Though they were expecting a fun night out and a delicious meal, these unfortunate foodies were shocked at how disgusting, dirty, and downright dangerous these eateries were. They're not likely to return to these gross restaurants ever, ever again.
(Content has been edited for clarity.)
The AC Kicked On At Just The Wrong Moment
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“There was a new Chinese restaurant in town. As we were eating the food that just arrived, suddenly the wall AC unit behind me kicked in and proceeded to blow giant dust bunnies all over us and our food. They apologized profusely but didn’t even offer to make us new food. We refused to pay and walked out. It closed three months later.”
Pay No Attention To The Man Having A Heart Attack
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“We were out for dinner at Cracker Barrel, and a man at the table next to us had a full-blown heart attack. The management urged us to stay and order but didn’t bother trying to move our table or make room for this poor guy laying on the ground. EMS had to move chairs and whatnot while the waitstaff was asked just to ignore them and pretend like it wasn’t happening. The fact that the restaurant managers were more concerned with business than this ‘little inconvenience’ was pretty awful. We left and never went back.”
There Was Some Extra Protein In That Salad
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“I was a few bites into eating my salad, and there was one interesting shiny piece of lettuce. I stabbed it with my fork and pulled it out.
This was no piece of lettuce; this was a wing and body of a huge, dead grasshopper in the middle of my salad. I flung my fork across the room in a panic.
I will never return.”
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.”
His Trip To Benni Hanna Had An Explosive Ending
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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.”
The Owner’s Fascination With Horrific Videos Came Back To Bite Her
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“This happened at my (at the time) favorite Korean restaurant. The owners were an old couple. The husband did everything: wait, cook, bus.
The wife just fussed at him and watched horrific surgical procedures and injurious dash cam footage at full volume on her iPad. She’d make a point to sit behind diners and laugh at the videos of people getting hurt.
My last visit, she was watching/listening to what I thought was a snuff film. Nothing but loud SCREAMING for 15 minutes. My sister and I asked her to turn it down, and she told me, ‘If you don’t like it, you can leave.’ So after eating our full meal, we left without paying. We just got up and walked out while the lady was shouting that we needed to pay. I argued that the meal was ruined by listening to screaming the whole time.
The old man came out and heard what I said and told us, ‘Sorry about her; no charge.’
I’ve never gone back since.”
The 10-Year-Old Taking Their Order Wasn’t Much Help
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“This was a Mexican restaurant I had never been to before. Two friends and I went in, waited for a while by the door while being stared at by staff until eventually, we just sat ourselves. A boy no older than 10 years old greeted us after a minute, and I asked for water. He said they didn’t have water.
They didn’t have water.
They didn’t have water.
They didn’t have water.”
The Chef Insisted It Was Just A Bit Of “Herb”
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“There was a small fly (a fruit fly, I think) in my fried egg. It was all fried and crispy. I wasn’t even that bothered; I’m not a confrontational person. I didn’t even want a whole new meal; I just wanted a new egg. The waitress came back from the kitchen and said that the chef was insisting it was a bit of ‘herb’ that he uses in his cooking. You could see the legs and wings. They were so insistent that I could see it wasn’t worth arguing. They were a new business as well so you would have thought they would want to establish a customer base.”
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.”
Assassination Attempt Or Pure Carelessness?
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“I have a deathly tree nuts allergy. I ordered a plate of fish tacos, and it came with a side salad. Upon receiving the dish, I noticed that the salad was covered in candied pecans. This hadn’t been mentioned anywhere on the menu, so I politely informed the waiter that I couldn’t eat the salad, specified it was due to a severe allergy, and requested a replacement.
They INSISTED on taking everything back to the kitchen, even though the salad and the tacos hadn’t touched, and of course, I thanked them and let them take it.
Fast forward fifteen minutes, everyone else was done eating, and they finally brought my food back. I was famished, so I dug in. Imagine my surprise when I found no fewer than three pecans at the bottom of my salad bowl after having consumed maybe a quarter of the salad. That’s when I began to experience Anaphylaxis.
To this day, I don’t know if it was an assassination attempt, if the sous chef didn’t believe I was allergic, so he just scraped the nuts off the top and called it good, or if it was just a sloppy kitchen. You better believe I’ll never go back.”
Her Drink Had A Little Something Extra In It
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“Applebee’s is never going to win any awards, but my hometown has an extraordinary ability to ruin any chain that comes here. Regardless, they’d have drink specials or somesuch, and I’d always end up with a group of people who wanted to go there.
First was a piece of glass in my drink. I told the server, so the manager came over, apologized profusely, and offered to get me another drink. Not a free meal or even a free drink, just a different pint with (presumably) no broken glass in it.
Second, was when I ordered a ribeye with steamed veggies. The steak was about the length and width of three fingers, and the vegetables were three medium-sized florets of broccoli. That was it. It was so small on the plate that the server just had the manager bring it out instead of going through the process of showing it to me and THEN getting the manager.
I just ate it and never went back. If the cooks thought this was appropriate and the manager was fine with it, I wasn’t going to argue for more food with extra pubes in it.
Apparently, I wasn’t alone. There was a huge banner covering the entire front of the restaurant that said, ‘UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT!’ a while back. I’m still not interested.”
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.”
They Brought Home Some Unanticipated Guests Home With Them
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“It was a restaurant in Waikiki. We went on the last night of our vacation. The place was crawling with bedbugs. We didn’t know they were bedbugs at the time, didn’t figure that out until we were back home and the telltale bites developed. We had to call the hotel and tell them we may have introduced bedbugs to the room. They freaked out, but hey, it was their employee who’d recommended the place. We had to empty out the freezer to deep freeze everything we couldn’t boil or leave roasting in a black garbage bag on a sunny patio for weeks. We had to put special covers on our mattresses and vacuum and scrub every surface every day. Our house wasn’t infested, but it was over a month before we could relax.
When I called the restaurant, the manager said, ‘Oh yeah, we have a terrible bed bug infestation, we have an exterminator come once a month, but every place in Waikiki has bedbugs, everybody knows that you should read the local newspaper.’
When we wrote about it on Trip Advisor, the same manager called us to ask us to remove the review. In return, we’d get dinner on the house if we ever returned.
Not only am I not going ever going back to that restaurant, but I’m also not ever going back to Oahu. Screw you, Lulu’s.”
He Was Just Old Enough To Realize 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.”
The Menu Said It Was Gluten-Free
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“My wife is Celiac, which means she has an intense gluten ‘allergy.’
We got a gluten-free menu. It listed chicken and waffles. She ordered it. She took a few bites and commented that it was the best gluten-free waffle she’s ever tasted.
Then she started to feel sick. We asked the waiter about it, and he said, ‘Oh, the waffle isn’t gluten free, just the chicken.'”
The Burger Was Great, Til He Looked At The Bottom
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“I went to a Steak n Shake south of Houston. I went in, and the staff didn’t seem to give a crap, but whatever. I ordered a Royale, and it was delicious until I noticed the mold on the bottom of the bun. Not just a little, either. I’m talking about a multi-colored, nasty, moldy bun. On a burger, I had partially eaten.
I showed it to the waiter, who seemed stoned, and he just said, ‘Oh, I’m sorry, man. Do you want something else?’ I asked for the manager who didn’t charge us and gave us a coupon for a free meal later which we never used. I vomited in the parking lot before we left.”
Cream Cheese Or Mayonnaise?
“My wife had an allergic reaction after clearly mentioning she was allergic to eggs. They said that creamy substance was cream cheese, but it was mayo.
Just 15 minutes later, she was intubated in the emergency room.
Nope, never going there again. Anyway, the restaurant closed last year.”
His Ribeye Was A Total Mess
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“There used to be a steakhouse in my town called Mountain Oysters. I usually don’t like steaks from cheap places because I know they will screw it up, but I wanted to try it. I saw the Ribeye was $31 and thought it meant they knew how to cook it. I asked for it medium rare but it came back well done, and every single square inch was covered in fat. The waitress asked if there was a problem. I showed her all the fat on it and how it was burned. She took it back to the cook, then came back and told me that’s how all their steaks look. She took $7 off the bill. I never went back again because of that bull.”
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.”
