To feel patronised in this restaurant

[madamehooch]

Finding ourselves childfree, DH and I went for a meal in a restaurant we've been to a few times and enjoyed. Mid-priced food @ £15.00 for a 8oz steak.

Said steak arrived. I took about 3 mouthfuls and every one was full of fat and gristle! Steak knife wouldn't cut - saw would be more appropriate.

Explained very nicely to waitress that I couldn't eat the steak and she took it away to get me a new one. Two minutes later, the restaurant manager comes to the table with my original steak asking me to explain exactly what is wrong with it which I did, complete with demonstration!

5-10 minutes later, new steak arrives via restaurant manager who puts it in front of me with what can only be described as a lecture on how steak normally does have fat in it, the implication being that there was nothing wrong with the original one.

The new steak was lovely, I was not expecting any reduction in bill etc but as evening wore on I could feel myself silently seething at his tone and insinuation that I could not recognise a piece of poor quality meat.

AIBU to feel patronised and that this is a very poor way to deal with a customer complaint?

Yanbu.

Cheeky fucker!

Yanbu, i would complain what a twat of a manager. Is it a chain? If it was i would complain to the head office.

YANBU

I would not go back and would write a letter of complaint.

I'd be seething and would complain in writing about his attitude.

YADNBU. I have sent a steak back for exactly the same reason and they brought me another one (complete with fresh chips, even though I had already scoffed half....), and were very apologetic. It isn't always easy to spot a duff steak until you try to eat it. (I was even cheekier actually - similarly mid-priced restaurant but we were on a happy hour deal so the returned steak was practically free anyway....

Does Tripadvisor (or similar) do restaurants? If so I would get on there and name and shame... Hope it didn't spoil your evening too much.

Yanbu. The manager sounds terrible.

What a nasty person.
I once went to a mid price restaurant and one of our diners didn't like what she'd ordered. (nothing wrong with it!) The manager took it away and she ordered something else. We never paid for the rejected meal. He's a fool and needs a huge lesson in customer service.

He is right, good steak is marbled with fat but NOT gristle blerk! YANBU.

Yanbu.

I hate restaurants where you're made to feel like a pleb because you point out food is substandard, or not cooked correctly. There are certain foods I never eat 'out' because I know I'll end up sending them back and I can't be bothered with the hassle.

Going to a restaurant with my dad used to be awful because as a trained chef he wouldnt put up with crap cooking. I can remember at least 2 occasions where he got up and went into the kitchen to show the chefs how to cook properly It's no wonder I am argumentative

Goodness me! You weren't happy. That's all they should be concerned with. There should have been no need for you to demonstrate the difficulty cutting it, and as for the lecture..

He sounds like Basil Fawlty.

I'd write and complain, yes, and say that for that reason you won't be back. Probably would have not said more at the time either, like you, after all you came to have a nice meal etc, but he def needs to be told. It's not like you stood up and raged about the food, just asked politely, surely a restaurant can take that!

YANBU - that is horrendous service, I've worked in restaurants/ hotels for over eight years and while you do get the odd complaint that is total rubbish (which your complaint was clearly not) you NEVER let the customer know you think that. Totally unacceptable!

Complain to this restaurants head office this manger clearly needs a few lessons on good customer service.

Restaurant not a chain so no head office.

It is very popular though - maybe it doesn't matter to them about one disgruntled customer as there are many more waiting to take their place.

In fact, lately I have found that a lot of popular restaurants (chain or otherwise) I have been to have a real 'don't care' attitude with regard to service - they're not fighting to get customers so can treat them how they like. Has anyone else found this?

Name and shame.

Write a scathing letter to the manager outlining the different cuts of beef and how you were obviously fobbed off with rib-eye when you had paid for sirloin. Or if you're really annoyed/bored and can be arsed pay them a personal visit during the day and expect an apology.

I would have said to the man I paid for meat not fat, I've got enough of that already.

Some people are so full of shit really.

YANBU. We've had to send steaks back for not being cooked as requested & got a similar lecture & treatment. I don't set out to be awkward, but medium does not mean well done & I know the difference!

We voted with our feet & stopped going. In fact we've been seeing this a lot more in the past while, & it's put us off eating out (not that we can anyhow as we're skint these days...) There seems to be an increasingly common attitude that the customer must be a moron & should just eat what they're given - and be happy to pay for the privilege too. No thanks.

Oh yes, name and shame pleae - I don't want to end up there!

Bad customer service is inexcusable.

i once returned a piece of battered fish that was still FROZEN in the middle and got an 'oh, well if you're not happy with it we'll cook you another one'.

to be honest, i expected the 'chef' to be mortified and very apologetic... but they treated it as if i was strangely fussy

YANBU - shocking service, and I've fallen victim to similar myself, like the 'pink chicken incident', in which the manager tried to tell me is was the lighting....

Ermm Rib-eye is a far better cut than sirloin whoever mentioned it

YANBU - complain, complain, complain. If it's a chain, you'll normally get an apology and a voucher. If it's a small independent, I'd think the very LEAST you'd get is an apology as most small places are falling over themselves tto make sure they don't get a bad rep.

Oooh yes, we've had the pink chicken/"it's the light" argument too. Sorry, but I'm not taking chances with food poisoning.

My DP once had to send back a strawberry shortcake pud in a steak house because the cream tasted of beef. I could taste it too - maybe the whipped cream had been sitting too near the grill for a while? The waiter took it away. A few minutes later the manager came back & started arguing with us about it, saying both he & the chef tasted it and it was fine, but if you really want a new one... DP said no thanks, in case it's just the same. We figured their tastebuds/nose were saturated with steak fumes anyhow, which would make it hard to single out - but we were really polite about it so why come out & make us feel bad about it?

I've been surprised by places falling over themselves lately to keep customers happy. A few days ago at a restaurant dh's food arrived and was not hot. It was warm/hot but not piping. He mentioned it when the waiter came over and asked if everything was okay and we asked could they just 'zap it' to get it hot. Oh no. They cooked a whole new portion and the manager came to apologise. This was a Wetherspoons. If we were paying more, we'd expect more. Couldn't have asked for more on this occasion. YANBU.