Diners Share Their Most Disappointing Dining Out Experiences

You expect good service whenever you eat out at restaurants, but sometimes not everyone gets it right. After reading these horrifying stories, just be thankful you didn't find something wriggling in your food or encountered the worst dining staff ever.

This Diner Took One Bite Of Their Pizza And…

“I ordered pizza from Papa John’s. Pull out a slice, start eating, and the first bite I feel something HARD as I’m biting down. I pull the slice out of my mouth and there was a woodscrew sitting perfectly point up like someone deliberately put it there. Went and cursed out the place (the only time I’ve done something like that), never ate from there again. In hindsight, instead of going to the pizza place to complain I should have called the cops because the placement was too perfect, but I was young and stupid.”

| Text Source

No Gloves, No Service

“My friend and I when we were younger used to go to the local mall and walk around, then end the trip with a visit to Del Taco. Well, we show up to Del Taco and there is one dude there, his name is Felix, working the register and making the food. As he is taking our order and tapping away at the screen, we notice this huge wound on his finger and this sucker is fresh, like he took the skin off 10 minutes ago and its still bloody and glistening. Wel,l he walks into the back, no gloves and starts making food, full hand in the cheese, full hand in the lettuce. My friend and I are watching this dude just rub his open wound all over the food as he’s making it. He brings up our food and my buddy calls him on it, of course, he tells us he was wearing gloves, which he was not. He throws a fit and throws the food away, grabs a glove and makes the order again with food he had already rubbed his wound all over. We just took the order, left and threw it away, called the manager and the manager basically said he couldn’t do anything as we had no proof.”

| Text Source

Sometimes It’s The Other Patrons That Are The Problem

“I was at an Applebee’s once with some friends in college. Our waiter comes over with a drink for me and says it’s from this guy across the way. I tell them thanks, but I have a boyfriend and can’t accept the drink, and ask the waiter to send it back.
Watch the waiter go over to the guy. I wave at the guy and smile, mouthing sorry. Guy smiles and waves back, grabs the drink and comes over.
Random guy: ‘I got you this drink.’
Me: ‘Yes, thank you, but I have a boyfriend so I can’t accept.’
Random guy: ‘But I bought it for you.’
Me: ‘Yes, and I’m flattered but I have a boyfriend.’
Random guy: ‘OK, so not only is this drink WASTED, but you made me walk ALL THE WAY OVER HERE just to TURN ME DOWN!’
He’s now shouting in the restaurant. The waiter was a complete G and came over with our checks and some boxes so we packed up and ran.
Sorry for making you walk ALL THE WAY ACROSS APPLEBEES Random Guy.”

| Text Source

Not Even A Restaurant Makeover Could Fix Up This Place

“The place had a brush with fame because it was such a mess. It was a pirate themed restaurant that was owned by a couple with no restaurant experience. It was never popular, though it did attract a few extreme saddos on the weekends who dressed up like pirates (just for fun) and shouted sea chanteys. It got on one of those restaurant makeover shows, the owners hated the new theme and menu, and turned it back into the pirate place within a week – they didn’t last much longer.

I worked in a building nearby, and near the holidays we had business planning meetings where a bunch of our out of town staff turned up for a week or so. One night, somebody suggested a few of us who lived nearby take the out of towners to ‘that fun pirate place’ for dinner.
I’d already been to this place once with my wife. We were shown to a table and ignored for 20 minutes–no menus, no nothing. At about the 10-minute mark, the host came over and made us get up so he could get into the utility closet our table was blocking. Then he left and we waited another 10 minutes being completely ignored, then left. As you can imagine, I offered a strenuous caution against the place, but was overruled with, ‘But it looks like fun, how bad could it be?’
I’ll tell you how bad.
We had a table of about 12-15 people, and because we called ahead they actually had a big long table ready for us. Hmm, maybe things will be OK.
The server came around to deliver menus and take everybody’s drink orders. Warning sign number one: The server had no idea what they had on tap, which turned out to be because there weren’t any.
Maybe 10 minutes later, the server comes around again to get appetizer orders (still no drinks). He knew nothing about the menu, and we had to show him what item we were referring to every single time.
10-15 minutes later, like 5 people get their drinks, all of who ordered signature drinks (which undoubtedly were mixed by the gallon so any idiot could splash them into a glass), but no other drinks made it, even simple ones. Also, the waiter needed to take our appetizer order again. But hey, he’ll get our entree orders too, so there’s that.
10 minutes later, lo and behold, everyone at the table has a drink. Some people don’t have the right one, and the bunch who got drinks in the first round get a second one they didn’t order, but this is the best service of the night and only 30-40 minutes in!
Another 30 minutes go by. Hey, it’s a large order–it’ll bog down the kitchen a little, so we’re patient. Would like to order more drinks, though, so we flag down someone who looks like the manager, he says he’ll get our server for us.
10 minutes later, the manager returns. ‘I’m sorry, but your server appears to have quit and left the restaurant so I’ll need to take your orders again, sorry for the confusion.’ At least he seems vaguely conversant with the menu as he takes the orders – again.
30 minutes pass. More drinks come out during that time, very haphazardly–some folks get them, some don’t. Then, amazingly, some food! Finally! And it’s just three entrees and five appetizers. One guy got his appetizer AND entree at the same time and about half of us got nothing. The manager assures us the rest of the order is just about ready.
After a couple of minutes, we all resolve to share as much as we can of what has come out as at this point we’re all starving. The manager brings out a couple more appetizers.
After 15 minutes of no service whatsoever, we decided that we’ll just call it a loss, get the bill and get out. Someone goes to look for the manager and asks for the bill, and when it comes it includes our full appetizer order TIMES TWO, plus all the entrees, plus all the drinks -no discount, nothing comped – full price for more than we ordered and we received only about 1/3 of what we actually ordered. The manager got cranky when we complained. It took another 15 minutes to square things away so we only paid (full price) for what we’d actually gotten. One of my idiot coworkers insisted we tip if you can believe that.
The kicker: The food was crappy. The best item, and that’s a massive stretch to say ‘best,’ was something I will have to call ‘mussels in spicy hairspray.'”

| Text Source

Everyone Was Literally Running Out Of The Door

“One time when I was enjoying my fajita on a hungover Sunday lunch, one of the cooks decided that mixing ammonia and bleach was a good idea. At first, my friends and I just saw people running out of the restaurant, which we thought was just a family dining and dashing, but then all of sudden we got hit with this train of lightheadedness and a burning sensation in the nose. Before you know it the entire place is in mass chaos as everyone is trying to fight their way out of the restaurant.”

| Text Source

She Turned It Over To See If The Bottom Was As Burnt As The Sides And…

“A few years ago, we had just moved back to the US after living in Japan. I let my jetlagged kids pick the restaurant and they chose Olive Garden (I know, I know). The 7-year-old ordered a pizza off the kids’ menu.
When it arrived, the crust looked awfully charred. She turned it over to see if the bottom was as burnt as the sides. We found a piece of broken glass embedded in the crust. It was the same blueish/green color that their drink glasses are made of. It was pretty clear that the dough had fallen on the floor, and when they picked it back up, the glass was stuck in the dough and then baked into place.
I asked for the manager and pointed it out. He didn’t even notice the glass at first and thought we were just annoyed about the burned crust. I said that was also unacceptable, but I was really mad about the glass. He actually accused me of planting it. I wasn’t looking for a free meal, I just wanted an apology and food that wouldn’t injure my kid. I was so pissed.”

| Text Source

This Restaurant Owner’s Broken Promise Didn’t Fall Upon Deaf Ears For These Diners

“We went to an Indian restaurant for my husband’s birthday. We had an hour and a half until a movie started, so we should have had plenty of time. Neck tattooed waitress took our order then when to play on her phone. We were the only table in the restaurant which should have been a warning sign, but we’d been there before and liked it.
Twenty minutes go by, we ask where our food is. Eyes are rolled.
Forty minutes go by. Our waitress leaves and another comes on and asks if our orders have been taken. We politely explain we’d placed it forty minutes ago. She says it’ll be ten minutes.
At one hour after ordering we left.
Husband called the next day to complain. SUPER apologetic owner offers a gift card for the full amount of the meal we weren’t able to eat. Husband says he’s sending his wife (me) to get it because I work nearby. Owner agrees.
I get there and the guy says he wasn’t giving me anything because ‘the restaurant was so busy’ the night we were there. Remember, we were the only table. He was ugly about having to ‘deal with a woman.’
I remind him he spoke with my husband and made the offer himself. He rolls his eyes and says he didn’t owe us anything but grudgingly gave me a ten dollar gift certificate. He’d promised my husband seventy-five.
We threw out the gift card and never went back. The restaurant has since closed.”

| Text Source

These Diners Were Disgusted By This Chef’s Hygiene

“I went to a diner in Littleton, New Hampshire for lunch. Nothing great but we were traveling and hungry.
We ordered hamburgers, grilled cheese, and bacon sandwiches.
The drinks come, then the food in about 15 minutes and everything looks pretty good.
We are seated near the kitchen, and the cook steps out wearing white. He has a large and very visible poop stain in the crack of his butt.
I mean, not a brown streak, but a huge dark blotch of wet brown poop in the back of his white pants.
While we watch, the cook proceeds to stick his fingers into his buttcrack, dig them around, scratch, then he brought his fingers up to his nose and smelled them.
WITHOUT WASHING, he returns to the kitchen and starts cooking again.
I almost vomited. We started to walk out and was stopped by the manager, who demanded that we pay for the uneaten food. I told him what I saw and that I was going to call the cops and the health department.
He didn’t believe me. He walked me into the kitchen and I pointed out the cook, complete with horrible poop stain.
We didn’t have to pay. We left to the sound of screaming in the kitchen.”

| Text Source

This Disgusting Meal Sparked A Contagious Reaction

“The only time in my life where I immediately vomited was when I found a grease-stained breathe-right nasal strip in my curry. After violently vomiting and sobbing in the bathroom, I told my cousin, who had just finished eating the same dish I had. He then immediately vomited. It was a pretty surreal experience for me.”

| Text Source

A Waiter Tries To Get Sympathy But His Actions Definitely Aren’t Helping

“We were at a Belgian style pub. Our waiter comes over to take our drink order. It was a rotating draft list so the beers were written on a chalkboard that was like 100 ft away and didn’t have anything but the beer’s name. Since none of us are up to the minute on all Belgian style beers everywhere we needed some help. The waiter asks if we’re familiar with Belgian beer. My aunt who had been to Belgium less than 3 months prior says, ‘Well I’ve had beers in Belgium’ and before she even finishes the waiter cuts her off and says, ‘Well I’ve drank 40’s in the hood but that doesn’t make me an expert in malt liquor.’ My uncle goes to ask for help and says he likes IPAs and is looking for suggestions and the waiter tells him that he’s in the wrong place. We should have left right then.
We somehow make it through our drink orders and we enjoy a brief respite from our waiter – then he comes back for food orders. I am not a mayonnaise fan and this place has like 19 different flavors (they really hang their hats on that). Our waiter even mentioned how many people he could drown with the amount of mayo they have in the back. When I order my meal and specifically ask for no mayo. Surprise surprise, my meal comes and there’s a flight of mayo on my plate. Even though I’m not a fan I at least want to know what they are so I ask the waiter and he basically tells me he doesn’t know and it doesn’t matter.
Finally, we’ve made it through our order and plan on enjoying our meal despite our jerk waiter. My cousin didn’t get her right type of mayo that she ordered and asked the waiter for it and some ketchup. His response, ‘Wow aren’t you needy’ in a wholly serious and kind of pissed off tone. As the meal is ending and we’re getting our check he tells us how understaffed they are and how hard he’s been working aka ‘give me a big tip even though I’m a jerk.’ There was only one other waitress in the place and she seemed just fine, so we peaced out and none of us will ever go back. We should have listened when he told my uncle that this wasn’t the place for him.”

| Text Source

These Diners Were Ready To Straight Up Wok Out Of This Chinese Restaurant

“A few friends and I went to a Chinese restaurant in DC called ‘Wok and Roll.’ There was a lot that went horribly wrong here, so I’ll try to break it down as simply as possible.
Note- This was a convention weekend, so simply leaving and getting into another restaurant didn’t seem to be an option. I wanted to leave personally but was outvoted several times.
First, we arrive. It takes about twenty minutes to flag down a waiter, and another ten to get menus. It takes five minutes to order because the waiter has issues comprehending English.
At that point, we wait about 45 minutes and nothing comes – no drinks, no appetizers, no entrees, nothing. We flag down a waiter, and five minutes later one of the three appetizers ordered arrives. One of the party member’s entrees also arrived for no discernible reason.
So of the ten people there, a group of three has their appetizer, one has his entree, and no one has drinks, oh and at this point, the ceiling exploded, literally.
What started as a simple drip-drip-dripping of water erupted within seconds into a full-on waterfall as a giant hole literally tore open in the ceiling, dumping a never-ending torrent of water (from an unknown source) onto what little food we had. The entire restaurant stopped to look, everything went dead silent. It should be noted that while others were not so lucky, I managed to avoid getting wet – this becomes important later.
Contrary to the previous service, wait staff immediately arrived, and pushed our party to the back and up three flights of (also leaking) stairs. They told us that, as consolation, we could have a private karaoke room for free, and they would allow us to eat there when they brought us the food.
Now none of us were particularly wanting to sing because it was a busy convention weekend and we just wanted to eat and get out. This ended up being a blessing in disguise, because the majority of the song selections were in either Chinese or Korean, which none of us spoke. I’m sure we would have had time to learn the lyrics, though, because it was another 30-40 minutes before we saw another waiter.
He dropped in just to say hello and left.
So we scrambled to finally flag down someone else, and within fifteen more minutes we finally had our food, in full -entrees, appetizers, all there, but none of us could eat it though, because at no point did anyone bring us utensils or plates.
So after another fifteen-minute hunt, we find another waiter, and get utensils, and start eating the worst Chinese food I’ve ever tasted. I should note at this point that I have literally eaten Chinese food that was later declared unsafe for human consumption, and this was literally worse than that. But we figured, you know, wash it down with drinks, pay, and get out.
Oh wait, they didn’t bring us drinks either.
Another twenty minutes flagging down a waiter. He comes up with the drinks that were ordered, and also cups recently cleaned with dishwater. I know they were recently cleaned with dishwater because when he tried to hand them to some of my friends he accidentally tilted them, pouring the nebulous liquid directly on my pants.
Then the bill came. Some items double charged, so we spend fifteen more minutes getting that all sorted, leave a five cent tip for a $250+ tab (we didn’t want to wait another twenty minutes for five cents of change), and got the heck out of there.”

| Text Source

This Restaurant Manager Wasn’t Budging In This Argument

“Found a beetle in my meal at Chili’s. Told the server, who told the manager, who refused to budge and insisted that I pay full price because of the chance that I put it in there deliberately.
Yeah, I just carry around a beetle in my pocket, and when nobody is looking, I throw that disgusting thing in my meal which I am paying for. Haven’t gone back.”

| Text Source

The Only Good Thing About This Restaurant For These Diners Were Their Own Drinks

“Went over to a Cuban restaurant with my wife. It was BYOB, so we brought our stuff, were seated outside and then had the worst waitress ever. She was quick to share that it was her first weekend on the job and she didn’t know the menu, so we’d have to be patient. Sure, we can do that.
Well, she only had 3 tables and somehow couldn’t keep up with them, even though no one was getting drinks and food was never really coming out. A fourth couple sits at a table, waitress never addresses them, so they just up and leave.
We order three items off the menu as we’re sipping our drinks. TEN MINUTES LATER she comes back to tell us that 2 of the items aren’t on the menu anymore. Fine, we order 2 different things.
The waitress comes back and tells us that the 2 new items aren’t on the menu anymore either. Apparently, there are no plantains in this Cuban restaurant. We ask what in the world is going on that we’ve been there for 30 minutes and haven’t even been able to order. She says she’s going to ask the manager/owner to come out.

He comes out and is like, ‘What do you want?’

‘Uhhh, we want to order food?’

‘Well we don’t have any plantains, we ran out.’

This restaurant is down the street from a supermarket, there’s no excuse for this. My wife is livid. He begins giving us SO many excuses about the service and the waitress. I finally chime in and say, ‘I don’t get what is happening, but I’m not enjoying my experience.’ Manager/owner says: ‘Well maybe if you had more to drink, you would.’

Needless to say, some of the other couples start getting up and leaving as they hear all of this conversation – also because their food was either not on the menu anymore or never came out. Manager/owner follows this up by saying that it’s not his fault, they had to cater some events and were short-staffed. I lost it. How is this not his fault?
You own a Cuban restaurant that apparently is short on cooks, waitstaff, and apparently, all of the staples of this cuisine and the only positive experience is my own beverage which you told me that I should drink more of so I can ‘enjoy’ this experience more. Yeah, no.
Came to learn that the place closed down a week later and they were down staff because most of them walked out after not being paid for several months.”

| Text Source

Some Major Miscommunication

“We sit down at a new place, recently opened, supposed to be nice.
3 tables sit down after us and are served drinks. We flag down the waitress, and she says, ‘Sorry, not my table.’
She then takes the other 3 orders, comes to our table and said, ‘Sorry – it turns out this IS my table. I assume you’re ready to order?’
Of course, we get served last.
When the bill came, it was outrageous for the quality of the food. When we asked the waitress about the total and some incorrect items, she said ‘Oh, yeah – this one is yours,’ and it was $100 more!
When we asked about this, she literally laughed and said, ‘Well, that’s what you get for being honest. Should have just paid the wrong one, it’s your own fault for commenting.'”

| Text Source

This Waiter’s Answer To What To Order Left These Diners Speechless

“We went to Chicago on a short family vacation (my girlfriend, our daughter, and myself) a year or two ago. We obviously didn’t go SPECIFICALLY for Pizano’s Pizza, but we tried to eat at places locally recommended while we were up there.
The wait was absurdly long, which normally I wouldn’t hold against a place, but we could see tables that were empty and simply had not been bussed. I figured maybe they were understaffed but there were employees standing at the bar chatting away with the bartender, and the bus boys seemed to be actively avoiding any area that wasn’t the downstairs. But this isn’t even the main problem I had with the place. We ended up waiting about half an hour before we were seated. We were sat by a host who was also our waiter. He was an older fellow, but I wouldn’t call him elderly. He was very stern and had no pleasantness about himself and when we told him we were from out of town and asked what his recommendation would be, he sighed, folded his hands in front of himself, looked me in the eye and said, ‘I don’t know, sir, because I’m not in your head and don’t know what you like.’
We had been sat somewhat near the kitchen doors and as he was turning away from our table a busboy came out of the kitchen holding an empty tub. The busboy called out before he even opened the kitchen doors that he was coming through, and our waiter had at least 10 feet of clearance between him and the doors, but when the busboy tried to maneuver past him the waiter yelled (and I do mean yelled and it wasn’t that loud in the place) at the bus boy to get out of the way.
The waiter disappeared into the kitchen for a few minutes, then we saw him come out and head to the bar. He walked right past our table, went to the bar, and proceeded to hang out there for at least 10 minutes. Meanwhile, we were still waiting for our drinks. I gave him a pass at first because I assumed the bartender was just busy, but soon the bartender wasn’t doing anything but cleaning glasses and chatting as well.
We ended up getting our pizza before we got our drinks. We were starving and it LOOKED delicious, but it was middling at best, but oh well.
Eventually, we got our beverages (after multiple reminders to various wait staff) about halfway through our pizza. We drank them quickly and left without leaving a tip.
Maybe there was something going on that night I wasn’t privy to, I don’t know. Maybe they just don’t like out-of-towners, whatever. All I know is it was the absolute worst service I have ever received from any restaurant in my life. I go out of my way to tell people to avoid that place because of the awful experience we had there.”

| Text Source

This Babysitter Had No Other Choice But To Slap This Disgusting Platter Away

“When I was 8, my babysitter took her daughter and me to a Chinese restaurant. I had chicken fried rice and just as I was about to take my first bite she smacked the plate off the table. Within the mess of rice and shattered porcelain, roaches came crawling out. My babysitter made a huge scene. We left and there was a payphone outside the place and the police and health department came immediately. The place shut down and never opened again – I haven’t been able to eat Chinese since.”

| Text Source

This Waitress Takes Things A Little Too Personally When Handling This Diner’s Change

“I didn’t have a debit card at the time because I was only 15 or 16. Go out to eat at a mid-range place, my total is $22 something. I only have a $20 and a $10, so, I pay $30 in cash.
The waitress comes back after doing the bills for everyone and asks if anyone else needs anything.
I’m pulling 2 $1’s out of my purse to tip $10 in cash, along with my $8 in change, but I don’t have it, so I ask for my change.
The waitress asks me if I’m ‘really going to gripe over $8?’
I’m stunned. I really don’t know what to say and every one of my friends is staring at me, everyone is quiet.
‘Uh – yeah, you don’t get to just keep it.’
(Keep in mind, I have money out to tip, and at that time in my life, I was a WAITRESS MYSELF and I’ve never, ever, ever refused to give someone their rightful change, even if it’s 10 cents).
‘Oh, okay, that’s just how I make my living.’ Then this banshee reaches into her apron and throws a handful of money at the table with such force that coins splatter everywhere, hitting some of us in the face. She then storms off.
We’re stunned, gather our things, and leave. Two other tables (one a very elderly couple, another younger with a toddler) slowly get up (neither of them have food yet) and also leave. Mom of the toddler assures me outside she’s never seen anything like that, and it’s unacceptable.
The bonus was instead of throwing down $8, like my actual change (that I was going to leave on the table, I just wanted to do so at my own choice), she threw down like $15 worth, so she ended up in the negative on my tab for her freak out.”

| Text Source

These Diners’ Steakhouse Experience Was T-Boned After This Disagreement

“Ordered a T-Bone at a chain steakhouse. It comes out missing the filet/tenderloin, bone still attached. I immediately tell the server. She explains this is what a T-bone steak is because the bone is shaped like a T.
I politely say ‘you are correct but the reason I wanted the T-Bone is because I wanted the strip and the filet.’ She tells me that I could order just a tenderloin cooked to my preference.
I flag down a floor manager, and he is literally on his phone texting and rolling his eyes as I’m telling him this. He proceeds to talk down to me like I’m dumb. He says, ‘Sir, this is our T-bone, this is how we prepare it and you may order a filet if you’d like, but I suggest learning your cuts of beef before, ahhhemm, coming to a steakhouse.’ I told him just to charge me for the strip and drop it, but was once again told why it was called a T-bone according to this guy. I could have gone into the whole, ‘I’m actually a chef, yayaya’ bit, but I didn’t want to get into all of that.
I ask to speak to the GM. I was told he was off today. At most chains, the GM’s name is listed on the door, so I go take a peak and ask the hostess if he was available. She calls him over the headset and the floor manager makes this very scared looking eye contact with me from across the dining room. He apologized and didn’t really know what else to say. I simply approached the situation as not wanting to pay for something I didn’t get. I implied it was not a big deal if I was just charged for the strip. High five to the cook though- it was prepared wonderfully.
Meal for the entire family was comped by the end of it all.”

| Text Source