Delivery drivers and take away orders ruin restaurant meals

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We don't eat out much, maybe once a month or less. When we do go, tends to be local independent restaurants. However our 4-5 most recent experiences are ruined by the revolving door of delivery drivers collecting takeaways and restaurant staff bending over backwards to meet their demand at the expense of those sitting there.

Yesterday we sat directly opposite the kitchen and watched orders for those eating in sit under hot lamps for upwards of 20 minutes whilst they packed order after order to give to the delivery drivers crowded round the door. We waited more than 15 minutes for a waiter to come to take our order, the food arrived at odd times with items missing and a couple of drinks forgotten entirely. The restaurant was at half capacity at this point.

I find it crazy that if I were to order a take away for the restaurant, it would be at my door in 30 minutes but when I am sitting right there, I spend more than half that time just trying to get their attention to place an order.

AIBU to think that the experience of eating out has ben destroyed as a direct result of the explosion of food delivery services?

No but pushing ppl out the way is rude. Have some fucking manners

Yeah we dont even bother popping into McD / KFC / Nandos etc anymore; walk-in customers are right at the bottom of the priority list, beneath nose picking and never cleaning the mcflurry machine

Its sooo insulting to be waiting in a queue 15 people deep, and have some randoms in smelly biker gear push past to the front, staff bending over backwards to serve them, ignoring the rapidly growing queue of paying customers who've been waiting fucking ages for what was once known as "Fast Food"

They clearly dont want our custom, they clearly want to see empty seats in all their branches, so lets make it happen people...

Book a table and then book a deliveroo for the restaurant address for 10 mins later

😂😂😂😂

You would think that, but a lot of folks do go for the experience, they like to wander round, pick produce, and often see it as a bit of an outing.

i don’t, i have mine delivered and probably go into an actual supermarket about twice a year, but there is no disputing some folks do go for th4 experience.

We have had the same experience in restaurants. I sent back two meals as they sat so long they were cold.

We've got the double whammy of the poor service and we live "too far" out of the town to even order take aways to be delivered ! That's about 4 miles

@Janehasamane I don't go to the supermarket for the experience but I used to use online deliveries and went back to shopping in person.

I like to think about what I want to make that week as I go round the supermarket, perhaps seeing offers or what looks good - especially for fruit and veg.

Looking at pictures of food online doesn't inspire me in quite the same way.

I think you're right but I also that that eating habits have changed to an extent that restaurants are struggling to survive with our the take away business. It's a shame.

I do sometimes use self-service but I try not to simply because I see my elderly father struggling to cope with technology and I'm hoping if I use actual staff they might still be there when I'm old.

It’s a changing society and businesses need to adapt to survive. Would you rather the restaurants you like went out of business, people lost everything (assuming they’re local not chain restaurants) and became unemployed?

What did they say when you raised it to them and made some suggestions about how to better manage the two different types of customers?

The drivers are all supposed to have business insurance haha. Our local McD had three foreign plated delivery drivers constantly parked in the diasaled bays.

We went to Franca Manda last week at lunch time and waited 20 mins to order and another 30 mins for the pizzas whilst the staff prioritised a wall of pizza takeaway orders. The restaurant was also completely full and the 2 ladies next to us complained they had been waiting over an hour for their main meal which were salads

I spent just over 10 days in Italy and Greece, returning to UK 2 days ago. The dining experience is a million miles apart. No proliferation of take aways and delivery drivers, relaxed meals in restaurants with amazing service, food always served at a good speed (usually much earlier than expected).

I understand restaurants here are doing what they need to in order to survive but it did make me feel sad for how different things are here and not for the better

So Italian and Greek hospitality survived the lockdowns better than we did

I think you’ve picked a crap restaurant to eat out at.

That's due to poor organization of the restaurant though.

Completely agree with this.