Never Eat Sushi At A Non-Sushi Restaurant
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“I went to a sushi night at a restaurant in a ski resort. My friend was already on the fence about eating sushi in a non-sushi restaurant, but the place looked fancy and their other meals had been good, so I went in to check.
The guys making the sushi were also keeping some on the side for themselves. My friend found it abhorrent, I saw no real problem with that. For all I know, I just walked in on that guy preparing his lunch break.
But then he started eating the sushi while still wearing his gloves. He even licked the soy sauce off his fingers before continuing to make new sushi. And then I noped out of there, too.”
The Chicken Was Practically Clucking
“I went to Chili’s for lunch after a doctor’s appointment with my husband.
The place is empty. We are finally seated after a ten-minute wait (it was this or nothing, and I was starving). The waiter arrives, takes our drink order (unsweet tea and Dr. Pepper) and asks what we want for appetizers (chips and skillet queso).
He never comes back. More customers arrive, maybe four tables, and he goes and sits with what we assume are friends of his. We flag down another waiter, who practically throws our drinks at us. He takes our entree order (bbq chicken and a burger), then throws those at us.
I realize we have no silverware. After trying to flag four people, my husband gets our silverware himself. I cut the chicken and am surprised it didn’t cluck and jump off my plate, it was so raw.
Our original waiter comes over and I show him the still-pulsing bird and he rolls his eyes and says, ‘It’s rare. You want me to microwave it for you?’ I explain I want it cooked through, not heated, and poultry isn’t served rare. He snatches the plate and leaves.
I never get my food back.
Meanwhile, my husband is waiting for me (he’s too polite) to eat. I finally tell him to go ahead, at which point he opens the bun and finds a fake fingernail.
We attempt to get someone’s attention so we can pay and leave, but 15 minutes later we just get up and leave. I’ve never gone to another Chili’s.”
The Knife Cut Him In The Exact Wrong Spot
“I worked at restaurants for several years. I think the one that stands out to me the most was about a year ago. I was a bartender at a sports grill and one of my coworkers was cutting the fruit we use as garnishes. He was only wearing vinyl gloves, which don’t actually offer any protection from blades.
As luck would have it, he cut himself between the fleshy part of his hand that separates the thumb from the index finger, an area that also happens to house an artery. There was blood literally spurting out of the guy’s hand. When he turned around, all this blood flew out of him and onto literally every guests’ food that was sitting at the bar. This is a U shaped bar, so we were surrounded on all sides by guests. One unfortunate guy even had some get on his shirt. We had to remake every bar guest’s food and drinks, and the manager even offered to buy the guy a new shirt.
Surprisingly, no one was even remotely angry. They were more worried about the bartender. He ended up having to go to the hospital when he couldn’t get the blood to stop.”
The Manager’s Efforts To Calm Down The Father Backfired
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“I remember going to a restaurant with my parents. We ordered starters and the main courses. After about 30 minutes, my father inquired about the starters and the waiter said he’d check.
The waiter returned with the main course. We said that we’re waiting for the starters, not the main course. He took food back.
About an hour after initially ordering, the waiter showed up with main courses. We repeated that we needed starters. The waiter made an offhand comment as if the order of meals shouldn’t be of importance.
While we had been waiting, multiple tables had been served their starters, the same ones that we ordered. We noticed and asked the waiter, but to no avail.
Another 45 minutes later, the waiter appeared again. With the main courses. Not only were we tired of the third mess up in a row, but we also noticed that the meals had been reheated to garbage. Dad tried to dump the bowl of spaghetti on the ground in an act of rebellion/anger and it stuck to the bowl.
The manager stepped in and tried to calm my father. Once he calmed down, the manager then proceeded to tell us that they were unfortunately out of the starters that we ordered, but that he does expect us to pay the bill for the food they continuously reheated until it was a gloopy mess.
And then my dad wasn’t calm anymore. We never went there again.”
They Eventually Got Tired Of Waiting For The Waitress
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“I went out for drinks with friends at a bar that also served food. We ordered our first round and didn’t see our waitress at our table again for nearly 30 minutes. Granted, she was nearby flirting with tables full of guys – within five feet of us. After waiting, I eventually gave up and just started ordering from the bartender.
At one point, I was at the bar ordering our food and our waitress entered the bar to grab drinks and saw me. ‘Sorry,’ I said, ‘but you looked super busy. Didn’t wanna bug you.’ So she rolled her eyes and told the bartender to make sure she put all our drinks and food on our TABLE tab so she’d get the tip.
And GOD LOVE THIS BARTENDER, she said no. ‘You’ve been lazy and picking favorites. I’ve been waiting on her for AN HOUR. They’re my table now.’
Our ‘waitress’ refused to speak to us for the rest of the night.”
The Tourist Trap Was A Big Mistake
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“Years ago, I went on a vacation with my family that took us to many locations in the western half of the USA. During this, we decide to stop by a touristy restaurant, which was, in hindsight, a big mistake.
When we got there and sat down, our server arrived and she acted like she didn’t really care. We didn’t really mind, we just ordered our soft drinks and went back to looking at the menu.
The server came back with our drinks, which were all watered down. Red flag one, but again we did not really care.
We ordered our stuff (which was not cheap), and then we waited. About ten minutes later, a family with a screaming child (who was definitely old enough to not still be screaming, we’re talking 10 to 12 years old), who then ordered their stuff. Another ten minutes went by. The other family got their stuff and ended up leaving after another ten minutes. Red flag two, as we had yet to receive our stuff when another family came in and ordered similar things and were already leaving.
We began to talk about just leaving since we had not received our food. Then our server ‘magically’ appears with our stuff. Most of it had already cooled off and their cheese covered bread rolls were obviously frozen then stuck in a microwave with cheddar cheese, as they were soggy. The outside was steaming hot and the inside was practically frozen. Our meals were much smaller than what both the pictures and the prices made us believe.
However, that was not the worst part. The worst part was that our server seemingly forgot to give us our bill and we sat and waited for an hour before we got fed up and stormed to the person at the front and demanded a refund. Guess who was sitting there with our bill in hand, talking to another server?
Yes, our server wasted our time chatting with another server instead of doing what she was paid to do. She had the audacity to try to guilt us into giving her a tip and to buy their crappy gift card.”
“The First (And Last) Time I Ever Had Chicago Style Pizza”
“This happened like 30 years ago and it still haunts me. It was the first (and last) time I ever had Chicago style pizza. We were in a fairly dead restaurant since it was way after lunch. Only a few tables had people at them. A couple tables over from us was a rather large family consisting of a mom, dad and two kids in the 9-12 age range. Our pizza came and we got all set to dig in when the older kid at the other table just started fountaining puke everywhere. No reaction from the parents. They just moved out of the way and kept eating.
At this point, every other diner in the place was moving en masse to pay/get their money back/leave. My family made it to the back of that line so I had to watch these people stand up, move away from the table, and continue to eat AROUND the staff that was cleaning up the puke. My last sight of them was the father putting his hand on the shoulder of this poor server so he could lean over and snag something off the table to munch on.
So now Chicago style pizza and puke are forever intertwined in my mind.”
They Topped Off Their Bad Service With A Threat
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“It was an Indian restaurant in Salt Lake City. It took 30 minutes before they took our order. Three of the four appetizers came out. About 20 minutes later, the owner’s family came in and they told us we had to move tables. After that hassle, two of the main courses arrived along with two of the four drink orders. Ten minutes after that, more of the owner’s family came in and they made us change tables again.
Ultimately, the two main courses were wrong, the fourth appetizer never showed up, neither did the third or fourth main course, or the rest of the drinks despite repeatedly asking. The staff ignored us unless they were forcing us to change tables. When they did address us, they were rude and condescending. We went to leave without paying and the owner threatened us with the police, so we called his bluff and told him to go ahead. He didn’t call them, we left.
The restaurant has since moved to new premises, but from everything I hear, it’s still one of the worst places to eat because of the terrible owners.”
The Former Employee’s Revenge
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“I don’t remember anything because I was so young, but my parents, sister, and I were at a restaurant with my grandparents celebrating Mother’s Day. Apparently, a guy who had been fired around that time came in and went into the kitchen; he was pretty angry and tried to stab his boss. The two got into a physical fight and rolled out into the dining area. Police were called and there was so much pepper spray, my mom had to get my sister outside because she was getting sick from it.”
All He Wanted Was A Nice Night Out For His Wife
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“My wife had just graduated college. I reserved the party room at a local restaurant. My sister and brother got there ahead of the rest of us. They walked into the place and were seated in the party room. We were about 10 minutes out when I got a call from my sister. Apparently, the restaurant had double booked the room and the second party showed up in full, so the staff kicked out my sister and brother and seated the other people instead. My wife was really laid back and I didn’t want to ruin her celebration, so we still showed up and they sat us in the sports bar section with a bunch of tables smashed together. Whatever, at least we’re all together.
We were enjoying our meal as best we could. The service was noticeably slow and the food came out a bit cold, but again, I wasn’t going to make a big deal. We were in a party with about 35 people and after an hour or two, one side of the family was heading home. So we all stood up and were giving hugs and saying our goodbyes. For some reason, the restaurant thought that meant we were all leaving and they started breaking up the tables.
I told them, ‘Hey we’re not done, only some of us are leaving.’ But they kept breaking up the tables and not listening to me. I said it again and this time one of the waitresses pulled the table right into me. I was like hey, we’re not done and she did it a second time. I shoved the table off me, but the waitress thought I was wasted and overacting and made no attempt to apologize. At this point, I dropped all pretense of happiness and politeness and decided this occasion has been ruined already. I started yelling and the entire restaurant tuned into my rant. Finally, a manager came over and started apologizing and trying to do damage control. Obviously, the meal was done so we all headed out together. In the end, it was not the best celebration, but at least it’s a good story.”
The Gross Roadside Diner
“This was back in say, 1973 or so. I was a young boy of 9 or 10, on vacation with Mom and Dad, older brother and sister, and twin sister. I believe it was somewhere in the Smoky Mountains.
Anyway, we’re on our way home. We had to stay at one more campground before we got home and we were pretty sick of camping so we decided to eat supper at a restaurant, no matter how lame it was. We soon saw a sign, ‘Diner – Milkshakes’ and with four kids in the car, that’s where we stopped.
So we sat down. The most gnarly, but typical diner waitress came to the table to ask what we would have for drinks. She had rotten teeth that were visible, like all of them. The whole staff was gross, all two of them. We reluctantly ordered our drinks, and as soon as she walked away, Dad said, ‘Anyone else want to get out of here?’ We were all in agreement and just got up and left.
I think we found a Hardee’s or McDonald’s before our last night camping and the next day we were home. So rotten-teeth dive waitress, let’s not meet again.”
Their Scheme To Get Out Of Paying Was Unbelievable
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“It wasn’t the restaurant that made the experience horrible, but a certain person we were dining with.
We were at this Moroccan place dining with another family. There was no menu to choose from, it was a full six or seven-course meal of Moroccan food that they brought out to you. The other family we were dining with had a reputation of being cheapskates and we really only hung out with them because my sister was friends with one of the girls in that family. Truthfully, it was that girl’s mother who brought upon the cheapskate reputation on them; she would always look for ways to not pay for things and it made our family, my mom especially, uncomfortable.
Anyway, we were at this restaurant, and this lady already doesn’t want to order the only option, the full-course meal. The restaurant politely tells her that’s the way they do business, so she asked if she could share a meal with her daughter, to which the restaurant said that would not be possible. So fine, she went along with it in the end. She later went to the restroom. About 10 minutes after coming back from the restroom, she shrieked and pointed to a bug in her water cup (this after we’d been served almost all the courses). The waiter came and he swore up and down that there was no way a bug could have gotten into her water cup. She and her husband were furious. The manager came out and assured us they are up to date on health inspections and have an ‘A’ grade there. The other mom and her husband were screaming bloody murder still. The husband stated that none of us should have to pay and then offered to only pay half of our costs. A disagreement occurred between the restaurant and our party and eventually, the restaurant management told us we can leave without paying. We all left and waited outside while my dad went to use the restroom one last time.
After my dad came out, the other family left after bashing the restaurant and praising themselves for offering to even pay half. After they were well out of earshot, my mom asked why my dad took so long in the bathroom. He spilled the beans that he actually went back to pay the full amount. He had noticed that after the lady had come back from the bathroom, she had tossed something into her water cup, and based on her past behavior, he’d put two and two together to realize that she had engaged in another one of her schemes to get out of paying.
We never hung out with that family ever again.”
All He Wanted Was A Quick Cup Of Tea But “The Ordeal” Lasted Three Hours
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“Last fall, my wife and I went on a European vacation. I’m a big cooking and food guy and will splurge on a really fancy meal about once a year. I’ve been to several Michelin starred restaurants and have never walked away disappointed. When you expect to spend $500+ on a meal for two, you should never be disappointed.
We went to Sketch in London for afternoon tea. First of all, we had to wait in a small hallway for a table. This, by itself, is pretty unacceptable. We showed up precisely at our reservation time. After about 15 minutes, we were told it would still be a little longer and were asked to wait at a table in another dining room. The tables were tightly packed and I had to essentially shove my rear in a few diners’ faces to take my seat. I guess that’s part of the haute cuisine experience? We waited about 30 minutes before we were summoned. During that time, we were not offered a glass of water, beverage, or anything.
After we arrived at our table, we waited about another 30 minutes for a server. The room was pretty tightly packed and pretty much everyone there was just taking selfies. Service remained slow the entire time. For afternoon tea, you get a platter of finger sandwiches and a platter of desserts. Everyone gets the same thing, it’s not like they even had to take orders. The whole ordeal lasted about three hours.
When I received the check, I was very eager to get out of there. I decided to time how long it would take by the time we received the check until we left. 45 minutes. 45 freaking minutes for them to take my payment. After we had already been sitting around, obviously bored and having been made to wait the entire time. I actually left a little hungry since the time between lunch and when I left was so long.
No apologies, no nothing. Just a $500 tab and a ‘See ya later!’ Completely unacceptable. The decor was great, I guess that’s enough to get 2 Michelin stars?
The food was ok. I mean, it was finger sandwiches. Were the best finger sandwiches I’ve had? The desserts weren’t anything to write home about. They were great, but I’ve had a lot better.
Forget. Sketch.”
“I Was So Excited To Eat, But Fate Had Other Plans”
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“A few years ago, I was meeting my boyfriend’s childhood friends for the first time. I was really nervous and wanted nothing more than to impress them with my wit and charm. The guys ended up picking to go to the new Buffalo Wild Wings in town and it just so happened it was game day. We had no idea until Seahawks fans came barreling into the restaurant.
We were sitting there for a long time and suddenly we saw the light at the end of the tunnel: our server with a huge tray walking to our table. I was so excited to eat, but fate had other plans; as if it was in slow motion, right as our server was approaching our tables, something amazing must have happened in the game and this gentleman jumped straight out of his seat AND PUNCHED THE TRAY the server was carrying and dumped hot wings, ranch, bleu cheese, and garnishes all over me.
As I mentioned, I was trying to impress my boyfriend’s friends and so I just kind of laughed and awkwardly started to clean my ‘date clothes.’ I didn’t complain, cause a ruckus, or even say a sound. The server turned to me and said, ‘Well, this obviously take longer now so be patient.’ I am not saying it was her fault, and I usually wouldn’t expect anything, but we just lost our meal that we had been waiting on. I got food spilled all over me and stained all my clothing.
It would have been a nice gesture to offer a free appetizer, a dessert, or maybe even a discount on our meal since we were so understanding. But this girl CHARGED US FOR BOTH ROUNDS OF CHICKEN WINGS AND PROCEEDED TO GET MAD AT US for ‘making our order confusing.’ Needless to say, I have never gone back and will never go back to Buffalo Wild Wings.”
