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AIBU?

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Original poster

Does anyone know if this is true? (Doggy bags)

88 replies

INeedABiggerBoat · 28/08/2016 20:08

Just had a lovely big roast at the local pub as a treat, and I couldn't finish it - one chicken leg left over. I asked the waitress if I could get it in a doggy bag/ foil to feed my dog later, and she said that they weren't allowed to because they didn't have a takeaway licence. Does anyone know if this is an actual law or if the chef was just being snobby? I've done some googling but can't spot an actual law, although this seems to be a bone of contention in a few countries and in Michelin restaurants (!)

Now wondering whether I could have just snuck it out in a napkin and managed to not get chicken juices all over my bag on the way home. Next time I'll add 'foil' to the tonnes of things I tend to keep in my handbag 'just in case'!

OP posts:
GarlicMistake · 28/08/2016 23:05

Oh, I like the idea of snaffling a takeaway from the carvery Grin No, I don't feel bad about it - I can only eat a normal-sized meal even when it's "all you can eat". But roasts are way beyond my budget, and I'd bloody love a ziplock full of freshly-carved.

I know this wan't the point of the thread!

arethereanyleftatall · 28/08/2016 23:07

A restaurant I was in recently, (I think it might have been in a different country, can't remember), has foil bags already on all tables with the salt and pepper bits. Customers could take home their left overs as they wished, fairly genius; no embarrassment, no extra work for staff.

GarlicMistake · 28/08/2016 23:08

Creative use of lunch expenses, perhaps, Desolate - the takeaway couple, that is. You should've smiled more at the solo man Wink

Sparklingbrook · 28/08/2016 23:09

I save leftovers at home if they haven't been dished up yet, so if there's some left in the saucepan/casserole etc I will put it in a bowl in the fridge.
But I wouldn't save some dinner that had been half eaten on a plate to eat later.

EatDessertFirst · 28/08/2016 23:14

I don't like giving 'doggy bags' from my kitchen as I don't want to be sued if someone doesn't store/reheat leftovers properly and tries to blame my food for poisoning them. It really is that simple in most cases.

Phalenopsisgirl · 28/08/2016 23:15

In America they have started bringing you a box at the table and then you box it yourself rather than boxing it for you like they used to

aisatsana · 28/08/2016 23:20

I don't like giving 'doggy bags' from my kitchen as I don't want to be sued if someone doesn't store/reheat leftovers properly and tries to blame my food for poisoning them. It really is that simple in most cases

Yet another in the long list of reasons to despise suing culture and modern society's collective lack of self-responsibility.

What pisses me off the most is just the idea that any court would even entertain such a case.

2gorgeousboys · 28/08/2016 23:25

I was really surprised when we were in America recently that they would ask if we wanted to take what was left to go without any prompting. The waiting staff would then bring out a box for us to take home whatever we wanted. Sometimes we did take home pizza etc and sometimes we didn't bother.

EatDessertFirst · 28/08/2016 23:42

I agree aisatana. Unfortunately, the potential to be accused of making someone ill/killing them/losing my job which I need to support my family is too great to be that bothered about people who get sniffy about not being allowed to take scraps away. In my experience, (nearly 17 years in retail and restaurants) people will do just about anything for a freebie or a bit of compensation. The suing culture is ridiculous. As are some customers attitudes to 'those who serve' and the rules we have to abide by.

Shodan · 29/08/2016 00:30

I'm always happy to ask for leftovers 'to go', if they're worth it Grin. I haven't been refused yet, but then I haven't eaten in all of the restaurants there are...

I think it's partly growing up with my mother, who would always secrete various napkin-wrapped items in her handbag; partly having a cast-iron stomach due to my mother's appalling cooking and partly having worked for many years in catering- I just don't see a problem with it.

DS2's favourite thing to do in Nando's is to get an extra portion of chicken wings 'to go' and then have them for breakfast the next day Blush Grin don't care if I'm being judged for allowing such an unhealthy breakfast

dalmatianmad · 29/08/2016 00:35

I've heard of certain places refusing to give doggy bags. My local does an amazing carvary and they give you scraps of meat if you ask, I often come home with a bag full for my dalmatians, mix it into their dried food and jobs a gooden Smile

Piehunter · 29/08/2016 00:36

I take food home all the time, after major surgery last year I get pain if I try to eat a whole meal, at home I'll have my dinner in 2 sittings, when out I either ask for it to be wrapped/boxed or usually have a takeaway container with me/in the car if I feel awkward about it- some places just make me feel that way! In which case I napkin it and then put in aforementioned takeaway container.

No one has ever said anything about licensing.. Think she couldn't be bothered to sort it for you. Hate trying to force food down you've paid good money for when you'll enjoy it far more when you're less full later!

PersianCatLady · 29/08/2016 01:16

You've paid for the food
Exactly, except for one guy who asked for a box at the Pizza Hut buffet lunch the other day so he could take some food home and made a scene when he was told that it wasn't possible.

Funniest thing of all was that he actually thought he was right and the staff were wrong.

Labyrinthian · 29/08/2016 04:15

God this reminds me of getting a doggy bag from Giraffe a few years ago. They really didn't want to give me anything but I insisted. The manager then came and made me sign a liability waiver about how if I reheated wrong and got sick they were not responsible! Only place anything like this ever happened

splendide · 29/08/2016 05:05

Has a restaurant ever actually been sued for this?

aprilanne · 29/08/2016 05:37

i am in scotland and can honestly say the only place i have ever been offered to take my left overs home was from was pizza hut .i refused but maybe its the way we do things up here but in all my 46 years i have never or heard anyone ask for a doggy bag in a restuarant .and i am not kidding and no i do not go to posh places before anyone asks .

trafalgargal · 29/08/2016 06:25

In America if you don't want a doggy bag it raises eyebrows but the eating out culture is entirely different there. It never ceases to amaze me how many people (especially women) I know over there who are in their fifties and simply don't cook(and often don't know how). They eat out for all their meals (or leftovers hence the doggybag thing) and their kitchens have nothing but cereal and snacks. It's not regional either. It does explain why American portions are so huge, you aren't expected to eat it all there and then. There's much better choice of genuinely affordable everyday eating out choices too though .

VashtaNerada · 29/08/2016 06:33

The only time I have ever asked for a doggy bag was in Jamie's Italian because my toddler hadn't really eaten anything and I wanted to take a little bit with us for later (from what I remember it was cold and vegetarian so no risk of food poisoning). They said no and I've never been back!

icelollycraving · 29/08/2016 06:41

I have only ever known people take pizza home from a restaurant. Is this really a thing? I don't have a dog, none of my friends or family have dogs.

SanityClause · 29/08/2016 06:41

I've never heard of or seen anyone asking for a doggy bag, before, in the UK. I am a aware of it being an American thing, of course.

ShatnersBassoon · 29/08/2016 06:55

I saw a couple of people taking boxed up leftovers out of Bella Italia last night. We never have leftovers substantial enough to be worth reheating, but it's a handy service for those with average appetites.

MIL gets us to put greasy, saucy scraps in a napkin. The poor dog must get at least 20% paper in its 'treat'.

RhiWrites · 29/08/2016 07:13

I am a Brit but for some reason I have Americanised my language so that I ask for a "to go box" rather than a "doggy bag". That might be because I don't have a dog. I've taken food home from all sorts of restaurants and they usually have a foil box or they fashion one out of twisted tin foil.

However I am also the Ziploc Queen because I use them for Everything. Multiple sizes for different purposes such as:

  • reading my kindle in the bath
  • bagging up all my tights so they don't tangle in the drawer
  • taking lunch to work
  • freezing multiple tubs of the same food together so I label the bag, not each box
  • categorising my overflow of toiletries by type
  • categorising my craft materials
  • keeping my yarn in while knitting

(I don't work for ziploc Grin )

Stormyseasallround · 29/08/2016 07:30

My 3 children often leave enough of their meals to make it worth taking the rest home for another meal. We've never been refused a box of package of foil to put it in, and we eat out several times a week, in a wide variety of restaurants. I agree with other posters that, as an adult, I'm perfectly capable of making the hygiene call myself.

Stormyseasallround · 29/08/2016 07:36

And I'd take a rather dim view of any restaurant which refused to allow me to take it home. Small business owners should fear a lack of repeat custom more than the tiny chance of me giving the kids food poisoning then suing them.

BarbaraofSeville · 29/08/2016 08:06

I certainly wouldn't go back to anywhere that refused me my leftovers stormy.

I eat warmed up leftovers several times a week and haven't had food poisoning in well over 20 years, and that was almost certainly due to a prepacked prawn sandwich. I think I know what I'm doing with the.