Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Not allowed to cut up pizza in Wetherspoons?

387 replies

Calvinsmam · 30/01/2019 10:56

We were in Wetherspoons at the weekend having a cheap and cheerful lunch and my DN had a pizza.
We asked them if they could cut up her pizza for her because the last time it wasn’t and the waitress told us they weren’t allowed to anymore and don’t even have pizza cutters in the kitchen. We laughed as we assumed it was a joke but no when the pizza arrived it wasn’t cut up and the waitress said again that for health and safety reasons they weren’t allowed to use a pizza cutter, we asked if they could have used a knife and she said no. We were a bit Hmm
Then she came over with a very sharp steak knife and said we could cut it up ourselves with that if we wanted.

Is this a nationwide rule or is our local Wetherspoons a bit odd?

Also isn’t the owner of Wetherspoons desperate to get us out of the EU because of silly little rules like this?

OP posts:
PigletJohn · 30/01/2019 14:06

If you want to avoid silly little rules, you should have a vote to stop going to Wetherspoons.

Horrordoeurvres · 30/01/2019 14:07

Jesus Christ cut up your own pizza it's not that difficult for you surely? They have a rule they need to stick by for whatever reason that may be. Just get on with it if its really that much of an issue for you Hmm

BlueTrees123 · 30/01/2019 14:08

I'm really not sure why you'd go to Wetherspoon for food in the first place, never mind pizza. Bang average Iceland frozen food is all they serve. You can get much nicer elsewhere for a similar price(and without funding the Brexit idiot).

Eliza9917 · 30/01/2019 14:11

@Boulty Wed 30-Jan-19 13:52:37
To Glitternails -- what is the big deal about someone who is with the person who struggles to cut said pizza actually helping themselves.... you know that is what friends are for etc... not moan about the staff not cutting said pizza … just help the people you are dining with?

Everyone has to make a big drama out of everything nowadays... it isn't anti disabled at all ...just help out each other

How would you feel if you had to sit at a table with people looking at you while someone you were eating with cut your food up for you?

There's no real reason why the kitchen couldn't have done this.

ralphi · 30/01/2019 14:12

YABVU for eating pizza in Wetherspoons, (why would you even do this when they are one of the few places that still serve scampi??) but I see your point about it being cut up. Have never had an uncut pizza and it is a faff for a child.

marymarkle · 30/01/2019 14:14

Eliza My friends and family wouldn't look. And I often have to cut my mum's food up as she has parkinson's.

Lovemusic33 · 30/01/2019 14:14

My dd is really fussy and only eats pizza when we eat out. Most places seem to cut it with a pizza cutter (Pizza Hut, frankie and B’s etc..) unless it’s a really tiny pizza i would expect it cut.

Raffleeight · 30/01/2019 14:16

I have never had a pizza come sliced in a restaurant, unless it is a restaurant that also does takeaway e.g. pizza hut.

Eliza9917 · 30/01/2019 14:17

@Butterymuffin Wed 30-Jan-19 13:14:05
There was one banning banana shaped bananas and cucumber shaped cucumbers so I wouldn't be surprised if there was.

What bollocks. Suited the mainstream press to tell us this of course. Meanwhile supermarkets are selling 'wonky' fruit and veg in spite of the apparent EU ban on produce shape variations. Funny that.

20 years after the ruling and once people started defecting to Aldi & Lidl.

Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2257/94 of 16 September 1994 laying down quality standards for bananas, sometimes referred to in the media as the bendy banana law, is a European Union regulation specifying classification standards for bananas, which took effect on 1 January 1995.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_Regulation_(EC)_No._2257/94

theemmadilemma · 30/01/2019 14:19

Fuck me the lack of comprehension of people responding to this thread is amazing...

  1. The OP is not asking for her pizza to be cut.
  2. The OP is saying her GM who is 85 and still likes to dine out with her Grand Niece loves pizza but can't cut it so well these days so generally asks the kitchen to do this for her. Because it's a simple request which retains her some dignity rather than struggling or asking someone else at the table to do it for her.

Brexit shit aside. I think they were arses.

marymarkle · 30/01/2019 14:31

I think they were arses.
Blame the bosses who made these rules up, not the staff. I will never risk being fired as a result of breaking stupid rules like this.

cuttingItFine · 30/01/2019 14:35

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

TheFairyCaravan · 30/01/2019 14:43

DS2 worked for Spoons while he was at uni. He was a team leader when he left in the Summer. I know that he has cut up food for people who had difficulty doing it themselves. He'd have had no problem either asking the kitchen staff to cut it up or doing it for your DN.

Whoever said that staff are paid minimum wage they actually aren't. I can only speak from the experience DS2 had but Spoons treated him really well when he worked there.

Walkingdeadfangirl · 30/01/2019 14:43

If a restaurant brought me a sliced up pizza I would send it back. I want to slice my own food, I am not 2 years old.

If a customer has trouble cutting up their own pizza then they should not order a whole pizza. Just order several slices of pizza, problem solved.

What next, people with dentures will expect their steak to come pre-chewed?

Raspberry88 · 30/01/2019 14:44

cuttingItFine

Wtf is wrong with you!? The snobbery that some people show towards staff in the service industry in this country is disgusting. Now I know that lots of people here really dislike Tim Martin but he does respond to letters that are sent to him and seems quite reasonable about making changes. Maybe you could write to him about this OP, I completely agree that customers who may have difficulty cutting a pizza haven't been considered but I doubt it's on purpose, it will be something that has come about as a response to not feeling able to give out pizza cutters as Wellcolourmehappy said. I'm sure they will change it again if made aware of the issue.

TheFairyCaravan · 30/01/2019 14:45

Wetherspoon's staff are hardly known for their intelligence.

Hmm DS2 has just graduated with a first.

Raspberry88 · 30/01/2019 14:45

If a customer has trouble cutting up their own pizza then they should not order a whole pizza.

What the fuck is going on here!? It's either troll central or people are worse than I even thought.

cuttingItFine · 30/01/2019 14:46

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Itstimeslikethese · 30/01/2019 14:50

OP mentioned this was for a elderly family member not for herself to cut up, so can't see why weatherspoons couldn't just slice it up if asked beforehand . I don't think OP is being snobbery at all.. The posh way to have pizza served is to not have it cut at all!

BarbaraofSevillle · 30/01/2019 14:51

If a customer has trouble cutting up their own pizza then they should not order a whole pizza. Just order several slices of pizza, problem solved

Because a pub chain that sells a limited selection of pizzas, which are actually freshly made and look quite nice, in a deal for about £6/7 with a drink are going to also start selling it by the slice, even when that option is not on the menu? I'm sure they will Hmm

Pizza is not like other food, you can't just eat it whole like you can chips, or meat in sauce type meals, or vegetables. It has to be cut up before eating but it is perfectly acceptable to serve it either whole or sliced. I cannot for the life of me understand why people would object to it being sliced in the restaurant kitchen. Slicing a pizza is in no way equivalent to pre-chewing or even cutting up a steak.

I have never eaten in Wetherspoons before, mostly because I assume that the food will be shit and there is usually a nicer looking alternative nearby, but this thread has made me really want to go and try their pizza Grin.

WhatToDoAboutWailmerGoneRogue · 30/01/2019 14:51

Wetherspoon's staff are hardly known for their intelligence.

It might well be something that their manager's told them off for. TBH, I wouldn't trust most of them with a knife.

cuttingItFine Oh look, another poster who should be ashamed of themselves because of their disgusting attitude.

Itstimeslikethese · 30/01/2019 14:51

Weatherspoons is not a posh place to eat anyway 😂 I've had to complain to them when food was served mouldy !

allthgoodusernamesaretaken · 30/01/2019 14:52

OPs Gran has said that she prefers for the food to be served already sliced up, so that she doesn't have to sit there while someone else cuts her food up for her, like she is a toddler, which is perfectly understandable

Absolutely. A little bit of consideration to help an older lady enjoy her independence and maintain dignity

BarbaraofSevillle · 30/01/2019 14:54

Assuming Wetherspoons food is shit is not very fair, what I really meant is mostly factory prepared stuff, akin to fairly cheap ready meals, low welfare meat etc.

But having looked at the menu, plenty of it looks perfectly acceptable for a quick lunch.

Walkingdeadfangirl · 30/01/2019 14:58

A few years ago someone in Wetherspoons found the tip of a finger on their pizza. Turns out a few days prior someone in the kitchen had had an accident with a pizza cutter. In the ensuing first aid panic they lost the finger.

That is why they banned the kitchen staff from slicing pizzas.