A night spent eating out is supposed to be fun and relaxing, but that's not how it always turns out. Some diners have their whole experienced ruined before they can even begin to enjoy it. Whether it was because of a rude server, a nasty entree, or rogue vermin, these unlucky diners have vowed to never return to that restaurant again.
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It Was Hard For Him To Stand For Too Long, But She Didn’t Care
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“One of my relatives has a prosthetic leg, and it’s uncomfortable for him to stand for a long time, so he asked for a chair to sit in while waiting for a table. About 10 minutes later, a waitress came over and said she needed the chair back. He explained his situation, but she snapped, ‘Well, I’m sorry, I need it. You’ll have to get up.’
He shouted, ‘EFF THIS PLACE!’ and stormed out.”
He Was Old Enough To Realize Just How Messed Up That Was
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“There was a local breakfast place in my hometown that I went to as a kid. I ordered a Belgian Waffle, and when it came out, it was dark brown and crunchy. I complained that it was burned and they sent it back to make a new one. About five minutes later, they returned with a new waffle.
Except it wasn’t new. It had bite marks. Right where I had bitten it. And hey, the section I bit out of had butter on it.
They had just walked into the back and turned the waffle over, thinking no one would notice.
When this took place, I was about 7 years old. I refused to go back to the restaurant for well over a decade, but they remained open. It’s a small town and a local business, so it’s not surprising. About a year ago, I went back in and was pleasantly surprised by my experience. My waitress was also the new manager, and she was as sweet as could be. I had no issues with the service, and when my food came out, it was delicious.
I still only ordered the pancakes, though.”
Did They Even Cook That Chicken?
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“I have two restaurants I’m never eating at again. The first is Buffalo Wild Wings. They messed up our order, overcharged us, and wouldn’t listen to us when we called out their mistake. Half of the wings were undercooked. We didn’t notice at first because of the dim lights, but I took a bite and said, ‘Does this feel cold?’
Someone else said, ‘Yeah, mine too.’ So they used their phone’s flashlight to take a closer look at the chicken and saw it was bright pink.
I dropped my phone at one point, and the floor was disgusting. Also, I think our waiter was on something because he was antsy and made some big mistakes.
The second is a small restaurant in the Black Hills of South Dakota. We saw they had a special for all-you-can-eat catfish, so we went. The salad bar was delicious and it was clear this was a ‘mom and pop’ type of operation. It took forever for the food to come out and the waitress apologized, saying their cook went home sick. I never did get more than one plate of catfish. I went back a year later, hoping maybe things were better because the food was terrific, but nope. They were still understaffed and slow. The lady running the place had no idea how to run a restaurant. I feel bad, but I don’t have two hours to burn waiting for my food.”
The Waitress Acted Like She Was Too Good To Serve Her
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“We were ignored. It was a small, family-owned Mexican restaurant that was extremely popular. We had been there many times. We were the only people sitting in one waitress’ section. We watched her as she stood there talking to the busboys and cooks in plain view of our table. We had to walk up to her to ask her to take our order and go up again to ask for another drink. We then had to go up and ask for the check. It was the only time I didn’t leave a tip.
I have no idea what we did to her. The other waitress in a different section was doing her job, and she had a full section. The only thing I can think of is it was the end of her shift, and she didn’t care.
There was no manager there. I could’ve left a bad Yelp review but didn’t bother. There are plenty of other Mexican joints in Chicago. I don’t need to go to that one.”
They Thought It Was All Over Until The Cops Showed Up At Their Door
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“A group of us had stopped in a local diner that we’d been to a number of times. It had good food, decent prices, that kind of thing. It took a bit to get a table, but it was not all that bad. Then it took 15 minutes to get a waitress to come and take our drink and food order. Then another 25 minutes to get our drinks. After another 40 minutes with no food (they weren’t that busy), we said screw it. We left more than enough to cover the drinks, told the manager that we weren’t going to wait any longer, and left.
Fast forward to about 1 a.m. My friends got a knock on their door. It turns out, it was the local police for the city where the restaurant was located. They had been given a report of a ‘dine and dash’ from the manager (who’d apparently gotten my friend’s plate number). The manager’s contention was that because we had ordered and they were in the process of cooking the food, that we were required to pay for it.
After explaining the situation, the police decided to side with us but suggested that we not return to the restaurant. We took them up on the suggestion.
We found out several months later that the diner had shifted to a ‘pay at order’ method, even though they weren’t a fast food place. They ended up closing shortly after that.”
The Manager Refused To Give Them Their Check
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“My fiancé, Sean, and I went to a popular locally owned seafood restaurant.
Because we knew it would get packed, we arrived pretty early. I ordered a drink and Sean ordered a Sprite because he was driving. The waitress brought me my drink but brought Sean a Seven and Seven. We explained the mistake to the waitress, and I told her not to worry about it, that I would drink the Seven and Seven if she would please bring a Sprite.
When she brought our meals, she brought me the wrong meal. She apologized, and I assumed went to re-order my meal. Twenty minutes went by, and Sean was finished eating, and we were just waiting for my food. The waitress never returned to our table. She didn’t come by to refill his Sprite or tell me if my food was on its way, nothing.
I finally said, ‘This is crazy,’ and flagged her down. I asked her to please cancel my order and get us our check. I explained that we would pay for all the drinks and the food that Sean ate, but that I wasn’t paying for the food I ordered but never received. About five minutes later, she came back to our table crying her eyes out. I mean, sobbing. Her manager told her that she had to pay for our meal. Sean told her, ‘No. We will pay for what we ate and drank, and that’s all anyone’s paying. Please get your manager.’
The manager came to our table WITH MY FOOD. At this point, I was not eating. I just wanted to get out of there. I declined the food and asked again for our bill. The manager stormed off with the plate of food. He came back (we were on the second floor of the restaurant) and just stood on the other side of the room, staring at us. The waitress was waiting on other customers but still sniffling. Sean walked up to the manager and asked for again for our bill. He told the guy that we didn’t want the waitress to pay for our food and drinks, but that we didn’t have any problem paying our bill.
The manager then started loudly yelling at him and, mind you; this was in an area with many other diners. He was telling Sean that he thought we planned this and did this on purpose to get a free meal out of them. Sean is a big dude and doesn’t take crap from anyone, but I was proud of him. He just turned around, and we left.
I’m sure that poor waitress ended up paying for our food and drinks, but they wouldn’t give us the bill. I ended up eating peanut butter and jelly for dinner that night.”
His Trip To Benni Hanna Had An Explosive Conclusion
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“My friends suggested going to Benni Hanna’s for dinner. I had never been, so I was pretty excited from them talking it up. Naturally, I remembered the scene from ‘Wolf of Wall Street,’ so all day leading up to dinner I was yelling, ‘BENNI EFFING HANNA,’ and continuously playing the ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ soundtrack, which drove my wife nuts.
Finally, the time came, and we got to the restaurant, and it was pretty dead for a Saturday. The entire meal was a disaster. Silverware, glasses, and plates repeatedly came out dirty, and we had to send them back. They never refilled our drinks, prompting us to go up to the bar for refills. Finally, the chef came after we’d been waiting over an hour and we were all livid. The chef was entertaining, but at one point, he got into a verbal altercation with another worker. It was awkward. Finally, before we left, we complained to the manager after eating, and I think he took the drinks off the bill because of our terrible experience.
We were on our way home, which was a 20-minute drive, and about ten minutes into it, it suddenly hits me. Benni. Effing. Hanna. I got food poisoning. I was about to crap my pants, and it took all of my might to hold it in. My wife was trying to console me as I bare-knuckle gripped the steering wheel while driving 70 in a 35 zone. We got about a mile from our house, and all my effort was suddenly futile. I had explosive diarrhea in my pants. I was pooping myself while driving 70 miles an hour, screaming, ‘BENNI EFFING HANNA!’
The whole while, my wife was hanging her head out the window yelling, ‘IT SMELLS HORRIBLE!’
We finally pulled into our place, and I ran/waddled into the house, yelling at my wife to not look (I knew I ruined my pants). I ran to the bathroom to finish what I had left in me, and my wife got me a garbage bag to throw all my clothes out as I jumped in the shower. Immediately after I cleaned up, I walked the trash out to our dumpster went back inside to have a few drinks to overcome the horrifying night that my wife and I just experienced. We ended up laughing about how ridiculous it was and went to bed.
The next morning, I was running all over, looking for my wallet when suddenly it hit me. The wallet was still in my jeans in a garbage bag in our dumpster. I thought the night has passed, but no, I had to relive the experience and not only dumpster dive for my wallet, but try to navigate a poo-filled bag for it. Utilizing some sticks, I found on the ground and carefully sifting through the garbage; I was finally able to get my wallet. It wasn’t covered in poop, but it smelled like crap. I took all my cards, ID, and money out and tossed the wallet.
Benni effing Hanna. It was the worst experience of my life, and I’m sure my wife would say the same.”
It Wasn’t About The Soup, It Was About the Principle Of It All
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“I went to a new restaurant with my family. It was right near the house, so we hoped it could be a new commonplace. Plus, I’d heard the wings were fantastic.
So we went in. It took awhile for us to have someone take our drink orders. So, oh well.
My dad ordered a sandwich and a cup of soup. Now, if you order soup, do you not expect it to come before the entree? Well, we got our entrees (side note, the wings weren’t great), but my dad didn’t get his soup. So he told the waitress, and she said she’d get it, but he told her nevermind because he has his entree.
So, we ate. The food was okay but nothing to rave about.
We got the check and noticed the soup was still on it. We asked the waitress why it was on there, and she said because we ordered it. Well, we didn’t eat it, so there was no reason we should pay for it. We asked to speak to the manager. Now, a $3 cup of soup isn’t a big deal, but it’s the principle of it.
The manager came over to speak to us. We said we shouldn’t need to pay for it because we didn’t eat it, he disagreed. We ordered it, and therefore we should pay for it.
Long story short, we ended up telling him to screw himself, and he told us that he doesn’t want ‘our type’ eating there anyway. Still not sure in what way he meant that. Jewish? New Yorkers?
A month or two later, they shut down.”
He Lasted Less Than An Hour In That Filth Palace
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“I worked at this place for one day; it was a deli-type place. I had five years of kitchen experience and needed the work in a small town.
Within five minutes, I was questioning their sanitary disposition, with unregulated temperatures, improper disposal methods and general disregard for cleanliness. After a half hour, I told myself I needed the money; I could look past it, and do my best to make improvements over time. Then came the french fry that broke the camel’s back.
Their fryer, they dumped a basket of fries in it, but when it came out, it had a brown film or sludge over the delicious crispy-fried potato product. I asked if they were going to serve that to the customer, they said yes, it’s the gravy. After further questioning, I found out they inherited the property, and they hadn’t changed the oil in seven years.
After 45 minutes of working there, I quit and called the health inspector.
I never looked back.”
They Didn’t Know Why Their Bill Was So High
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“There was this nice little pub I used to go to all the time with my friends. The food was not too great, but they had my favorite coffee stout.
One day, we were celebrating our friend’s 21st birthday with a good old-fashioned pub crawl. We ended up at that same pub at the end of the night. The waiter we got was seasoned, but kind of a jerk. Whatever, it was a Friday night in a college town. We didn’t expect much.
We drank a little. Well, more than a little. I am paranoid about drinking a lot, despite loving it. I always keep a count of what everyone has had. So when this guy at the end brought over a tab that had about eight more drink on it than we’d ordered, I was a little upset.
My table assured me that I was in the wrong, so I just paid my part of the bill. On my way out though, I heard another table talking about how they’d gotten free drinks (of the same kind that my group was charged for) because they were friends with one of the waiters.
Not wanting to cause a scene, since I was fairly wasted and had no real proof, I just declined to leave an actual tip. I carried on about my night. Since then, however, I never went back to that pub. A place that tries to help their friends at the cost of some poor soul (me) is not a place that I want to give my business.”
The Chefs Were A Bit Distracted That Day
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“I took some of my friends to a local burger place that I loved. We went at 3 p.m., so there were only two other tables with customers besides my friends and I. Our food took roughly 50 minutes to get to our table, which was not cool, but I wasn’t going to make a fuss over it. As I took the much anticipated first bite out of my delicious looking sandwich, I discovered an extremely odd texture. It was the plastic from the cheese. Great. I just ate plastic. It turns out, the cooks were watching the Browns vs. Steelers game and must have thought that was more important than doing their job.”
He Didn’t Go Back To Pizza Hut For Over A Decade After That Fateful Afternoon
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“When I was 3 years old, my parents and I had dinner at a Pizza Hut. When the waiter brought out drinks, he spilled them all over me. All three of us got pop, so I was sticky. This in itself wasn’t too bad, but when my parents got the check, they realized that they got charged for two sets of drinks, including the ones that were spilled on me! When my dad asked the waiter about this, the waiter said it was only fair. This is the only time I’ve ever seen my dad, not tip.
Obviously, I didn’t have this memory myself in this great of detail. I do remember having the drinks spilled on me, but I was told the more exact details years later. My dad loves to tell this one whenever someone complains of a bad experience at a restaurant. He has always been an excellent tipper, and he always makes sure to mention at the end of the story that he didn’t tip, which he never does. He has never eaten at Pizza Hut since. Until I moved out in September, neither had I, but I got wasted one night, and it was the closest pizza place. Pretty decent pizza. Don’t tell my dad.”
The Waiter Thought He Was A Real Comedian
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“It was a crummy diner-type place, and this guy kept making dumb jokes. We politely laughed, but he was being super annoying and kept swearing, clearly trying to be edgy.
He gave us our food and silverware, then asked me if I needed a knife. I just had a sandwich, so I said I didn’t need a knife. Then he said, ‘Good. Because you look Mexican and I’m worried you might stab me!’
We just stared at him, and he left. He came back over and apologized and said it was just a dumb joke. Yeah, it was. Still never going back.”
His Wife’s Screams Told Him Something Was Up
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“I was eating at this Peruvian restaurant with my wife when all of a sudden something fell from the ceiling down onto our table. It happened quickly so I initially couldn’t make out what it was. I thought that maybe it was just a paint chip that fell from the ceiling onto our table, and ricocheted onto the floor. But suddenly, my wife looked down and screamed, so I looked down on the floor to see a dead mouse right next to her foot. The mouse must have somehow accidentally fallen through some hole in the ceiling onto our table, then upon ricocheting onto the floor, my wife accidentally stepped on it, killing it and squeezing its guts out onto the floor. It was gross.
The part that made me say that I’m never going back to that restaurant again is that when our waiter noticed the commotion of my screaming wife, he came over, saw the mouse, and non-nonchalantly called over to the busboy. The busboy walked over, picked it up with a newspaper, and threw it out back into an alley. The waiter then proceeded to ask us how our meal was and if we wanted to look at a dessert menu. He didn’t apologize or ask if we wanted our meal comped, nothing. Then when I complained, he said that having mice is just a part of owning restaurants and that there’s nothing he could do about it. Plus, he blamed my wife for killing the mouse and so it wasn’t his fault that there was a bloody, dead mouse on the floor. It was ridiculous. So my wife and I got up and left without paying, and several others sitting next to us did the same.”
It Just Didn’t Feel The Same
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“It was our favorite bar. My wife and I used to live down the road from it. We had our first date there and knew every employee, even the cooks in the back.
We moved about 25 minutes away. We got engaged and needed to save money. When we went back for the first time in months, we were surprised to see that the menu had changed drastically, the management changed, almost none of the servers recognized us, as most of the staff had left. We tried to give it a go, but the food was awful, they’d even changed cooks.
We realized what we had was gone.”
