Bad Restaurant Experience

[mercman]

only if she's hot & dooable thats how the business works

 

 

this one or the other one......hummm, which shows less class.

[canadadude]

this one or the other one......hummm, which shows less class.

Ya right

[Gerry]

If the food's not edible then you shouldn't pay!

 

I had a bad experience at La Chaumiere in Timmins on Labour Day weekend of 2010. I ordered fish & chips (their specialty) and after one bite into the fish I called the waitress over to tell her that the fish was horribly overcooked. She took it back to the kitchen and returned shortly thereafter to say there was nothing wrong with it but I could order something else, oh and I would be charged for both. I then said to forget everything and that I would not pay. She then brought the owner out who said that she would make an exception but that next time I would have to pay. I politely told her that there would never be a 'next time'. I left and did not pay!

Edited January 15, 2011 by Gerry

[blue pickeral]

At a Burger King in Edmonton....give an order for fast food and hand the guy a twenty dollar bill - expecting change. He takes my twenty, puts it in the till, closes the till and asks me if I need a receipt. Flag goes up in my head....rarely do you need a receipt in a fast food restaurant. Say no, but want change back from twenty. After profuse fake apology, I get my change, close to $12 back.

 

So...while eating get seated where I can see the counter...guy pulls the same thing on all the next customers for the next half hour and manages to misdirect 3 groups to forget to get change. Before leaving, talk to manager. He fluffs it over and says he'll deal with it.

 

Call corporate number the next day and relate story. Receive gift certificate in mail several days later...turns out the whole staff was in on the scam.

[Billy Bob]

As you walked from the canal in which direction? Going East on the right is Cow & Sow, they have super ribs and stuff but aren't known for much else than their beer.

 

Going West there isn't much, Texas burger, a couple of small places but nothing that I can think of that stands out, not on the main street anyways. Now just off the main street there are a couple of good places.

 

I'm sorry....going east (right).....I thought it was on the main drag but I could be wrong as we were house boating at the time and that always includes large amounts of adult beverages.....if it's not too much trouble could you name a couple of Italian places within walking distance of the canal there...as I said it was 6 or 7 years ago and many restaurants don't last long.

 

Thanks,

Bob

[Billy Bob]

i will add just one of my bad experience's.

 

Pizza Hut at birchmount rd & ellesmere scarborough.

The wife and I go there for dinner.

We were the ONLY customers in the place.

We order our diet pop's and a pizza.

Waitress comes back with the pop's.

All the employee's are standing at the bar having their stuff chat.

An HOUR later the waitress brings us our bill.

I politely asked her if it was normal to bring a customer the bill before they get their dinner?

Her reply was, you already had your dinner.

I politely said that if we did have our dinner wouldn't we still have the pizza tray and the plates still on the table?

She then said , i don't know what kind of bull crap your trying to pull but your not leaving till you pay the bill.

I said , then you better get the manager over here now.

She went to the bar, talked to the manager, he stomped over and said why are you trying to get out of paying for your dinner.

I said , if she had actually brought our dinner i would pay for it but since she didn't I'm not paying for something i didn't get.

Well you got your drinks so you have to pay for them or i will call the cops.

At that point i had, had enough and said , then you better get on the phone while you still can .

We have not been back and never will.

 

This one takes the cake and gave this nutty American his laugh for the day......THANK YOU.

 

Bob

[Jer]

Some places know how to handle a complaint:

 

A few years ago, my family was visiting and we all went out to the local "tap & grill" for dinner. Low and behold, my sister-in-law finds a hair on her plate while enjoying her entree. The waitress was summoned and immediately apologized profusely. Without hesitation, a replacement entree was offered(which my sister-in-law declined, she was enjoying the meal despite the hair), her portion was wiped from the bill and she was also offered a no charge specialty coffee along with dessert. Everything was offered right on the spot with no management consultation, the staff had the leeway to make sure everyone was happy.

 

We enjoyed the rest of our meal and left a healthy tip.

[Pikeslayer]

Road Trip Breakfast

 

 

 

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[Woodsman]

After spending a considerable length of time (in my 20's/30s) in 'the biz' and working up to a senior management position, I've pretty much 'seen it all'. So unfortunately, I feel a need to take exception to the above post.

"20 minutes, 2 smokers there was lots of stray ashes around the ashtray"

"but 4-5 fries fall off the plate and into the stray ashes"

"I completely lost it on that stupid waitress."

"she just got fired"

So some 'stupid waitress' lost her job because you left lots of stray ashes??????? There would never be any room for that type of manager in one of my restaurants.

pikeslayer your point is incorrect as you left out a big part important of wallyboss's story.

 

***** back to the table with my order of fries and puts it in front of me but 4-5 fries fall off the plate and into the stray ashes, she reaches over grabs the fries and puts them back in my plate. I completely lost it on that stupid waitress.

Dropping the fries was not the big thing but reaching down & putting them back on the plate was.

As for her getting fired, we have no way of knowing if this was an over reaction to the situation (discipline of some sort was required) or just the straw that broke the camels back in regard to her previous history.

The manager may or may not have been correct in that situation.

If I was wallyboss I also would of complained.

[JohnF]

I think I am seldom disappointed by the food and service I get at franchise places because I have very low expectations going in and generally go with the least destructible menu items like burgers and toasted westerns. For fine dining I'll go elsewhere other than a few local franchise spots I'm familiar with but even then I tend to go to independently operated places. One of the best breakfasts we've had in the last few years was in a tiny little hole-in-the-wall (the town and the restaurant)clinging to the side of a mountain in Arizona near Sedona. It was just a lucky choice for us but it reminded me that independent restaurants are most often the way to go when you are willing to sacrifice glitter and chrome for decent food. Yeah, there's still a risk, but what the hey?

 

In defence of the staff and food at many shiny franchise type restaurants there is not enough attention given to training and food preparation. The staff turns over often, are not well trained as a rule, and are pushing to get as many turns at their stations as possible during a shift. The food is delivered to the restaurant frozen which is why it tends to be consistent from Florida to Sudbury although it's interesting to see the regional influences in some franchises. (Biscuits and gravy at McDonalds down south?)

 

BTW. I spent a year of my life managing a pub style restaurant in our theatre town and if I learned nothing else, I now know that the restaurant business is a bugger to succeed in and that's a hard and expensive lesson to learn. We probably did better than we deserved based on our training and experience but we made up for it with hard work and business common sense. I have tons of respect for folks who succeed in the restaurant business from servers to chefs/cooks and managers. It ain't easy. But that does not excuse bad food and lousy service - ever.

 

JF

[SmokestackLightnin]

Too stuck up to stop in for a drink SSL ??

 

 

I wouldn't say "stuck up", just didn't think it was right to just stop in unknown and unnanounced. We stay on island 167 and have for the last 6 years. This past year I purchased my own place on the Pickeral River and don't know how long we will be in Temagami. The kids go to Canadian Adventure Camp and we love the area, and loved going to the Chinese restaurant in town.

[Big Cliff]

In my business I deal with all kinds of food establishments often from before they even open the doors for the first time. Some, you just know aren't going to make it, they don't have a clue. It is a shame because many of them have their dreams shattered mostly because of poor management. Some open their doors without even doing any market research, some with no financial backing. People that start a cafe and their only experience is that they once worked as a waitress.

 

It is a tough industry but if you serve a good quality product, have excellent service and fair prices you have a fighting chance.

 

A good example is a place here in Lindsay, St. Dave's Dinner. Dave opened in a little out of the way hard to find place but he insisted that everything he served would be quality. It didn't take long and it was standing room only, you had to line up just to get in for lunch. Even his coffee had to be the best, his logic, save a penny loose a customer you do the math.

 

Dave just opened a new place on Hwy. 36 here in town, it is much bigger than the last one but still packed to the doors from morning to night. This is in the same place that the former owners couldn't make a go of it because of a lack of business. The difference; quality, portions, service, and fair prices. Oh, and he is within sight of a Tim Hortons.

 

By comparison what had been a busy coffee shop here in town got bought up by some people from out of town. The husband who in my opinion wouldn't know a good cup of coffee from used motor oil decided that he could save about $0.02 a cup by going to a lower quality coffee and it was good coffee!!!! (in his opinion) It only took about a month but now if you go in there you might find two or three people when it's busy. Their entire focus has turned to buying the cheepest they can of everything regardless of quality. It is sad, his wife is a wonderful person but hubby said!

 

If you want the best quality food and service at the best prices, go where the locals go. If you are going somewhere new, google it and read the reviews if there are any.

[wallyboss]

Just read the one about Pizza Hut, let me tell you that I have a good one from a Pizza Hut in Ottawa. By the way this isn't a waitress or manager or cook story, it's a customer young teenager she was probably 15 or 16.

 

Me and wife walk in and get a table, there was not too many people in the restaurant but there was one table with 4 adults and 4 teenagers. I am looking at the menu and all of a sudden I hear some laughing coming from the All You Can Eat Buffet Table, I turn my head just in time to see this girl pick up a plate, she licks it and puts it back down on top the stacks of plates for the next customers. I got up and went up to her and asked her with a loud voice what the hell she was doing licking a plate and putting back on top of the other ones. Every body else in the restaurant heard me, but for some reason her parents never said a word about it. So I went to see the manager and politely told her what happened. The manager went up to there table and tossed the whole bunch out. They closed to the All You Can Eat for the night and was offered my dinner( Pizza ) for free.

 

They hadn't even started eating so I am glad for the other customers that they didn't pick up that plate. The worse thing was that on there way out the parents and the teenagers were laughing about it.

[Rattletrap2]

I have a couple of additions to this post!

 

At Christmas, it has been a tradition for us to order Chinese food on Christmas eve and the whole family joins us. I always order enough for left overs on Christmas day as well. We have our Turkey Dinner on Boxing Day for various reasons.

 

The last 4 years, we have had to pick our order up because delivery is unavailable for this area. This year, i ordered $143.00 worth of food and was told it would be 2 hours. Not a big problem, but I was a little taken aback by this. We headed into town right on time an found the whole place packed with people. There must have been 15 to 20 people in this tiny little take-out joint waiting for their orders! Some told us they ordered 4 hours earlier that day and some said they ordered the day before.

 

It was Christmas eve and everyone was in a pretty good mood but it was frustrating. I waited for another full hour for our order. What was I to do? I couldn't go home empty handed with 11 people waiting on me!

 

I thought the Management should have come out from the back kitchen and said something. Instead, they left the part time staff (kids) to deal with people who were starting to get angry. I think they could also have offered us a can of pop or something while we waited for the inconvenience? They just kept taking orders.

 

Anyways, we got home and found they had shorted us one item off our order, but still charged us for it.. The food was excellent tasting as always and I never complained. I thought about it, but with the holidays and all, I just never bothered.

 

I'm pretty sure they are the only Chinese Food place left in town!

 

 

On another note, my Youngest Daughter worked for a short time at a new Wild Wing's franchise in Brampton. The staff was expected to have their own float of change on them when they showed up (minimum $20.00) and had to purchase all orders themselves before they served a customer the food. If you didn't pay, they got stuck paying for it. Very strange way of doing business in my opinion!! Thankfully, She found something better and quit. Anyone else hear of this sort of practice?

 

I have had other bad experiences in restaurants. Some i did not tip in if it was the servers fault. If it was the restaurants fault, I usually complain to the manager and usually it is settled.

 

The two Pizza Hut stories are a real laugh.....now, but not at the time I guess?

[irishfield]

The two Pizza Hut stories are a real laugh.....now, but not at the time I guess?

 

They are Brian.. and even I chuckled at the 2nd one, but that licked plate would be enough to kill our daughter right now. Like they say.. the apple doesn't fall far from the tree and it sounds like the parents should have been castrated at birth!

[fish_fishburn]

I had a incident last week with my lunch. I had forgot my lunch on the kitchen table when I headed out to work in the morning. On my way to the office for duty at noon I stopped at the local Subway down the street and grabbed a sub. I got to the office and settled in and ate half my sub. The first bite of the other half and a nice long black hair comes sliding out of my sub. Spit the bite into the garbage and throw the remainder of my sub in as well. Pissed me off, cause I was really hungry and enjoyed the first half. Then I got thinking, I don't recall any of the staff wearing hair nets or the little hats that most of the Subway servers wear. I will let them know the next time I stop in, what happened, and will be looking to see if they are wearing their hair nets. I very seldom eat out anymore because most of the time the food is disapointing, and being one that likes to cook maybe my expectations are to high.

 

Also I went into a Kelseys in our area once. It was about 8:00 pm on a saturday evening and there were very few customers in the restaurant. My girl and I order and our food comes in about 15 minutes then this airhead server drags down a big vacuum cleaner and starts vacuumung the floor all around us. We couldn't even talk because of the noise. So I sop the girl and politely ask if she can do that after were done. She told me were closing in an hour and she was told by the manager to start vacuuming. Fine with me, that was 3 yrs ago and I haven't gone back to this day. Was never a big fan of there boil in a bag over priced food anyway. Most of the chain franchises main concern is turning tables as quick as possible, they really don't care about your dining experience.

[ChrisK]

One of the girls at work were handing out Christmas treats,you know carrot cakes and cookies and stuff..Well I took a carrot cake square of her platter and popped it into my mouth all at once and to my dismay I started to feel the presence of a piece of hair in this square and the hole time I'm trying not to gag cause she is standing there in front of me with this big Christmassy smile looking for recognition of the tasty treat she had just given me all the while I'm trying to choke down this bundle of hair in my square....Well,I managed to swallow that hair infested square and thanked her for the lovely treat. Lesson learned.........

[Rizzo]

it was 2 potatoes stuck together that had been battered and stuck in with the chicken.

 

..haha that is classic.

[aplumma]

One of the girls at work were handing out Christmas treats,you know carrot cakes and cookies and stuff..Well I took a carrot cake square of her platter and popped it into my mouth all at once and to my dismay I started to feel the presence of a piece of hair in this square and the hole time I'm trying not to gag cause she is standing there in front of me with this big Christmassy smile looking for recognition of the tasty treat she had just given me all the while I'm trying to choke down this bundle of hair in my square....Well,I managed to swallow that hair infested square and thanked her for the lovely treat. Lesson learned.........

 

While not a restaurant here was my lesson learned:

 

It was summer time and hot as can be while I was working in an attic repairing a vent line that was never glued. I finished the job and was collecting the money for the work when she asked if I would like a glass of tea. I said sure thanks and she poured me a glass of it with ice and handed it to me. I downed the tea which was very sweet but it was liquid and handed the glass back and thanked her as I headed out the door. I drove about a block and then my head started to spin and my body felt like I was floating so I pulled over and for the next 45 minutes I felt like I had heat stroke. I was feeling better and since I have never had heat related symptoms so I called the nice Asian lady who had offered me the tea to find out what kind it was.....Well all that I can say is when someone offers you tea ASK if it is made from tea or something else it seems a refreshing drink in her house is made from Poppy seeds.

 

 

Art

[Big Cliff]

While not a restaurant here was my lesson learned:

 

It was summer time and hot as can be while I was working in an attic repairing a vent line that was never glued. I finished the job and was collecting the money for the work when she asked if I would like a glass of tea. I said sure thanks and she poured me a glass of it with ice and handed it to me. I downed the tea which was very sweet but it was liquid and handed the glass back and thanked her as I headed out the door. I drove about a block and then my head started to spin and my body felt like I was floating so I pulled over and for the next 45 minutes I felt like I had heat stroke. I was feeling better and since I have never had heat related symptoms so I called the nice Asian lady who had offered me the tea to find out what kind it was.....Well all that I can say is when someone offers you tea ASK if it is made from tea or something else it seems a refreshing drink in her house is made from Poppy seeds.

 

 

Art

 

Had some brownies one time, same effect, turns out they were made with some "special" ingredient. They sure were good brownies though! We laughed and laughed about that one

[AverageJoeFishing]

NO time for restaurants I'm going fishing! lol

 

A bag of chips,pepperettes and a couple of pepsi's is all i need !

 

[spincast]

Wow - I have had so many its hard to decide - so perhaps I will share my all time fave:

we were in China to adopt our first, and in the provincial captial. Our group leader was a very nice and personable guy, who for some unkown reason felt that he had to constantly out do or show me up. For the most part I am just quiet and reserved (with the exception of the occaission quip), and I just took his attention in stride and laughed along with him when ever he felt a scored a point. Anyway - we were in Hunan, one of the "spicy provinces" Meals in the hotels were brutally expensive, so as a group we would all go out to a local restauarant referred to us by the guide. In China they serve everything on big lazy susans that take up the whole table except for where you eat, and the dishes just keep coming. They consider it rude, as in they have not fed you enough, if when you leave the table there is no food left - so the food comes in never ending amounts. In this particular restaurant, we had been to it several times, and the food was pretty good. On one visit one of the girls came back a little shaken because she had seen a 4 ft snake on the stairs - apparently one of the fresh dinners had escaped and needed to be put back in his pen .... Anyway, Mike, the leader, asks if anyone likes spicy food, to which I pipe up, you bet ( a lot of the people on our tour were somewhat reserved in their choices, and Chinese food can be exotic, the snake just touches the edge of what you can get - Ihave pics of a farmers market you would not believe - including smoked bat), but i digress - excusey. So the waitress comes to the table and the usual is ordered by the guide, along with one spicy chicken dish Mike and I are going to share. They also provide red chilli pepper sauce in oil to dip in. So there were Mike and I enjoing our spicy food, sittingon opposite sides of the table, flipping the lazy susn back and forth to each other as we shared the hot dish. Mike was obviously finding it somewhat uncomfortable - he was starting to sweat and his face was turning red; BUT there was NO WAY he was going to let anyone at the table know - especially as I was enjoying it. He and I were exchanging barbs and having a good laugh, and downing copius quantities of ridiculously cheap beer ($0.18 a litre). Now let me say at this point, there are no knives and forks in the provinces, you learn to eat with a pair of chopsticks or a very small soup spoon - which doesn't work too well. Suddenly as I'm looking at Mike, he makes a strange expression - he had been chewing and stops, he looks at me with questions in his eyes, opens his mouth, puts the chopsticks in, and pulls out the whole head of the chicken, wattle, eyes beak tongue and all. It is amazing how quickly a man's face can go from red to green

Edited January 16, 2011 by spincast

[limeyangler]

I dont go to restaurants aat all any more really. I'm not a bad cook myself and always end up resenting spending money on food i could make better myself.

 

This was and is not always the case, however living where i do the choice is limited and i dont class chain restaurants and Mickey D's etc as 'restaurants'.

 

I guess we have all had poor service and crappy food, for me this has happened so many times i cannot pick out one particular incident.

 

What i can remember is the best food and service i have ever had....We were on holiday in a small hill top town in Italy at the foothills of the Alps near the French border and town of Nice.

 

My parents have a house there and have known the local restaurant owner for a couple of years and service is always great and friendly. The restaurant itself is a converted 17th Century wine cellar with bread ovens going all day....the smell is amazing!

 

 

Anyway, my wife and I both ordered the spinach ravioli and a lamb main course....OMG...i cant describe it really, but all natural/local ingredients , very simple...but out of this world...totally spoiled me for ever being able to enjoy pasta anywhere else! I dont drink alcohol but the others said the wine brewed in the village was awesome too.

 

We also tried a restaurant by the coast 20 minutes drive from the village....GAWD AWFUL FOOD AND SERVICE!

Edited January 16, 2011 by limeyangler

[adempsey]

Well, what I don't understand is why anyone would wait that long without saying anything. I have, and will, leave if I don't receive my dinner within 20 minutes of ordering. No way would I wait an entire hour for my main course. I think you all need to be a lot more vocal about your service. You have every right to say something as the customer if you're not satisfied. It should never have gotten to the point of deciding whether or not to pay. Hopefully you all still had a good time together with your friends though!

[Whopper]

I got a bad burrito at Taco Bell once... I just let it pass