To ask whats theme worst service you've ever experienced in a restaurant or cafe?

[JellyDiamonds]

I wonder if it can beat what happened to us this afternoons?

Went out for Sunday lunch at a mid price range gastro pub type place. We used to be regualrs there and its always been excellent, however today it seemed to fall apart. Lots of new staff who I'd never seen before. We arrived, were seated with menus and drinks were orders taken. The drinks arrived quickly but my coke was flat and I had to send it back, a fresh drink was then brought to me but no apology was given and it seemed to get worse from there.

We sat and waited for our orders to be taken (menus obviously laid out in front of us), and we waited and waited and waited. In the mean time a family on a nearby table were starting to get really stroppy with the waiting staff because they'd also been sat there a long time and no one had taken their orders. We continued to wait, countless staff passed us and I'm not sure how they couldn't have noticed we were ready to order, but they ignored us. I could also see and hear a couple standing by the till arguing with the manager about poor service.

Eventually after waiting for over 30 mins a waitress appeared and admittedly did apolgise for the wait and took our order. Food arrived pretty promptly and my roast potatoes were burned, but worst of all was my cauliflower cheese. It was basically just lukewarm cauliflower with cold cheese sauce poured over the top, it obviously hadnt been put in the oven to brown off as it should be. It was revolting and made me feel physically sick, in fact it's quite possibly put me off cauliflower cheese for life. I didn't mention it to the waiting staff because I could see and hear other customers laying into them and didn't want to make a fuss. The waiting staff were all obviously inexperienced, I watched a young lad almost drop a bowl of soup over a childs head because he wasn't balancing them on his arms properly (I used to wait on and there is an art to carrying lots of plates, but you need to be taught it before actually waiting on). All the while manager just stood there, not directing the staff or stepping in to help.

So anyway it was shite and I'm actually quite shocked at the service ive received. I've always been lucky in restaurants and have always had pretty good service so this was an eye opener.

Can you beat it?

Worst service was at a five Guys. It was very understaffed. I waited ten minutes to get to the till and another 40 minutes in the queue for food! As I was ordering, the server stopped me by barking "right, stop there" at me to explain about which toppings you could get on your burger.

Then she got the order wrong, which, because of their strange queuing system, I didn't find out until after the 40 min wait at the other end.

Worst service would be the carvery where, when I asked if the veg were dairy free (because of a dairy allergic child) the server nastily replied "What, even the cauliflower cheese?"

Anniversary dinner at the Michelin starred restaurant just outside Whitstable. The place is a total dive. You also have to order your food at the bar and seat yourself (as in they point in the general direction of your table). Bread course arrives without plates - you're supposed to use the table (no tablecloth). Husband checked before that kids were welcome, and told they were, but no kids menu - DS was expected to eat Skate or something similar. ???? Even I had trouble finding something I would want to eat. Owner has a huge attitude. Actually looked at the tripadvisor reviews after and was shocked, but not too surprised. Had way better food at a pub/restaurant in Whitstable the night before, it was less than half the price, and far better service too. Would not eat there again even if it was free.

To differ from a previous review though, we have eaten at Simpson's In The Strand a few times and love it there. The food is always fantastic, and the waiters are always very lovely too.

I used to work in a restaurant in Kilmarnock which backed into a river. The banks of said river were heaving with rats and the cooks liked to keep the back door open to allow cool air into the kitchen.

One evening I was serving a table when there was a scream from the kitchen. I finished taking the order and entered the kitchen to find the cook standing as far away as she could from an empty mayonnaise tub (roughly the size of a bucket). Turns out a huge rat had come in and she's screamed before trapping it under the tub. I got the job of hustling the rat back out.

Would never, ever encourage anyone to eat there and as far as I know it's still in business .

I took DD to an Italian chain after we'd been to the cinema. We went in at 6.40. The restaurant was full on their outside area but not many people inside.

Slightly longer wait than usual to order, then another wait for drinks. Then it got silly. I didn't have a watch or a phone so I have no idea how long we sat there. 3 members of staff each seemed to be trying to do all jobs. One would take an order, go behind the bar and get the drinks, serve the food and take the money.

Several people came in and sat down with menus then never got served at all, and walked out. 2 of the waitresses seemed to just be wandering about and were clearing tables rather than actually seeing to customers. Every time I thought I'd go and ask what the hold-up was, another disgruntled person would march in from outside and grab her.

Ages later I thought I saw our food on the grill (only waiting for 2 plates of pasta) but our waitress wandered in that direction then went off to do something else. When it finally came, that was it .

When we'd eaten, the older lady who seemed to be doing most of it came over and apologised for the wait, saying they were not usually that busy. She took our ice cream orders then went straight over and made them herself. She took the bill promptly too, apologised again, and turned off the gratuity bit on the card reader.

When we came out of the restaurant it was 9pm.

I've been a waitress in several establishments for many years, and I thought it was disorganised chaos. I'd have put one girl inside, one outside and one person behind the bar and taking money.

Went to a well known restaurant which rhymes with manky and lenny's. My sister ordered meatballs but when they came they were so rock solid she couldn't put her fork in them. She called waitress over and asked for a fresh plate but the waitress pretty much called her a liar until my sis asked her to try to put one on a fork herself... Which she obviously couldn't and one went shooting off the plate and across the restaurant.

I've also had staff at a different branch of the same chain who talked to myself and my friends like dirt when we asked for a table in he restaurant and were curtly told that we can only come in if we were going to order main courses ????

Went to breakfast at a big hotel on Dartmoor whose name rhymes with Stovey Arsehole. Had 3 x dc aged 2-8 in tow. Were sat on a table in the middle of the room so all waiting staff had to walk past us to get anywhere and knock the backs of our chairs repeatedly.

After 25 minutes, still not even a coffee offered. Called a waiter over and was assured they'd be with us soon. Meanwhile, other tables arriving, getting coffee straight away, food orders taken, food arrived etc. Still nothing after another 10 mins - we'd left an hour and 20 mins for breakfast so it could be leisurely, before driving one of the dc to a school event nearby, but were starting to get a bit anxious. Children getting restless.

So - stomped off to get the manager. Apologies. Coffee. Waiter took food order (at bloody last!). ANOTHER 30 mins later, food arrives. By this time I have sworn, stomped off to get bags (including dragging tons of them down flights of stairs), leaving dc and dh just in case food ever arrives, and told valet parking to do one as I can see the car and don't fancy handing over my keys in case valet people decide to wander off to the far side of the venue and take an hour over fetching it. Finally scoffed cold eggs two mins before we had to leave. Bloody useless. They offered me a discount voucher. I haven't used it.

Ordered food in lovely country pub/restaurant. Ordered the vegetable soup and then pasta. Waitress came back and explained she'd got the soup of the day wrong, it was Chicken. I told her it's fine, I'm veggie so just leave it. She kept saying "will that be alright?" So I said, well I can't eat Chicken so I"m fine, I can go without. Then she kept repeating "but you ordered soup and chef's put it on, so it that alright?" She just kept insisting that it was " on" so eventually she brought me a bowl of chicken soup, which I refused.

Not poor service, but vengeful service! Years ago in Pizza Express, I'd ordered whichever pizza it is that had anchovies on. When it arrived, it bore only one, lonely anchovy on its surface. I was young, quite drunk and an anchovy monster. So I hailed the waiter and said that the menu specified a plurality of anchovies, so please could I have a few more? I said there was no need for a new pizza, just lob the fishies on top. Pizza returned with so many of the salty little blighters, the underlying cheese tomato stuff was totally obscured. I can imagine the kitchen conversation - "she wants anchovies? She'll get them."

I've usually had positive experiences eating out but two bad ones stick in my mind.

1. Group of 8 friends, all female, we go out every few months. Tried a small local French style restaurant run by an British couple who had spent several years in France and decided to return to UK and open their own restaurant. We got the full history because the male partner came over and chatted away to us. He was obviously quite proud of his time in France and dropped a few French phrases in. One of my friends is fluent and chatted back to him in French. His wife took great exception to this, came over, had a real go at him and was incredibly rude to all of us. I can't remember everything she said, but another of us had arrived late because her train was delayed. We had informed the restaurant and she joined us late for the company and just had wine and some of our bread rather than ordering her own. The angry wife's comment to her was that it was just as well she wasn't eating anything as she looked like she could well do without

She then basically glared at us until we packed up and left. Food was nice but not anything special.

1. In New Zealand with DH, after a long 4 day wilderness trek we treated ourselves to a reasonably posh meal. Waiting staff couldn't wait to get rid of us, stood beside the table and whisked plates away the second we had finished. I hadn't even finished my main, I set my cutlery down on the plate ( in the 'not finished yet, just resting' position) and they whisked away my unfinished meal then even worse did the same to my glass of wine!

It was about 9pm on a Fri night, in those days NZ did tend to shut down quite early but there were loads of other people eating, we were certainly not the last. And we had definitely showered and changed after our trek!

Some months ago I was sat in a best western hotel called the red lion in Wiltshire, I was with a good friend who raved about the place, she loved it ate her lunch in there at least 3 days a week and had done for over 16 years usually in groups think minimum 4 others max 9 type size, everytime she took someone out for a meal she went there she loved it that much.

It was never a hugely busy place so I would expect her use of it played a role in its success.

Well it had changed hands and gone a bit modern she thought it had lost its soul a bit but still used it as frequently because she's a creature of habit and she liked the staff.

On this particular day she ordered fish and chips when it came out it consisted of 8 chips and a bit of fish smaller than an iPhone (I had had the same meal there a few days before and it had previously been almost a whale with a lovely big pile of chips) now this upset her greatly but she's a polite sort of a person so very politely handed it back to the waiter saying "I'm not paying x for this it is ridiculous can you take it back so I can either have some more chips or change it for something reasonably sized please"

The waiter and the barman agreed that it had hugely shrunk,well waiter came back with a bright red face and announced "chef says this is how it comes now and he will not allow you to reject it" a tad unreasonable but not shockingly so but he did not bring her untouched plate back.

She left as she was on a lunch break and was hungry (she did pay for the food as she is not a make a scene type).

After she left a manager type person walked into the bar and said very loudly "who the hell is that woman and what makes her think she can complain" one of the elderly gentleman in the bar informed her that she was a well thought of regular who spent a fortune in there and was a friend of almost every single customer still sat in there.

And yes we all decided right then to up and leave and not one of us has been back in since.

We have all moved to another bar now who are surprised but very pleased that there regular customers have hugely increased.

On a nicer note I do believe that her and the owner of the new lunch place may be about to embark on a budding romance going from all the flirting the pair of them do and the eyes they keep making at each other so that's very sweet

Dancinghat, it was called the Angry Cheese.

I went to a local Indian restaurant with some family members. The restaurant is generally very quiet and it was a week night so we were the only ones in there. The manager came to take our drink order but then it took 25 mins for anyone to bring the drinks. It then took over and hour for our food order to be taken, then 2 and a half hours for the food to be brought out to us!! We must have asked where our food was and what was taking so long about 10 times but the manager just kept apologising and saying it would be out soon (which it wasn't!). It gave my aunties plenty of time to get good and drunk but it was a really appalling service experience.

A salon where I was having a pedicure. The girl doing my feet disappeared half way through and didn't return.

After 40 minutes, another girl appeared to finish my feet.

Weird.

DH & I once went to a Pizza Hut on a retail park. It was the only place to get food or drink on the retail park & DH also needed to use their loos. We waited 30 mins & in that time nobody came for our order. DH also used the loos in that time. So we left without ordering anything. When we went back to our car after visiting another shop, maybe half an hour later, someone had thrown tomatoes at our car. We can't know for sure it was Pizza Hut staff, but they were the only place selling food of any description & they could see our car from their window (we'd been in it to get something before going to the next shop so they could see it was ours)

I went to a cafe in the Birmingham Bullring this week and had an odd conversation. My sister ordered a panini and then so did I, separate orders. Hers came first and then mine. When the waiter brough it over he looked at my sister and said,
"Wait, you've already got yours."
"Oh that's for me, sorry" I said
"are you sure?"
"...yeeees?"
" but she already has hers."
"Yes, this is for me."
Looked baffled but put it down and walked away. Very odd.

Once went to Cafe Rouge and it took 2 hours to get an inedible meal. They'd lost our order according to the manager. As it was New Years Eve we couldn't go elsewhere so had to wait. Awful and have never been back.

It isn't always the wait staff though. I went to a Pizza Express recently where the server was lovely, she couldn't do enough for all of her customers and was absolutely fantastic. The people at the next table were awful to her though for absolutely no reason. They had to wait 10 minutes between ordering and food delivered and kicked up a fuss. They got free ice cream and I overheard the woman say, "see, I told you I could get us something free." Vile. The sever handled it with so much patience and kindness though, she was great. We'd go back to PE just for her.

Confused you should have reported to security - they could have checked the CCTV.

As a teenager, in a national steak pub chain having a Saturday lunch with friends. All OK to begin with, but then lots of shouting coming from the kitchen. Served rubber bands in batter as onion rings, lettuce cut into quarters and thrown on plate. Quietly packed up to go, then alarm rang and chef had deliberately set the kitchen on fire. All evacuated, but watched the place burn down from a distance later that afternoon.

We went to a pub/restaurant (I use the word loosely...) for a late lunch one Sunday with some friends we were visiting.

My DH ordered our food at 2.00pm He was told, in front of our friend and that there was a 30-40 minute wait for food. But, as all the food items were sandwiches it would probably be quicker apparently (so said the person taking our order).

Cut to 2.40pm. Still no food. My DH asked at the bar and was told it would be the next one out.

At 2.50pm my husband caught the eye of the waitress who was wandering about armed with ketchup and cutlery. He asked if she could check where our food was as it was now fifty minutes since he had ordered.

I added 'and they are only sandwiches, not hot food and we were told 30 to 40 minutes so we just want to know where they are'

Five minutes later the waitress arrived back with the first set of sandwiches. A toasted ham and cheese. Which was fine...then it all went wrong.

Her first words to us? 'Sorry for the wait??' Or 'we are having a few problems with the waiting time, please let me know if there is anything else you need??'. Nope, her first words were to my DH... 'You were told it would be a forty five minute wait for food so I don't think fifty minutes is a problem in view of that. Even if they were only sandwiches' (complete with a stroppy look at me obviously in view of the fact that I had hinted that thirty minutes to make a sandwich was ridiculous)

I pointed out that we had been told 40 minutes maximum wait and it was now 50 minutes and one out of the 7 sandwiches had arrived and that an 'even if they are only sandwiches' comment aimed at me was rude. A 'sorry for the wait' would have been better. Her reply? 'I'm only telling you what the kitchen said, the wait isn't my fault. I am not apologising because I don't like your attitude!' - honestly, I was not rude to her, my niece waited on tables when she was at school as did my Dsis so I know what they go through. I just asked where the sandwiches were as they didn't need to be cooked!

She then told me I was rude to 'shout' at her (I was sitting at the other side of the table and she had asked me to repeat what I had asked her as she couldn't hear!)

Then she said 'do you want to see the manager. Maybe you can get me sacked!'. I was about an inch away from offering to get her coat for her by that point so I did get the manager over. Who apologised. Easy eh?

Anyway, I did report it to the pub owners - a major chain. And they sent in their area director to do some training and have a chat with the manager. They sent vouchers for a meal (which didn't bother me - the friends live in the area which is 300 miles from our house so I wasn't gaining anything from the vouchers). But it was a nice gesture. I'd have preferred a good level of service but there you go.

Just checked the place on trip advisor. Still nearly an hour's wait for food in some cases. So in a year nothing has changed. Makes you wonder how some places stay in business.

Once my mother and I walked out of a restaurant when not only both our first choices were not available, but also our second and third...

If you haven't got it, blank it off the menu!

A newly opened restaurant on harbour side in a south west city. Small inside. Not yet finished the decking outside so a bit of building work. Fair enough, we knew that when we went in.

Sat on mezzanine floor with view of harbour. Service was slow and lacking in any rapport.

Half way through our overpriced for what we had fish and chips a builder started sawing wood with an electric saw. Next to the open plan kitchen. Making the wooden counter. Dust flew in the air, up the open plan stairs, into the air up where we sat. Then settled everywhere while they continued serving food, making drinks etc. the waitress was surprised when we complained. Got a free meal from the owner when he was told what happened as he agreed they should have closed for the day while doing work. Although they remained open for the next two weeks while continuing building work and clearly not ready to open, not a good first impression.

"Ordered food in lovely country pub/restaurant. Ordered the vegetable soup and then pasta. Waitress came back and explained she'd got the soup of the day wrong, it was Chicken. I told her it's fine, I'm veggie so just leave it. She kept saying "will that be alright?" So I said, well I can't eat Chicken so I"m fine, I can go without. Then she kept repeating "but you ordered soup and chef's put it on, so it that alright?" She just kept insisting that it was " on" so eventually she brought me a bowl of chicken soup, which I refused."

I'm sorry to say this, TiredButFine, but I wonder if the waitress heard you saying "I'm fine" - twice - without hearing the rest of your comments about being vegetarian? That doesn't make her right and you wrong. I've never worked as a waitress or bar staff; but it's quite possible the place was busy and noisy and she wasn't concentrating and just heard you saying I'm fine.

I think in those circumstances, I would have phrased it differently. "No - I'm vegetarian so I can't eat the chicken soup."