What's your worst restaurant experience?

[RainbowsAndCrystals]

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.

Frankie and bennies lasagna. Disgusting. It was clearly pre made chucked in a microwave. No salad or chips or anything with it. Greasy and disgusting. Would never go there again.

quite a long time ago, in the days before computers. Probably not as bad as some others have mentioned.

We had a holiday in Rhodes late October/early Nov.
My then partner had read some local guide books & suggested we go to a restaurant on the edge of town that came highly recommended. We teemed up with 2 Australians we'd met in the hotel.

We got in a taxi & when the driver was told where we wanted to go, he was very scathing. "Tourists shouldn't eat there, it's only for the locals. I take you to my brother's..." No, we have already decided we want to eat there thank you.

We were the only ones eating that night. The waiter was very attentive & we were served fairly quickly. I can't remember exactly what the starters were, but it was very good. My DP was by this time well into the second carafe of wine and was enthusing very loudly to the waiter about the quality of the food and how glad he was that "we" had decided to eat here. He was so gushing it was positively embarrassing.

But from then on it was all downhill. They RAN OUT OF the local red wine, and wanted to sell us a bottle of very expensive French stuff. (No thanks) No we don't want retsina instead.

The salad leaves were wilted and brown and well past their best. The salad itself was swimming in olive oil - fine if you like it, but I didn't.

The meat used for our mains (I think it was some sort of kebab) was decidedly off. Waiter most offended when this was pointed out. No we couldn't have them replaced, no meat. By this time we were all pretty hungry. DP asked for the menu so we could pick something else. Waiter repeated No Meat. After struggling a bit with the language difficulties it eventually dawned that he meant they were completely out of meat. And salad. And just about everything else. Turned out this was the last day they were open, they close out of tourist season (so much for the taxi driver saying only locals eat there!)

Asked for manager. He was "not here". The only people in the restaurant apart from us were the waiter & the chef.

Three carafes of cheap red wine on an empty stomach is not good for decision-making. So we paid for the wine & starters and went into the old town where were had doner kebabs from a takeaway stall. (which were very good)

At least we didn't get food poisoning, and for future holidays DP always asked others staying in the hotel for their recommendations, rather than relying on guides that were well out of date.

I ordered crab linguine.....
I got crab linguine. They just forgot to take the bits of shell out....
It was like crunching stones.
Horrid. I still shudder when I remember it.

Went to a fancy restaurant, told them I was pregnant. They served me raw cod and raw lamb. Luckily I didn't eat the raw seafood as they advised against that one and I had the raw carrot instead!

The food of delicious and perhaps it was wrong of me to assume that the chef would alter prep for the lamb (although I had said I needed all food cooked through!)

Didn't expect the raw cod though! Luckily I am toxo immune

At a training course in a hotel. All special dietary needs etc had been communicated in advance. Waiters were taking orders from each table from a menu which included one veggie option and several others. My table was last to be served and I (plus 2 others who for one reason or another could not eat the other options) was informed that there was no veggie food left. The chief was brought out to see me (I assumed to discuss what he could make quickly) and asked why we couldn't eat something with meat/fish in just this once. Much eye rolling when we refused followed by questioning about why we couldn't eat meat/fish and how long this had been the case. A muslim colleague was deemed most deserving and given a very small portion that had presumably been what was left in the kitchen. They suggested that the rest of us take a meat meal and then go round the room looking for someone to swap with us (not really an option given that everyone else had started eating).

We ended up going to a nearby petrol station and buying curly cheese sandwiches.

It was no fault of the restaurant, but I was at a thai restaurant in central london when someone dropped dead at the next table.

It took a few minutes before anyone realised what was going on, and the staff were really good - far calmer than I would have been in that situation.

They didn't really tell us why but asked us to get up and leave. We thought there was a fire, but as we were leaving, we noticed the man lying face down on the table and twigged what had happened

Local pub for sunday lunch last weekend.
Only meat available was chicken ( really wanted the beef) then they said they had run out of Yorkshire puddings ( after i had paid) and promised a few extra potatoes, which then didnt happen.
Huge party going on behind us, so felt a bit cramped and then the food wasnt that great when it did arrive.

I once had a burger in a posh restaurant - lifted up the bun to look at the burger before I tucked in and saw that the chef had written "crap" in mayo on the top.
At first I laughed and then I began to wonder what other stuff the chef had done to the food.

The manager offered us a free meal, but strangely, we never bothered going back to claim it.

I am smirking at all the horror stories about Harvester and Frankie and Bennies.

I can't understand how Harvesters is still going. There's one in a huge modern entertainment complex near where I live and it is always empty, even at weekends. I had a voucher once so DH and I went in. Tables were unwiped and gross. Salad in the salad bar was limp and brown and we had to send our mains back to be reheated.

F+Bs is equally crap. Never had a good meal in there.
I take part in focus groups and there was one where we were told we would have an hour long discussion then taken out to a restaurant (not told which one until after the discussion).
Discussion was on chain restaurants and one of them was F+Bs, most people were like oh I like it there, it's a good place to take the kids ect ect,
I disagreed and it was rank. We then got told we were going to (drumroll!)..... Frankie and Bennies as a mystery customer group.

Surprise surprise everyone's meals were horrible and I greatly rejoyced at being able
To tell everyone "I told you so!"

Both chains run on ghost amounts of staff and rely on their managers to do most of the work to save on labour cost. It's reflected most of the time in the experience.

Unihorn........ but the harvester we were in had 3 tables being used. There were at least 4 waiting staff on, they couldn't even wipe down a table before or when they sat us down?

Oh yes I wasn't defending them by any stretch sorry, they're both awful!

Oh yes I wasn't defending them by any stretch sorry, they're both awful!

I can understand what you're saying in relation to F+Bs tho as it's busy a lot of the time which I just can't understand!

Strange carvery place in Weston Super Mare. DH and inlaws are taking forever to get ready. I joke if they don't hurry up there will be no food left...prophetic as it turns out.
Arrive at carvery, HUGE queue and I mean huge. It's taking an age to serve and behind us they are queuing around the restaurant and folk are not happy. Last of our party had just had some rubbery turkey slapped on our plates when Chef announces 'Sorry, they have run out of meat so carvery was now finished'. Honestly thought we were headed for a riot. People were understandably quite pissed off.

We quickly ate ours and left. DH no longer takes the piss out of the idea that a carvery can run out of food

sparechange, thats awful! you never think that someone could just die suddenly when your out and about on public transport or out for a meal, it just doesnt enter your head does it? it must happen more than we realise though.
I did used to work as kitchen staff for a well known chain ( not F and B) and the mangers do work really hard - they have to serve, sometimes do the cleaning, as well as rotas and cashing up at the end - and then everything else inbetween. The staff also work really hard, of course, but i was shocked at just how much the mangers have to do. its a real eye opener and put me off eating in chain restaurants for a long time. Our Harvester is the same as described - we gave up on them a long time ago as well. I dont know how they keep going.

While dining in a restaurant in Oman, a man died suddenly of heart attack and went face down into his plate of food.

I was once staying in a hotel in Worthing for a friend's wedding. I had booked an evening meal in the hotel restaurant, but when I went to eat I was told that the restaurant part was closed as the chef was off sick. I was offered a packet of crisps from the bar to eat instead! Yes, just what I need after a 16 hour journey!

In a restaurant in Zante, I ordered some soup. It was so salty that I actually gagged. I sent it back. I don't know if this had anything to do with my over salted soup or not, but a few seconds later an almighty row erupted in the kitchen. Then the kitchen door burst open and a waiter charged out, followed by the chef who was brandishing a large metal spatula. The waiter then started to throw the condiments at the chef who grabbed a tray to use as a shield!
A few of us got up to leave and the manager threw his arms across the door and demanded that no one was to leave his restaurant and to sit down and enjoy his food. Er, no thanks. I don't think that we had entered a restaurant, I think we had accidentally entered a mental hospital!

Zante , had the worst holiday ever there in 1990 - never been back!

Some people had been to aplace with an entertainer and food and said it was good, so we tagged along the next time they went. It was terrible this time around , half the food was missing or cold and there wasnt any sign of the entertainment. There was a big row going on and the chef was seen storming off. We did get a refund of most of the money and ended up in the local pub. was a long time ago, but sometimes the bad nights stay with you more than the good ones!

Probably not the worst, but what's going on with pizza hut? Salad was disgusting, random tortilla chips in everything, no beetroot or carrot. Lettuce slightly brown and mayonnaise tasted slighted off. Almost £50 for four of us, one course each for the adults, 2 kid's meals and no alcohol

Local pub that had a good reputation. Went Monday lunchtime. The "veggie hotpot" was so obviously reheated leftover veg from the Sunday carvery, drenched in packet sauce and served lukewarm with instant mash. Not been back since.

I havent been to Pizza hut for a while, but i think that most 'chain' restaurants are really struggling just now - not sure if its just the skeleton staff situation or working conditions or the fact that they just dont seem to care. When my son was with his girlfriend ( they have split up now) they used to eat out a fair bit and they always used to have a moan about something not being right , or the food wasnt great, or there had been a problem. Not sure why its become like this. I have given up eating out, last weekend at the pub was the first time in ages i've been out anywhere for lunch and that was disappointing. it puts you off.

Harvester again - went there for an all you can eat breakfast. They were totally unprepared, no cutlery/plates/napkins/tea cups/milk etc, took forever to take our order and the smoke alarms kept going off and it took them ages to figure out how to stop them.

Last time we went to Harvester the service was pretty awful, food below average and when we got home myself & 2 DD's had a rather nasty case of food poisoning. As an apology they sent me a £20 Harverster gift voucher! I gave it to my brother

At a restaurant in a Salisbury hotel, dh and I both had baked potatoes - on the menu as 'freshly baked'. They tasted dreadful, so we asked the waitress whether they really were 'freshly baked' and she said "Yes. Yesterday"!! So not that fresh then.

Another time, a friend and I were out for lunch, and the restaurant had pancakes on the dessert menu - it was ages since I'd had a pancake so I chose that. When it came, it was completely rigid! It was served in a bowl - well, Moore like ON a bowl - it was so stiff that it balanced across the top of the bowl. I have a very sweet tooth, and love my desserts, it even I couldn't face this 'pancake'!

Served my DD a FROZEN fishcake - Cafe Rouge in Tenterden!!!! Luckily my DM had gone to cut it up for her and realised it was rock solid in the middle. This was after they had already told us they could find no record of our table booking, the stroppy waitress was really rude to us and they got my DDs initial order of pasta wrong (hence the request for fishcake which would apparently be quicker than another pasta - yeah, because you didn't bloody cook it).

Absolute shit.

joolsy, you should have reported them to the environmental health.
I think that places being open from morning till very late has contributed to a real lack of standards/ numerous problems. Years ago places would shut early afternoon and re-open later on and not many restaurants did food all day long either. Now there is all this demand, but the companies that own the places dont seem to want to properly staff and run them - so corners are cut and things go downhill pretty fast. Just my observations, but eating out isnt what it once was ( unless you can afford a very expensive place to eat)