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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

What's your worst restaurant experience?

342 replies

RainbowsAndCrystals · 30/09/2017 18:36

Had one where I was with two friends having breakfast and coffees ... they kept asking friends if they wanted another drink and ignored me every single time.

there's been worse and places I would never go back to.

OP posts:
SistersOfPercy · 06/10/2017 15:29

DH and I wandered past the Rainforest Cafe one night, we'd eaten in Chinatown already but were intrigued and I'd always wanted to visit. Asked if we could just have desserts. They were lovely, treated us like we'd ordered a full 3 courses.

Katedotness1963 · 06/10/2017 15:57

Husband, me and our two kids went to a restaurant in the country. Kids were delighted to be met by the owners Labrador puppy at the door. We went in, sat down and ordered. While we had our drinks and we're waiting for the food we watched one of the staff playing with the puppy in the field right outside. Then she brought the puppy in. It ran over to our table, squatted and about a gallon of diarrhoea came out of it, right as another waitress arrives at the table with our meals. Waitress sets our plates down as the first one runs over with a huge roll of paper towel to clean up. As this pool is disturbed the most eye wateringly horrendous smell engulfs our table...

agedknees · 06/10/2017 16:28

Disney restaurant at Yacht Club Resort. We ordered a bottle of wine priced at £50.

Waiter pours our wine, does not show us the bottle. Dh takes a sip and calls waiter over. Asks to see the bottle and exclaims this is not the wine we ordered.

Waiter tries to hide the bottle, my dsis catches the label and exclaims it is one that retails in the hotel shop for £18.

We ask to see the wine list, cheapo wine not even on the list.

Waiter brings us the correct wine and takes 20% off the bill. Needless to say, we did not leave a tip.

My dh knows his wine. Think the waiter thought we would not know the difference. Wonder how often he did this trick.

LurkingHusband · 06/10/2017 16:37

Reading this thread shows why most chain restaurants take money up front ....

The80sweregreat · 06/10/2017 16:43

Yes lurking. Funny how we do this in some places without question really!

LurkingHusband · 06/10/2017 16:49

The last time MrsLH and I ate out was when our son treated us at his place of work (which has a restaurant attached). That was pretty good.

We stopped going out to eat after our favourite non-chain pub went bust Sad. Never had an issue there over many years. Since then, it seems wherever we go, somethings not quite right. Food not hot enough, peas you could kill an elephant with, clearly reheated portions and almost always a very relaxed attitude to speed of service. Which makes sense once they've got your money.

The80sweregreat · 06/10/2017 16:59

Peas you could kill an elephant with!
I have never really thought much about the " money up front ' thing before..but it is a scam.

LurkingHusband · 06/10/2017 17:32

I have never really thought much about the " money up front ' thing before..but it is a scam.

Once they have it, they can really stretch the envelope with bad service.

raspberrysuicide · 06/10/2017 17:32

We were trapped in a Nando's for about 2 hours once when they had problems with the chef and huge tables of orders.
Of course we had already ordered and paid for our food so we had to sit there and wait.
We got lots of free nibbles and free puddings and coffee and a voucher for a free meal for 4 so it wasn't all bad

The80sweregreat · 06/10/2017 17:45

Trapped in a nandos. at least you were not strung up by the nandos!
Eating out is meant to be a fun activity. This thread shows d its anything but sometimes

raspberrysuicide · 06/10/2017 17:48

They locked the doors and everything!
What I meant was that we had already paid so we couldn't just leave. If it had been a normal restaurant where you pay at the end we would have gone.

The80sweregreat · 06/10/2017 17:55

I am questioning all this ' pay up front ' now! Its true, you cant leave once its paid and getting a refund cant be easy i bet.
Why do we do,it ? Weird isnt it.

Pastorkidneys · 06/10/2017 18:11

Stood at bar perusing menu, excuse me (to barmaid) is your scampi wholetail?
Old on luv...Oi (shouts into kitchen behind) is the scampi wholesale?
We only stayed for drinks

LurkingHusband · 06/10/2017 18:24

I am questioning all this ' pay up front ' now! Its true, you cant leave once its paid and getting a refund cant be easy i bet. Why do we do,it ? Weird isnt it.

Personally, if you're paying upfront, it's a "cafe" - whatever the signage may say. That's my view anyway.

Half the problem is probably because no one really cooks anymore. If you stack up the number of "restaurants" there are, I suspect you'll find it vastly outnumbers any amount of people who actually studied a cooking discipline. It's just cook-by-numbers (as pioneered by Bernie Inns Smile).

Sidge · 06/10/2017 18:29

We went for a curry as a group from work many years ago.

We had a really nice evening, then 2 lads came in for a curry after obviously being out on the piss. They were seated next to us and started eating then one leaned over and just vomited on the floor at the side of the table. Admittedly it was gross and unnecessary, but the owner/manager leaped out from behind the bar and started bashing him around the head with a baseball bat! We as HCPs had to attend to the unconscious lad and call the police, ambo etc.

So the coppers came, and we all got home hours later after giving statements and handing over to the paramedics. Our works night out was the talk of the hospital for ages!

BlackPepperCrab · 06/10/2017 18:31

I was in Finland on holiday, and you'd think that since it's a 12 hour +/- flight away I'd be able to move around anonymously, right? Wrong.

Ran into my ex sitting a couple of tables away with her new husband, said husband recognised me and waved me over, declined but the well-meaning waitress proceeded to set up a joint table for us anyway, friend whom I was travelling with is a loudmouth and cannot hold his liqueur, and long story short, new husband found out his wife is bi and that their relationship started off with him being a third party.

The80sweregreat · 07/10/2017 09:36

The ones in the Uk where you pay up front are Wetherpoon pub chains, Ember inns, Nandos, independent cafes in our town, some do this, some don't i believe. Depends on the set up i suppose and i agree, they are just basically all cafes. must make life easier for them.

Blackpepper, awkward!! goes to show that the world is a small place really.

JungleInTheRumble · 07/10/2017 09:43

At a michelin star restaurant we had to ask for menus and water because the staff were more interested in standing around chatting than paying attention to customers. The somellier then tried to take the wine order after we'd literally just been passed the food menu (we had the drinks one from the beginning). The food wasn't even that good! Waste of money

PootLovato · 07/10/2017 13:54

DH and I had a very rare night out to the cinema and we ate in Bella Italia beforehand.

Short staffed so everything took ages, had to ask for my cocktail which had been sat on the bar for 10 mins with wait staff ignoring it.

Food was fine but what was really off-putting was a waiter (thankfully not ours!!) with either severe hay fever or the flu continuously wiping his nose and eyes with his hand then immediately handling plates of food.

Table near to us complained as they were sat near the pass and could see it all.

Just yuck!!

MipMipMip · 08/10/2017 15:42

Talk of Christmas dinners reminded me of a work do at as pub years ago. I was served up a two inch disk, about half an inch deep. That was Christmas pud!

Theweasleytwins · 09/10/2017 18:59

We were in a small cafe, waitress comes up, looks like she is crying, 'no' she says 'it's sweat' lovely

Same meal, live earwig in the salad

BruceBogtrottersWife · 11/01/2022 22:56

I am a vegan.
Went to a chain restaurant recently (not my choice) with absolutely no vegan options at all. There was a 'burger' available that was basically a mushroom in a bun with a slice of cheese on top. I resigned to having that without cheese, great I thought, a mushroom sandwich.
I asked for some hot sauce on it as an extra
When it came, it was SMOTHERED in hot sauce. I have an aspestos mouth, and adore spicy food but this was totally inedible, and so 'wet' from the sauce that I couldn't eat it, it was impossible to pick up and even with a knife and fork it was so soggy. It also tasted very strongly of dripping, had obviously been cooked in beef fat-and I am not usually so fussy about things like that, but the taste was so strong I could just not stomach it.

Another time, on the thread of a PP saying she looks 'unsophisticated' I ordered a bottle of house fizz (not champagne) and was told 'that's very expensive'. I said 'okay how much is it'
'It is quite expensive'.
I asked again how much it was, and it was roughly £5 more than Id have paid for something similar in a pub, not a high mark up even for a restaurant.I asked her if I looked skint I probably do
I realise a zombie thread but I've just amused myself for ages reading it.

DilemmaDelilah · 12/01/2022 08:13

Work Christmas do at a brand new restaurant, all pre-ordered. Table booked for 8pm and asked to get there for 7.30. Everyone duly arrived well before 8pm. Very small bar area downstairs, all waiting down there but not enough seats. Waited, and waited, and waited. Eventually seated at 9pm. Waited and waited for our starters (pre-ordered remember, and all pretty easy stuff to have pre-plated) and eventually got those just before 10pm. Two members of the party had to leave after gobbling down their starters as they had tiny children. Then another really long delay for the main course, and most people left before dessert. The food was ok but we had to wait so long! They had closed before their second Christmad.

StepAwayFromTheEcclesCakes · 12/01/2022 13:00

@Pastorkidneys

Stood at bar perusing menu, excuse me (to barmaid) is your scampi wholetail? Old on luv...Oi (shouts into kitchen behind) is the scampi wholesale? We only stayed for drinks
We had one once that on being asked that exact same question replied ‘ nah its all in little bits like’
StepAwayFromTheEcclesCakes · 12/01/2022 13:04

Oops just realised its a zombie

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