Usually going out to eat is a fun and relaxing experience, yet sadly that is not always the case. From poorly managed restaurants to health code violations to waiters who definitely need to get out of customer service, these diners share their worst horror stories of going out to eat.
Wait, How Is That A Lot Of Food??
“Went to IHOP, ordered an omelette with toast and OJ. The waiter brought the cook out to look at me because the cook wanted to know what woman could eat ‘all that food’ alone. They stood there and stared at me for a minute while I chewed on my toast. I made up a story about being pregnant and being really hungry and they were like OHH OKAY. NO TIP” (Source).
Calling The Cops… Really?!
“My wife and I went to Outback one night after getting a gift card there. It was pretty empty and we waited like 15 minutes to be seated. Once seated, every server walked right past us. Finally after about 25 minutes we just decided to walk out. As we were a server finally saw us and took our order. After getting our food, I went to cut into my supposedly med-rare steak, well it was well done. I told the server, she just went, ‘ugh, fine!’ I got it back, still well done. I asked to speak to a manager, and he proceeded to tell me ‘I’m not a chef, so I should let the cooks do their job.’ I then proceeded to ask for the district managers phone, and when he refused I called Outback corporate on the phone. The manager got mad at me saying I was being ‘a wuss, and stop getting upset.’ Just so happens the CSR on the phone heard everything. She called the DM, who told her to tell us to ‘walk out and not even pay because Chuck said so.’ We did, but not before the manager threatened to have the cops called on us” (Source).
She Said What?
“Ordered a drink at a patio last Wednesday. We got a new waitress, we were her first table of the night. We ask her to bring us the special, and when it arrives we ask if it is any good. She replies, ‘It would taste better with a tip.’ We all shut up instantly, just dumbfounded by the audacity this waitress had. We didn’t get served for another hour and a half, so we up and left. My buddy left her a note saying, ‘Here is a tip: Don’t be a b—h'” (Source).
You Snooze, You Lose Apparently.
“Ordered a meal worth $20+ at a fast food restaurant, and once our order came out, another person came and took it. We showed the receipt to the manager proving it was ours and they didn’t do anything about it” (Source).
Table For… Four?
“My wife and I moved cities at the beginning of February. With the hassle of moving I forgot to make Valentines reservations until a couple of days before the 14th. Being in a new city, I didn’t know any restaurants but there was a place near my work that looked nice. I call them up and make a reservation for two. All good so far. So we show up on the 14th and the place is totally packed, which is to be expected, and I assume we’re in for a bit of a wait. The hostess greets us, asks how many and starts leading us into the restaurant without asking my name or if I had a reservation. She leads us to a table in the back – it’s a four person table, one side is a booth and the other has two chairs, it looks totally fine except for one problem: there are already two people siting side by side in the booth. My wife says to the hostess ‘oh, there must be some mistake, we’re not with these people we had our own reservation for two.’ The server replies, I s–t you not, ‘oh yeah, it’s really busy tonight so we’re asking everyone to share tables.’ We both just sort of stared at her so she reiterated how busy it was. My wife started arguing and made it clear this wasn’t acceptable and that we’d either need a different table or would just go elsewhere. During this time another four top had opened up so the hostess leads us there acting like she’s doing us a huge favor. I go to sit down and my wife says to the hostess ‘hang on, are you just going to sit the next two people who walk in at this table with us?’ She replies ‘well yeah, it’s really busy tonight.’ We left and had a nice dinner at a cheap Mexican restaurant down the street. I’ve shared tables at restaurants before, but never at a place charging $35 for mains and especially never after making a reservation for two on f–king Valentines day” (Source).
Definitely Not The Time To Argue.
“My dad once passed out in a restaurant (nothing to do with the food, and it was a place we used to go to quite a bit) An ambulance had to be called. As they had my dad on the stretcher, the waitstaff started arguing with my mother about their tip. We did not go back” (Source).
That’s Not How You Clean Up Vomit…
“Moms 48th birthday we ate at a fancy restaurant near our house. Suddenly this kid runs by with his mother, stops, turns and faces us then proceeds to vomit in front of our table. It took a good 5 minutes before someone finally appeared to clean it, the fumes were wafting over our way as we were eating. What was the cleanup crew you ask? Just a guy with a bucket and a mop. He spread the vomit all around the floor more than he cleaned it up. The kid was ok, but what got us is that they didn’t leave. The kid sat back down at the table and had dessert. And the restaurant didn’t comp us at all. Nothing” (Source).
Having To Leave To Not Be Killed By The Waiter.
“There is a diner my friend and I used to go to all the time. Because I was unemployed and he was a generous soul, a few times a month, he’d take me out to eat. But he worked late, so sometimes we’d be at this diner until 2am. Most of the time, the service and food were excellent. But, over time, we ran into a few weird situations. The diner is Greek-owned, and the family that owns it trains their new staff at o-dark-thirty. So some of the wait staff were… a little off. One time, they were remodeling the kitchen. My sundae had iron shavings in it. I alerted the waiter. ‘What is it?’ ‘My ice cream sundae has metal shavings in it.’ He became visibly agitated. ‘Uh huh. I see. You want it free, huh? Is that it?’ ‘Actually I’d just like another without shavings in it.’ ‘Really? Is that all you want?’ He asked sarcastically. Then he started shouting to us in Greek, very angry. The manager heard this, and came by to find out what was going on. Soon, they were shouting at each other. It escalated quickly as the waiter tossed down his tray and stomped off to the kitchen, where we heard a lot of crashing, shouting, and more crashing like someone was tossing metal things around. The manager excused himself when the sounds kept going. Then there was more yelling in Greek and English, more crashing, and finally it was quiet. All the employees in the diner went into the kitchen to look at the spectacle. Finally, the manager came out, and said, ‘I am very very sorry. Your entire meal is free, whatever you had. But I am going to have to ask you to leave. Not because you’ve done anything wrong, but because I am about to fire that man, and I don’t want him taking it out on you.’ So as we quickly left, we heard someone say something like, ‘He’s locked himself in the meat freezer. Does anyone have the key?'” (Source).
A Raw Deal
“I bit into the burger that arrived at my table at Applebee’s that I was really pumped about. I was starving. So I was chewing and realized something was off. I’m a stickler for texture. So I look at the burger and this huge bite I took. The center of this burger was so raw, it was like jelly. I played it cool. I waved my waiter over and told them. They were astonished this happened and sent it back. I got the burger back and could tell they had put it back on the grill to cook it again. Fine, whatever, I didn’t expect a brand new one, I was starving. The first two bites were fine. It was the third. The third was jelly again. F–k this burger. I still get goosies when I think about it” (Source),
With Her HANDS.
“When I told my waitress that my cheeseburger was not plain as I wanted it to be, she took off the bun and started to scrape the condiments off with her hands” (Source).
How Dare You Expect What You Ordered.
“I once went to Friday’s with a group of co-workers on lunch break. I order a jalapeño burger. I am with about 4 other people and we have to wait a really long time for everything to come out. Finally our food arrives. I am eating my burger thinking, ‘Man, this tastes really bland.’ I take the top bun off and discover this burger had no jalapeños. I am finally able to flag down our waitress and explain that my burger wasn’t what I ordered. She says she will go tell the kitchen. I am literally waiting about 10 minutes, in the meantime my lunch companions have all finished their food. The waitress finally comes back and says she told the cooks, but they wouldn’t give her the jalapeños or make another burger. WTF? I am quite mad at this time and ask to speak to the manager. He come over and explains that is it employee appreciation day, so they are short handed. Most of the staff went to Six Flags. So he explained to me, and I quote: ‘Everyone isn’t going to get what they want or the food that they ordered. Huh? If you can’t cook what I order then you need to be closed. Craziest restaurant experience I ever had. I still can’t believe he said that to me” (Source).
A Different Perspective.
“I believe I was the worst service in some poor families story. I worked at a steak house, afternoon shifts, hardly any tables. A family of six comes in. I’m over there immediately, asking for their drink orders, upselling our specials, offering appetizers etc. I took their drink order and before I left they said the last time they were at this restaurant their server had up and quit before putting in their order and no one realized the mistake for a very long time and this is their first time back. I assured then I had no intentions on quitting, we valued their business and I’ll try to make this a great dining experience for them. I returned promptly with all the drinks and took their order. While on my way back to the kitchen our horrible manager made a crack about me, I don’t even remember what it was, probably something sexual. I told him to f-off, he made a big deal that he’s the manager, I can’t talk to him like that, I’d starve without this job so I better be a hell of a lot nicer to him blah blah blah. After months of this prick being just that a prick, I grabbed my s–t and walked out. As soon as I’m driving home feeling great about showing him he can’t talk to me like that, I was reaching in my purse and found that tables order. I still to this day wonder what happened, how long they sat there for, no refills, no food, their server no where in sight. And to learn I had just quit and they had to replace their order. That’s what I feel bad about. Sorry nice family” (Source).
We Are Out Of Everything.
“I went to one of my local Wendy’s that had a sign at the drive through that said: ‘We are out of the following: Burgers, Chicken sandwiches, Chocolate Frosty, Fries, Sprite, Coke, Potatoes, Chili, Garden Salads, Large Cups, All condiments. I took a picture of the sign and posted it on my Facebook saying something like, ‘Seriously Wendy’s what DO you have?’ Then something creepy happened. I got an email from a Wendy’s corporate person (without ever going to their website and complaining) they apologized, said they saw my post on Facebook and would like to make amends. They offered me 10 free meals and gave me the names of the store owners to the two other local Wendy chains in case I didn’t want to return to the store in question” (Source).
The Tip Magically Changed.
“A new Italian place opened up in my hometown, so my parents, wife and I went one day for lunch. While taking our orders the waitress turns and walks off without taking my order. Took another 5 minutes before she came back around so I could put my order in. When they came to bring out our soups the waitress forgot mine. She apologized and left to go get it. After 5 minutes she returns to check on our table and I reminded her about the soup. She says she forgot and goes to the kitchen to the get the soup. The manager comes out to say that they have to remake my soup and it would be another 10 minutes. Once the food finally comes, my pasta is completely wrong. I ordered chicken Alfredo and they brought me chicken marinara. I was so pissed at that point I just ate what they brought. To top it all off, the $5 tip I left magically turned into a $15 tip when I got my bank statement. The waitress had forged a one onto my receipt. We called the restaurant and she was fired. In all honesty, the food was amazing but the service was horrid. Never went back. The place was closed within 3 months” (Source).
He Just Wanted A Cheeseburger.
“I had to fast for 12 hours before a doctor’s appointment because I had to get some blood work done. By the time I left the doctor’s office I hadn’t eaten in close to 15 hours, I was starving. Let me preface this by saying that I’m a fat dude, I know I’m fat, and I’m working on losing weight and I know this wasn’t the healthiest option. Anyway, I pulled into a McDonalds to get a simple cheeseburger and a small soda. I order and pull around to the first window. The girl grabs my debit card then says, ‘are you sure you need to eat this?’ I was like, ‘excuse me’ and she goes, ‘you’re already too fat to need to eat…’ I brushed the b–h off, pulled ahead, got my food, and then immediately parked and went in to see the manager. Turns out she was the manager on duty. Needless to say I escalated that s–t through the franchisee’s main office and ended up with a ton of coupons for free stuff” (Source).
NO, YOU EAT MISTAKE.
“Certain Asian eateries in NYC prefer you to eat their mistakes rather than fix your order. They will fight tooth and nail to never eat the cost. My meal was given to the wrong table, and my drinks never arrived. Instead, they tried convincing me to take the other person’s order. When I refused and told them not to fix their mistakes, as I’ll be grabbing a sandwich on the way back when my group finishes, they brought my meal out as soon as everyone finishes. As a result, everyone had to wait for me. Then they tried to charge me for my order, the corrected order, and the drink that never came” (Source).
When Is A 20% Tip Not Good Enough?
“When I was younger my father and I went to Applebee’s for some chicken wings, we were seated and placed our order with a rather disillusioned waiter. We ate subpar wings with a side of subpar service, and received a bill of around thirty dollars, to which my father tipped twenty percent as is his standard. After the waiter took the bill, and we left the tip on the table we began to walk away, the waiter came in from behind us tip in hand and proclaimed that twenty percent wasn’t enough, and that was over a decade ago. Needless to say we never went to that Applebee’s again” (Source).
Ummm… To Go Please!
“Was at Beef O’ Brady’s and our waitress disappeared into the bathroom for close to a half hour. She came out with a guy and he left the restaurant. She smelled like sex and looked like a mess. I didn’t want her handling my food so I acted like I was now running late and ordered to go” (Source).
