Going out to eat should be a fun chance to bond with friends, not a miserable journey through food poisoning, unsightly ingredients, or even public shame. For these unlucky few, the restaurants they picked were so disgusting that they made their customer's nights memorable in a whole different way. These stories were the breaking points that made each customer swear to never return to such a vile place. Content has been edited for clarity.
Embarrassment With A Side Order Of Shame
“Chili’s. I went a few years ago with my mom and made the horrible decision to get a side of chili lime rice. I ate maybe three bites because it didn’t taste good. Those three bites didn’t seem to get along well with my body AT ALL. Unfortunately, Chili’s was the first stop before hitting the store to do our weekly grocery shopping. At the store, I had to make a run for the bathroom twice. After we finally checked out, my mom made a suggestion that maybe I should make another stop there before we drove home, since it would take at least 20 minutes. I declined even though my stomach was turning, thinking I could make it home (and would rather use that toilet than a public one). BIG MISTAKE.
About five minutes into the drive home, I realized that I needed to get to a toilet or I would ruin my mom’s car forever. After telling her this, she tells me there’s nowhere to stop yet, since we were in a residential area. I ask if we can stop at a family friend’s house which is close by, and she agrees. She tells me to give them a call so they can unlock the door and save me a few seconds. I explain to her that if I move to grab my phone from my pocket, her car interior would be ruined. The five-minute drive there feels like forever and I’m clenching my butt for dear life.
We finally get there and I bolt up the porch stairs to knock on their door. No answer. At this point, I’m desperate. I knock again and finally hear someone coming. Right as the door opens, my butt muscles give out. The friends stare as me as I spew liquid poo all over their porch. I’m just standing there still making a mess everywhere, and the husband grabs a hose to start spraying me and his porch down.
A few minutes later, my mom emerges from the car, crying laughing, with a roll of paper towels in hand like that’s going to help now. Eventually, I’m able to make it to the friend’s bathroom (which I somehow managed to clog after pooping on their porch) and wash up. They ended up giving me some clothes to change into, and I was able to get home and shower the poop off. Unfortunately, you can’t shower off embarrassment and shame. So, I will never step foot in a Chili’s again because I don’t fancy pooping on a family friend’s porch again.”
Mediterranean Mystery
“There is a local Mediterranean all-you-can-eat place that I have never eaten at, and refuse to try, but not for the reason you probably think. It was in a weirdly dingy, broken-down building that never has anybody parked out front and almost never has anybody in it. This place is surrounded on all sides by significantly nicer restaurants and businesses, which just makes it stand out even more.
Here’s the real kicker for why I don’t go in: this place is near where I work, so I have literally seen it every day. In the seven years I’ve known of its existence, almost every restaurant around it has folded and gone out of business at least once before coming back as something else. Yet this place has somehow survived, despite having no obvious signs of doing business. I believe it’s a money laundering front. My suspicions have doubled since last year, when the building they were in got a sudden upgrade and renovated the sketchy space to be much nicer than every building around it. Again, this is at a place where I think I have maybe seen a dozen people parked outside it, ever.”
Signature Arby’s Crunch?
“I will never eat at Arby’s again. Once upon a time, at a Treasure Coast Florida Arby’s, I decide I was hungry and to snag myself a nice, messy Arby-Q sandwich. Every time I ate them, I always lamented how they’d be better with a slightly toasted bun.
Well, I make my order, pay, sit down and take a bite. My ferocious hunger is rewarded by a resounding crunch! They toasted my bun! While still chewing, I pull my burger away and look it over. There is not a slight bit of tanning in bun and now that I hold it and analyze it, it doesn’t feel remotely stiff like a toasted bun would.
As I sat there, food still in my mouth, a wave of horror came over me and prompted me to open the bun. I saw the largest cockroach I’d seen in quite some time, or half of it at least.
Now, I’m a good person, at least I feel I can be more often than not. But at that moment of fear mixed in with a serving of disgust and a side of ‘why me?’, I snapped. I rushed towards the cashier stations and winged the burger at the closest wall/barrier I could see, spat the food all over their floors and cussed them up one side and down the other.
I’ve not set foot in an Arby’s since then and I now have a vicious hatred for any kind of ‘wet bread’ texture that has ruined quite a few meal types for me (I can’t even dunk cookies in milk)!
Never again.”
Scheming Sushi
“I’ll preface this by saying I absolutely love sushi. Or loved, for a time. Over a year ago now, I went out for sushi with my SO and some friends one Friday night at a local place we just discovered. At the time I thought wow, this place ain’t bad! Might be a regular place to go to now.
The 12 hours that followed were the most harrowing my bowels had ever experienced. I was being punched out of my butt, then proceeded to puke for about 20 minutes straight. Between this diarrhea-fueled anger my body was going through and the exorcist vomiting that followed, I had the maddest chills and could not stop shaking. Once the demon was expelled from me, my SO went through the exact same thing. She knew what I had just gone through was exactly what she was going to go through, and her clock was ticking. So our Friday night was us both agonizingly punishing our toilet until daylight, and the rest of that weekend was spent eating nothing but crackers and toast and drinking water in our pajamas.
The friends we were with went through the exact same thing that weekend, so it wasn’t a one-off or anything like that. Last I checked, the place is now closed, no doubt from other patrons going through what we all did.
So yeah, that place. I still, to this day, cannot eat sushi. It’s awful.”
Shameful Cowboy
“It was Texas Roadhouse. I’m quite introverted and don’t love making a deal about my birthday, especially at restaurants. At Texas Roadhouse, they have a base with a saddle on it that you can ‘ride’ and wave a handkerchief around, while the whole restaurant gives you a loud birthday ‘YEE-HAW!’ My mom, not knowing they did this, told the server it was my birthday while I was in the bathroom. We’re just about finishing dinner when two servers come wheeling in this saddle and another comes carrying a dessert. I’m already mortified by the time they finish screaming to the restaurant that it’s my birthday, but the worst part was that our server would NOT go away or give me the dessert until I sat on the saddle and waved this plaid napkin around.
I repeatedly to her I didn’t need the dessert, that I didn’t want to, that I was embarrassed, but she wasn’t taking no for an answer. Eventually I did it and gave the tiniest ‘yee-haw’ but now I refuse to set foot in any Texas Roadhouse ever again. I was 22. And after everything, I couldn’t even eat the dessert, I was so nauseous.”
“Cardboard And Ketchup”
“We lived kinda far out, and Pizza Hut was the only place that delivered. I ordered like $80 worth of food for a get together, and after two hours I realized nothing had arrived. I called them and was told that the driver said I didn’t answer my door, and that she had knocked, rang the doorbell, and called. She didn’t do any of that. I was in the living room the whole time, and we had huge windows that had a clear view of the street and the front door. My phone was turned all the way up.
I explained the above and asked that the food be remade and delivered. Without an apology, the guy just said okay and hung up on me. One of my friends said I should record the next delivery, just in case something happens. 20 minutes (far too quickly to have cooked new food) pass, and the driver shows up, parks in front of the neighbor’s house, sits in her car, and then starts to drive away.
I walk outside and stop her. She lies about how she tried to deliver before and that I never answered, and that she had just knocked and nobody answered. I pointed to the huge window and how I had watched her sit there and showed her the recording on my phone. She shrugged and just continued saying she had knocked and was getting ready to leave.
She hands over the food and goes to leave, but I tell her to wait, because I asked for the food to be remade and her delivery was far too quick. I was right, the pizza was cold and rubbery, the garlic bread was rock hard, and everything should have been thrown out. I asked if this was new food and the delivery driver didn’t know. So I refused it. She said I needed to pay and tip was included. I declined and she left.
I called Pizza Hut again and was blown off. I explained that I wanted a refund, and the guy claimed he couldn’t refund the money. I asked for the corporate number and suddenly he could refund it. I asked for the manager, and the kid claimed he was the manager. I asked for the name of the store owner and he didn’t have it. He also claimed he didn’t have the number for corporate. While he was lying to me, I found the number and told him I’d be giving them a call. He laughed and told me to go ahead.
‘So, this is just because you didn’t get your pizza?’ was the first thing the corporate rep asked after I explained the issue. I escalated it to the district manager because I didn’t like the attitude the corporate rep gave me.
The district manager was far more helpful. She apologized, and said she would deal with the store. The next time I went in there, because we were going to give them one more chance, the little troll and the driver weren’t there. The motor mouth taking my order said that the manager had fired them a couple days before, because someone complained and the district manager had come in and yelled at him. I ended up deciding to get nothing when I watched a pizza cook drop dough on the ground on accident, pick it up, shake it off, and use it to make a pizza (while picking hair off of it).
Pizza Hut has gross food and awful service. I’ll never eat there again. I’d rather eat Domino’s pizza if I had to choose, and Domino’s pizza is cardboard and ketchup.”
French Fry Madness
“I haven’t eaten McDonald’s for over 10 years. I used to eat it all the time. There was one right near my work, and I am also a creature of habit. I would basically order the same thing every day, the same way. ‘I’d like a number 5, medium with a coke.’
Just like that. One day I went through the drive through like usual and ordered exactly how I said above. Ordering by number and giving the drink and size imply fries. I got my food. Drove back to the parking lot with the food, and figured I’d eat the fries first. Only, no fries. So I drove back, figuring it was a simple mistake. I walk up to a girl at the counter who is wearing the attire of a shift leader. She looks up and in the rudest way possible spits out, ‘What?!’
I was a little taken aback as I said, ‘Somebody forgot my fries,’ and I set the bag on the counter.
Again, as rudely as possible she asked, ‘Where’s your receipt?’
She was rather nasty about it for no reason. I said, ‘I left it in the car. It’s just fries, I’ll go get it.’
She took a big sigh and said, ‘Never mind, I’ll look it up.’
She proceeded to clickity-clack on a key pad, printed up a receipt, and rudely said, ‘You didn’t order fries.’
That was the last straw at this point and I blew up. I said, ‘Excuse me! You don’t tell me what I ordered. I know what I ordered. I ordered a number 5, medium with a coke. Which implies fries. And it’s been almost 20 minutes since I placed the order, so how the heck do you know you’re looking at my transaction? And another thing, I don’t know what your job position is, but I’d assume it was within some form of management, since your wearing that stupid neckerchief. I’d expect someone in your position to speak to customers in a professional manner! I’ll just go to Wendy’s then.’
The whole place, which was very busy, stopped and looked on. There was a lot of clapping from back in the kitchen area, which tells me that this girl acted this way with everyone and shouldn’t be in the position she was in. I walked out to get my receipt and return for a refund. She gave me money back, and on the way to the car, I realized I paid more than what I got back. I spent over $8 and I got back just over $7. I got the receipt from the car, and sure enough she only refunded me a sandwich and drink. No fries to be found! I was so mad.
When I came back, one girl said, ‘Oh my gosh, he’s coming back!’
I went to the counter and stared her down hard. She just looked at me. I slammed the money on the counter and said, ‘There is the money you refunded me. That’s my receipt with fries on it. You refunded me for a drink and a sandwich. Give me the rest of my. money back!’
She turned white, then proceeded to frantically get the rest of my money back. The manager came out finally. I explained how she treated me and what she did. I told him she shouldn’t be in her position. I took my money and left, but I still emailed McDonald’s corporate explaining the whole thing. I got a reply that said someone would be calling me from that McDonald’s. I never got the call. Then I got an email asking how the call interaction went. So I reported I never got a call and was mad about it. I got another message saying I would get a call for sure. Never got the call. Got the same followup email. So I wrote a letter about how displeased I was in general that no none would call me. Each time, it took 3 weeks before I would hear anything from them. Then after 3 months, I had basically forgotten about it. Still, I get a letter in the mail from McDonald’s corporate. It was a canned apology that basically said to please accept the enclosed to make up for the issue. In the envelope was a card that said ‘Buy 10 McCafé coffees and get 1 free.’
I was about to lose it. I just stopped and said I am never going to McDonald’s again. And ever since, I have not eaten McDonald’s.”
Race Against The Clock
“I’m not sure if Subway counts as a restaurant but they’re a ‘no’ from me forever now.
I was on a road trip with my husband, and we stopped at the Subway outside Mt. Rushmore. After having driven for several hours, we were pretty hungry, which made my judgment not so great. We walk in, and the workers looked like they were about 14. All the toppings had their covers off, and it was humid in there. I had a gut feeling not to eat there, but also knew that was the last amount of civilization until Cody, WY.
I got the chicken teriyaki. Like 30 minutes later, mid-conversation, I started sweating. Then I turned green and announced I needed a bathroom NOW. Luckily, there was a sign for a rest stop, so my husband started speeding to it while I got right with Jesus in my head.
We finally get to the rest area, but parking is awkward and we are on the opposite side of this median thing. Sweet release is on the other side. My husband drives in circles for a minute, trying to figure out how on earth to get to the other side before my time had run out. I simply hopped out of the car while it was still moving and waddled as fast as I could to the ladies room.
As soon as I sat down, it came out of both ends. I felt so bad as I threw up AND pooped my brains out in a little rest stop stall with elderly tourists inside. I will never eat at a Subway (or anywhere near Mt. Rushmore) ever again.”
At Least They Didn’t Ruin The Soda?
“McDonald’s was always my last choice for fast food anyway, but one day I decided on a whim to eat lunch there. They had no human cashier, just a touchscreen menu. I didn’t mind that. It was actually kind of cool and easy to use. Once I ordered and paid, I took this little plastic card with a number on it, grabbed a drink, and sat at my table. Eventually my food was delivered to me. So far, so good.
But once I started eating my food, it all went downhill. I used to love McDonald’s fries, they were the best. But now they were just kinda stiff and spongy without much flavor to them. The burger was even worse. I normally like a drippy sandwich, but I prefer them dripping with condiments; this one was dribbling grease like a slobbery dog. I ate the whole thing, but once I was done, the bottom of the cardboard box had a little pond of grease in it from edge to edge. It was so nasty. My soda was fine, at least.
It was then I realized that it wasn’t just my burger. Everything in the restaurant felt greasy. The tables, the floors, the chairs, the counters, even the number card I took to my table had a slick texture to it. It was like someone had been rubbing slabs of bacon on every surface. It was so gross. I don’t know how I didn’t notice before.
I left as soon as I could and never looked back.”
Never Trust Buffets
“This is the #1 reason I refuse to eat at buffets. We used to go a long time ago. Went when our own kids were young. But they weren’t allowed to go up by themselves. We explained that they have to point things out and use their words, because it would be gross to touch the food, because the food is for everyone. They totally understood.
But we saw kids licking spoons and putting their fingers in food. One time, this kid goes up to the dessert bar and grabs two parfait scoops of jello and whipped cream. He picked them up by putting his fingers in the whipped cream and jello. He starts walking to the table, and his dad is shaking his head and telling him no. He tells him to put the helpings back. The kid does! I was so grossed out. Someone ate those desserts, having no idea that some kid had his fingers all up in them.
The sad thing is, we saw adults who were just as bad: sneezing, coughing, lifting spoonfuls of food to their nose to smell it and then putting it back. I don’t want food that someone sniffed all over. One time we were at this fancy brunch buffet we sometimes went to, and we saw a family take an entire platter of cookies and small cakes to their table and eat it. Those were for everyone, but they just picked up the giant platter and took it.
We haven’t been to a buffet in at least a decade. I don’t trust people.”
Special Secret Ingredient
“I had a ton of hair in my sandwich from Hardee’s. There were maybe 10 strands all in the first bite. They refused to give me a new one because, and I quote, ‘We can’t give you a refund or replace your burger because you already took a bite out of it.’
‘WHAT ON EARTH!’ I responded. ‘You can’t just give hair-filled food to people and not replace it because they found it after taking a single bite!’
The employee told me, ‘Well no, you already enjoyed part of the burger and would just be taking advantage of us by getting a free one.’
I shouted, ‘I don’t want a free one, I want one with hair not being the main ingredient!’
Five customers left, and I threw the burger over the counter. I’ll never eat there again. That place has since shut down and is an auto parts store now. I’m guessing this happened because of gross management.
Multi-Colored Flour Isn’t A Thing
“IHOP. I had gone with a few friends and wasn’t really feeling like breakfast food, but I saw they offered burgers. I was about three bites away from finishing when I looked closely in my hand and saw some green and purple coloring on the bun. I flip it over and it’s covered in mold. I instantly wanted to throw up. I’ve never felt so dirty or just gross. I took a quick photo of it just for whatever reason. I called the server over and calmly explained to her the situation. She took one look and said, ‘That’s ‘effing disgusting.’
I was shocked that she dropped the f bomb. Two minutes later, a manager comes out and tells me something how the flour they use is green and purple and makes it look like that. I politely told him he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, and I am not paying for a single meal on this table. I tipped the waitress and we all left. I went home and threw up and vowed to never go again.”
Record Timing!
“Any Chinese buffet. Any buffet in general. Just no, never again. When I was in high school, I went to a Chinese buffet. It was a local place, my family and I ate the meal, and then right after consuming the meal I basically projectile vomited all over their bathroom. I have never, and I mean never, had anything happen in my life so quickly to me after eating anywhere. It was less than 5 minutes after I had eaten, and I literally almost didn’t make it into the door of the bathroom. Needless to say, I couldn’t make it to the bathroom stall before it happened. The other family members had severe illness afterwards, although it didn’t come on as quickly for them. They must have put real poison in the food. NEVER AGAIN!
Honorable mention to Taco Bell. An employee here at my local Taco bell had Hepatitis A and was serving food. Needless to say, never again. They had to set up a huge free clinic here to give everyone who ate there Hep A shots, and it caused a huge frenzy in my city. Not to mention this happened during the holidays, so we likely had a ton of people who ate at the Taco Bell that went back home and didn’t even know this happened. From what I heard, it’s not the first time this happened in the Taco Bell chain.”
They Had One Job
“My coworker (let’s call him J) told me about some Arby’s coupons he got and how each coupon can be used up to 5 times, no limit per order either. So J and another coworker decide to head to an Arby’s on lunch, the closest one is about 15 minutes away. I hold down the fort while the two leave, and I’m looking forward to seeing multiple bags in their arms packed with greasy, meaty sandwiches. Half hour goes by. I see J walk in empty-handed. I jokingly ask if they ate everything on the way back. He then starts going OFF the rails. He was swearing enough to make sailor blush. Turns out, that Arby’s was out of roast beef. Completely out. A fast food chain known for its roast beef, out of roast beef. And if I remember correctly, Arby’s slogan for a little while was ‘We have the meats’. The irony made my night.”
Have Food, Won’t Travel
“I have always found Jimmy John’s to be a mediocre sub shop, but would overlook it when it came to their quick delivery. However, one fateful night nine years ago, this all changed. I had just gotten home from work a few hours prior. I was feeling way too lazy to cook or go pick something up. I had that ‘a-ha’ moment, I’m going to utilize that ‘freaky fast delivery.’
I proceeded to call not one, not two, but THREE Jimmy John’s locations within a 2-mile radius (thanks to living in a college town), and every single time I was greeted with, ‘Sorry, you’re out of our delivery range.’
By the time I heard it the third time I had had enough. I explained to them how they had delivered to me at this exact address before and they just continued to repeat that maddening phrase, ‘out of delivery range.’
So I proceeded to tell them how their sandwiches were mediocre at best anyway, and vowed I would never eat there as long as I live, which has continued to this very day. At one point the rage had partially subsided, until I saw that new commercial they put out where they mark their maximum travel distance in front of that poor man. He’s screaming in agony for a sandwich while they claim they are sorry that they can’t deliver to him. Triggers me every time.”
Subway Full Of Scares
“You enter a Subway store, and it’s empty, slightly too cool to be comfortable, slightly too damp to feel clean, and slightly too bright to be inviting. There is one lonely employee, who does their best not to look at you for those awkward 10 seconds while you walk to the counter before you’re close enough to order. You know you interrupted them while they were doing something else. They give their greeting, ask you what you want, you begin scanning their workspace. The bins of raw ingredients are sitting askew, separated by steel walls, yet careless hands have dropped some of each on all the others. The preparation area is littered with crumbs and bits of lettuce, maybe the odd olive or onion piece here or there that has wedged itself into the crack between the food trays and the cutting board. This could have been cleaned up while nobody was there, but the employee doesn’t care.
For one second you wonder how it got messy in the first place given the lack of customers. Maybe it’s staged, like those first few pennies in a homeless person’s hat. Do you want it toasted? You do, but that would mean standing here for a minute with the stranger you disturbed while waiting for the bread to be sanitized. You observe the employee assemble your sandwich, making sure to painstakingly put each ingredient on only one half of the sub. You ask for sauce and they squeeze it out of a disgusting rubber tube, then toss the bottle back into its bin like they don’t want to touch it either. Are they wearing those gloves to keep the food clean, or their hands?
You pay, the sandwich heavily sags into a flimsy garbage bag it doesn’t really seem to fit in and is handed to you. You walk out, into the light of the sun. The colors suddenly seem real again and you become aware of your breathing because the air feels rich and life giving somehow. The distant memory of tasty subs that brought you here lingers just beyond the edge of clear recollection, like an old acquaintance whose face you can’t picture anymore. You carry your catch to the car. When did it get this bad?”