What would you consider acceptable waiting time for food in a restaurant?

[BlueMoon1103]

This seems to differ with a lot of people, just wondered what the general consensus was.

I would think less than an hour.

Depends on the restaurant, the menu, the specific dish you've ordered, and how busy it is.

Anything over half an hour I'd expect to told when ordering that there's a wait of however long.

Depends entirely on the restaurant.
Posh restaurant, big gang on friends enjoying our drinks, please take ages, maybe bring the nibbles quickly
Cheap and cheerful, pizza express types, as quick as possible

Hugely depends on many things...? Dish ordered, quality/style of restaurant/how busy it is...

If just mains ordered and no starters I'd say 30-40 mins max. Most restaurants, especially chains, are much fsster due to the use of frozen portions, microwaves and predetermined grill times

30 mins

I’d expect to e told if it was longer than 30-40 minutes, and that would only be acceptable if it’s an actual cooking restaurant as opposed to reheating/frying

As PPs, if it was going to be more than half an hour I'd expect warning.

Up to 30 minutes for main course.
If starters took 30 minutes to arrive I'd expect the main course to arrive as soon as they were finished.

20 minutes. Once had a Sunday roast at a chain pub that took 1h 15 mins to arrive

It depends, a nice restaurant with freshly prepared food, take your time. A chain restaurant where you would take children, 30 mins tops.

Depends. If cooking from fresh,I'd say up to 45 mins.

45 minutes - I would approach staff and ask them when my food will be served. If they cannot give a proper answer / say it will be there any minute, I’d wait another 15 minutes and then leave.

If I have to wait to give my order/ get my ordered drink- I wait 20 / 30 minutes max

It really depends on the type of restaurant and communication from the staff. If I was told upon arrival that they were busy and there was an hour wait time for food then I'd be happy to wait if I really wanted to eat there.

Probably half an hour - but I'd be getting a bit hacked off that was say a pizza restaurant.
Proper meal - isn't that the point of a starter, to keep you occupied while the push on with the main course?
I'd expect to wait longer with a large group, assuming they're coordinating the arrival of all diners food.

Agree with the previous posters who say it depends hugely on the place and what you're ordering.

I despise people who go out to eat purely to moan and send food back and complain about the service, though. If you can see it's busy you know you're more likely to have to wait a little longer for your food. People who can't wait without causing some kind of fuss you need to go to McDonalds and have their Happy Meal away from the grown ups. It's so embarrassing watching people behave badly in restaurants.

As others have said, depends entirely on what and where etc.

Something simple at lunch time I'd want to see on the table in about 15 minutes really. Dinner main course that's more complex, within 30 minutes at most. I've also seen some restaurants specifically note on their menu if something in particular has a longer cooking time - i.e. "please allow an additional 20 minutes cooking time".

Depends. Fast food 5-10 minutes, family pub/high st chain probably within 20 minutes, formal restaurant up to 45 minutes - hour. Also varies on time /day.

I mystery shop a few restaurant/pub chains - a lot of places such as Hungry Horse pubs / Wetherspoons/ Bella Italia would expect to deliver your food 20 minutes from ordering and for you to be informed when ordering if there was going to be a delay.
I would expect to wait longer in a restaurant that was cooking fresh food to order - it also depends on what you order eg a well-done steak takes longer to cook than a medium-rare one. A large group of people who order a wide variety of dishes will take longer to serve than a table of two!

I despise people who go out to eat purely to moan and send food back and complain about the service, though. If you can see it's busy you know you're more likely to have to wait a little longer for your food. People who can't wait without causing some kind of fuss you need to go to McDonalds and have their Happy Meal away from the grown ups. It's so embarrassing watching people behave badly in restaurants.

Agreed. It used to frustrate me when I worked in restaurants and people would book for 7.30/8pm on a Saturday night and then act utterly astounded when the restaurant was busy and they had to wait a little. Lots of huffing and tutting.

Like no one else in the world would go out for dinner to a nice restaurant on a Saturday night other than them!

I agree with other PP - depends on day, time, how busy it was, what kind of restaurant, etc. An hour would be a bit much I would think.

30 mins, any longer and I’d be getting restless.

completely depends on the type of restaurant/time of day/how busy they are at the time surely. As adults it's our own responsibility to manage our own hunger surely, hardly a good idea to go to a restaurant on a busy saturday night when famished, say. At the end of the day if your food is coming withing 10 minutes you've probably paid a lot of money for something that was heated up not from fresh.

Busy sat night i'd expect to get there, get my drinks, starter after 10-15 , mins, main under an hour. Quick lunch in a cafe, 10 minutes, fast food 5 minutes. Restaurant at a non busy time I'd be surprised if the main took more than 20 minutes if i were skipping a starter. I often just order a selection of starters as a main, which always comes much quicker.

I'd say 30/40 minutes max for a starter, and an hour for a main.

We went to a local Italian last year that we used regularly, and waited 80 minutes for our mains with no explanation or apology. We asked twice for some bread as I'm diabetic and felt shaky but that came out at the same time as our food. We've never been back.

30 mins max. Depends on the type of restaurant and food. If it was noodles then 10-15 mins max.

Our local restaurant has notices on the menu by certain food choices (eg tarte tatin) saying that they take 30 mins.

Too quick also a very bad sign (microwaved food).