Do you every complain about food in a restaurant?

They often are cooked medium (as long as it wasn’t a chicken burger!).
but they should have checked with you first.

I’ll send back food if it’s wrong, cold, not cooked properly or inedible.

All the time!

But I do it very nicely. Never asking for a discount or write-off unless it is truly dreadful.

Always politely asking to speak to the Manager as I don’t want junior staff to feel uncomfortable.

I had a very favourite cafe for a long time, the owner knew me and my son and always greeted us warmly etc. When my parents came to visit me I took them to it quite excitedly, telling them how nice it was.

The meal was terrible, which had never happened before. I went over to the owner to mention one dish that was particularly not right (a chili con carne which was absolutely swimming in liquid) and he looked so grumpy, didn't apologise or anything, and just had a waiter take it away, pour some of the liquid off and bring it back to me (not even rewarmed). Owner continued sitting at a table chatting to a friend and paid no attention to me for the rest of the time I was there. There was no comping or anything. If he had apologised and been a little attentive or friendly about it I would have carried on going there weekly as I had for years. One bad meal would not have driven me away. As it is I never went back.

We used to occasionally have breakfast in a Bistro wine bar type place.
The breakfast was always delicious and came with toast and butter on the side.
One morning our breakfast arrived with the toast thickly buttered.
I'm afraid I was well into the menopause and tended not to put up with any old shit.
I asked the waitress why was my toast buttered..she says ' chef does it this way now '
Well not for me he doesn't. I'm not 5 I can butter my own toast and back it went.
I sound a right stroppy mare but I like a small amount of butter on toast..this was lathered with bright yellow greasy gunge

We don't go out often at all, maybe twice a year. We pay well for the food we eat at restaurants so if something isn't right then yes, I'd definitely ask for it to be rectified. I'm always genuinely polite as it's really not a big deal.

I used to but my kids get embarrassed if I complain and I can see it spols the meal. So I now just pretend it's lovely and we all have a lovely time.

So there's a restaurant we used to go to regularly . I always chose something with 1 chili hot on the menu and it was nice. But on 2 most recent occasions. the meal was so spicy that was in inedible. Eating it was a chore, and it gave me hiccups. In the past I would have complained and would have replaced with something else. Maybe if enough people did this they would be more careful when cooking with the scotch bonnets for other dishes. As it is, I just won't go back there now which is not a good result for the restaurant.

We have just been to a Chinese for brunch. We ordered item 72, Thai baby octopus plus a load of other stuff. They brought what we thought was squid; but the texture didn’t taste right. Looking at it, it was more like chicken’s feet - which we never eat! We checked the pictorial menu - they had brought us item 71, chicken’s feet!

We complained and they refunded us half, as we’d eaten some!

If it's very poor then I do - but I do it quietly and politely. I have to say though that it's pretty unusual if I'm not pleased with it! We go out fairly regularly, say 2-3 times a month, more if on holiday, but I have only complained once in the last 2 years.

I think I complaint rarely because I read the reviews of the restaurant and look at their review scores before I go, probably key if someone is a complainer. Perhaps "all her friends parents" (I smiled at this) need to do more research!!

Yes, same. Maybe I've just been lucky.

Yeah, there's no need for it to be weird or combative in any way. It will happen every day. Wait staff are just happy when the customer is polite about it! Cos so many aren't.

If it's really bad, yes.

If they've misunderstood the order and brought something wrong, or it's cold, or especially poor quality. I will just tell the waiter what's wrong with it and we decide whether to bring a fresh one or just remove it and take it off the bill.

You pay a fortune to eat out, you deserve for the food to be at least acceptable quality and to match what the menu said it would be!

Only if it's actually badly prepared or, in the case of a recent very expensive tasting menu, so disgusting I can't eat it (raw prawn on top of raw beef with tamarind sauce? Wtaf!)

I do if it's not what I've ordered or not cooked, burned etc. But not really a complaint I just ask with a bit of common decency, for it to be rectified.
I also don't wind myself into a frenzy about it by convincing myself they're going to have an attitude with me before I've even opened my mouth and therefore have a combative attitude to start with - I just raise it and then respond to their response.
A lot of people do the above, and it's a hard one to navigate because no matter how polite and accommodating you are, they've already decided you're not and so see and hear what they expect to, not what's actually being said and done.

I've changed meals & drinks for people, apologised, discounted the bill - to then read a review that apparently I 'glared' or my tone was 'off' or I committed some other crime that indicated I wasn't happy with the situation (dropped a knife off the plate once returning a meal where they had an issue, apparently I 'launched' it in a fit of temper 🤷🏼‍♀️ genuinely I'm a human, on occasion like everyone else I drop stuff - I actually agreed with the customer on the problem and didn't have an issue at all, just dropped a knife).

For me as a hospitality worker that's the main issue and why I'm always sceptical when people say they had everything changed but the staff had an attitude about it or were rude - sure, some are, but many more times it's the customer projecting because they've got themselves overwrought and need to justify that.

Yes, definitely complain if justified. Also, good service cost nothing, no excuse for less. It's important for the restaurant to get feedback on their food. My Dh makes a point of praising staff when it's deserved as well as complaining if something is wrong

If there is a genuine issue like it's inedible yes or not what I ordered but just not to my taste no

I do when it is expensive and shamefully bad. Quite recently I paid £15 for a salad and when it arrived it was a tiny side salad with literally two bits of chicken. I didn’t eat it and gave it back for a refund.

Yes but just stick to the facts, e.g "my soup is cold"

Yes I sometimes complain.

We were once served a kids meal where the chicken was still frozen in the middle so I very nicely pointed it out. They apologised profusely, rushed another meal out and comped the kids meal.

I wouldn't complain if I just didn't like it, or if it was a minor thing but frozen chicken was too much!

Only if necessary and I do it with warmth and politeness. No one seems to mind.

I don't expect freebies and never actually review anything. I just expect food to be cooked to a reasonable standard, for people to have some knowledge about what they're serving and not be lied to.

When I rule the world, as well as the word butter only being used for actual butter, no-one will be allowed to work in an establishment that serves drinks until they understand that orange juice is made from squeezing oranges and absolutely nothing else.

I'm perfectly happy with basic long life made from concentrate carton stuff as long as it's not shitey sweetener filled cordial passed off as orange juice.

There’s a school mum who complains, writes awful tripadvisor reviews for freebies. Always eating out, complaining, she told me a restaurant owner contacted her and said ‘you are ruining my business, what do you want from me?’ So she took the review down

Twice. DH had a raw burger. Politely complained, they handed me another. Checked the reviews and it happened a lot! I was given sea food pasta not veggie- could’ve killed me for all they knew, it was Cyprus though so they didn’t much care. Luckily I saw the little shrimp floating about!

Other than that no, unless it was really bad! Once with a friend she ate her steak, ALL of it, then complained. The waitress told her she had eaten the evidence, and off she went (and rightly so imo).

It would have to be absolutely awful and then only at the end, I just wouldn't eat it.

My DM loves to complain to try and get freebies and money off.

Enjoy your spit infused carbonara!

If the meal arrives in a dangerous fashion then yes, otherwise I make a point of never darkening their door ever again.

I would if they eg brought me the wrong meal and it was something I wouldn’t eat, or if there was glass in my food that made it dangerous to eat but other than that no.
I’ve never complained (in my memory) so far and I eat out quite a lot.
I have a friend I meet for dinner OCCASIONALLY and she complains every single time we go. It’s so embarrassing! Things like “it said there should be chives on this and there aren’t any” - I would never remember what herb garnish the menu said it would have in the first place 😂