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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:
AllRoadsLeadBackToRadley · 02/10/2017 19:11

I had a meal the other day. It was covered in cardboard, and there was plastic in it!

Last time I'll have a happy meal...EVER!

Sorry- couldn't resist.

I was sitting in a restaurant once, and the waiter brought out a kid's cake. He tripped and the cake went flying.

yawning801 · 02/10/2017 19:13

Tried to get a rare McD tonight. Drove home, no bloody chips in it!!

AllRoadsLeadBackToRadley · 02/10/2017 21:33

yawning I have this image of you sending back a big mac becsuse it's too well done (ie, a "rare" MD's) 😁

NoKidsTwoCats · 02/10/2017 21:54

Went for a girly weekend. Dinner was pretty awful for a whole host of reasons but breakfast (at the same hotel) was something else.

We ordered several basic cooked breakfasts. Nothing fancy. 30-40 minutes later it arrived. Two of the breakfasts were missing eggs. One breakfast had two types of eggs. Sent them back. Came out correct.

One breakfast was missing the grilled mushroom. One had the mushroom but it was one the size of a 50p. Tiny.

The beans were burnt. I mean completely - they tasted smoky and some were black. The tomato was a 6th of a barely grilled tomato. Not even a half!

The 'toast' was basically untoasted bread. The tea was the weakest tea I've ever had.

What restaurant can't even cook baked beans and toast without ruining it?!

AlcoholicsUnanimous · 03/10/2017 06:08

I took DP to a Pierre Koffman restaurant. The slimy waiter gave the bill to DP at the end, despite me asking for it, stating "I know Madame asked for the bill, but I will give it to sir." Eurgh. My DP then had to tell the waiter to hand me the card machine as it was my card (with my name on, that I had handed to him.)

Bumdishcloths · 03/10/2017 06:42

Cafe Rouge, ordered eggs Benedict. Served: partially raw poached eggs, sent it back. The same plate was returned to me several minutes later, obviously microwaved. Vom.

Tinksee · 03/10/2017 07:44

SDT - that’s the one!

redfragglebiker · 03/10/2017 09:56

Italian place in Sheffield. I ordered Ravioli and my DH ordered an individual Mediterranean veggies pizza. What arrived was a supermarket value pizza with diced peppers thrown on. The peppers hadn't been precooked wither so were kinda black on the outside and raw in the middle. My ravioli was very obviously tinned ravioli with a bit of cheese thrown on top cooked in one of those beige clay pots you usually get at chain pubs etc.
Baring in mind this was listing itself as "italian cuisine like mama used to make" and not cheap I complained to the waitress. Her response regarding the ravioli was "well you can't expect us to make it fresh every day can you!"
We paid for the wine, refused to pay for the food (which the waitress tried to argue about with us but I refused to budge) and got takeout on the way home.

Fruu · 03/10/2017 11:09

I had a few incredibly bad meals when I was vegan. The worst was a works Christmas do; the restaurant had told us they could cater for me, and they served up a small side bowl of sliced peppers and carrot that were so badly burnt they were half charcoal. Another time at a different venue I was given half a parsnip, a carrot and a potato that had been peeled and then boiled / steamed for a couple of minutes so they were inedibly raw inside. Both times there was no sauce or any attempt at seasoning.

Sunnysidegold · 03/10/2017 11:10

On holidays with a group of friends we had a really rude waiter. We ordered our meals and they were taking forever so a friend asked waiter if our food was on the way and he was really rude and said we'd have to wait "can't you see we're busy?" When the food finally came three orders were incorrect and he did a lot of eye rolling and gesturing when we asked for them to be sent back.when they came back the second time mine had the wrong side, something I'd never order as I'm allergic to it. He insisted I'd ordered it and when. I tried explaining why i wouldnt have ordered it he got really arsey. I was a bit upset, boyfriend intervened and then the waiter threw his hands up in the air and told us to fuck off! He stormed off and kicked the door open to the kitchen. Couldn't believe it! The manager came and was really nice, said he'd sent waiter home, gave us free wine and dessert and got me my proper meal (although at this point everyone else had eaten). When we left we did see the waiter in the alley having a smoke so I sense manager had just told us he'd d sent him home to placate us but we were ok at that point.

I get that we all have bad days, but he was really quite aggressive!

NC4now · 03/10/2017 11:11

DH and I ordered dessert, which came with vanilla sauce, artfully drizzled across the plate. Except they'd got it mixed up in the kitchen and drizzled garlic sauce across our pudding.

Cookiecake · 03/10/2017 11:21

We had a strange experience in a tapas restaurant once.

The waiter brought the food over, there were maybe 6 or 7 different dishes to share. One of the dishes was wrong and was something that we hadn't ordered, so we asked about it and they apologised and cooked the right thing and brought it over about 5 minutes later. The manager came over with the waiter and said we could keep the extra dish which we thought was nice.

Then a few minutes later once the manager had gone the waiter came back to the table and took the extra dish away. He said absolutely nothing whilst doing this, it was very bizarre and put me off the place. Which was a shame a we used to go a fair bit.

ArseHair · 03/10/2017 12:16

I once ordered a steak and onion baguette for lunch. Took one bite, straight in to a two inch screw!

Turns out it had fallen from the grill handle. They looked at me gone out when I said I didn't want it, and didn't fancy anything else. They said the whole thing had been found so there would be no more bits. Looked even more gone out when I refused to pay.

FatherDickByrne · 03/10/2017 12:37

I've got two. On honeymoon in Vietnam, we went to a lovely restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City. One of the waitresses was walking past our table with a very full bin bag when an enormous rat jumped out and sauntered back to the kitchen. I screamed & the whole restaurant looked at me, then the rat. There was a huge, collective intake of breath but the waiting staff were obviously used to it, didn't bat an eyelid. The thing that made me laugh was the fact that the rat was kind of insouciant - he was in no hurry, just out for a stroll. Second one, we went for a cream tea at a naice hotel in Bradford-in-Avon. Looked lovely then I turned my scone over and the bottom half was covered in mould.

Ezzie29 · 03/10/2017 12:58

Tried to find my friend's trip advisor review for this one so I could give the name, but no luck. We were in Paris and trying to decide where to eat as there were quite a few cafes. A few waiters outside one cafe were waving their arms and laughing and saying "pick us!" and seemed really friendly, so we went in. Their attitude totally changed then, they barely spoke to us or looked us in the eye. I ordered duck slices with mash, it didn't come with a knife and after trying several times to get their attention, I gave up and ate it without, which wasn't easy as the duck was chewy. The mash had lumps in it and the food was flavourless. Can remember what my friend had but she found it very bland.
Was a shame as we'd had some really lovely food so far. Was also just so weird the way their attitude changed once they had enticed us inside! I will try to find the review because I'm sure I remember other people having the same experience.

Another cafe we went to was one we had already been to twice before and enjoyed. This third time...we saw a mouse strolling around. Informed the staff and they were aware, apparently there was a whole family...

Lweji · 03/10/2017 13:08

Informed the staff and they were aware, apparently there was a whole family...

Did you want them to slaughter Ratatouille? Really?

BTW, if a restaurant needs to wave hands to entice you in, they are desperate for customers. They shouldn't have to if they're good.

Andromache77 · 03/10/2017 13:11

Never pick a restaurant where waiters are out in the street trying to attract customers or where the menu is hung outside printed in large font with pictures and translated into several languages. Tourist trap, every time.

KERALA1 · 03/10/2017 13:14

My hair caught fire in one of those Soho intimate candle basement type restaurants. The men at the next table starting shouting and waving and I thought "well I must be looking particularly good tonight!" before realising...

Venice pre trip advisor. Our microwaved lasagne was stone cold in the middle. When we politely sent it back the whole family who owned the restaurant came out and shouted at us.

elfinpre · 03/10/2017 13:24

Being served a pasta dish that had clearly been made several days earlier and was on the turn. On asking for Parmesan cheese (cheese having not being offered) they brought out a bowl of dried Parmesan that smells of sick, the like of which I hadn't seen in 20 years. It had probably been in the cupboard for that long.

Plus the Fawlty Towers style service. Any polite request/comment/complaint met with huffing and puffing. It was hilariously bad. This was a local place that somehow kept going for years and years.

Ezzie29 · 03/10/2017 13:25

BTW, if a restaurant needs to wave hands to entice you in, they are desperate for customers. They shouldn't have to if they're good.

Never pick a restaurant where waiters are out in the street trying to attract customers or where the menu is hung outside printed in large font with pictures and translated into several languages. Tourist trap, every time.

Yes, this is a lesson I have only had to learn once!

scortja · 03/10/2017 13:33

Can I post my favourite Tripadvisor review ever? (tangentially related)

i went ot this restaurant with my frends and the service was discreaseful my frends was drunk and hit her head of your tables and your staff didnt ask if she was allright they then brought use the wrong cake and my frenid was very upset and wet her self

raspberrysuicide · 03/10/2017 13:37

Went to a seafood restaurant for our 1st anniversary. It was hugely expensive and the food was mediocre at best. We were made to wait over an hour for our booked table and were seated in the bar not the restaurant. The main courses were just about edible but the puddings were disgusting and we only ate a bit of each and sent them back.
Then the manager came over pulled up a chair sat down and demanded to know what was wrong with the puddings exactly!
When we got the bill the puddings were still on there! In the end they begrudgingly took them off but acted like they had done us a massive favour.
About 2 weeks later they had a massive fire which destroyed the whole place.

StorminaBcup · 03/10/2017 13:40

Not bad a restaurant as such but bad / strange food experience. At a naice (as in 5* city restaurant) I was served what was essentially a deep fried pork pie plonked in a piece of salmon (which was raw - and not in a good was like ceviche). Another time I ordered a side salad and what came out was a plant pot with rocket in it and a pair of scissors Confused.

Subtlecheese · 03/10/2017 13:52

Very nice restaurant out to celebrate. The waiter messed up my starter then he hit my glass of champagne when pouring for the person next to me. He managed to send smashed glass all over two meals and knocked the carafe of water over the table and two laps.
He did not know what the hell to do. We were in the middle of the restaurant. A manager came over and started to deal with the chaos but this waiter couldn't comprehend that we needed new meals (broken glass) and they started borderline arguing. Everyone couldn't help but gawp then I realised my ex was in there with the ow.
I never did take up the return freebie offer!

Openup41 · 03/10/2017 13:57

Some of these are awful.

I refuse to argue before my food has arrived. I would be too concerned the waiters/kitchen staff may "spoil my meal". If I am found complaining I have decided at that point I will not be eating there.