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?

Went to a local place that opened with a big fanfare and has a fantastic seaside location.

Lady appears at the table: "Welcome, I am X, your server".
We then don’t see the server again till the end (the food is brought out by people from the kitchen) when she appears "Was everything alright?" in an "Of course it was fabulous" tone.

Me: No, it wasn't alright, I sent the "new potatoes" back because they weren't new potatoes, they were middle aged potatoes with soil on.

Server (furiously): They were NEW potatoes! You don't peel NEW potatoes! They are SUPPOSED to have their skin on!

Me: I'm not talking about skin, I'm talking about soil. These were not new… etc. went on for a while.

My friend: And I sent the dessert back because the egg wasn't set in the
middle.

Server (furiously): The dessert is SUPPOSED to be soft!
etc. etc. 20 minute argument.

Why have someone called a "server" who doesn't serve the food, can't answer any questions about the food because they didn't see it, and who has responsibility for a table but doesn't get told that that table sent some dishes back?

The place is under new management now but it's still crap.

Oh, an excuse to tell my tale!

I was a long-time customer of a little sandwich shop type affair called Shellys in Warrington. The eponymous (that's right) owner was always a little 'eccentric' and loved to talk at you, but she did a lovely tuna mayo sandwich so you grin and put up with it. In fact, she always jokingly moaned that I only ever had the tuna mayo, which I did.

Went with my mum on this occasion, I ordered my usual and Mum hers. I got mine & it just tasted off, not up to her usual standard by any means. Mum's chips were hard too, so we ate everything else. When the young waitress came over to clear our plates & ask was everything ok, I said my sandwich wasn't great. She cleared the plates & then out came Shelly, asking at the top of her voice what was wrong with her food. I told her it wasn't good & not up to standard, got a mouthful about it being fresh that morning then stropped out again. The young waitress came back out & said we wouldn't be charged for the food, which was great.
As we were still hungry, we ordered a cake each. The waitress went back to the kitchen, then returned to our table and said 'Shelly said that's it.' She was literally refusing us service! I was absolutely steaming, everyone in the cafe was looking at us, I was mortified. I stupidly paid for the drinks & left.
Once she'd given me the slip, my mum went back to give her a piece of her mind. Shelly started banging on at the top of her voice about how hard it was to make ends meet, her mortgage payments had gone up & her father was ill. Very sorry, but not our concern & you sure as hell don't embarrass the long-standing customers using your business! Mum was told neither of us were welcome back. I told everyone I know & left a shitty TripAdvisor review. Absolute nut job.

Names changed. Except it's not.

In a popular pizza place, the lad carrying our pizzas to the table was experiencing something of a wardrobe malfunction with his trousers, and stopped, rested our pizzas on a handrail, pulled his trousers up, had a good scratch while he did it, wiped his nose with the back of his hand, and then delivered our pizzas . I asked him to take the food away and send the manager over and he said oh, you saw that?! Haven't been back since, I think I'm traumatised

mrsannekins urgh!

I was in Subway once when one of the "sandwich artists in training" dropped an empty tray on the floor. Picked it up, turned to the guy next to him and said "this'll be ok still won't it?"

The other guy looked horrified and told him to go wash it up. I really hope that lad got some basic hygiene training at some point...

So we were trying a place we'd heard about but never tried. Me, DH and 2 year old DD. Waiting a bit long but that wasn't a big deal really.

We ordered chicken goujons for DD and when they arrived DH set about cutting them up. They were pink. So they were sent back. We weren't overly impressed with them anyway as they were deep fried and greasy.

Anyway another order of goujons came out 20 minutes later. By this stage DD had enjoyed a good bit of my garlic chicken - which was lovely. DH cuts these ones too. Pink too. Couldnt believe they'd given us undercooked chicken twice and a kids meal to boot!

Went to a Table Table for a roast dinner, ordered 2 beef roasts and 2 cokes and paid by card. Took our cokes to the table and sat down and the bloke who served us came over to our table and without any word of apology said "we've run out of roasts. You can either have something else or a refund. If you want a refund then it'll be by card and will take a few days to clear, and you'll still have to pay for the Cokes" and walked off back to the bar.
We opted for the refund, luckily we had enough money in the bank to buy a roast elsewhere. Needless to say I haven't been back

Pizza Express for SIL birthday a few years ago. 5 adults and 6 kids (all under 10 at the time). Booked a table and arrived on time, had to wait 25 minutes for table to be ready. Sat and ordered drinks, took 15 mins for drinks to arrive. Ordered food when someone finally came about 20 mins later. All adult meals arrived after about 30 minutes, Childrens meals took another 15 minutes on top of that (so we'd been there an hour and 45minutes before the kids were fed! they were all quite well behaved to their credit). Despite chasing and complaining we were offered no apology and no explanation. DHs family hate confronation so I went to speak to the manager as I was really annoyed at this point, manager still didn't apologize or offer an explanation but zero'd the bill for us due to all the hassle.

I was happy with this as I wasn't happy to pay anyway given the awful service. We cut the cake we brought ourselves, ate it and left.

I found out a month later that MIL left them a £50 tip because the kids got some chocolate cake on the floor. I was fuming!

Worst service is ever received was in Italy. Me and a friend went out to a restaurant and first off were served the most revolting wine I've ever tasted. We were pretty much booze hounds at the time (early twenties) and would pretty much drink any old shit, but it smelt and tasted of sulphurous rotten eggs and was served in a karafe that we assumed had been festering in the fridge for some time. It was so bad we couldn't drink it. Soldiering on, we ordered a seafood pasta to share. It duly arrived and as we tucked in were bemused and horrified to discover not the succulent fresh morsels of seafood we had been expecting, but instead miniscule whole crabs (think many, many, of around half a centimetre length) and a sauce with tiny crunchy pieces of seafood shell in every bite. We once again didn't finish and complained about the quality of the meal. The stony faced staff demanded that we pay or else they would called the police. Wanted to call their bluff but were only there for the weekend and didn't want to spend a night discussing an already crappy meal with Italian police. This was years ago and have happily still not matched this service since.

I wrote to complain on the email about the service and food in a fairly newly opened pub. They sent me some money off vouchers.
Went again a few months later, service and food was even worse! Never been back.

worst meal out we ever had was a christmas dinner for a very large group (probably about 50 people) as a works dinner - the turkey was more like turkey roll than a proper roast meat, the roast spuds were still frozen in the middle, the veg was at best luke warm when it first arrived and they were serving mains when other people had not had starters yet, so put all the veg and spuds out meaning there was hardly any left and what was left was stone cold when the other people got their mains. The gravy was by this point a congealed lump in the gravy boat and I was looked at like I had 2 heads for asking for fresh gravy. the desert was about 2 teaspoons full, all absolutely awful.

NoseyPoke what was the name of the place? I knew Warwick well so am curious if we have similar opinions!

Service at a family park in Devon. Chap (let's call him Oscar) running the cafe till can't actually work it to open it so my DF doesn't get any change from his 4 coffees. DH goes to the cabin to get a club and ball for mini golf and who should be serving but Oscar. DH has to get 2 clubs and 2 balls as once again Oscar can't work the cabin till and DH only has a £2 coin.

I joke when we finish golf and hand back the equipment to Oscar that we need to leave it 5 minutes before we head to the restaurant for lunch so Oscar can head over there.

We choose an outside table and DH and I leave DF & DM outside with the buggy whilst we get menus from inside. My DH says "look over there" and yes no word of a lie, there's Oscar behind the counter! I can't speak for laughing and run outside to send my DF in to see his response. I forgot to mention this is a large spread out park so the chances of us encountering him so many times in such a short period of time is incredibly remote. TBF to him someone should have trained him how to use the till not just moved him around 3 different tills.

I agree with previous posters who say it's not the complaint it's how it's resolved. I've waited ages for service in restaurants but been given money off the bill or free drinks. Strada gave free Prosecco and Pizza Express had the manager go round every table once it had quietened down to offer a free drink.

There's a pub in Dunchurch I used to go to regularly because it was equidistant from mine and my friend's house but after consistently poor service we defected to the Indian restaurant over the road. I asked for no black pudding with a salad I'd chosen and they said would I like anything instead. I said no need but the waitress insisted so I said I'd have an extra egg. She came back about 5 minutes later to say if I wanted another egg it would be 45p extra!! I said don't bother just as long as there's no black pudding. When the salad eventually came (there was always a long wait but we loved a good chat so it never mattered) there wasn't even the original egg that the salad should have come with (never mind the extra egg but at least there was no black pudding) I felt obliged to point it out given otherwise I should have 45p knocked off the price (!) & just as I finished I got served a lukewarm egg in a cup on its own.

Another time I booked a specific table but they tried to give me ones in the corridor. They said the room I'd booked the table in was full but I called bullshit as I'd checked the room when I arrived to see if my friend was there first. I knew there were tables and told the seater so. He was most huffy to seat us in the room I'd booked even if the specific table was already taken.

Last chance was when we went for the Indian then wanted coffee and desserts to lengthen the evening as the Indian restaurant had been so efficient. We paid and ordered at the bar. 45 minutes later we cancelled the hot chocolate and coffee and the chocolate brownie which had never appeared despite chasing 3 times including at the bar where we ordered. I'm sure it only stays in business because it's part of a chain.

I once gave very bad service Not deliberately though. I worked as a cocktail waitress and spilt a drink all over somebody's head.

I was at a pub late morning, maybe half 11.
The woman in front of me asked for a breakfast.
I wanted a lunch ideally, so when I got to the til, I asked "do you only serve breakfasts at this time?"
The bloke responded with "you've just heard me serve someone breakfast so you know the answer to that"

I can't remember how I responded actually but I had a moan to dh when I sat down and we ended up getting a refund and a free meal.

If this happened now, I would walk out but I was young and these things take you by surprise

Some of the sweetest service I've had was at a pub in Hull. I was very hungover and we hadn't gone for food really but I needed carbs so I ordered some potato wedges and onion rings. The wedges were massive so you only got about six as a portion.

As the waiter carried them over one fell off the plate onto the floor. I told him not to worry but he insisted on getting me a replacement and came back a few minutes later with a single solitary wedge on a plate. Bless!

A group of about 8 of us booked in one of the 'in' places in Leeds about 7 years ago between Christmas and new year. We had tiny, dreadful cardboard hummous and breadsticks, about £5 for a saucer full, while we tried to find something on the menu they actually had in stock - even worse, something I could safely eat, almost everything was sold out - including most of the drinks. The food was awful, took forever to arrive and the bill wrong. As this was a rare meetup between us and ds's inlaws, neither side felt confident enough to make a fuss.
A few years ago went for a very posh afternoon tea with a large group of ladies at an upmarket local hotel. They had promised to cater for two of us with milk intolerance. They did that by giving us 2 finger sandwiches of dry bread with cucumber in, and another 2 dry bread with smoked salmon. Everyone's bread was a bit stale. The crockery was mismatched, many teapots didn't have lids. There were no cakes that we (dairy free) could eat, at all. I made myself very unpopular by making my views known and stalking out. After being ill all night (think stale smoked salmon sandwiches) I phoned their head office. We were all invited back, free, and the service and food were amazing! Lots of choice, trays of food labelled gluten free, dairy free - it was excellent. The others in the group still never forgave me for making a scene, tho. Ah well.
About 4 years ago, for my birthday, we went to a Worst Eastern hotel. Again, we'd been assured they could cater for me. Once I examined the menu, all I could have was a sort of something in aspic, which was a starter, and a side salad. I asked for it to be served together, with everyone else's mains, but it arrived as a starter, so I left it there until the other main courses arrived. It was too salty to eat. (I expected salty, but not that salty) There was nothing on the dessert menu I could eat. The waiting staff didn't give a toss, and charged full whack. It was the most miserable birthday meal ever.
Only place I eat out at now is a cheap and cheerful 'caff' in Gloucester who are wonderful about knowing what's in their food.

I give up on the Toby cavery.

The main is ok but having to wait for 50 minutes for someone to take a dessert order is shocking.

I don't go there anymore as the DC can't wait.

After a significant period of disruption and going above and beyond at work, DH was told to put dinner for two on expenses.

We went to a naice place in posh Cheshire where lots of people have weddings. Wine arrived in posh carafe ... with dust and dead flies floating on top, as though carafe has been stored left open to the elements for some time. When alerted by me, waiter is unconcerned but asks if we'd like it replaced (I wanted to leave at this point but DH insisted we stay). Later the waiter comes to ask if we're enjoying our meal, fixing his eyes on DH and deliberately not meeting my gaze. We complained again to management at the end and they gave us just a face.

It's under new management now but I will never cross the threshold again.

I think its more how things are dealt with at times rather than quality of food that can create a bad situation. At our wedding reception we had organised for a select few to have a certain starter since we knew the "main" starter would be an issue for them. When another guest asked if she could have one she was just told flat "no" and the young girl walked off.

I happened to see this as I was circulating around the tables checking everyone was happy, I went and asked to speak to the chef, told them everything was great and explained about the request to which he replied "when your paying us £5000 for a days hire mate your guests get what they want" and said started appeared in front of our confused guest.

I suspect the girl she asked was more worried about keeping to timings and upsetting chef though.

Our local Toby has taken to putting weird (clearly cut out of promo shots) pictures of celeb chefs around the walls. As though they are endorsing it.

From another side, when i was younger and waitressing i worked at a silver service restaurant. French and quite pricey in this tiny old converted 15th century building so low ceilings, narrow corridors, tiny rooms and uneven floors - very bloody cramped and inefficient for silver service but had a lovely atmosphere! We had lots of courses where we'd serve up the meat from huge platters balanced on our arms and then follow pouring thick sauces over for each person. Once i had the most horrid table ever of about 10 who made it their mission to completely ignore me and make it really difficult for me to serve them. Usually people will lean slightly to help you. We'd served the whole meal and were on dessert and it was being served with cream. I was pouring the cream with one hand and the other hand i had a white serving cloth to catch the drips. A lady i was trying to pour sauce for ignored my polite pleas for her to make a little room (even though she clearly heard me ask if she wanted sauce) and i couldn't get my other arm around in time to catch the drip of cream that landed on her lap. Honestly it was a tiny drip and it could have just been wiped off but she acted as if i'd pulled up my skirt, mooed her and shat in her lap. She spent an hour ranting at the manager making him swear he'd take the cost of dry cleaning out of my pay, make me take the skirt to the dry cleaners and then also fire me! Needless to say, none of these things happened but she did get the restaurant to pay for dry cleaning.

The worst I ever had was in an apparently notorious restaurant in London's China Town. We were a group of about 10 and the staff pretty much shouted at us from the minute we walked in - no small talk. It was late, freezing outside, we'd been to a show and were all hungry and just wanted to eat and get back to where we were staying so we went with it. They split the group up between a couple of floors so some of us ended up sitting next to random people on different tables. They were barking 'You! Upstairs! You! Over here!' When the food was brought out it was literally slung in front of us without a word. It was so bad it was actually quite funny!

You've been to Wong Kei's then??

I've never had the pleasure myself!!

My worst experience was actually abroad.

Was on one of the less touristy Canary Islands in my early 20's with a boyfriend and there was an absolutely amazing steak / fish restaurant on the beach. It was banged out every night and was standard to wait an hour at least for a table. Had a lovely bar area so it was nice to have a drink before dinner.

We had been 3-4 time already during our fortnight and on our last night we pitched up, BF made a thing about wanting one of the more secluded tables with the better views.. Anyhoo we waited 90 minutes and by that time was pissed starving so we ordered as soon as we sat down, without even looking at the menu.

15 minutes later the head chef walked through the whole restaurant, tapped me on the shoulder and proceeded to shout in my face about me ordering my steak well done! I am talking about full on ranting. He said I was disrespecting his cooking, I was bastardising his meat and I was a young fool and had no idea about food... oh and that he was refusing to cook any more well done steaks!! He thrust a menu at me and told me to pick something else as he would not cook me a steak at all due to my "ignorance". It all happened very quickly and by the time my BF had got up to move this crazy chef away, the restaurant manager was there and manhandled the chef away (through the whole bloody restaurant). We were told all our food and drink was on the house, given a bottle of champagne and I was of course given a well done steak.Manager explained chef was very stressed and had some problems - no shit Sherlock.

It was absolutely humiliating though and actually quite scary! I didn't enjoy my meal but got completely rat arsed on all the free booze so that numbed the experience.

Turns out my BF had planned to propose that night but we were both so shaken up he didn't told me months later, and we broke up before he actually did get round to it

For many years I actually felt quite nervous ordering a well done steak, and now I actually have it medium (so the chef was actually right but my God was he a fucking nutcase)

Was it like ?

You've been to Wong Kei's then??

And it doesn't count, because it's an act. The service is actually pretty decent and the food is often very good (although not reliably), and the shouty-cross shtick is strictly for the tourists. Thirty years ago, maybe, they were genuinely surly (although even then it had a reputation and you were basically going for the floor show), but now? It's just cabaret.

We used to have a Sunday fry up at a Mexican restaurant near us that got the order wrong every week without fail . Good food though .

Worst ever was at the waldorf astoria in new York .The waiter poured a glass of water over me and then tried to pretend that the cockroach scuttling across the floor was something else .
Our email of complaint was ignored .

Abroad in Turkey they had an "all day pizza" on the menu. I thought it was like a pizza of the day, till I ordered it and found it included.........aspects of every item on the menu that day. From beans and peas to bacon and sausage slices.