Do you every complain about food in a restaurant?

It depends on the place for me. In likes of spoons, unless it is really poor I wouldn't say anything. With half decent restaurants I will politely complain.

I have worked in most roles within hospitality and would have wanted customers with genuine issues to speak up. The 'constant never happy' complainers always stood out like a sore thumb as soon as they entered the restaurant and became the subject of mockery behind the scenes.

I was once served steak which when I cut it was practically raw inside. I had ordered medium to well. They took it away and brought me back a properly cooked steak with fresh veg. I got a free glass of wine and each got a limoncello liqueur.
We had breakfast recently and my Avocado was brown in places. I didn't complain but won't go back there for breakfast again also it was a bit pricey compared to our usual places.

This.

It doesn't happen often at all, but, occasionally, over the decades, if there has been something wrong then I will draw the member of staff's attention to it, so it can be rectified and I can enjoy my meal. Always politely. I am always aware it is very unlikely to be the fault of the member of staff serving at your table.

It's not rude. It seems bizarre to sit there and not say anything.

But then equally, it is appalling to set out to 'try and get free things' when there is nothing wrong.

No, never! but I have been known to ask a waiter to stick my meal in the microwave! I can't eat cold food that's meant to be hot, makes me gag!! and the worst for me is being served a salad with things like broccoli, potatoes and salmon on, and it's all cold!! I'm obvs happy for the lettuce etc.. to be cold, but cold broccoli? Yuk!! I always get it heated up and never feel bad asking (but I've had a few funny looks from the waiting staff!!)

As a customer I always politely point out if a meal is that bad it ruins the experience of eating out.
As an employee of a big restaurant chain I can categorically state that I have never ever known anyone to 'gob in the food'. Honestly that turns my stomach. All the staff, including chefs, are very professional and this is a cheap chain. We definitely moan amongst ourselves about horrible customers but the food is never ever tampered with. It would be unheard of.

I have a couple of times when there's actually been something wrong with the food. Haven't had a problem getting things sorted, but then I'm always polite about it. Mistakes can happen even with the best of us.

If somethings warm rather than hot i don't bother sending it back, I did send my jacket potato back in Spoons once, but that was frozen solid in the middle and like shite I was eating that. I also sent back a veggie calzone pizza when I was vegetarian which was filled with ham and chicken. They came back with the excuse that all the calzones had meat in them but if I wanted a veggie pizza I could just have a normal one. Which also indicated they were not cooked fresh.

I did when I received a jacket potato in a cafe that was still frozen in the middle politely, though!

When I worked as a waitress, a man forcefully pressed a mussel into the palm of my hand to demonstrate that it was cold. They HAD been hot, but he’d spent 5 minutes chatting before even starting to eat his meal so of course they were no longer hot. He was so rude and aggressive that I sent our chef out to deal with him.

We waited absolutely ages for food once in a local gastropub. Then they brought everyone's food apart from mine and I waited a bit longer but honestly the food was so amazing it was worth the wait. We didn't complain but they said we could have all our main meals free which was quite a decent saving on a really nice meal!

DH complained after ordering a chicken dish in another chain. It was raw next to the bone. We suspected they had cooked chicken straight out of the freezer.

They offered to cook something else; but took so long, he walked out and went into a nearby Burger King. I paid for the food the children and I ate, but I refused to pay for his!

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Only ever complained once when they served me raw chicken. Otherwise I usually do what you do

You saw it on a programme....ok....that must mean it's the truth then? That every waitress and chef around the world just can't wait to gob in your food? 😂 It's kind of insulting to hospitality staff really, but the UK does massively undervalued people who work in hospitality so maybe that's why so many people think this.

I have served my fair share of rude people, but that's just part of the job. Most people who actually complain are very polite, they are simply asking for what they ordered to be correct, which is very normal.

I complain if the good is bad. E.g cold, undercooked, too salty or if the order is wrong.

I also complain if the wait is excessive.

My main complaint is if they bring something different to what is ordered or how long they take. I rarely complain about food even if it isn't great.

Once we went somewhere and they took over an hour to serve sandwiches, after about 45 min I asked them to refund and we would eat elsewhere and they said they were just coming. Then they bought a ham and pickle sandwich that I had specifically ordered without pickle, for one of my DC. The woman bringing it really patronisingly told them they might like it. I knew they would not and sent it back.

Recently we went somewhere and had waited over 45 min for food, I politely asked how long it was going to be and they brought it fairly quickly after that.

I also do point our if they brought sonething additional to what was ordered, and that once they did not charge for a £30+ bottle of wine, so it goes both ways.

I give good reviews as well as bad on trip advisor etc because I think lots of people only bother to give bad feedback and I know in my own job that is the case, and it's pretty demoralising!

We were starving after a long drive in December. It was quite cold. We ordered “hand carved roast turkey” Xmas dinner. We waited an hour for our main course, to find it was some slices of processed turkey roll, so salty I couldn’t eat it! The restaurant said they didn’t have enough staff; and they gave me a free dessert. However, given how hungry I was, a dessert did not make up for a ruined main course!

We complained the description suggested proper roast turkey to the chain’s HQ and the CAB, as we had to go through them to get to the Department of Trading Standards. All we got by reply, was it was processed turkey roll, which had been hand sliced!

We’ve never been to that chain again.

I'm normally like this, but have been eating out way more than usual as I'm in a new relationship, so have got sick of veggie burgers and chips and have been trying some of the more risky adventurous choices from pub menus. It's certainly been an eye opener for my carnivore boyfriend!

So, one "Goan pumpkin curry" was pretty much inedible- they had cooked it entirely in coconut oil and it had a horrible waxy consistency with chunks of undercooked aubergine in it (and no discernible pumpkin). That was refunded.

And then there was the rather posh restaurant, where the veggie starter (too up themselves to offer choice) was "confit courgette"- a tiny handful of chunks of raw courgette in a cashew cream. They were highly offended that I dared complain- "Well nobody else has!" Well they fucking should have then 🙄

I'm sick of vegetarians being treated like second class citizens. We should be able to expect that the food we're paying handsomely for actually tastes good.

That all sounds very complicated. After I sent back the chicken I received a new meal and a free drink and it was lovely.

You were definitely right to complain about undercooked chicken though as that could make you very ill. I'm vegetarian so don't have the problem of undercooked meats but I think had I been in your position I might have complained and asked for a refund instead of another meal and if they refused a refund then report them to the food hygiene safety and leave them bad reviews saying they served you undercooked chicken and then refused a refund

I’ll complain if the food is not properly cooked, or the steak significantly overcooked, and I do that politely and straight away.

I've seen a programme where people did it before and someone on this post has said she use to work in a restaurant and saw how the staff acted after someone complained about their food. It's not unheard of. Yeah they might not do it but I'd rather not risk it and I wouldn't be comfortable to trust eating there after I'd complained about something

I complain if something is actually wrong, i.e. burnt, undercooked, not what was ordered, or not what it said in the menu. I don't complain if it just not to my taste or a bit disappointing, as that's not necessarily anything the restaurant have done wrong as such. I don't complain about things that are a matter of opinion, e.g. how al dente or soft broccoli should be or whatever.

I am a bit more reluctant to complain if I am with a group as I know it can sort of marr the experience for others, and sometimes that is more important than whether my steak is more well done than I asked for.

Why do you think staff would do this? I sent back undercooked/raw chicken recently and my MIL got in right huff with me saying 'they will spit on all our food now'.

I worked in restaurants for 10 years and never heard of anyone, ever spitting in someone's food. Why do people think this?

I'm not a natural complainer but if something is wrong with my dish then of course I'll say something. Eating at restaurants is a treat and it's expensive. Why should you pay £20 for a meal if it's not good.

I'd say something if the food was undercooked, cold or burnt, or something like a steak was well-done when I prefer mine rare to medium but not to be pissy about it and I'd always be polite.

I've got a friend who generally complains about at least one thing every time we go out to eat - she's also one of those really f*cking annoying people who try to change things from the description given on the menu and pretends she's allergic to things she simply dislikes by way of coercing the kitchen to leave out the coriander or some other ingredient. It drives me mental and I'll quite often tell the waiting staff she's not, actually, allergic just to amuse myself and wind her up!

If it's just not to my taste, then no, but if it's under or overcooked, or cold etc. then yes, of course. Going out to eat is expensive!