[Closed] What does it take to make you send a meal back ?

Usually, I'll eat most things.

Mrs Dubs is allergic* to a few things, if they are on her plate then it goes back.

*not in that it causes her to swell up & die, but that it flares up excema

I once sent back a crab salad because the crab tasted odd. I'm struggling to think of another instance.

Steak is seldom cooked properly in 'normal' pubs/restaurants. I'd have a higher expectation at an independent establishment who claimed to specialise in steaks (I don't mean Beafeater!).

I used to work in a kitchen, would not send a dish back..collective hakalugi

In the last three months I've sent back some lamb that was grossly over-salted (a restaurant in Soller, Mallorca) and a steak that had been cooked on a griddle just after fish so stank and tasted of fish (Royal Hotel, Comrie).

I've no compunction about sending food back in proper restaurants although you have to be ready to tolerate worse in British pubs that serve up microwaved Brakes, 3663, Food Service and other frozen portions described as "home cooked".

If it's not what I ordered is the main reason but it also depends if work is paying and I'm just hungry.

My old boss was "allergic" to black pepper and would happily send anything back it got a little trying in the end, especially as it's basically in everything.

Not very much.

I can cook to a decent standard,so if I go out for a meal I expect things to be right.

I once mentioned a dirty fork and that escalated quickly

The issue with sending something back is you're already having a bad time - sending it back just means you are disappointed for longer. Even if people are genuinely contrite, being apologised to isn't fun either.

I'll leave it and/or not pay for it but I've known too many people who worked in kitchens to know better than to send anything back to be changed or replaced.

Hardly ever send stuff back, normally I'm eating with other people and I much prefer to eat together. Provided it's edible i just get on with it. But I do remember and bare it in mind if I'm booking somewhere next time. Last thing I sent back was some liver that was raw and cold in the middle 🤢

never.

the human body can deal with almost anything.

British pubs that serve up microwaved Brakes, 3663, Food Service and other frozen portions described as “home cooked”.

I stopped in a place outside Edinburgh a while back - one of those chain ye new-builde olde fashionede pubes built in a place where two ancient drovers routes conveniently converged on the corner of a retail park

They had two menus - one the regular menu, the other was a 'sale' of meals from last years menu

It would take something really really wrong for me to send something back.

Usually I just won’t go back to the place again or order the same thing again if giving them a second chance.

never.

the human body can deal with almost anything.

It's the processes it uses to deal with these things that are the interesting bit.

lol @maccruiskeen

I went out to eat with a new acquaintance, the meal was crap, and at the end she said to the waiter (nicely but directly) "take the fish off the bill, it was minging". And they did!

If I believe there's a risk of poisoning (uncooked chicken once or twice).

Don't recall that I've ever been served anything cremated. That's easier for the kitchen to spot I guess.

Only done it a few times, can't remember the first few being so long ago.

Last instance was in Carluttios in Canary Wharf, once a fine scoffing establishment then it went through a really rough patch and I sent a couple of dishes back during that period of about 12mths.

1st was some pasta dish that the pasta hadn't even been cooked, honestly it was rubbery solid and blurgh..

2nd time was a pea/ham soup thing that had the corner of a plastic bag in it.

To be fair, the resulting complaint was dealt with very quickly and professionally.

I did once get snarky with one of the assistant managers who seemed dead against serving me and my wife, quite why she ignored us and pretty much flatly walked past us on plenty of occasions is beyond me.. I didn't sleep with her and forget to call the next day or anything like that.. Just two folks out for post work supper.. Anyway, I ended up at the bar at the far end of the restaurant ordering my food and wine, to the blushed barman and then some other waitress who was most apologetic..

collective hakalugi

They can only do that if they have some pre-packed frozen Collective Hakalugi in this months shipment- and then only if theres a button for that on the till. 🙂

I didn’t sleep with her and forget to call the next day or anything like that

What about your wife?

Usually if it's cold maybe give them the chance to heat it up, happened a few times. If it's dangerously under cooked i would send it back and not bother with anything else. We get more hacked off with waiting ages for staff to take an order, even for a pre-dinner drink, fairly likely to walk out if the service is that bad to start with.

Me and my mother sent back tepid soup last month - just needed putting back in the microwave for a bit longer.

Usually I say nothing and just never go back again. Then I tell all my friends the story (not in a mean way - just through general chit chat). Before you know it nobody in the village goes there anymore. It must be a stressful life owning a pub/cafe/restaurant when one false move can ruin your business.

You got to be really careful complaining and then eating.

Some #$^* in a French restaurant " poisoned" me with a seafood pizza after an argument. I was in agony for three days afterwards and vommitting up stomach bits.

Never complain and stay.

I once mentioned a dirty fork and that escalated quickly

😁

I once mentioned a dirty fork and that escalated quickly

I hope you kept quiet about the spoon!

I had a discussion which very nearly turned into a fight when an Aviemore takeaway owner served me a 'kebab' that you could only hope to eat with a soup spoon.

I hope you kept quiet about the spoon!

Knife.

Thats not a knife

I sent back the freshly made veggie burger that was still frozen solid inside, but went for the refund instead

We get more hacked off with waiting ages for staff to take an order, even for a pre-dinner drink, fairly likely to walk out if the service is that bad to start with.

^^ If it's just Mrs Taxi and myself I'll walk out if there's no drink within about 5mins or so. If they can't do that what else can't they do.

I have walked out for slow service or bad food but can only think of one time sending food back.

#logsbackinagain

Doesnt McDonnalds have a pledge “if you wait more than 5mins for your food, you get it for free”?

If that’s so, plenty of people ignorant to it..

And those self service order tills are shite and take twice as long as being served by a human.

As per TJ above - walked out for slow service, but never felt the need to complain about the food - a good few places I will never eat again nor recommend though. My MIL however has complained to the waiter/ waitress every single time we have gone out for dinner - and I mean every. single. ****ing time. Doesn't matter if it's a pub meal or Michelin stared...

Then get your chops around this! Accelerates up your nasal cavity and out of your eyeballs like a Mk24 at full chat!

EDIT - forum just shat itself but I'll leave it here anyway as it liven up a rubbish steak.

i usually eat it then tell them how shit it was. That'll show them!

Once didn't tip because of the ridiculously slow service and was followed outside where they complained at me for not tipping!

Doesnt McDonnalds have a pledge “if you wait more than 5mins for your food, you get it for free”?

Funnily enough McDonalds is the only place I've send food back recently

i usually eat it then tell them how shit it was. That’ll show them!

To quote Sir Henry Rawlinson 'That was inedible muck. And there wasn't enough of it.'

 

Oversalting. And I throw up when I eat horseradish. So I’ve sent back a million roast beef sandwiches over the years despite my careful requests.

I've never had to send a meal back - last family meal out, my sis-in-law sent something back for being undercooked (fish iirc). She was fussy as hell, works in catering, if that makes any difference.
Went out with a girlfriend's very rich family once long, long ago. Her grandfather sent fish back because it didn't [i]look[/i] properly filleted. Pretty sure he was just throwing his weight around because he was loaded. And an arse.

Like clothes, bikes, tools, cars, everything actually - if its not perfect it goes back, why waste money on sub standard items, you would do it everywhere else, why not in a restaurant too? Never have a replacement dish though, find another eaterie.

These folk who just eat substandard food and don't complain........how are establishmnts going to improve if you don't bring the poor service/meal to their attention?

Never have a replacement dish though, find another eaterie.

So a family of 12 sits down, all receive their meals and starting eating. One finds a hair in their salad, return it and all 12 get up a and leave? Yeah right. BITRW*

*back in the Real World

Working in the trade we generally always know what places are like when we dine out so it is very rare we get a meal bad enough to warrant sending back. This does of course mean we get to see it from the other side...

It must be a stressful life owning a pub/cafe/restaurant when one false move can ruin your business

We rarely respond to online reviews are they are mostly bollocks and obviously so to anyone with an ounce of intelligence, but we did respond to one woman who wrote us a scathing review a couple of months ago. She ordered a venison cottage pie and got upset because she didn't know what a cottage pie was and was expecting a traditional pastry pie.
We pointed out that she had not once written a positive review of our pub/food despite mentioning in her complaint that she had enjoyed dozens of meals at our establishment. She also didn't bother mentioning her concerns to us at the time, so there was little we could do.
She has since retracted her bad review and still comes in to eat. 😁

hakalugi

Never seen it, nor worked with anyone that would consider it. It would be instant dismissal so why bother? I think this only really happens in the movies...

Funnily enough McDonalds is the only place I’ve send food back recently

Should have left a scathing review on Chip Advisor

if it's not perfect it goes back

Taste is subjective so it is impossible to be perfect for everyone. For all we know you have a piss poor palate?

"My MIL however has complained to the waiter/ waitress every single time we have gone out for dinner – and I mean every. single. **** time. Doesn’t matter if it’s a pub meal or Michelin stared…"

My MIL is the same. So much so I refuse to go out with them anymore. Sitting through an often expensive meal waiting for the impending and uncomfortable complaint is not what I call a nice evening out.

Only after a query regarding meat free options when I was assured a salad ordered was such. The ensuing conversation/discussion about whether chicken is in fact "meat" was at least entertaining. 🙂

That sort of thing doesn't seem to happen much anymore though really.

Knife.

So it was, memory fades a little over 40 years.

Something has to be VERY wrong for me to send something back. If something is not to my taste, or just average, I'll usually just leave it (and tell them why, if they ask), and/or not go back. Complaining, no matter how polite, tends to spoil a lunch/dinner a bit. I can think of an exception - we went to a nice-ish place for an full English breakfast (not usually my thing to be honest), and explicitly (but, politely) told the waiter if mine came with bake beans on the plate, I would have to send it back. Back it went....and something else was ordered. I accept that not everyone is offended by baked beans as much as me, but this wasn't a greasy spoon, and it was a fairly simple instruction.

Regarding the reluctance to send something back in case something horrible happened to it in the kitchen. In my younger days I worked in restaurants owned by my family, and nothing like this would ever happen. No chance. Don't know about fast food or other chains.

As above, I know a few people that insist on complaining every time they go out to eat. The common denominator is that they are all as tight as a badger arse. The mere thought of paying for a meal fills them with such rage that they feel they must get their moneys worth by complaining as much as possible and making the staff feel like crap. That doesn't make for a great experience either.

’..... although you have to be ready to tolerate worse in British pubs that serve up microwaved Brakes, 3663, Food Service and other frozen portions described as “home cooked”.

A writer for a food industry mag told me some pub chains buy in ready cooked, vacuum packed steaks, and all they do is heat them in a microwave before sending them out - is that right?

I’ve eaten a different thing to what I’ve ordered on several occasions. The gentleman at the table behind me in a Chinese restaurant once went apeshit because his meal was wrong. I’d pretty much finished his meal by that point though.

Can’t recall ever sending something back or complaining. I’ll just never go back if it’s no good

Hair. Even at home, if I see a hair in food, I just can't continue. No idea why my reaction is so strong, but that's about the only thing that does me in.

A writer for a food industry mag told me some pub chains buy in ready cooked, vacuum packed steaks, and all they do is heat them in a microwave before sending them out – is that right?

I know some Greene King pubs buy in vac-packed steaks from South America, not heard of pre-cooked ones though. I've also heard of restaurants searing steaks to be microwaved later, but again I've never seen it. I'll ask my chef when I see him.

I'll send food back/complain if the experience is rubbish, if the food is arse or the wait is ridiculous.
I cook well, and host friends often. Can't be bothered with half arsed restaurant experiences.

Just wondering really . In the last 3 weeks I’ve had a meal with a hair in it which I removed and carried on eating . A steak that was more medium than rare that I just ate and another meal where the veg wasn’t ever so hot that I ate . I am maybe a bit sympathetic towards restaurants having been a chef for 30+ years

I'd have done the same. In the latter two cases i would have told the waiting staff at the end that i was a bit disappointed with the meal. Unless it was a £7.50 roast dinner in a chain pub like the one i had last month, where tepid veg is what you'd expect anyway.

Generally I'm not inclined to send stuff back because I don't want to be sitting there with no food while everyone else is getting on with eating.

But earlier this year I bit down on a large chunk of glass in The Mayflower in Bristol, and did grumble a bit about that. Crunched it right between my molars (could have been a lot worse) and had a headache from it all night!

I sent a pot of colslaw back because it was fizzy. They are very apologetic, I said I wasn't bothered about another, the rest of the meal was great though. They gave me a voucher for a free coffee from their coffee shop. I wasnt particularly bothered about getting anything for free but thought that was a bit shit amd they could have given me a free beer if they were going to give me anything! Spose they new I probably wouldn't bother getting the coffee.

It would take a lot to provoke me into sending something back, much more likely to just write a poor review on tripadvisor and/or not return.

On the chinese meal thing, we once saw what looked like our order being served out to a neighbouring table. They complained, the food was rapidly taken back to the kitchen...and miraculously our order appeared a minute later. What really gave it away were the grains of rice mixed in with the dishes. We didn't go back there again. To be fair the other table hadn't really touched it, just served it out and then sat looking puzzled for a bit wondering what they had got. We did think about complaining but to be honest the food was edible and we just thought it was funny.

Komodo - you're not wrong to demand what you requested, but what's your problem with beans?

Nick - was the server not a native English speaker? There are a couple of languages where beef and meat are used interchangeably...

what’s your problem with beans?

They're nasty. Bean water is nasty.

I'm not particularly fussy and will just decide to avoid in future, though sometimes a point needs to be made (with minimal fuss and politely). If its just a bit cold or crap I'll put up with it.

I've sent back a bog standard burger twice as the chef thought it was trendy to serve it rare in the middle, it came back the second time medium rare so gave up at that point and got half the meal refunded.

My work has a yearly xmas curry, we frequent one of two curry houses and to be honest they can't cope with large groups and there is also 1 or 2 from 12 that end up ill the following day. I dodged my dicky tummy turn when my fish curry came out with chewy, transulcent and barely warm fish, wasn't risking anything else from the kitchen so carried on filling up with poppadoms and sampling everyone else's dishes 🙂 The boss then had the usual ruckus whilst we watched from outside as they'd doubled the illegible drinks bill as per usual, I think 2017 was the last time we'll bother with those two places!

And most recently a decent local pub served me completely the wrong dish, normally would have just got on with it but I was looking forward to what I had ordered, so I risked a very polite apology (on their behalf) and got the correct meal.

Overcooked spaghetti.

‘Lasagne’ that was three strips of pasta with tomato sauce and very little meat drowning in scalding cheese sauce.

‘55-day aged American Angus Beef’ steak ordered mid-rare; got a lump of burnt gristley fatty rubbish.

‘New’ potatoes that were overcooked old potatoes with some sort of herb on them.

Undercooked sauté potatoes.

‘Pie’ that was some sort of stew in a casserole dish with a topping of exploding flaky pastry floating on top.

I've never sent anything back and to be honest was more annoyed at one restaurant when the waitress decided on my behalf that the steak wasn't cooked correctly and took my meal off me before I could get a word in. Ruined the meal as I just had to sit watching my wife eat her meal alone before I did the same. Would have had a far nicer time eating a slightly overdone steak.

Tasteless breakfast eggs served with white sliced packet toasted ‘bread’ and ‘fresh’ orange juice straight out of a carton...

Have sent a steak back before to have it come back worse. Asked for a medium, it came cremated and rock hard, sent it back. The other one came back worse. I left without eating it , got my money back.

They’re nasty. Bean water is nasty.

Yeah, bean juice is utterly revolting. I know it doesn’t bother 99% of people. I can’t even look at it.

 

I haven't found anything yet.

I did take a pint back once. I feared it was going to kill me.

sent some peas back that were still frozen once, they said there was nothing wrong with them and didn't like the suggestion that they should eat them then. It was the resulting attitude that got me, we are the ones that should be angry being served uncooked food, not you to be for us to have the cheek to complain about substandard service.

Carluccios - fine scoffing? Haha. It's a chain, if you'd mentioned Neal Street Restaurant then maybe.
If I get to the point of wanting to send food back then I just say'Ican't eat this just make up the bill up to and not including this and I'll leave'. There is no way in hell that I'd send food back, I know enough people who work low wage catering jobs to not expect to be eating knob cheese and cockroach garnish when the food comes back out again.

Only thing I recall was some frozen desert type thing. Was frozen so hard when I stuck my spoon and and tried to excavate a chunk out of it the glass bowl broke. Woops.

Tried sending a mixed grill back at the pub near the station in Edale - manager got agressive and said he had heated it up like the packet says! So yes, there are places that serve vacuum packes steaks - in fact he said the whole thing came in a bag.

It was years ago, but certainly never went back and never will.

Have no probs sending food back. Or telling someone exactly how I want it. Even in Subway the other day, I asked if the could cut the bread with the old "u shaped gouge" way and the guy rather sheepishly passed me the bread and knife to do it myself.

I’ve sent back a bog standard burger twice as the chef thought it was trendy to serve it rare in the middle, it came back the second time medium rare so gave up at that point and got half the meal refunded.

Why did you want over-cooked beef? Chef was trying to do you a favour!🥩

Compiling a list of people never to go to dinner with.

sbob, The Man wants you to cook a burger all the way through - https://www.food.gov.uk/safety-hygiene/burgers
Even though I like a bit of Steak Tartare, I wouldn't want a rare burger that I hadn't prepared myself, and so agree with rmacattack (which seems an apposite poster name for the comment).

Why did you want over-cooked beef? Chef was trying to do you a favour!🥩

My wife had one served to her at the local 'gastro' pub, the blood hit her in the face as she cut into it and soaked the bun through, we sent it back for it to come back burnt and dry as the Mojave. We left and haven't been back since. If you can't cook a burger you have no rights in a kitchen IMO.

I asked if the could cut the bread with the old “u shaped gouge” way and the guy rather sheepishly passed me the bread and knife to do it myself.

Thats not a bad idea! Would have saved sitting on a train for 4hours with southwest sauce smeared down my front.

I've sent back crunchy rice. "It's because its brown rice"

I sat in a nice farm shop cafe place drinking a coffee where two seperate people on two seperate tables ordered lattes then sent them back for being too milky. They were so loud and rude about it with one asking the waitress why she was stupid enough to serve it while she described exactly what a latte should be whilst describing something which was in no way a latte, i almost got involved. Thing about it was the coffees we got were very very good.

I get the impression some people go to restaurants so they can act like a medieval king (or queen) for an hour. It's very odd.

If you get bad food, just take a mental note to go somewhere else next time. If they ask how it was, by all means tell them, but if you want consistent quality, you're probably better off at McD's or KFC.

There was one time though. At Butlins. Probably around 1987. Complained that my sausage was hard... My mother just thought I was being a whingey little shit. So I banged it on the table and the thing just disintegrated, dry from the inside out. Must have been heated for at least a week. That went back.

Both my sisters complain about most meals. One is loaded, but 'love to eat in the likes of 'chain pubs', but when you go out to a proper restaurant, they send it back. Chain pub food is crap.

I don't go out for meals now with them as a family, as they usually moan about something - take them to an £9.99 for two meals place, they love it.

I like quality restaurants, and will usually find an 'on line' deal to make it a bit more affordable. Chain pubs are useful for a quick bite when out on the ale.

Only once sent a meal back recently, TBH it almost ruined the meal overall as it took too long for the meal to be 'cooked' - it had arrived stone cold, and I asked if it was supposed to be served cold, 'no' was the answer. I've rarely had to send stuff back.

Don't get me started on cremated steak - that's what my sisters do, order it well done, but if there is a slightest 'pink' in it, it's back. Oh they have no idea that steak is best pink.

Pretty sure he was just throwing his weight around because he was loaded. And an arse.

Candidate for that special sauce then.

We rarely eat out these days, it's often disappointing.

Don't think I've sent anything back though things have been taken off the bill, chuck in a bottle of wine, whatever, though that's usually serving mix-ups and always best when it's the restaurant's idea. You're out for a nice meal, not a battle of wills.

I have had to force a few things down mind. Had some sort of steak dish this summer in a French Basque village, where a poached for 10 secs (raw) quail's egg had been placed on cooling greasy fatty meat. This was a nice restaurant where we'd already eaten once and the food was great, and I did not want to force myself through an "is it really meant to be like this" conversation. It didn't want to go down, but down it went.