a local pub that had been recommended by a friend for my birthday. We walked in and there was no one eating. There was a huge extensive menu on a chalkboard on the wall but there was a single sheet of paper stuck in the middle saying ‘Main menu OFF, bar menu available.’
NOT A GOOD OMEN.
We walked over to the bar, where around five or six locals were sitting on stools drinking. No sign of service, so we walked toward a table at the back of the bar, when a barmaid seemed to appear from nowhere.
‘Hi, we have a table for five booked for 1pm?’
They replied ‘It’s out front with the silverware’ in a monotone voice. We retreated back to the bar area and noticed five sets of knives, forks and napkins lying on one table with a single sheet of paper. We took our seats and examined the paper. It was a menu. Not completely awful, but quite restricted.
We passed the menu around and identified our choices. And waited. And waited. And waited. A customer came in from outside and went to the bar to order some chips. ‘Maybe we need to order at the bar?’ I wondered.
We looked at each other and eventually I just said, ‘Let’s go.’
We upped and left and had a lovely meal at another local pub, which was very busy, because they valued their customers, engaged with them, and just talked to them.
I went online to leave a review for the first place and read a review from only weeks previously where the reviewer had written ‘If the pub wants people to order at the bar, why not write it on the menu?’
The owner had responded to the previous review (and many others) with responses in a vein of ‘If you don’t like it, then why did you come?’
I knew we had made the correct decision when leaving.”
“We Looked At Each Other In Disbelief”
“My husband, daughter, and I were in Santa Barbara just before Christmas. We’d driven up from Los Angeles and checked into our hotel. After settling in, we decided to go find a place to eat.
It was WINDY that day. Santa Barbara can really get some strong winds when a Santa Ana condition is on; there were sustained winds of 20 MPH with gusts in the 40s and 50s.
We found a Ruby’s Diner and after a short wait, we were seated. We were glad to get out of the wind. We could hear it whistling and howling outside and see the branches trees on the street outside swaying and tossing.
The waitress came and took our order, and was just heading to the kitchen to put the order in when the lights went out.
Everyone in the restaurant went silent for a moment. We were all looking around at each other, wondering what to do.
After about ten minutes, the restaurant manager announced that there was an area-wide power outage caused by power lines down. He said he was sorry, they’d have to close, and everyone should leave.
People who’d been served their food got it boxed up to take away, no charge. People like us, who’d ordered but hadn’t been served, just went back outside.
It was crazy outside. We found another restaurant that was still open and we were waiting to be seated when the power went out there, too.
We went back to our hotel, the Fess Parker Red Lion Inn, which is actually on the outskirts of Santa Barbara and went to the restaurant there.
We’d just been seated there when the power went out. My husband, daughter and I just looked at each other in disbelief. We recognized another family in the restaurant who’d been in the Ruby’s diner, and we laughed about that.
We ended up dining on some crackers and snacks from the hotel’s little shop and went to bed early with the power out.
Power was up the next morning and the rest of our stay was uneventful. We had a good time and the night we walked out of three restaurants is now a family story.”