Ever wondered why your go-to restaurants suddenly lost their charm? Well, you’re not alone. In this article, we’re spilling on the reasons why customers gave their favorite restaurants the boot. From culinary letdowns to service slip-ups, we’ll dish out the deets on what’s driving diners away. Settle in and let’s dive into the juicy details! All content has been edited for clarity purposes.
Table of contents
1. “We’re Spitting In Your Food Next Time”
“There was a cute little restaurant by my work. I loved visiting for quick, homestyle meals when I couldn’t make it home for lunch. The restaurant served Italian dishes including pasta, meat, and fish. The couple running the place were great. He cooked the food while his wife served. A plate of food only cost a couple of bucks, so it was a favorite for a cheap meal in my town.
Every day, the restaurant sends a text message to customers with the daily specials. A simple call with the order, and 20 minutes later, you’d have piping hot pasta in the office. What wasn’t to love about this place?
For about three years, I ate at the restaurant two or three times a week. They even knew my food tastes and made special meals for me. So why did I give up visiting?
Well, it wasn’t my choice. To my surprise, I was removed from the text update list. It turned out their son was a student in my class, and he failed one of his exams. Until this moment, I didn’t even know they had a son. I wasn’t pleased.
The chef remarked, ‘If you fail him again, we’re spitting in your food next time.’
Yikes. I’ll pass.”
2. “The Manager’s Behavior Was Offensive”
“A few years ago, I had a favorite Italian restaurant I liked visiting. On one occasion, my mother wanted to treat my wife, children, and me to a meal, and I chose my favorite place.
We ate our food, and all was going well. All until we received our bill. When my mother checked the bill, the total was way too high. The restaurant charged my mother’s meal much higher than it should have been.
When my mother asked our waitress about the issue, she said the kitchen misheard the order and prepared a much more expensive dish. The issue should have ended with a simple price adjustment to match what was ordered, but it didn’t.
The waitress insisted the expensive dish had been prepared and consumed, and that my mother should have rejected the meal if she didn’t want it. My mother, having never been to the restaurant before, had NO idea what her food even looked like before ordering.
Amazingly, the manager came over and agreed with the waitress. My mother and the manager had quite a long argument, but my mother ultimately held firm. She ended up paying only for what she ordered.
I found the manager’s behavior offensive, and the idea of eating there again never seemed right.”
3. The Spoiled Creamed Spinach
“My 70-year-old father came to visit me in El Paso. One night, we went out to dinner at a trendy restaurant with several of my friends. My dad was the only one who had the creamed spinach. The same night, he was the only one who got extremely ill with food poisoning.
He was almost unable to fly home the next day. So, I went back to the restaurant to let them know what had happened. I wasn’t expecting much, but thought at least they’d take a report and try to trace the source of the evident contamination, or maybe compensate us for the meal. However, the manager wouldn’t listen to any of the details.
He just very quickly handed me a business card and said, ‘Call this guy, he’ll take care of you.’
I had come during business hours, and it seemed like he wanted to get me out of there before any of the customers heard what we were talking about.
So, I took the card and called the guy. It turned out he was the restaurant’s lawyer, and as soon as he realized I wasn’t going to sue them, he had no further interest in talking to me. I tried to get back in touch with the manager, but he never returned my calls. Later, I looked online and found that, despite its hip, upscale image, the restaurant had a ton of health violations.
I haven’t been back since, though they always seem to be crowded and have even expanded to a second (and then third) location. Disgusting.”
4. “We’ve Never Been Back”
“My wife and I had a restaurant we enjoyed visiting. Happy hour was usually from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., and 9 p.m. to closing. I knew it was bad to walk into a restaurant right before closing time, but this implied you should have been able to show up sometime after 9:00 and still be able to order.
One night, we drove several miles and arrived at 9:31 p.m. to eat. We were rudely turned away and told we needed to arrive before 9:30 to be served. There was no signage in the restaurant or anything on their website indicating this.
I replied, ‘So if we arrive before 9:30, we can be served?’
‘Yes, correct,’ the waitress said.
The very next evening, we again drove several miles and arrived at 9:23 p.m. Once again, we were turned away. I went OFF.
I didn’t yell or threaten, but I said, ‘Just last night, we were told if we arrived before 9:30, we’d be served. Your policies don’t remain consistent from one night to the next.’
The waitress replied, ‘Okay, okay. We’ll serve you.’
‘No, I don’t want food prepared by a kitchen unwelcoming to customers,’ I rebuttaled.
‘No, really’ the waitress explained, ‘We’d be happy to prepare your food.’
I replied, ‘If you were happy to prepare our food, you shouldn’t have turned us away two nights in a row. We’ll go somewhere else that follows their policies.’
By this point, we’d been regulars at the restaurant. We’d eaten there at least twice a month for a couple of years. I wrote them a letter afterward but got no reply. We’ve never been back.”
