To be angry at DH for ruining Father’s Day lunch out

[Chelle882]

Myself, DH and our two teenage DC went out for lunch today to celebrate Father’s Day at a local restaurant.

When the food arrived, there was an issue with DH’s meal and he alerted the waitress to this. The waitress told him she’d arrange for this to be re-cooked and it would take 15-20 minutes.

DH asked that they also take the other three meals away so that we’d all be eating at the same time.

The waitress said she’d need to check this with a manager. The manager came over and apologised, said that they wouldn’t be able to re-do the three meals which were fine but they’d deduct the cost of DH’s meal from our bill and also give us a free round of drinks.

DH challenged this and the manager stood firm. Without consulting me, DH said that we would leave and find somewhere else to eat. So we didn’t touch our food and DH settled the bill for the drinks we’d had and we all walked out (much to our hungry DC’s bemusement).

Obviously being Father’s Day, the two other restaurants in close proximity were fully booked until this evening, so we grabbed a KFC drive through on the way home (which doesn’t agree with me so I’ve had stomach cramps for the past three hours!)

DH maintains he was correct to leave the meal and that restaurant’s should not get away with this - we’d ordered to eat together and they failed to deliver this.

For the sake of our DC’s I think he should have just sucked it up and not ruined the lunch.

Do you agree with what he did or would you have just accepted the free meal and got on with it?

Asking them to re-cook everything is ridiculous, and dying on that hill is pathetic. I don't know why you didn't stay with the kids and let him strop off though.

I agree with him but not to the point of walking out.

Itd be annoying for you all to have to sit for 15 mins after you've finished then whilst he eats. I think the manager should have redone all meals.

However stupid to leave. Just write an honest review and don't return.

I'm with him. In a restaurant, it's basic that you all eat together. The management were wrong IMHO.

Although I understand wanting to eat together I wouldn’t have my family not eat because my meal wasn’t okay. Would he have reacted differently if it had been yours or dc meal that was sent back?

The restaurant offered free drinks and a discount which is fair.

Yabu to eat kfc if you know that it upsets you.

Reminds me of an ex. Meals out we're NEVER cooked to the temperature he wanted. He'd always demand his meal was sent back and reheated. He once did this THREE times to the same dish, insisting it hadn't been cooked to the correct temperature.

I would then have the dilemma of either getting on with my meal before it went cold, or sitting there until his came back so we'd be eating together.

I feel your pain.

I don't think he was bothered by the money, but he wanted to eat together as a family not to watch his family eat whilst he was waiting. Nor he should suck up for the sake of harmony, is blody expensive to eat out. Steak takes about 4 minutes to cook from raw for a medium done and about 3 minutes to rest. Why would it take 20 minutes? Big faux pass from the restaurant and I am with him.

So four meals got wasted (and not paid for)?
He was being extremely unreasonable.

all those people saying “we want to eat together”, come on, it’s not a life changing experience you have to go through simultaneously. You’re all at the table, can share etc. He could have had a starter / nibble in the meantime and then the others had desserts while he ate his steak etc.

probably extremely busy today too so a little understanding wouldn’t go amiss

A round of drinks and his meal free is more than reasonable. And as an aside, I’m aghast that he would allow 3 meals to go in the bin, what a complete waste of food. Me and my daughter wouldn’t have left though, no way.

A more reasonable compromise would have been to ask for a round of desserts to make up for the not eating together - I do understand him being annoyed at this but equally their compensation was more than fair.

Noses all cut off to spite his face!

The chef's human, he made a mistake. You sound like Veruca Salt!

Sounds like my ex. He would find some reason to sabotage things - meals out were his speciality. I can’t count the number of places he’s stormed out of over the years. Your DH is a prick.

Nope, he was a bit of an arse tbh 😀

I think the restaurant offer of free drinks and free meal was more than reasonable. Your husband was a prat. I hope he enjoyed spoiling the day for everyone, not to mention upsetting a very busy restaurant manager.
If this were me, this would be the last time I would arrange anything for this man, Fathers’ Day or not!

probably extremely busy today too so a little understanding wouldn’t go amiss

No, the restaurant won't have booked over capacity. It's a pretty crap state of affairs to have to expect a celebration meal out to be disappointing and unacceptable just because others might be celebrating too.

In our house people have finished their main course within 15-20 minutes so it would mean the last person having to scarf down there’s whilst the other 3 were waiting to order dessert. Plus that’s relying on the food actually coming when they say which often it takes longer, especially if the place is very busy and staff are distracted. It’s no longer a nice family meal where you’re having a bit of a chat and eating it becomes disjointed and unpleasant.

Im surprised it takes that long to re cook a steak tbh, unless your DH asked for it to be served as charcoal. Surely they could have fixed it faster!

All he had to do was wait 15mins, he didn't have to sit facing the wall. They could have still chatted, he could have enjoyed his free drink, then enjoyed his free meal. The alternative outcome was a bucket of chicken!

My sister's ex used to cause scenes in restaurants like this. Women who do this would be labelled Karens. Usually by people who claim men don't behave like that!

Oh ye gods! Another one!

Unless he has form I’d give him a pass anyway. A steak isn’t hard to cook it’s not like he wanted freshly made tagliatelle being remade from scratch.

Prob wanted 20 minutes to chef Mike defrost it.

Then restaurants wonder why day to day they have less customers.

If he's not keen on eating out, as OP said, then this does seem like a possibility. Plus I know it's Father's Day but he was very quick to decide for everyone else that 1) they were fine with having their food taken away and waiting for it and 2) they were fine to leave without eating.

I assume the meal was a treat for him because it’s Father’s Day? I wouldn’t want to sit there whilst everyone ate, and then have to eat my meal whilst everyone else has finished, You’re paying money to have a meal together.

This isn’t the same though is it? You were happy to forgo the starter knowing that you would then enjoy all the mains together. In this situation everyone would have finished their food and the OP’s DH would have been the only one eating at a table of four. Awkward and I can see why he didn’t want to do that, free drinks or not

Blokes who are 'steak experts' and like it cooked just so, are usually wrong anyway about what rare/medium/etc actually mean (ask any chef), and also are usually just unhappy souls looking for an excuse to sabotage potentially happy moments 😀

@PracticallyIncompetentInEveryWay Exactly, everyone had to suffer so he could exert his authority. I bet it was a well-done steak. 😂

How far off "correct" was this free steak? So far off that even when free and with 3 others to think of he couldn't bring himself to eat it?

Yeah, he’s a miserable sod. Your poor kids xx